Thanks for your review EC Brenway!

Last chapter was definitely a Chelly teaser! Is this one the real thing with a good ol' fashioned one on one?

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Fifteen

Tuesday 19th November 2024

Chloe felt out of breath when she finally reached Power Road on her run that had started with Elly joining her but had quickly turned into her trailing long behind Elly and losing her quickly with how fast Elly managed to outrun her.

And here I thought I was fit…Elly's an entirely different level of fit…

As Chloe spotted Grease Monkeys up ahead, she smiled shyly as she saw Elly leaning against the building of the restaurant, then she finally slowed down as she reached her.

Wait…why is Elly holding a milkshake that looks 3/4's empty…? No way did Elly outrun me that fast that she not only reached Grease Monkeys that quickly, got her milkshake ordered when they are always busy at this time of morning and drink most of it…she must've thrown most of her milkshake out to make it look like she's been waiting for me for ages. I missed the way Elly would tease me like that…she thinks she's so cheeky.

"Hey," Chloe spluttered out as she reached Elly.

Elly eyed the blonde as she was out of breath, "You right there, Chlo? Look a lil tired."

Chloe placed her hands on her hips as she nearly keeled over, "Oh, good if I only look a lil tired cause I feel a lot more tired than that. How the hell did you do that?"

Elly grinned wickedly at Chloe, taking a sip of her milkshake, "Do what?"

Chloe placed one of her hands on the building wall next to Elly, "Run so damn quickly. I've been building my fitness running for years but you just outpaced me way more than you used to. I've never seen you run like that."

"Looks like you've got some work to do to catch me, Chlo. We might have to make this a regular dat…thing that we do each morning to see how much fitter you can get," Elly teased.

I almost said date!

Did Elly almost say date?! Did I want Elly to say date?!

With Chloe still catching her breath, Elly offered Chloe a milkshake Chloe hadn't even realized she'd been holding at her side, "Here, I thought after burning you off to get here quicker, it's the least you deserve."

Chloe hesitated as she looked at the drink, "Nah, I'm good, I don't really…drink milkshakes anymore…they're bad for me."

Elly eyed Chloe once more, feeling the warmth radiating from her body, "Yes, with all the healthy dairy. I know it's not great to run after digesting a drink like this but it works for me. You sure you don't want it?"

"I'm fine, really. I said before I've got breakfast at home to have, I don't mind watching you drink whilst we catch up. Besides, you really should drink the milkshake considering you obviously ditched over half of yours to make it look like you were waiting ages for me to catch up to you," Chloe rolled her eyes.

Elly then shifted to eyeing Chloe questioningly, "What do you mean ditched half my drink?"

"Nice try, Elly, I couldn't possibly have been so far behind you that you nearly skulled an entire milkshake so you threw most of it out to make it look like you've been here longer than you have. I've missed your teasing," Chloe chuckled at her.

Right…this whole pretending to be human and not use your werewolf speed and endurance…gotta keep an eye on that not to get caught out.

"You got me, can't get anything past you," Elly pretended to agree, then as she was about to take another sip of her milkshake, felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Your breakfast order," one of the Grease Monkey staff members announced.

Elly turned around to him but with both hands full, Chloe sidled up next to Elly to take it for her, smiling up at Elly as the guy went back inside the café.

Chloe's so close to me…I want to kiss her…I can't kiss her!

"Thanks, Chlo," Elly whispered.

Is Elly looking at me like she wants to kiss me? Am I looking at Elly like I want to kiss her? Why would either of us look at the other like that…we haven't been together in more than four years…and I'm married…

Chloe took a gentle step backwards, then looked down at the meal she'd taken from the guy, "Wait…you ordered us both breakfast burritos?"

Yes…I ordered them for…us…not just myself cause that's an average meal for me nowadays and I eat more than three times a human adult does…you are seriously failing at this inability to get caught out at how different you are…

"Of course," Elly lied, "Your healthy breakfast at home can wait 'til tomorrow."

Chloe frowned, "No, I meant breakfast burritos at Grease Monkeys take like 10 minutes to be served first thing in the morning. There's no way you got these so quickly…and there's no way in hell you outran me that much."

Oh, right…that…just another way I'm failing at pretending to be a normal human…cause you're not and Chloe's gonna figure that out before you know it if you keep this up…

"An order must've cancelled and they had them prepared already," Elly shrugged off, then pointed to an empty table.

After sitting down at the table, Elly was surprised when Chloe placed both meals in front of her, "You're not hungry?"

"Nah, I'm good. Sorry, I should've said before you went to all the trouble of arranging us this meal…I'm not really…eating this kind of food at the moment, Pierce has us hooked up with a personal chef so I've got breakfast waiting for me and I definitely prefer to eat after my run. I'm sorry," Chloe apologized.

Oh, thank God, I'm starving and can now eat the entire meal like I'd intended…seriously, you have to stop making it so obvious your eating habits are not like they used to be… Personal chef? Ugh, Pierce!

Elly couldn't resist the glint in her eyes, "It's okay, more for me."

