"I'm home!" Melanie shouts, as she arrives through the door; it is approaching 11:00PM by this point, and she has just finished work.

George comes dashing out from the living room, desperately hushing her by placing an index finger to his lips. "Tee's literally just got to sleep. I've been trying to get her to spend all her energy all afternoon."

Mel widens her eyes when she realises how loud she's just been. "Sorry, Gogos," she apologises, in a whisper. "Normally she's still awake by now. I just assumed."

"Well, Uncle Yoggie has the skills," George boasts, sassily flicking a lock of his hair back; he looks to her for approval, which he gets.

"You would be a great dad," Mel compliments him, sliding her work shoes off; she pushes them onto the front door mat with her feet. "Speaking of which, do you have plans for that with Steph?"

"If I had a quid for every time someone asked me that," George rolls his eyes, with full intent of being playful. "I wouldn't be working some tedious office job. I'd probably be in the Bahamas."

"A sister can't help but feel curious sometimes," Mel justifies. "You guys have been together a couple of years. In today's world, that's pretty good going." She throws her coat onto the banister of the staircase, before slipping past her brother to check in on Tee. She's sprawled across the sofa, sound asleep; her hair falls in all kinds of directions; her favourite teddy is loosely tucked in between her torso and arm. "Bless her. I still don't know how you managed it."

George shrugs, as if it's nothing special. "I just let her run around and do what she wanted. I thought with being a parent, you'd know all the tricks by now."

"She's a difficult one at times," Mel explains, her eyes still locked on her daughter. "When you have kids of your own, you'll understand. It isn't as easy as you make it seem. Kids are unpredictable." She chuckles quietly, before averting her gaze to George. "Anyway, you get yourself off home. It's getting late. Stephanie will probably be wondering where you've gotten to."

"She's working until midnight," George corrects her. "So once I'm home, I'll have about an hour alone still." He grins, exposing his pearlescent teeth. "Sometimes it's nice to have the peace."

"Oh — I don't know the meaning of the word," Mel laughs, leading George to the front door. She opens it for him; then he ducks through, before turning back around to say some final words to his sister.

"It's been nice spending time here today," he comments mellowly, the cold night air hitting his face; sending his drooped quiff sideways in soft, floaty motions. "And I'll make it my mission to see Tee more often. And you and Marcus, of course. I'll call you some time soon."

"Thank you so much for taking care of her today." She gives him a genuine smile, to indicate her sincerity. "Marcus appreciates it, too. Gave him a chance to go out with his mates. You know what that kind of freedom feels like."

"Of course." George slips one hand into his leather jacket pocket; the other hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck. "As long as I'm not working or busy, I'm happy to do it whenever." He withdraws his hand from its position behind his head, checking his watch. "I'll get off now, anyway. Have a good night, Mel."

"You too. See you soon." With these words spoken, Melanie slowly closes the door.

George steps backwards, away from the house; then, he rotates his body so that he can walk home. The air is crisp; he is forced to close his jacket with the zip to conserve some heat. He increases his speed, to quicken his journey; after fifteen minutes, he finds himself back in front of his own house. Pulling his key from his pocket, he can't help but wonder what Levi is doing in this moment. Is he asleep? Is he busy? Is he working from home? Is he bored? He reckons with himself, that he should find out. As he enters the house, he immediately grabs hold of the phone; and he dials Levi's number quickly. By now, he has memorised it — seeing as though he calls it so often. It rings a few times, until the repetitive tone switches to silence. Then, a voice.

"Hello?" Levi sounds tired — as if he's just woken up.

"Hi, Levi." George feels suddenly remorseful for calling him. "I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"

"It's never a bad time for you," he assures his friend, trying to talk louder to perk himself up; his throat sounds as though he hasn't cleared it, such with it being croaky. "Sorry. I've just been asleep. The phone woke me up."

"Oh god. I'm so sorry. Do you want me to go?" George presses guiltily. "I can call you back tomorrow or something—"

"George, relax. I'd been waiting to hear from you anyway." He laughs; as usual it is muffled through the phone line. "How have you been?"

