Chapter 2:
Delia woke up the next morning with a sore head, she blamed herself for staying up all night without getting any sleep.
Once out of bed Delia stumbled on her way to the bathroom, and grabbed the banister for support. When reaching the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced at the sight before her. She had bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep, and a rash in the developing stage, which looked like it had been caused by stress.
Delia left the bathroom and headed downstairs to make herself a tea. While the kettle was boiling Delia fell onto the sofa and checked her phone beside her. She blinked a few times as she saw she had a couple of messages.
'Hi Delia, it's me Patsy, just wondering if you slept okay? And if you're still on for today?'
Another message
'Please just let me know you're okay.'
Delia looked confused, and then suddenly remembered the early morning phone call she previously had with Patsy.
It was decided Delia was going to visit to Patsy in the late afternoon at her house. They both agreed to meet as they wanted to have a chat about a couple of things.
The morning and afternoon flew by, and Delia found herself getting ready to head over to Patsy's. She threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, followed by a jumper over the top, and brushed her hair through before heading out of the door.
Delia opened her car and sat down behind the wheel, shutting the car door behind her. She knew where Patsy lived, and had previously drove past a few times during the year to see if she could catch a glimpse, but gave up after she had no luck.
She pulled away, and set off for the journey to Patsy's house. It didn't take long thankfully, as Delia knew the backroads to bypass all the city traffic. On arrival Delia parked a few houses down, and walked slowly up the pavement to the house, not wanting to draw any attention in case she had parked outside.
As Delia walked up the garden path to the house, she could see the blinds tweaking in the front room, but didn't look up as she knew it would be Patsy keeping a look out. Delia knocked softly, and Patsy swiftly opened the door to greet her.
At first Delia felt a bit awkward, did they say hello? Shake hands? Hug? She thought to herself was it too weird to hug after such a long time? But before she knew it Patsy pulled her forward and wrapped her arms around her for a hug.
"Hello," Patsy said smiling, and stood back to let Delia in.
"Hi," Delia said stepping in the doorway, and removing her shoes.
"How are you feeling?" Patsy paused, "after this morning?"
"Oh I'm fine, just very tired," Delia responded. "How are you?"
"I'm good, felt like a lifetime today, waiting for you, but it'll be worth the wait right?" Patsy said while looking at Delia.
Delia nodded and smiled in response, and walked towards the living room.
Patsy could sense Delia was a little nervous and shouted through to her "Fancy a drink?"
Delia looked up, "No thank you, I'm okay, you're more than welcome to make yourself one though."
Delia comfortably sat down on the sofa and reached for the remote.
A few minutes later Patsy returned with a hot drink for herself and some biscuits.
"I brought these through in case you wanted any," she paused and offered the plate to Delia.
Delia took the plate and helped herself to a few of the biscuits before balancing the plate between them on the sofa.
Patsy cleared her voice in attempt to start the conversation.
Delia looked over in response, "Pats I'm not sure where to start, because things ended so badly last time," she said quietly.
Patsy took a sip and placed her mug in front of her on the coffee table. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk about it, or just start a fresh?"
Delia raised her eyes slightly, "Start a fresh?"
Patsy nodded.
Delia shrugged.
"Have I completely got the wrong idea?" She said confused.
"I came here Patsy to talk about everything, but I just can't." Delia said her voice breaking at the end as if she was going to cry.
"Just try, please Deels?" Patsy said in a soft tone, and took Delia's hand within her own.
Delia shook her head, and bit her lip hard as she could feel herself crying.
"Please?" Patsy said rubbing the back of Delia's hand.
A very high pitched "No," escaped from Delia's lips as she crumbled, tears splashing onto the clasped hands between them.
"Oh Delia," Patsy said reassuringly, and pulled Delia in for a cuddle.
After a few minutes Delia calmed down, and wiped the stream of tears from her face.
Still looking away from Patsy she blurted out "I can't get over the 8 months I was left in limbo land, you hated me, and with every last piece of hope in my body I still moved from Wales to be with you." Delia paused.
"I moved to London, and kept trying to see you, but you still didn't want me." Delia said again, her voice sounding like she was going to cry.
Patsy remained silent and loosened her grip.
"I begged you Patsy, on my hands and knees to take me back, but you physically pushed me away." Delia said slightly raising her voice.
Again Patsy remained silent but let go of Delia completely.
"Patsy Please!" Delia exclaimed and raised her voice properly half upset she wasn't getting a response.
Patsy stood up from the sofa abruptly and moved quickly towards the door.
"Patsy! Running away doesn't solve anything."
All Patsy could see was red, her heartbeat was pounding in her chest and her ears ringing with the sound of Delia raising her voice, she needed to get away. Never had Delia spoken to Patsy like that before.
"You do a good job of that don't you Pats?" Delia shouted rather loudly while running towards the door and holding onto the frame as Patsy ran up the stairs.
Patsy ran, she had completely got the wrong idea, she didn't realise Delia felt this way. She just needed to get a way as she couldn't deal with the confrontation, it made her feel physically sick.
Patsy found herself in the bathroom, and quickly shut the door behind her, as she she could hear footsteps running up the stairs. She slid onto the floor, and brought her knees up to her head, to shield herself.
She could hear Delia sobbing the other side of the door, causing Patsy to cry even more. Why couldn't she have answered Delia and just told her everything? Patsy hated herself for what she had done to Delia all those months ago. At the time Patsy was really struggling, and ended things when Delia was in her final year of nursing school in Wales.
Their relationship for part of it was long distance, but it hadn't stopped Delia from seeing her, she'd travelled to London on a few occasions to see her, and had plans to live in London as soon as she finished nursing school.
Patsy remained with her back pressed up against the bottom of the door, her fingernails digging into her arms trying to suppress the emotional pain. She could hear Delia the other side of the door tapping lightly and crying. Patsy didn't know what to do.
"Pats I'm sorry." Delia whispered lightly between sobs.
"Please let me in." Delia pleaded.
Delia knelt against the door and knocked softly. She knelt back as she heard movement behind the door, and the door start to unlock.
Patsy moved slightly, enough for Delia to squeeze through the gap to join her in the bathroom.
Delia wrapped her arms around Patsy and clung to her tightly. Patsy remained in the same position with her fingernails still digging into her arms.
Delia looked down and could see Patsy was physically hurting herself, she made a slight "Oh," sound and released her grip on Patsy, and brought her hands to cover over Patsy's fingertips.
Patsy felt Delia's small gesture and stopped immediately, still lightly crying.
Between half sobs Patsy cried out, "All this time Delia I wanted you, I needed you."
Delia remained silent.
"And I pushed you away." Patsy admitted. "I never meant to hurt you."
Delia rubbed the back of Patsy's hand. "It's okay, I'm sorry I shouted." Delia whispered and took Patsy's hand within her own. "But I needed to tell you."
Patsy remained still.
"How about we have a proper chat another time? We've both gotten pretty worked up, and I need to get going soon." Delia looked sad as she didn't want to leave.
Patsy looked up quickly, "Leave? Why?" She questioned.
"I've got work," Delia chucked. "Patients in need of Nurse Busby."
Patsy shot back. "Well in that case im in need of Nurse Busby too."
Thank you for reading! Any comments and recommendations are welcome. All mistakes are my own, chapter 3 will be up soon!