If you're reading Crumble to Dust, I'm working on it, it's just being slower than I would like. If you aren't reading it, go and have a look. In the meantime, thank you for giving this fic a chance and please review.
It began with admiration. It always began with admiration. Shaz was a case in point, beautiful, smart and out of his league to the point that how could he not follow her around like a lost puppy? Drake was all that and something more, completely and utterly unattainable.
There was no lightning bolt of realisation. No moment when it hit him that a crush on his superior officer, who barely thought of him as a friend and seemed more interested in the Guv, could ever be a good idea. But when the idea grabbed hold of him, it became difficult to detach him from it.
And then something far worse grabbed hold of him, even as Shaz hung from his arm and Ray was giving him looks as if to say, I know what you're thinking. Ray didn't have a clue, he thought his mind was all on Keats. As the Guv writhed on the floor and Keats was piercing him with that ungodly stare, he tried to focus on her instead.
"Look at it, Alex!"
And that's what did it. He had said her name before, but never to her face. The taste of each syllable on his tongue, the marriage of the soft l and the finality of the x and the way she didn't chastise him for using her name almost stopped his heart from beating. He could barely feel Shaz next to him anymore, never mind feel anything for her. It was all Alex. The emotions of the crush felt like a left-hand scrawl compared to the beautiful calligraphy of love.
In the end, he had to follow Keats. He had to get out of that room, away from her and away from the Guv. He could hear Ray and Keats talking in front of him, and when he turned around, Shaz smiled at him. He turned away and tried to ignore the snakes in his stomach, the knowing smirks on Keats' face and his own paranoia.
By the time they had reached the elevators, Chris had realised something terrible. Alex Drake, whoever she was and wherever she had come from, could see into the future. He, Chris Skelton, could read enough into Alex's inoffensive friendliness towards him to know that her future would never, ever include him.
