prompts —
our own little secret, abuse.
calming influence
I wanna scream till the words dry out.
The first time they meet is in a café in the summer of '09. She's sat at the back of the café, absent-mindedly running her finger along the rim of her polystyrene cup that contains a black coffee, beside her is a novel open halfway; the corner of the page folded over.
She doesn't get an awful time to read with her job or her hectic family life hence the reason she found herself in cafe's along the seafront; with a coffee and her book. It was nice to lose herself in the pages of her book, forgetting the stresses of her home life.
She brings the polystyrene cup to her lips and takes a sip, the golden bracelet sliding down her arm exposing the purple bruise she'd tried to keep hidden. She stood up quickly not taking in her surroundings and knocked into someone, sending their coffee flying over them.
"Oh God, I'm ever so sorry." Jill apologised as she knelt down to retrieve the now empty coffee up. As she stood up, her eyes fell upon the most handsome man she'd ever seen. For a moment she couldn't prise her eyes away from him.
He smiled, "It's okay, it was my fault I wasn't watching where I was going."
She handed him a couple of paper napkins from her own table, "Still it was my fault, I collided with you because I was in a hurry. Could I buy you a replacement coffee? My way of apologising for throwing perfectly good coffee over the floor."
"Are you not in a hurry?"
She could feel the heat raising to her cheeks and she smirked; "I was but a better offer came along."
He laughed and she was grateful. That comment could be taken either way, one being friendly and the other being a man-eater. They finally introduced themselves to one another, exchanged names and spent the rest of the afternoon engaging in a lot of small talk.
Gordon noticed the half opened book on the table and nodded towards it before asking; "What book are you reading?"
"Oh that," she blushed, her cheeks turning a rosy colour. Although she didn't mind people knowing that she liked to read, it was still embarrassing to be questioned about what books she liked; "It's called PS I still love you."
"So you like romance?"
"Well it depends on whose asking I suppose."
They headed home before five, both explaining that they had their families to return too. It felt strange for the pair of them, to find something in common with a stranger and to get a feeling they could become something more.
She wondered when she go home, if she'd ever meet Gordon Ormerod again.
Just like their first meeting, the second time they met was also unplanned. The date's September 18th and she wasn't aware of the fact that the man she met three weeks previously was a Doctor, a fact she only discovered when she'd been taken to the local Accident and Emergency Department after "falling down the stairs"."
She was sat in the cubicle, the gold bracelet that she'd worn that day once again hiding the purple bruise that had been inflicted on her by her abusive husband.
Jill twists the bed sheet around her finger, weighing up her excuses in her mind. She knew it would be a battle to convince the Doctor's and Nurses' that she had slipped and fallen down the stairs especially with the injuries she had sustained.
She chewed her lower lip, feeling slightly nervous when the curtain opened and the Doctor came in. Her eyes widened in horror as she realised who the Doctor stood in front of her, Gordon Ormerod, the man she met three weeks previously.
"Jill?" She stared down at the bed, "I didn't know you were a Doctor."
She swallowed hard and went to leave. If it wasn't hard enough that she found herself on the receiving end of her husband's bad mood but the place she considered her place of safety wasn't anymore. He caught her wrist gently, "Please don't go."
"I have too." She answered firmly. She couldn't stay because she knew she'd be questioned. She knew he wouldn't believe she'd simply fallen down the stairs and she'd have to admit, out loud, that she was being abused. (and she couldn't deal with that just yet)
"Please," he's somewhat persuasive and she eventually relents, gently tugging her arm free from his grasp and sitting back down on the bed. She crosses her legs and listens as he asks the dreaded question; "What happened?"
She's silent for a moment, "I fell down the stairs."
"You don't get injuries like that from falling down the stairs," he pointed out.
"Are you calling me a liar?" She shot back and he shook his head and cursed himself. He knew what ever had happened it had taken all of her strength to come here tonight and he was definitely the last person she expected to see.
"Did someone do this to you?"
She doesn't answer and he sighs, "Jill. I saw the bruise on your wrist three weeks ago. I didn't say anything because it wasn't my place to say anything."
