October & The Visit - Gainesgoe Fic part 2 and 3
A tree with no leaves in the autumn.
When you’re walking by and you see a tree out of the corner of your eye, you don’t tend to acknowledge it. Walk into a tree, you acknowledge its presence but you swiftly resort to cursing it out. Some people who like trees may stop to admire it for a moment, especially if it's their favorite genus.
Ross encountered a tree that caught his attention on multiple occasions. It was quite a calloused tree. Brusque, even. Despite its sharp, vindictive surface, he still wanted to run his hands down its vitriolic trunk, feeling every curve and crevice that it had. He wanted to know the tree inside and out. He wanted to be selfish. He wanted to have the tree in his empty, fruitless garden so, in the fullness of time, he would be satisfied.
Initially, he never would have gone for such an abrasive tree.
In fact, he probably would have never been interested in any tree until he crossed paths with this one. Especially not one with rough edges or tattoos, or even…
“Are we still talking about trees, pet?”
He looked up at the reverend, shaking his head and tracing his thumb across his other hand. “No. I don’t think we are.”
“Thank the Lord. As if my day hasn’t been enough of a clusterfuck, I just thought you were just some nutter who wants to have sex with a stump.”
“Don’t think that’d be very pleasant,” Ross muttered in more of a ribbing tone. Bernice would let out a chuckle in response, standing up from the pew and lifting the small glass of sherry off of the poorly balanced Bible.
“Well, I can’t blame you, dearie. Majority of the lookers in Royston Vasey are cunts, but you best hurry up and get with one of them. You can at least try to change them, but you’ll never be able to change an inbred monkey who wipes their shit on the walls.”
Ross would actually consider this vulgar advice with a hum. He stood up and flung his khaki jacket over his arm, finalizing his decision. “Yeah. Cheers, Reverend.”
And with that, he bid his farewell and pushed himself through the rustic church doors.
Her advice wasn’t the most professional, he was aware of that. But for some strange reason, it somewhat made sense. As he walked, he took the time to slip his jacket back on, initially intending on just walking back home. But almost as if he was enticed by it, he took a different route. One slightly more rural and less riddled with maniacs. Autumn did a fine job at filling the silence with the sound of wind in his ears and dead leaves succumbing to his merciless step. Ross took his time, grazing over each and every tree that lined the old boulevard with a newfound interest.
With each tree he passed by, his walking speed decreased, until he drew to a halt, biting the inside of his lip for only a brief amount of time before he took action. He drew his phone out of his pocket and continued his journey home, holding the phone up to his ear once he had dialed a specific number.
“...Hello? Yes, hi, I was wondering if I could take out a loan..Yes. 100 pounds. Actually, best make it 200.”
Ross anticipated this day.
Matter of fact, he positioned himself on the sofa closest to the door, eyes aimlessly running over the outrageous articles splayed across the damp paper. Each headline meant nothing to him, for all he thought about in his head was how he was going to carry out the remainder of his petty little plan. Two hundred pounds would surely be enough to summon him after a couple of days. While it was a more merciful amount compared to the 2,000 the bar owner foolishly took out, he actually considered going all the way and taking a loan of ten grand. Of course, he didn’t fall through with this ; he only wanted to be paid a visit. Not to be murdered on his doorstep.
Settling with 200 might have been a good idea. He wasn’t quite certain.
About an hour or two passed, and the clock was just ticking over 4:32pm. By this point, Ross decided to save himself from the crippling boredom and actually get some leftover work done.
But as his pen hovered over the previously empty slate of paper, there came the graceless knock on the door, and almost immediately, Ross pushed himself off the sofa, flattening any creases on his dressing gown and pressing the mic down. “Doorbell works, you know.”
“Ohh! I didn’t notice that there! Fancy that!”
If there was one thing the brunette realised, it was that voice did not belong to Mr Lisgoe.
It was shrill. Perhaps a little bit annoying to listen to. It had a particular tone that you would expect from a dunce in a film. Ross, fairly disappointed, took a moment to actually look into the camera, being met with a large, simple looking man. Behind him stood someone who was more lanky in frame, and possibly just at least a bit more intimidating than the fat one. But that was hardly an achievement.
No. Neither of them could have been Lisgoe. Or so he hoped. Maybe his drunk thoughts deceived him.
Regardless, he buzzed them in, but only peeked his body out of the door a little. Once he arrived outside, the man, already breathless, began to rummage through his pocket before drawing out a crumpled piece of paper.
“All right! Says here you owe about 200 quid, so if you could-”
The two looked at each other in confusion. Ross’ tone of voice remained monotonous, whilst finally, the lanky one spoke up himself.