"I've ... been okay." George can't seem to convince himself of this, let alone Levi. "Who am I kidding? As good as life is here, I constantly miss being in Goring. I loved coming to visit; that place is beautiful."

"I understand. But hey — you're always welcome to come and visit, whenever you want to. I've told you that before."

"I know. I know." George presses his back to the wall in the hallway; his own fatigue has just started to hit him seemingly from nowhere. "I'd like to come again soon. It's just orchestrating it. Working out when you're free; when I'm free. You get the gist."

"My boss is pretty easygoing. I can take whatever day off I want to," Levi explains. "So just tell me when you're free to come, and I'll make it happen on my end too."

"Uh ... " George's eyes avert upwards in thought, as he mentally recalls his calendar for the upcoming week. "Well, I'm fairly sure I have the weekend off from work. So how about Saturday?"

"Saturday works for me. Will you be coming around the same time of day again?"

"Yeah, I'd assume so." The idea of seeing Levi and Goring again gives him an unexplainable feeling; it sits at the bottom of his chest, sinking into his stomach. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too." Just from his tone of voice, it's easy to tell that Levi is smiling at the thought of seeing George. "Perhaps this time, we can go somewhere other than Planet Drab for lunch."

"Planet Drab," George cackles, biting his lip to keep himself quiet. "It really wasn't bad there. I find it rather sentimental now, seeing as it's the first place I ever ate at, in Goring."

"I suppose that's something," Levi reasons. "You know, one day I'll have to come to your part of the world."

"Maybe once Steph and I have broken up," George evaluates. "I wouldn't want her getting suspicious about me spending a bunch of time with a stranger out of nowhere."

"Why would she get suspicious if she doesn't know you're gay anyway?" Levi interrogates. "And you and I are just friends?"

To this, George widens his eyes; all signs of tiredness have faded. It clicks in his mind that he has now implied he has feelings for Levi — after all, why would he hide this man from Steph unless they were together, or had mutual feelings? Besides, Levi is a fantastic friend to him; he would never dream of ruining that by developing a stronger sense of affection for him. He is relatively content with the relationship they currently have — friendly banter, with some harmless flirtation.

"Um." He forces himself to swallow, which is a lot more difficult than it first seems. "Well I-I—" He is genuinely unsure how to answer the question, so he halts his speech altogether while he thinks. "S ... Safety," he finally justifies, unconvincingly.

"Right." Levi is also not convinced of George's answer. "Well, anyway. One day in this lifetime at least, it would be nice to come to your end to explore. There's only so much you can do in Goring before it becomes ... boring."

The rhyming of Levi's sentence triggers George to laugh. "Well, I told you that I think it's wonderful. But sure." He scratches his scalp, to give his hand something to do while he talks. "Maybe one day, I'll give you a little tour of London."

"I expect a photograph of some kind of animal. You know, like I gave to you," Levi demands playfully. "Meggy's beautiful face better be pride of place in your secret diary thing."

"Of course!" George reassures him, finding authentic joy in this conversation with his friend. "Although I don't have any pets; so I'll go to the park or something, and take a photo of a random bird. I don't know."

"A random bird?" Levi scoffs. "Well, it better be a rare one at least. Say, a pigeon."

"That's asking a bit too much," George jibes; he shakes his head in amusement, having no idea how the discussion has led to such an unrelated topic to the original one. He decides to subtly flirt in his next comment. "But for you, I'll see what I can do."

"Oh, aren't I honoured?" Levi plays along, sensing the tone of George's words. "I'm truly flattered that you'd make such an effort for me."

"Who knows? Maybe I'll wear something different to a scruffy jumper too, when I next see you." Even though Levi cannot see him, George raises an eyebrow at the thought of attempting to impress him. "I'll see if I have an un-scruffy jumper, this time."

"Pulling out all the stops I see. I like that." Levi decides to change the subject, deeming it appropriate. "I wanted to ask you something random."