"It still isn't your place to say anything," she replies confidently. She leaves an hour later with her cuts stitched up, without so much as a goodbye and left Gordon wondering if he'd ever see her again. Either in the hospital or elsewhere.
Meeting three happens three days after the hospital incident. She's at the café again, black coffee in a polystyrene cup and her novel beside her. It's a different one this time and she's lost in the pages, biting her lower lip gently.
He watches her from the other side of the café, noticing how beautiful she looks underneath the café light (the first thing he noticed on their first meeting) she looked healthier than the last time they met and he was relieved to see that she was still alive.
She glanced up from her book, sixth sense telling her that someone was watching her. Her eyes fell upon Gordon on the opposite side and as their eyes met, both of them smiled before returning to their duties, one absent-mindedly drinking his coffee and the other lost in the pages of a romantic book, probably hoping for a happy ending herself.
Meeting four is similar to meeting three, neither of them make conversation. Well, eventually they do but for the first hour there's a distance between them. They're at the café again, their café along the sea front and he realises he can't keep watching her walk away, wondering when or if he'll ever see her again.
He approaches her after an hour trying to gain courage to ask if she'd like to accompany him on a walk along the sea front. He's surprised when she says yes, he doesn't know what makes her consider his invitation but she stands up, puts away her book and follows him out of the shop.
They walk along the beach, the silence comfortable between the two despite them both being strangers to one another. The waves crash upon the cliffs and he turns to her and smiles softly, "You look well."
"Thank you, so do you."
"I wasn't the one in hospital covered in bruises." She sighed deeply knowing it was wishful thinking that he wouldn't bring up their previous encounter. She stopped walking, looked him straight in the eye and answered;
"I don't want to talk about it."
He took her hand in his, "You can't run away from it forever."
"I can try," she snatches her hand away but he holds onto her wrist. Neither of them know what to say, or do and so she leaves his hand on her wrist. If she's perfectly honest she'd rather have him touching her than her husband. Gordon was more gentle than Richard, he always had been.
"He knows doesn't he?"
"Knows what?"
"This, me, you, us."
Jill laughs and pulls her wrist away; "Gordon there is no us, there never will be an us."
"Don't tell me you don't feel it."
"Feel what?" There was a pause until he answered; "This!" He entwined his fingers with hers again, pulled her close and kissed her softly on the lips. Jill didn't know what to do. Her mind was telling her to push him away but her heart told her to respond which she did.
When she broke apart, she looked him in the eye and whispered; "We can't do this."
"Of course we can," he kissed the top of her head, "it'll be our own little secret."
Meeting five happens at three in the morning. She turns up on his doorstep and he doesn't ask how she got his address because that's not important. All that is important is that she's okay which she isn't because of the blood that's rolling down her cheek.
He invites her in, leads her to the kitchen and tells her to sit down. She does sit on one of the dining chairs and she apologises for turning up out of the blue, getting him involved in her business and making a bloody mess on his floor.
He shook his head but didn't verbally reply. None of that was important and he took the first aid kit from his cupboard, filled a bowl of warm water and placed them down on the table. He knelt in front of her and with a cotton bud, gently touched the cut on her cheek.
She flinched and he apologised. There was nothing spoken for a minute until curiosity got the better of him and he asked; "What was it this time?"
"He found out about us," Gordon shook his head. He couldn't believe he'd been so foolish at times to let a victim go back to her attacker. He should've protected her from the moment he found her in that hospital cubicle.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," he gently began to dab at the cut, clearing away the blood that had dried on her cheek. He couldn't understand what possessed her husband to want to bruise something that was as beautiful as Jill. Then again he could never understand why people raised their hands to one another either.
When he'd finished sorting her out, he stood up, kissed her forehead and told her; "I promise he'll never hurt you again."
And Gordon kept that promise because three years later, on that day, Jill married him and credited him as her lifesaver. He was the one to give her strength, to provide her with friendship, love and security, to give her back all those things she lost at the hands of her husband.
jottings — one of the longest one-shots I've ever written, hope you like it though.
sorry for the OOCness but I guess it's allowed right seeing as its a present day fic right? please leave a review:3