The Saturday Boy
by James Matthews
Chapter32 - Big News Times Two
Roman wandered in to our bedroom, as Jack and l lay cuddling in bed, quietly chatting.
"Knock it off you two, I have news!"
"We're not doing anything, so what's the news?"
"I have kidney stones," Roman replied, almost proud.
"Kidney stones, what the fuck are Kidney stones?"
Roman shrugged. "I dunno, doctor said it was like a build up inside my kidney that forms like a crystal in it, most of it went over my head."
"Well did he take it out?" I asked, my eyes darting all over Roman's body.
"Yeah Joey, he just took a knife and slashed me open and pulled it out with a pair of pliers… of course he didn't take it out stupid."
"Well I don't know do I?… so what happens now, I mean you look better."
"Yeah he gave me a pain killer injection which was awesome because the pain went just like that," Roman explained, clicking his fingers.
"Would you like me to examine you Roman," Jack teased, earning a slap on his leg from me.
"As its you, Jack, Sure!"
"Hey, I am still in the room you know," I barked, frowning.
"Oh shush your jealous tongue," Jack said, putting a pillow over my head.
"So anyway, I have to drink shit loads of water for the next week and see if I feel any better."
"And if you don't," I asked.
"They have to cut me open and take it out, aint that cool?"
"My god! And you think that's exciting?"
"Hey it means everyone will have to wait on me, that's the cool part!" he declared.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah well, don't look at me, I'm far to busy looking after this one," I stated, nudging Jack.
"Hey I'm fine, and I quite like the idea of looking after Roman, if you don't want to. I can give him a sponge bath, and clean his…"
"YES, thank you!" I cried. Jack and Roman burst out laughing. "What is it with you two anyway, are you having sex behind my back or something," I asked, irrationally.
Jack's face went very serious, and he took my chin in his hand. "Well, actually Joey, I'm sorry to tell you this but I'm afraid he's got me pregnant… Roman, you're gonna be a dad!"
Jack started rolling round the bed in stiches while I was recovered from a mild heart attack thinking he was starting to tell me something serious.
"You fucking asshole, I thought you were gonna confess to something then," I said slapping his ass hard, making him yelp. Roman had tears falling down his face he was laughing so much and I felt like a jealous housewife!
"Joey, seriously, if there was anything going on between us, do you think we'd be joking about it in front of you. You are pretty hot though, Jack, I can see the attraction my brother has in you," Roman declared casually before walking out of our room. Jack and I just looked at each other in amazement.
"Did…did he just say…."
"Yeah, Jack, Roman just said you were hot… I dunno whether to be worried or surprised."
"Roman likes pussy though right?"
I sighed. "Lately Jack, I dunno what's going on with him. I might be a little mixed up in areas, but at least I have chosen what gender I wanna be with… Roman… I just can't work him out."
"Have you spoke to him about this?"
"Many times, Jack, I never get an answer that's concrete."
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, two sets actually, and I knew one was my mum coming to tell me to get out of bed and get downstairs to work, as I was late starting.
"Roman, Joey… Jack, Family meeting, all of you in the kitchen please!" She called, loudly.
"Oh shit, what have we done?" Jack, asked, looking at me nervously. I shrugged, not knowing what to tell him… because I didn't know. We quickly got dressed in some Jeans and a t-shirt.
The three of us appeared in the kitchen where our parents were sitting at the table looking at us. "Sit down boys, we have some important news that affects the whole family."
"Uh, I'll make myself scarce," Jack said beginning to get up.
"Where do you think you're going young man? As far as we are all concerned you are as much part of this family as anyone else, so sit your ass down!"
Jack moved so fast back to the chair I thought he was gonna smash straight through it, and I found it quite cute he was shit scared of my mother… mind you, I think we all were.
"Ok, two pieces of news here, both very important. I want you to hear your father and me out first before you ask any questions about either of them, agreed?"
We all nodded, and mum got up from the table, starting to walk round the back of my dad, putting her hands on his shoulders.
"Now, I want to make one thing clear here! What we are about to tell you we have been discussing for a few weeks now, but haven't told any of you yet because we had not come to a final decision, so this does not mean we have gone behind your backs ok?"
"Mum, I'm sorry but will you get to the point, you're making us nervous,"
"I'm sorry Roman, this is just really big OK?"
"Cool, we're listening," I said.
"Ok, your father and I have decided to sell the pub." She said, matter-of-fact. There was a flurry of noise and the three of us started talking at once, to each other and to my mum and dad.
"Quiet! I said you can ask questions after. As I was saying, we have decided to sell the pub, because we want to buy another business that we think will make more money."
"Another business…what sort of business?" I asked, not being able to help myself from asking.
"A night club, a big one," she replied, suddenly excited.
"A night club?" Roman repeated, raising a brow.
