Road to Anywhere (boyxboy)

Chapter 8: Local people

"Is it me, or did you just hear a pin drop?"

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A strange smell hits Oliver and Morton as soon as Morton pushes against the brass plate of the door. That familiar pub smell of beer soaked varnished wood and log fires filled the air.  As they step inside, the door makes an unwelcome bang, causing the few patrons of the establishment to turn their attention towards them. There is an awkward silence for a few seconds, before people return to what they were doing before. 

"Is it me, or did you just hear a pin drop?" Oliver whispers, already feeling an element of fight or flight fill his bones. 

"A total pin drop." Morton agrees as he dares to take a step towards the bar, his footsteps soundless on the dark patterned carpet, probably hiding a multitude of sins. 

Oliver follows, a fraction behind Morton as they reach the bar, adorned with cardboard coasters, advertising the ales they must have on offer. A little further, rested a crystal effect glass bowl, filled with salted peanuts. Oliver stares at the snack, wondering how many unwashed hands had dipped their fingers in the bowl. 

"Yes, what'll you be havin'?" Oliver overts his gaze from the snack to see a middle aged woman looking at them from behind the bar, who hadn't been there a moment before. 

Oliver looks at Morton, hoping he will take the lead. "Good evening, we were wondering if we could have two pints of your finest ale." 

"J…just a coke for me, I'm driving." Oliver mumbles in Morton's ear. 

"Uhh…. One pint of your finest ales and a coke please." Morton smiles, with the woman seemingly amused by the request. 

"You're not from around 'ere are ya' " she says, pulling a pint of Craft beer into a glass." 

"No." Morton replies, trying his best to keep up the over friendly demeanour.

"Where ya' from?" She glances at the pair before putting the pint on one of the coasters. 

"London."

"London eh? Most of the kids round here leave for the big city, not the other way around…."Ice?" She holds up the second glass, Morton looks at Oliver who nods. 

"Yes please." He says smiling once again. 

"Your friend. Doesn't he speak?" She chuckles. The apparent comment makes Oliver's heartbeat race. He could feel the situation getting the better of him." 

"Excuse me." He manages to say before turning away from the bar to head for a small table out of the way. 

"He's just shy." Morton says, glancing over to where Oliver had gotten to. He wondered if coming in here was a good idea after all. He settles the payment and takes the drinks over to Oliver, sitting on the stool opposite. "We can drink these and leave. I'm sorry if being in here makes you uncomfortable."

"No…it's fine." Oliver picks up his coke and takes a mouthful. "It's just me being an idiot."

Morton puts a hand on Oliver's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "You're not an idiot. We all get a bit, y'know, fish out of water sometimes."

"I guess." Oliver smiles. He glances over at the bar, seeing a man sitting there watching them, he looked in his early 40s, maybe older." Oliver shrugs off the hand. "Let's just drink these and go. I don't like how that guy is watching us."

"What guy…?" 

"No, don't…" Oliver tries to stop the inevitable, but Morton turns around anyway to see the only man at the bar still watching. Morton raises a hand and wiggles his fingers, giving off a wave, accompanied with a cheeky smile. It makes the man turn away to once again focus on his pint. Morton then turns back to face Oliver who looked evidently mortified. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"What? He was looking and so I waved. He was either going to wave back or mind his own business." Morton again takes another sip of his drink. "You worry far too much Olly, just relax. This is our trip of a lifetime!" He proceeds to take his camera from his pocket. "C'mon, scooch in. Let's take a picture together." 

Oliver reluctantly moves his stool a little closer to Morton, as they both stare at the camera, Morton's smile coming a little easier than Oliver's as he again glances over at the male, who was once again watching them. 

But the man's stare gets distracted all of a sudden by an almighty bang as through the door of 'The Cock Inn', comes the sight of a familiar face. "Where are they? I know they're in here." Comes below from none other than the man with the honch. 

"What are you shouting about Merve?" The woman behind the bar calls as she puts down her cloth she had been using to buff up the beer taps. 

"The owners of that rusty old camper outside. I'll 'av 'em for frightening my herd." He says as he begins to look around the near deserted pub. 

"You mean the two lads from London? They're over there…'' but as soon as the lady looks over to the small table, it is empty, with their eyes following a trail to a door closing, leading to the toilets. 

"Quick, in here." Morton beckons Oliver as they head into a cubicle, with a frosted wooden window above the toilet. Morton begins to pull at the catch, with it resisting a little with the wooden frame being painted shut. "Come on, come on." 

"Let me try." Oliver pushes ahead, trying to lift the handle with all of his might. 

"I know you're in 'ere!" The boom of a voice can be heard as the bathroom door opens, causing Morton to slam the cubicle door closed and lock it, he leans his back against the door. "You will have to come out sooner or later." The man on the other side bellows. 

"Hurry up!" Morton says through clenched teeth as the back of the door is being hammered with a fist behind him. 

"I can't…" but Oliver stops talking when he sees the silhouette of a person through the frosted glass of the window. He then sees a tool, trying to prize the window open from the outside. 

Bang bang bang …

The noise of the cubicle door begins again. "Come out and face the consequences!' The man with the honch hollers. 

"We're trapped." Oliver panics as he sees the silhouetted figure behind the window, succeed in their mission, as a slim tool prizes its way between the opening, with the window beginning to slowly open…