Connections

With one week until Christmas, David Poulter is on his way to a reunion of his Chemistry degree group, fifteen years after they all graduated from Manchester University. He's looking forward to seeing his old friends. They've lost touch over the years, and it will be good to see them all again. Especially Cameron Trent. Talk about the one that got away... Still, David wasn't out when he was a student, and as for Cameron, David didn't have a clue as to his friend's sexuality. So when David finds himself unexpectedly sitting opposite Cameron on the train to Manchester, he can't believe it. And when he learns that not only is Cameron gay, but that his confident exterior hid a shy young man who was too nervous to come right out and ask him on a date all those years ago, the trip up north takes a new direction - one that David is not going to forget. And Christmas might be very different this year. 18,600 words