"What… what night club are you buying?" I asked, rolling through the few I knew in my head.
"Chariots!"
"NO WAY!" I squealed, my eyes lighting up, making my parents grin. "Fucking hell… sorry I mean, Wow… how can you afford that, the place is like massive, it's got three floors or something crazy like that."
"I thought you would approve," my dad said, looking at my mum.
"Sorry, but how have you got your hands on Chariots?" Asked Roman, a baffled look on his face.
"Sorry, I don't know this place, but I gather its cool by the way you are acting?" Jack chimed in, lookinga bit lost.
"Jack, Chariots is like the straight version of Heaven night club, It's huge," I said, enthusiastically.
"Ah, I know heaven, yeah that is big." Jack, confirmed.
"So how have you afforded this," Roman asked, still waiting for an answer.
"Well we are putting up four hundred thousand, and the rest we are borrowing as part of a business loan from the bank."
"I earn eighty five pound a week and you have four hundred grand stashed away?" I asked, astounded.
Mum rolled her eyes. "Not this again," she muttered. "Joey, we have been trying to keep costs down, and now you know why. Why do you think I have been trying to hire people as cheap as I can?"
"But you said you had only been discussing this for a few weeks, you make it sound like this has been a long term plan."
"Joey, its always been my dream to move onto bigger things, and your father agrees that this is that first step. We have built this pub up to his fullest potential, there is nothing more we can do, we've reached the limit on how much money we can make from it, and now we want to spread our wings a little more."
"Dad? You haven't said much," I commented looking him in the eye. He just shrugged.
"What can I say Joey, your mother is a good business woman, and I trust her with my money," He said giggling. Mum gave him a slap.
"What do you mean your money… our money more like it! Ok, before you all start asking anymore questions I want to tell you about our second bit of news, well it's not news actually, it's more of a commitment to someone special we want to make an offer to."
"Go on," Roman said, looking desperate for the full story.
"Well, If its ok with you Jack, Andy and I would like to formally apply for adoption, to bring you into the family completely."
Jack's jaw dropped open, before promptly burst into tears.
"Oh, Jack, I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you, it was just…"
"I don't think he's upset mum," Roman added, softly. I pulled Jack into my arms, but he got up and had to leave the room.
"Is he ok?" My dad asked.
"Just a bit overwhelmed I think," I said, getting up to go find him. I found him sitting on the end of our bed, shaking. "Hey Babe, how do you feel about what's on the table then?" I asked, sitting down next to him.
"I'm sorry I walked out, I'm just so blown away they would do that," Was all he could say through the sobs.
"I take it those are not tears of sadness then?" I smirked. Jack looked up at me, his face flushed.
"I think… I think this is the happiest day of my life… I'm so happy, I can't stop crying. To think that your parents would want me as their own… no one has ever shown so much kindness to me."
"Yeah, they aint bad are they," I said, trying to lighten the mood, draping my arm round him.
"You know Joey, not so long ago, when I was in hospital, I imagined myself in a damp rundown room, the wall paper peeling off, sitting in front of a portable TV eating one of those one pound microwave dinners, and now I'm being asked if I can be adopted by your parents…I'm so lucky, I really don't know how to say how much I love you, and thank everyone for loving me."
I felt a tear welling up in my eye listening to him express himself. His words were like a portal into his past life, and how utterly shit it had really been.
"You are loved Jack, by everyone here, most of all me…although, Roman is starting to compete with me on that front by the look of things," I said, chuckling. "So what are you gonna tell them?"
"Are you serious? I'm gonna say Hell yeah!"
"That's ma boy!" I said kissing his button nose. "C'mon you better come back out and accept their offer in case they change their mind.
I led Jack out by the hand to the kitchen. It sounded like Roman had been grilling them when we walked back in as it all went quiet when we say down.
"I'm sorry I cried like a girl, I was just so shocked… in a good way, I mean."
"Its an important decision Jack, we have made up our minds, but if you wanna think about…"
"No… no way, I accept, I wholeheartedly accept," He blurted, making us all laugh.
"Good, well we will have a look at the legal side of things when we next see our solicitor about the nightclub,"
"So what time frame are we looking at here?" Roman asked.
"Well, we already have someone who comes in the pub eager to buy it but he wants to give us fifty thousand less than what we are asking, so if we can convince him to up his offer then we could be talking weeks, possibly two months."
"We've already put an offer in for Chariots which has been accepted, it's just a case of selling the pub now to raise the rest of the capital."
"Sounds like you've had this all worked out for ages," Roman declared, uncharacteristically moody.
"Look, I know it looks like we have been going around behind your backs with this, but honestly that's not been the case. We just didn't want to say anything until things were at an advanced stage. At the end of the day this affects us all in a big way and we didn't wanna start disturbing your lives until it was absolutely necessary."