“Look mate, we’re not playing about. It’s been days, and really, someone with such a lovely apartment should be paying up quickly.”
Ross shook his head, closing the door a little bit more to stop either of them from trying to get any more prying glances into his private domicile. “If this was so important, I don’t see why they would send tweedle dee and tweedle dum to my door. How do I know that you’re both real loan sharks, and not trying to con me?”
“Ah-ah! Debt collectors. We don’t like the name loan shark, do we, Glenn?”
“Frankly, I don’t care what you prefer. I think you’re wasting my time.”
“I’m closing the door now.”
The larger one used his weight to keep it open, which almost baffled Ross a bit. He was very close to just paying them so they could leave him alone.
“Barry, leave it mate, he might not-”
Barry and Glenn were now both just staring at the brunette with earnest appeal. Uncomfortably, he adjusted his glasses and folded his arms, now leaning against the frame of his door. “I want you both to bugger off and send your boss.”
They exchanged a nervous glance. “No, I don’t think you’d want-”
Following his farewell, Ross managed to force the door shut, locking it and smiling audaciously before returning to the sofa.
As predicted, it didn’t take long before the brunette was greeted with a much harsher knock, but it failed to waver his decision as he made his way back to the door. He was certain who it was, and so just buzzed him in without any need for introductions.
The familiar, unimpressed face of Mr Lisgoe was in fact at the door ; it was safe to say he wasn’t in his best mood. He had one arm leaning against the door, and the other positioned on his hip. The hand in his pocket tucked his jacket out of the way, so Ross could see (and possibly appreciate) his figure more clearly.
“I’m starting to think you’re just taking the piss out of me now,” Lisgoe spat.
“Sorry you feel that way.”
“A few drinks and a walk outside doesn’t mean you can take out 200 quid from my pocket and tell my men to bugger off. Do I look like your fucking sugar daddy?”
His husky, gravelling tone of voice accentuated by his thick Northern accent echoed throughout the brunette’s apartment, but like always, he did not waver one bit.
“You know, I never took you for an idiot, Lisgoe. Not until now.”
“I haven’t spent a dime. I don’t need it.”
Lisgoe scrunched his brow in confusion, rendered speechless by the logic he was hearing. Meanwhile Ross would walk back into his apartment, leaving the door open enough to be considered an invitation inside. However, the debt collector didn’t falter from his position. Rather, he stood waiting, allowing his eyes to glaze over the portion of the flat he could see from his perspective. It was very suave. The cool undertones of the walls perfectly reflected the part of Ross’ personality he actually admired the most.
He really needed to stop thinking of him in that way.
The brunette shortly returned with a stack of money, leaning against the frame once again with that same irritating, monotone look. “Don’t get me wrong, I could do with two hundred quid. Everyone could. But actually, I just wanted to talk. To you. Sober.”
These words had Lisgoe thinking, as if you could actually see the cogs turning in his mind. Once it had processed, an unsure, coarse chuckle was what broke the silence.
“Are you having a laugh?”
Course he wasn’t. It didn’t take a lot of mind to see that Ross was dead serious, and so was the expression on his face. As this realisation came to be, Joseph’s laugh swiftly reduced down to a humoured smirk. “Wow. Shit, you really aren’t pulling my leg. Well,”
He followed these words by forcefully pulling the money back into his own hands, holding it up for Ross to see again. “This is not your plaything, Gaines. You don’t get to take it whenever you please.”
“Maybe if it was easier to talk to you, I wouldn’t have had to do that.”
“Why do you want to know me so fucking bad?”
“Same reason you want to know me.”
There was an uncomfortable pause.
Lisgoe shook his head slowly, letting out a deep huff before fumbling in his pocket. Out he drew a pen. Ross noted this, and went to step indoors. “I can grab you some pape-”
He used his free hand to grab Ross’ jaw quite abruptly. Ross quickly tensed up, and his hand raised, but only to hold onto Lisgoe’s wrist, putting up almost no fight in response. However, instead of going for the option Ross desired deep down, he began to scribble down something quickly across the skin of his neck. The pressure of the tip lightly dug into his jugular, but not enough to cause much harm. Soon after, Lisgoe let go, stuffing the pen back into his pocket. “You want to know me so bad? Start with that.”
If Ross denied not receiving a small sensation from that moment, he would have been lying.
Yet again, there was no goodbye.
Once Ross shut the door, he made his way over to the mirror so he could actually get a sense of what was written : the initials ‘JNL’ and a phone number.
Still can't comment or reply but thank you so much for the support on my last gainesgoe fic mwah LUV YALL hope u like this one