"Go ahead. I'm all ears." George's eyes avert down to the floor; he's gradually becoming more tired, and the ground is the only place he can fix his gaze without his vision blurring too much.

"When you asked me what my first impression of you was. Do you remember asking me that?"

"Of course. In the restaurant. But what about it?"

"I said to you that I thought you were good-looking. But when you told me your impressions of me, you didn't say the same." Levi's voice sounds slightly saddened now; as if there's something deeply personal he wishes to divulge. "Do you think I look bad? Like, ugly?"

"Of course I don't," George answers quickly, wanting to give the man the closure he clearly needs. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"Well, I—" He pauses a moment, unsure of whether to continue with what he's been planning to share; he soon reaches the conclusion that he trusts George enough to carry on speaking. "I got a lot of shit from people about the way I look, when I was younger. I guess it just stuck with me. My dad eventually got it to stop by threatening those kids with the police, but when he died they started bullying me again. I never had the heart to tell my mum. She'd already been through so much. But I guess that conversation just triggered something within me ... you know?"

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," George frowns; he slides his back down the wall, until he hits the floor. He draws his legs up to his chest, holding them in place by embracing them with his free hand. "If it makes you feel any better, I got bullied in primary school. I was the overweight spotty kid with big glasses. I was a prime target."

"It's amazing, because you'd never know from looking at you now," Levi compliments softly, adding a chuckle. "I mean, wow. You really grew into this great guy. If only those kids could see you now, huh?"

"Thanks. But this isn't about me," George asserts, desperate to be the one to give Levi comfort for once. "If the kids who bullied you saw you today, they would be extremely embarrassed. Firstly, for bullying somebody who grew into such a wonderful man. Secondly, because they won't have become any more attractive from making those comments."

Levi releases air from his nostrils, as a substitute for laughter. "I guess that's true. It just annoys me that some stupid words from a bunch of stupid kids still affects me, even today."

"I know how you feel, Levi. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, all I see is that ugly ten-year-old Georgios staring back at me."

"I highly doubt you were that bad," Levi challenges.

"Alright — that's the photo I'll get printed for you then," George tells him. "I'll get you a photo of ten-year-old me. Forget the pigeon."

"I'll pretend that doesn't sound creepy." By now, it's hard for Levi to hide the level of humour he finds in the subject. "But seriously, thanks for cheering me up. Sometimes some words from somebody you trust is all you need to feel better."

"Glad to be of service," George snickers. "Now, I think it's time you went to bed. It's super late. Get some rest, and I'll see you at the weekend. Obviously we'll talk before that."

"Obviously," Levi agrees. "Alright. Thanks for calling. Goodnight, George."

"Goodnight." George's voice is no louder than a mutter, as he hears Levi hang up on the other end of the line. Once the normal beep sounds, he slowly rises from the floor; he places the phone back on its receiver. For a moment, he chooses to stand hovering over the little table it's kept on; he remains silent, processing the overwhelming number of topics they covered in such a short time tonight. It seems with every call they have, something new gets discussed; George feels as though he's constantly learning about Levi as a person. He glances at his watch to find that it's 11:57PM — Steph will be finishing work in a few minutes, then returning home. For the last little portion of freedom he has, he decides to go to his bedroom to write a diary entry.

Dear Diary,

I'm going to see him again. This Saturday. Our conversations are getting more personal. We are sharing deeper secrets. I trust this man with my whole life, and I hope he trusts me too. Aside from Andrew, he's the greatest friend I have. I'm so lucky to have him in my world. I'm looking forward to going to Goring again, to take in the views and the atmosphere there. It's magical there. If I was single, rich and free, I'd move there in a heartbeat. I'll never grow tired of it.

I'll probably update this diary once I've seen Levi again. But until then ...

Yog x

Closing the diary, he looks ahead of him — at nothing in particular, but in a trance-like state — imagining the breathtaking sights of the wonderful village again; and he smiles.

•••

Chapter seventeen! Hope you're still enjoying the story. xx