"You're fired, by the way." Trevor announced in his usual unforgiving manner. "Wait, what?! You're firing me? What for?" Cal argued, standing up from the stool he was perched on by the bar. "Yet again, you've messed up! You told me there would be no more mess ups. I can't have it, you have to go." Trevor reinforced sternly. "I did exactly what you asked me to do! I planted those drugs in the house and they found them!" It was pitifully obvious that Cal needed the extra money Trevor could offer him. He was not benefiting an awful lot from performing small gigs for a living either. "Yeah, they did find the drugs but somebody else found them first. Someone found them and moved them which means someone else knows about it. Until I find out who that is, I need you gone from here. I'm doing you a favour." Trevor explained, slowly making his way to the door and opening it to allow him to leave.
Cal stood up with a sudden look of confidence on his face and stalked his way over to the door and closed it shut again. "You're not firing me, Trev. Because if you do, I'll just have to turn you in to the police." he smirked, waiting to see Trevor's face collapse with panic. However, Trevor let out an enormous laugh that made Cal jump back a little. "Listen to me, kid. You won't say anything to the police and do you want to know why?" he growled, thrusting his eyes closer to Cal's nervous expression. "I know people who can kill you and make it look like a very, very unfortunate accident. I can have you wiped off of the face of this planet overnight. I can have you hunted, murdered and hidden where no one will ever find you. You're going to stay quiet, all right?" Trevor finished, watching his former employee crumbled into what looked like a scared and lost little boy. Cal shook his head obediently as the door was opened for him once more. "Oh, and by the way, don't call me Trev."
Staring down at his feet that morning, Sunil was once again, tremendously unimpressed and disappointed with what the bathroom scales were displaying. Having them in the bathroom in the first place was a bad idea as it became a temptation to check his weight whenever he used the toilet. On an average day, Sunil would stand on the scales up to five times a day. He knew what he was going to see each time but there was a small flicker of hope that eventually, he would see the little red pointer go down another bit. "I haven't eaten since yesterday morning..." he thought angrily to himself. Resting his hands on his stomach, he listened as the regular growls sounded, begging for nourishment. He closed his eyes and felt several warm tears leak out and fall down to his feet.
There were several sudden, loud knocks on the bathroom door that caused him to fall off of the scales but he maintained his balance (which was pretty difficult considering he was weak and dizzy most of the time). "Sunil, are you in there? Can you hurry up please, I have work in a bit!" Ste called in. "Sorry, yeah, I'm just finished now." he replied, quickly splashing water on his face and allowing himself to cool down. Unlocking the door, he tried to brush past Ste as quickly as possible, looking down and avoiding eye contact. Obviously, he hadn't given himself enough time to cool down because Ste instantly spotted his watery, red eyes. "Is everything okay?" he asked, grabbing his arm to stop him walking away. "What do you mean?" Sunil answered, slapping a confused face on himself. "You're crying. What's the matter?" Sunil's unsteady breath totally gave away the fact that he had been crying so there was no point in trying to hide it. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just upset. I thought you were going to be mad at me today and I just don't think I can handle it right now with Danni gone..." This was partially true. It wasn't exactly the reason why he was crying but it was also something weighing heavily on his mind that fit as an excuse perfectly. "Why would I be mad at you?" Ste questioned, still struggling to get Sunil to look into his eyes. "Well, yesterday and all that... I thought we were, you know, not talking again. I'm sorry, I was just being silly and upset, it's nothing!" he repeated, wiping his face again. "Listen to me you big idiot," Ste said softly, grabbing Sunil's arms again, "I'm over it! I get why you have trust issues with me. I messed up before! I easily could have brought that cocaine into the house but I didn't because I love you and you have made me a better man. Of course we're going to get mad at each other for all sorts of rubbish but isn't that how relationships work? I'm not mad at you for yesterday." he grinned.
"Wait, you're not mad at me for yesterday? What are you mad at me for, then?" Sunil asked. "I'm mad at you because you didn't bring me breakfast in bed!"
