Just Friends?
Chapter Seven
The following evening, Elly nervously rushed to the front door when she heard Chloe knocking. Elly smiled as her eyes landed on Chloe. Elly swallowed deeply as she felt the need to wrap her arms around Chloe in a hug but with Mark been in the dining room, she settled for reaching out her hand and squeezing Chloe's shoulder.
"Thanks for coming," Elly greeted.
"Thanks for having me over," Chloe responded entering her former home.
As Elly closed the front door, Chloe spotted Mark at the dining table, "Mark. Good to see you."
"Chloe," Mark bristled not looking up at his sister.
Elly reached out her hand to Chloe's arm once more to reassure her Mark was okay with her been at his home and whispered, "I'm happy to have you here."
"Makes one of you," Chloe whispered back.
Not sure what the two women were whispering about left Mark feeling uncomfortable that this could be the beginning of re-sparking what was between them that night he cancelled the wedding.
Mark tried to make a small effort with Chloe but veered into showing little respect for Elly and insulting Chloe instead, "Not going to hide it, I'm not thrilled you and Elly are back in each other's lives, Chloe. The only reason I'm allowing this is because Elly has had a bit of a stressful time recently and I refuse to allow our baby to be stressed. This is for our baby, not Elly and not you. Elly needs a friend right now, not someone who will sleep with her for the hell of it and not think about the consequences, so if you think for one second you have a shot at-"
"Grow up, Mark," Chloe interrupted, "Elly and I are just friends. I'm worried about the baby been stressed out too so if you think I would ever do anything to Elly that would stress her out more you're an idiot."
Mark rolled his eyes, realizing he had crossed a line but not wanting to apologize, "Right, whatever. You two spend time together, I'll be sitting here getting some important work done."
Elly pursed her lips at her husband's attitude, "Right. So, what are we all doing for dinner before Chloe and I watch a movie?"
Chloe watched as Elly stared at Mark as he ignored her, instead focusing on the laptop in front of him at the dining table.
"Mark," Elly addressed him, "You asked me to invite Chloe over to have dinner with us, what are we doing for dinner?"
Mark glanced up at the pair briefly, "Oh I had an early lunch break and was starving for my dinner before I left the station so I already ate and don't need anything."
Chloe watched as Elly stood there deflated that she had clearly thought she wasn't going to have to organise dinner for herself and her guest. She could see that half the dining table was covered in Elly's school work and she had clearly been marking assignments before Chloe had arrived.
Chloe backed Elly up, "Mark, Elly did tell me you wanted the three of us to have dinner together. You didn't think about that or you know think about bringing your wife home some dinner instead of thinking about yourself?"
"Elly's a big girl, Chlo, she can manage to make herself, or well the two of you, dinner. I don't need to think about every meal Elly eats. As long as the meal is healthy for the baby of course," Mark glossed over without realizing how little care he was showing.
Elly silently mouthed her apology to Chloe feeling responsible for messing up their plans for the evening already and working on her schoolwork instead of realizing she should've prepared them dinner.
Before Chloe could reassure Elly she had nothing to apologise for and it was becoming clear to her that Mark was showing how separate his affection was for their baby and Elly, Elly slunk into the kitchen. Chloe soon followed her.
Elly opened the fridge and glanced inside to work out what she could make Chloe and herself for dinner.
Before Elly could make any decisions with Chloe on what to have for dinner, Mark interrupted her, "Elly, do you have your bank statements I asked you for?"
Elly let the fridge door close as she turned around to Mark, "What bank statements?"
Mark glanced over at Elly, "I told you I'd be working on our finances this evening so we can piece together how much money we need to set aside each pay for all the baby supplies we will need to buy. I asked you to print off your bank statements."
"No, you didn't ask me to get my bank statements," Elly claimed, "All you said was you would work on the finances, you didn't ask me for any info."
Realizing that she didn't want to get in the middle of what was about to turn into a couple's squabble, Chloe left the kitchen and sat down on the single seat in the living room. Even though she could still hear Mark and Elly's argument, Chloe tried to ignore it, pulled out her phone, uploaded the UberEats app and began looking for dinner options to order for her and Elly.