Roman sighed. "Well what about where we live, where will that be?"
"above the club of course, its got ten times more space than here, you'll each have massive bedrooms trust me. I can show you the brochures later if you want?"
"That'll be cool, be nice to see what this place looks like." I said, a little more positive than Roman.
"So Joey and Jack, you're probably wondering about how this affects your little jobs you have here right now yes?"
"It had crossed my mind," I added first, before Jack nodded.
"Well for you Joey, if you are not planning on going to college then you are welcome to have a full time Job at the club. As the place is a lot bigger there will be more work to do there. In terms of pay, I will agree to pay you the going rate for someone your age, but with that pay means you will need to turn up to work on time, and do your full hours, like I would expect any other member of staff."
"Can I think about it?"
"Sure, discuss it with Jack and let us know. Joey, have you decided on what you want to do when you leave school?"
"Not in depth, but I would like to go to college as it was what I planned to do before I came here."
"Ok, well look, why don't the two of you discuss it and let me and Andy know what you decided. I didn't dictate to my boys what they wanted to do when they left school, so I will give you the same freedom. However, I will say to you what I said to them, if you don't go to college, you will need to get a job, whether it be at the club or somewhere else. I don't want any of you to sit around bleeding the state dry, that's not how I expect any of you to behave. Same goes for you Roman, if the band does not earn you enough money, you need to look for another job to subsidise your income. There, I have said my two cents on the matter… any more questions?"
The three of us looked at each other before shaking our heads.
"Ok then, well we still have a business to run, Joey, go and get started in the cellar, I'll be down in a sec to start on this month's stock take. Andy can you handle the kitchen today and I'll have Christie run the bar until I'm done?"
"Sure Honey,"
"Ryan, should be in about twelve to relieve you anyway and…"
"Uh… well no he won't mum, I sort of sacked him last night," Roman said, pulling a face.
"You sacked him… your funny Roman."
"No really, I did, the guy is a creep, he was being derogatory towards Joey last night and was waiting in the street for him to come home well after we closed, then he made up some story he left something here when he didn't, and If I hadn't have been there I think something bad might of happened to him," Roman babbled on trying to get as much out as possible so my mum wouldn't hit the roof.
"Well since you are happy firing staff without telling me you better get your apron on and help your father in the kitchen today, seeing as I now have no chef."
"Wow, you took that better than I thought," Roman remarked, scratching his head.
"Not really, I was gonna get rid of the asshole anyway, you're right he is a slime ball and anyone that hurts any of my boys has no place working for me. She said before smirking at him. "Right, let's go people chop, chop!"
Mum marched off out of the kitchen leaving the four of us lads sitting at the table. "Has she been to boot camp or something dad?" I asked, taken aback with my mum's bossiness all of a sudden.
"Don't ask me Joey, I just live here,"
"Yeah," I replied, as he got up and walked out. "Well, I better get down to the cellar."
"Not on your own you won't," Jack said. "I'm working with you today."
"You are not! You're still not well!"
"Joey, if I'm well enough to go back to school tomorrow then I'm well enough to kick a few crates about, let me do something before I die of boredom!"
"Hey Jack, I'm taking my car in for a service later if you wanna come along for the ride?" Roman offered, looking at me as if to get permission.
"Don't look at me Roman, he's your boyfriend!" I teased, before walking out and into our bedroom.
"Hey wait up," Jack called, appearing moments later. "Do you mind if I go with Roman, it would be nice to get out and go somewhere?"
"Don't be silly of course I don't, you do what you wanna do, I'll be busy all day anyway."
"Cool, thanks."
"Thanks… so now your thanking me for letting you go out? Am I really that bad?"
"Yeah, but I love you like that. I like being dominated," He said, winking.
"Oh shut up and give me a kiss." Jack came over to me and I pulled him into me, pushing my hands into his jean pockets. We gently kissed, exploring each other's mouths, until I started to get a boner.
"Gotta run!"
"Yeah, thought you might," Jack said, grabbing my hard member through my Jeans. "I'm having some of that later."
"Only If I give you permission slave!"
"Yes master, please master!"
"Uh, that's kinda creepy, I'll see you downstairs."
The day was moving fast, with Jack and I getting most of what needed to be done by midday. The cellar has been bleached and hosed out. All the empty barrels were stacked neatly awaiting collection and I'd even managed get five lines cleaned before we opened. This week's guest ale was made up and waiting to be tapped, and Jack had bottled all the shelves in the bar.
I wiped my forehead full of sweat with my sleeve and sat down on an empty crate, popping open a bottle of coke in the crate next to me. "Want one?" I asked Jack who was tightening a nut on one of the gas bottles.
"Sure, why not."
"Joey?" called my mum.
I walked over to the stairs. "Yeah?"
"A boy is here to see you, says his name is Olly?"
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