Maxine was awake before Dodger the next morning in their flat. She sat up in bed and stared into space, too afraid to go out into the kitchen alone. She contemplated waking Dodger up, planning a way to accidentally make a loud noise so that she wouldn't feel so alone and trapped but she left him to stay asleep beside her. "You're being ridiculous." she whispered under her breath. Placing both feet on the floor after a moment, she stood up and carefully made her way to the door as if she was in a tense horror movie scene. Reaching out for the doorknob, she began to open the door but hesitated and eventually decided to stay put. "Is everything all right?" Dodger asked from the bed. He rubbed his eyes and yawned deeply before turning to face her. "Yes, everything's fine. I was just... going to make some tea. Do you want some?" she mumbled. "I'll have a coffee if you're making one, love." he said with a husky, morning voice, stretching his arms and turning back into the pillow and falling asleep again. Maxine crept out of the room slowly, looking around the corner and taking a deep breath. She walked through the tiny hallway and made it to the open kitchen. She froze in utter shock as she felt someone standing behind her.
Spinning around in terror, she found that there was no one there. All she could see was the bedroom door still open. Remembering to breath again, she made her way into the kitchen and turned the kettle on. The sound of it boiling masked the paralysing silence. The kettle clicked and she began to pour out her tea. Again, she felt a presence in the room. She looked up and dropped the kettle in fright as she saw a tall, dark figure standing across the room from her. She shook her hand wildly in pain as she had spilled boiling water on her hands. What she thought she had seen was now gone but the stinging pain was still there so she ran her hands under the cold water. The sound of the kettle falling had woken Dodger up again who came rushing out from the bedroom. "What's wrong?" he asked, hurrying over to her and noticing what she had done soon after. "Oh, Max... That's a bad burn!" he gasped, examining the bright red patches all over her hands. She winced in pain as the water both soothed and irritated the burn. She also couldn't help but think of the cruel irony of burning herself where she had almost perished in flames. The image of the candle from the night before flashed through her mind again, reminding her of the worst period of time in her life.
"A few more months and I'll finally have this child out of me!" Grace groaned, taking a seat on a bar stool and massaging her growing bump. "You shouldn't be working, you know. You're always tired and complaining." Trevor laughed, pouring her a glass of orange juice. "You could have put that nicely and said I'm just a very hard and very determined worker." she grinned, now rubbing her lower back. "You should stop wearing heels all of the time too, that's only going to make you more uncomfortable. You should be going out and buying more comfortable clothes, not trying to run a nightclub." The sound of footsteps tapped up the steel steps and Cody emerged. "Good afternoon!" she winked. "Why don't you go home and put your feet up for the evening, I can take care of this place tonight." Trevor nudged Grace, who was eyeing the young woman who had just arrived up and down. Without another word, Grace stood up and strutted out of the club, arms holding her bump and not taking her eyes off of Cody.
"Eyes of steel, that woman!" Cody giggled, placing her handbag down and taking Grace's seat. "Gin and tonic?" Trevor asked, walking back behind the bar and grabbing a glass. "Please. I forgot you can't drink alcohol when you're pregnant. That's rough." she said, flinging her hair over her shoulders. "You also can't drink alcohol if you're underage." Trevor said, lifting a box of more drinks onto the bar and unloading the bottles. Cody didn't reply but continued to sip at her drink. "So, have you thought about the last time we saw each other?" she piped up after a moment of silence. "What do you mean?" he asked, stacking the bottles in their respective places. "Oh, don't you remember? I do. It was very... intimate." she whispered, leaning forward, getting closer to his face. He paused and stared at her for a moment, trying to work out why she was doing this. "Nothing happened, I don't know what you're talking about." he shrugged off. Cody flung her hair back once again. "Let me remind you." She leaned in and pressed her lips against his, fighting into his solid expression. He was obviously trying to resist kissing her back but it took very little persuasion before he grabbed the sides of her face and was kissing back just as hard.