"Well what did you expect me to be able to work out our financial situation with only my bank statements? Maybe I didn't specifically ask you to print your statements but use some intuition, Elly, I need to work out where in both our budgets we can cut back and save for our baby," Mark replied with annoyance.
Elly sighed, "I can print my most recent statement off next time I'm at work. Why don't you concentrate on your finances tonight and we can sit down together another night to go through mine and make a plan together?"
"Just give me your online banking details and password, I can access your recent statements and work it out for myself," Mark insisted, "If I get done with the baby budget quickly I can start setting up a joint account, shift your money into it along with mine and cancel our existing accounts."
Elly hesitated, feeling embarrassed knowing Chloe could still hear them, "We haven't really discussed that yet, Mark."
"Discussed what?" Mark asked.
Elly chewed on her lip, "Combining finances and shutting down my accounts."
"We're married, Elly, what did you think would happen?" Mark made the presumption, "Now can you give me your online access details or not?"
Elly paused but eventually stated, "Okay, yes we do need a joint account now that some of our expenses need to be covered by the both of us instead of me constantly transferring money into your account when you ask but I don't want to just cancel all my accounts and I'd like to have at least one left to myself for discretionary spending. You are more than welcome to have the same."
"Fine, if you must, but it'll still need to be in the budget how much of your pay goes into your own account for discretionary spending every pay cycle as we're both going to have to cut back our spending to save for our little one," Mark insisted, "So...access details?"
Elly ran her fingers nervously across her other wrist, "Can I just get you the bank statements another day? It doesn't all have to be sorted tonight...and I...well I mean online access gives the ability to download my bank statements from years ago that I don't feel comfortable with you looking at and even though I'm sure you wouldn't but you'd also be able to transfer money out of my accounts...like you said to a joint account and I would much prefer to sit down and do that all myself. I know I don't like dealing with finances but you don't need to do everything for me."
Realizing he wasn't going to get any help from Elly with his plans to sort out their finances that evening, Mark gruffed, "Fine, whatever. I've got some more statements in my bedroom that I need to get. Don't do anything with Chloe that you know you shouldn't while I'm not here for two minutes. And seriously, Elly, take your schoolwork and spread it out on another table, you knew I'd be working here tonight. I don't like my space been taken over."
With that, Mark stormed away from Elly.
Elly slowly walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.
When Chloe glanced up at Elly with concern, Elly ran her hand through her hair and admitted, "I am so sorry you had to hear all that. That was...completely humiliating."
"Don't worry about it, I know what Mark is like," Chloe reassured.
"Yeah but all the talk of combining our finances, restricting my discretionary spend to a level he approves, and wanting to close my accounts just because we're married...I am so humiliated right now," Elly revealed.
Elly started to wonder how it was that she let her husband treat her that way as her mind couldn't help but wander to thinking about how Chloe would tackle the issue of finances as a couple. Not specifically with herself but just if Chloe was in a relationship deep enough to come to that point.
"You have nothing to be embarrassed about," Chloe reassured, "Nobody should be forced to combine finances and cancel their accounts without an actual discussion about it. You would be completely entitled to keep your finances separate and keep your discretionary spending to whatever level you felt comfortable if you and I wer-never mind. Say how about we forget the last ten minutes and get on with our evening?"
Elly blushed, not able to hide the fact that Chloe literally just answered her unasked question about how Chloe would treat the issue of finances in a couple. As Chloe stared back down at her phone, Elly found herself gazing deeply at Chloe at the almost suggestion by her friend that Chloe was thinking about it from the point of view of them been together.
Elly's deep gaze with Chloe was broken when she remembered she was supposed to be organising dinner for them, "Right, let me just check the fridge to see what I can scrounge up for us to eat tonight before we decide on a movie."
Chloe glanced back up at Elly, "Oh don't worry about that I'm ordering us some food to be delivered here...if I can ever decide what to order you that is. My phone is too small for this. I keep looking at all the different restaurant menus and then flicking over to google to check the recipes online to see if they are suitable for pregnant women. I can't decide between the two I think are best for you."
