Third chapter (final of what started off as a one-shot), I know they haven't been very long but I hope the split between the chapters seems sensible.
We talk for ages, ordering more and more coffee and exchanging outrageous Sherlock stories. I'm surprised to find that there's some chemistry there, not sexual but there's something. I find myself thinking that I could be friends with this man, who I've been sent to investigate, close to him. I like him.
It's dark outside when the waitress tells us they're closing and we have to leave. We stand and John wraps the scarf around his neck, bringing it to his nose to smell before he notices me watching him.
"Maybe we could do this again some time?" His question is hesitant.
"Yeah, maybe." He writes his number on the back of a napkin from his pocket and hands it over to me laughing.
"Like you're some girl I've picked up in a bar." He winks at me and starts walking away from me.
"I'll text you." I call after him and smile to myself. This would be a normal situation, a near romantic one, if it weren't for the man standing in the shadows. I ignore him until John is out of sight, rounding the corner and then wait for longer.
"You weren't meant to befriend him, Ivy."
"So?"
"So, I told you not to make friends with him."
"I don't care what you told me." He steps into the light, a few feet away from me and looks across at me. I refuse to look back at him.
"How was he?"
"I don't know Sherlock. In there he seemed okay, he was smiling and laughing, but he's heartbroken. There's this tiredness, behind his eyes. All the time."
"Oh." He sounds disappointed.
"What did you want me to say?" I look at him now, meeting his eyes and seeing something akin to confusion there, insecurity.
"You weren't meant to make friends with him." He turns. "Why did you do it?"
I walk away from this man without answering him, this man who still doesn't understand basic human sentiment.
"WHY IVY?" He shouts after me.
Speaking quietly I continue walking and respond, with the only thing I can think of. The truth.
"He's lonely."
Thank you for reading, reviews are welcome. Maybe it won't be the final chapter, I've been told I should continue it... What do you think?
