"Chloe?" Evan said stepping into the flat. He saw her stretched out on the sofa, glass of Prosecco in her hand. Next to a tub of celebrations. The smile dropped off her face. "Evan, this is my friend Fiona."
"Hiya!" Fi said
"Lovely to meet you Fiona," Evan said charmingly and came over to shake her hand. "I've heard a lot about you."
"All bad I hope." Fiona giggled.
"Of course." Evan teased back.
Chloe had gone quiet and sat up, Fiona noticed. She's observant like, that but she didn't say anything.
"Where are you staying Fiona?" Evan asked "I can drop you back."
"I told Fiona she could stay here." Chloe told Evan flatly.
"Ah nah." Fi said "if it's a problem I'm sure I can find somewhere else."
"Oh right, you should have said Chloe and I would have stayed at my sisters. There's only one bedroom, not really room for 3 of us. I mean I know I said to treat my flat like your own but Chloe" Evan said evenly
"I'm happy to snooze on the sofa." Fi smiled.
"We've ordered Pizza!" Fiona said "I'm sure there's enough for 3."
"Pizza?" Evan asked "I though we were trying to eat healthy Chloe." He looked at her and she stayed silent. "I'm sure one day won't matter!" Fiona smiled "you've lost weight Chloe."
"Doesn't she look great." Evan smiled at her.
"One day won't hurt, you're right Fi." Chloe finally spoke.
They spent the evening as a three, Chloe picked at a piece of pizza and was quite quiet. Evan was very charming towards Fiona.
By the time Chloe woke up the next morning Evan had gone to work. He'd left an note on the pillow
Gone to work, love you, there's salad in the fridge if your peckish. I'll make a corgette lasagne when I get back.
Chloe screwed up her nose, she didn't understand why people thought it was a good idea to make pasta out of vegetables. She was the kinda girl who likes pizza and burgers. She always told her mum that sushi was her favourite, she did like sushi but it was more that her mum didn't. She showered and put some leggings on. When she went into the living room Fiona was on her laptop. She closed it when Chloe walked in. "Teacher life, always creating worksheets or marking. At least when you're not on shift you're free."
"You've got to be kidding!" Chloe answered "I'm always prepping for theatre or doing my clip project. Oh it's really incredible because I've found that..."
"Chloe, you've lost me already honey." Fi said and Chloe laughed
"I could never be a doctor. Far to complicated and scary" Fiona continued
"Girl." Chloe laughed "there's nothing scarier than pre-teens to me and you teach them every day."
"Whatever floats your goat," Fi said and they both burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was an in joke from when they were teens. There was a Slovak girl in their class at school who truly thought that whatever floats your goat was the idiom and ever since that's what they'd used. "Poor Zuzanna." Chloe laughed "she probably has no idea we still use that, I saw on Instagram she's an editor now. She's done so well since she could barely speak English when she was 13."
"Talking of other friends." Fi said much more softly "Eilidh and Soph miss you too. They came to the wee party we had for Aly's graduation." At school Chloe and Fi were inseparable but usually they made a four with another set of best friends Eilidh and Sophie. Fiona was always Chloe's best friend but Eilidh and Sophie were close seconds. "We're worried about you Chlo, With all this stuff with your mum and your brother..."
"You told them?" Chloe asked Fiona accusingly
"No," Fi answered, "I wouldn't. You know that. They were just saying about how they were worried about how distant you'd been...look Chloe we know that sometimes when you bottle things up you struggle to cope."
"I'm fine!" Chloe said. A little too quickly and a little too loudly.
"Chloe. I know you better than that, that your fine means, absolutely not fine." Fi took Chloe's Hands and Chloe slid her eyes away. "If you can look me in the eye and tell me you're ok I'll believe you, but right now I don't." Chloe shrugged. "Look Chloe, I've got to get my flight this afternoon, and I hate that you're hurting so much and I'm so far away. But I can FaceTime whenever you need me or ring and anytime you can get time off you're welcome in Barcelona."
"Thanks" Chloe said quietly. "But Evan's got my back."
"Look Chloe about Evan. Yesterday evening before Evan came you were the happy, energised, fun Chloe that I know and love. As soon as Evan came home you switched to the closed Chloe, the anxious Chloe."
"I was tired, that's all. Evans amazing he let you stay over after all, he's so charming."
"He is very charming, I don't dislike him. I don't know him. I don't like the way you act when he's around."
"Oh for God sake Fi. You're starting to sound like my so called Mother."
"You change when he's around. I know you don't like me saying this but I feel I have to tell you. Remember that promise we made when we were teens that we'd never let a boy come between us?"
Chloe smiled she did remember it wasn't a hard promise for her to make. Fi had had a string of boyfriends at school. Chloe hadn't. She was too busy working and studying to become a doctor. She'd had the normal teenage times of hanging out with her friends too. Chloe's favourite was every few months when her, Fi, Eilidh and Sophie would go to Primark and each try and find the ugliest outfit and vote for who's was the worst.
"Do you remember our Primark game?" Chloe asked.
"Of course I do. How did Sophie have the ability to look good in everything even hideous dresses." Fi's phone buzzed. "Chloe, my taxis here. I have to go." Fi hugged Chloe. "Chloe, look after yourself. I'm always on the end of a phone." Fi headed for the door. But Chloe followed her and hugged her back harder. "I'm sorry Chlo I have to go.Love you, stay in touch." And with that Fi had gone.
Does she even care? Of course she does. Then why didn't she stay? Because her life's in Spain now. But she's your best friend. Friends don't leave friends who are in trouble. She doesn't care about you. No one does. Even your mother didn't care enough to tell you the truth. Everybody hates you. You're worthless. You're a monster. You're...
The sweet release of the blood pouring down her leg stopped the thoughts in their tracks and Chloe could breathe again.