"Okay, what are the options?" Elly asked in complete amazement that Chloe was going to so much effort to make sure the meal she picked was suitable for her when Mark didn't even care if she had dinner or not.
Chloe went to hand Elly her phone to look at it but instead Elly stood up and came over to the seat Chloe was sat in and lent down to gently hover over Chloe's shoulder, gesturing it would be easier for Chloe to show her on the phone the meal options.
Chloe breathed deeply at having Elly so close to her again, then almost felt her heart beat out of her chest when Elly reached her hand out so her hand curled around Chloe's and they held the phone in front of them together.
Showing Elly on her phone, Chloe explained, "This one is healthier and definitely safe for pregnant women but the restaurant is half an hour drive away so the uber driver probably won't get here for like an hour. Let me just click to the other one...okay... Whereas this other one is only 10 minutes away; I can't be sure if it is suitable because it depends what ingredients they use as there's a couple different recipes they could be using. You know what? I should call the restaurant before I place the order and discuss with them what ingredients they use and see if they can change them if they aren't the right ones. Or maybe I should skip the UberEats part and just drive down there and discuss it with them in person. Sometimes these things can get lost in translation over the phone and I really want to make sure they understand to cook the meal properly for you."
Elly gently rested her free hand on Chloe's shoulder, completely in awe at the level of care and respect Chloe was showing her, leaving her wondering why it was that she couldn't return Chloe's feelings for her when she had the chance, "I can't believe you would go to this much trouble for me."
Chloe frowned, "You think this is trouble? Elly, this is the simplest thing I can offer to do for you, it is zero trouble at all."
Elly found herself lost in Chloe's eyes for a moment, "As much as I would love to watch you go into that restaurant and tell them how to cook their food for me, I think we should just go for the first option. I don't mind waiting longer if it's the right choice."
Chloe exhaled gently, trying to ignore even the idea running through her mind that sometimes waiting longer for what you truly desire was the right thing to do as there was no way Elly intended her comment to be about anything except their dinner, "Okay, I'll place the order."
Elly smiled down at Chloe, her mind stuck on the idea that maybe it was possible that she wasn't just talking about dinner when she had uttered the comment about waiting longer for the right choice, "Thanks, Chlo."
Mark came strolling back into the front of the house, not happy to see his wife draped over his sister, "Back up there a little bit, Chlo. You're getting a bit too close to Elly."
Both women raised their eyebrows at him considering it was Elly that was hovering over Chloe's shoulder and had her hands curled around Chloe's hand with the phone and on her shoulder.
"Sure thing, Mark, I'll just back up further into this chair I'm sitting in," Chloe told her brother sarcastically.
Elly didn't let her hands drop from Chloe, "Mark, Chloe was just showing me the dinner options on her phone that she has gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to order for me. How about you back off if you think we're doing something wrong?"
Mark rolled his eyes at the pair and went back to the dining table to work in peace.
"Thanks for sticking up for me," Chloe whispered.
"Anytime," Elly whispered back, squeezing Chloe's shoulder, before reluctantly removing her hands from Chloe and taking her seat back on the couch.
Having ordered their food, Chloe got up and sorted out the movie for the pair to watch.
Much like the afternoon two days ago, the pair sat apart from one another in the living room with Chloe easily transfixed by the movie and Elly easily transfixed by Chloe though trying to hide it.
Only this time, Mark was seated at the dining table and couldn't help but keep an eager eye over the pair. He was pleased they weren't seated together on the couch but was annoyed when their dinner arrived and Chloe insisted on organizing it all as Elly stayed seated on the couch. Just watching Chloe hand Elly a plate of food and the smile on Elly's face as their hands seemed to touch. He felt better when they went back to their respective places across the room to eat their food.
Though as they delved back into their movie watching Mark couldn't help but wonder if he was imagining it or not that Elly kept glancing over at Chloe and was spending considerable time looking at his little sister.
Ugh Mark, I can feel your eyes on me. Why are you making me feel like I'm doing something wrong? Chloe thought.
Ugh Mark, I can feel your eyes on me. Why are you making me feel like I want to do something wrong? Elly thought.