"You're going to eat all that?" Chloe surveyed both the breakfast burritos and the milkshakes as Elly sipped the last of the first milkshake, "And then…run home?"

"You might actually beat me home, Chlo," Elly teased, trying to distract Chloe from her point that it was a lot of food that she was going to eat.

"Well, I'd better after you attempt to eat all that, Elly, otherwise I'm more unfit than I thought I was," Chloe teased back.

"I've missed this," Elly replied.

I've missed you, everything about you is so familiar yet so foreign. I feel like I'm spinning and you're the only thing on my mind, Chlo. Why do I feel like this? It can't be because you're my mate, Chlo, you can't be…our lives would be too complicated…you don't want to be with a werewolf…

"Same," Chloe whispered, then finally asked, "Where were you, Elly? You were meant to come to my wedding but you…disappeared…"

Elly took a moment to start eating her breakfast, "What happened to our bet that the second one to Grease Monkey's would need to tell the other three things that has happened since I left?"

Chloe chewed on her lip, "You came up with that bet knowing full well you were going to beat me here. What don't you want to tell me?"

"Nothing, I just…I want to hear about your life, Chlo…and I talked enough about myself yesterday with everyone and Bea almost kinda hates me but is trying to get over it…and I'd rather hear your story," Elly admitted then off Chloe's continued look, "Tell me three things and I'll…tell you my story when we get back to yours."

"Fine," Chloe conceded, "There's really not much to tell. I'm still married to Pierce, I no longer work at the hotel, and Mark and Paige ended up together after she was in Adelaide visiting her adopted parents, they got married and moved back here with their daughter and Gabe to live with David and Aaron and their two foster boys. I look after the kids in the mornings and afternoons. That's kinda the last four years of my life…not much to say as I said."

"There's got to be something more than that," Elly persuaded Chloe softly.

Chloe shrugged, "I live a pretty simple life now…no complications."

Like me coming back and my entire world spinning off its axis cause I think you may be the person that nothing will come between us being together…yet there's so many things in our way…

Chloe fiddled with her finger nails, "Mark and Paige moved back here last year cause…my mum…she…well y'know, she fought the Huntington's as long as she could but it…she passed peacefully in her sleep…which is probably more than we could have asked for with how much the disease affected her. Not that I could be there for her. Pierce didn't want me to see her in her last few days alive even though she asked me to come with Aaron to see her. Aaron went alone and the three boys were with her the evening before she passed. Pierce didn't want me seeing my future...I'll never be sure if that was the right decision or not but I'm not sure I would've been able to handle being there her final days."

"I'm really sorry, Chloe. I trust that you did make the right decision for what you would've been capable of dealing with losing Fay...even if Pierce drove the decision. I'm sure you did have people around you to support you but I can't help but feel that I should've been there for you," Elly apologized.

"That would've been nice," Chloe whispered, before sighing, "Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure," Elly agreed, regretting just how much of Chloe's life she had missed, changing the subject back to something Bea had already mentioned but she wanted Chloe's take on it, "You said you don't work at the hotel anymore? Where's your career taken you?"

Chloe shuffled in her seat awkwardly, trying to focus on Elly's ability to finish the first breakfast burrito as she started on the next one, "About as far as my home...I don't work anymore...at all. After I got married, Pierce...didn't like the idea of his wife working when he had the financial security that we didn't have to. He's still at the hotel as he loves it and it's his investment. I got into some artwork...found I had a talent for it so I spend my days working on my art... Plus, I look out for Mark and Aaron's kids for them to get them to and from school. They're great kids."

"Are you happy with that?" Elly asked simply.

Chloe shrugged, "Sure, it's a good life not having to worry about hotel politics. My art is something I get to do for myself and I love looking after the kids. It helps Aaron, Mark, David and Paige all stay in their full-time jobs and helps them makes things easier. Paige even took over my old job being Terese's assistant. Well, technically there was another girl who won the role after I gave it up but when Paige and Mark returned to Erinsborough to live with the guys, the role quickly became available. It was Paige's job before I took it on. Pierce and Terese love having her back."

Elly soon finished her meal, noting to herself that the blonde didn't really seem as happy with how her life had panned out despite how she was talking about it, "What else has been going on in your life? Are you and…Pierce happy?"

Oh, why did you have to go and ask that? Cause maybe if Chloe is your mate then deep down you need to know how impossible it'd be for you to be with her…

Happy…? Stable and unfulfilling…more like it…

"Yeah, we're happy, he's a really good guy and he treats me well," Chloe settled on.

Impossible…

Before Elly could open her mouth the respond, Chloe looked at her watch, "We should head back or I'll be late when the kids get to my place. Don't suppose after all that food, you'd like to walk for a bit whilst I'll get a head start on my run to beat you back?"

"Not a chance, Chlo," Elly winked, "You know I like to win and I always get what I want."

But is what I want…you?

Next time - Elly runs into Pierce - can Elly make plans with Chloe without Pierce interfering or will Pierce drop a bombshell on Elly?