Dancingwithmyshadow6: It is really sad. Thanks for your review x

Guest: Me too. I hated him in the show to be honest, haha.

NettieTheCarrot: Me too. Let's hope so. Enjoy the chapter :-)

Chapter Six

Lily had enjoyed lunch with Iain, earlier on that day, despite the fact that she'd thrown up halfway through the meal. It had just been nice to hang out with Iain, she hadn't actually realised how much fun he was, even if he did tell really bad jokes that she often had to pretend to laugh at.

She loved Archie, she really did, but sometimes she felt as if she needed a small break from him sometimes.

"I thought that the two of us would try and lose weight together," he suggested that evening, placing a bowl of salad down in front of her. "I'm having the same," he said, holding up his own bowl. "You read about these couples, don't you?" he said, taking the seat opposite her at the table. "Walking together, joining the gym together, cooking healthier meals together. So, I thought that I'd give it a try."

"It looks delicious," Lily said, her stomach churning as she looked down at the green stuff in the bowl. "You didn't have to go to so much trouble, though."

"Anything for my beautiful girlfriend." He smiled across the table at her. "Now eat up. You'll feel great afterwards."

Lily gulped and shovelled in a mouthful of salad. Archie was being so nice to her all of a sudden. She smiled back though and continued to eat the salad, the sickness rising inside of her. She and Archie ate in silence, Lily feeling awkward for the entire time. She managed to finish the bowl of salad but she didn't feel great at all, even though Archie had said she would. Instead, she felt the opposite; disgusting and awful.

"Thanks," Lily whispered when she was finished. "Um... would you like me to wash up?"

"Nonsense," Archie said. "After yesterday, do you really think I'm going to trust you with the taps?" he chuckled. "Tell you what, though, you can dry."

"Sure," Lily agreed. "I'm just going to pop to the bathroom first."

"Don't be long," he sighed, rolling his eyes at her.

Lily forced a small smile and headed across to the bathroom. She could hear Archie whistling to himself, as he began to run the tap. She hesitated outside the bathroom door for a few seconds before walking inside and locking it shut behind her.

Tears stung her eyes and she leant back against the door, one hand up to her mouth as she chewed on her nails anxiously. She put another hand across her stomach. She was fully aware that making herself throw up was a bad move, but she just couldn't help herself.

Salad was still food, right? Even if it was healthy? She'd still eaten something and with every bite that she'd taken, she'd gained a weight because of it. She was so indescribably angry at herself for eating it.

She made her way over to the toilet and gulped before sticking two of her fingers down her throat. The sound of the kitchen tap could still be heard so she hoped that Archie wouldn't be able to hear anything. How would she explain this to him? He'd think she was crazy.

She gasped and coughed as she suddenly started to throw up. She felt accomplishment which almost overpowered the awful amount of sickness she felt.

When she'd finished, she flushed the toilet and quickly gave her teeth a brush at the sink to hide away the smell and the taste of vomit.

She left the bathroom in silence, forcing a smile so that Archie wouldn't get suspicious. He'd just finished washing up, drying his hands on a checkered tea-towel.

"There you are," he said. "All yours now."

"Um...Did you want to watch a movie tonight?" Lily asked, walking over to the sink.

"I don't think so," he chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Aren't we a little too old for that?"

"What do you mean?" Lily frowned.

"Movies are just a bit, well, it's usually what teenagers do on a first date," he said. "I was thinking of catching an early night myself."

"Oh... okay," Lily said, grabbing one of the plates to dry up. Immediately, it slipped from her fingers and smashed to the floor. Lily stepped back and stared down at it in alarm.

Archie's face glowed with anger and Lily's insides squeezed with fear.

"I...I'm so sorry," she said in a shaky whisper.

"You useless cow!" he shouted, causing her to flinch. "I bought those! Do you realise how expensive they were?"

"I said that I was sorry!" Lily said back, terrified by his sudden change of tone. "It was just an accident, Archie."

"I can't bloody trust you with anything," Archie said.

"I'll clean it up," Lily offered desperately, crouching down to pick up the broken china.

She could feel Archie staring down at her as she tried to clean up the best. As she picked up a particularly big piece, she could feel that the edge was caked in butter. She frowned and glanced up at Archie with teary eyes.

"There's butter on this," she stated.

"What the hell are you talking about now?" He snapped. "God, trust me to get stuck with a crazy woman!"

"I...I'm sorry," she said. "I thought you might have known something about it, that's all."

"Well, I don't," he scoffed and shook his head, kicking a few of the broken pieces towards her before storming into the living room.

Lily sniffed and clutched the piece of broken plate in her hand, curling her fingers around it and gripping it out of pure anger and hurt. She suddenly gasped and dropped the china, noticing that her palm was now bleeding.

"Have you cleaned that mess up yet?" She heard Archie call aggressively from the other room.

"Um..." Lily looked down at the rest of the pieces and nodded to herself, before shouting, "I'm almost done!"

Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her trousers and she sighed and pulled it out to see who was texting her. It was Iain, out of all people. Hardly anyone texted her. Usually, it was just Archie, and his messages were never particularly nice.

Hey, Chuckles. Hope you're having a lovely evening. Really enjoyed lunch today, we should do it more often! x

Lily smiled and wiped a few tears away, smearing a tiny bit of her blood across her cheek. Why didn't her own boyfriend send her messages like that? She sighed and looked towards the living room door, before standing up and walking towards it.

"Archie," she said, entering the living room with her mobile in hand. She still felt quite nervous from earlier, but managed to hide it. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Have you cleaned that mess up yet?" he spat.

"I will do," Lily said. "But could I please ask you a question first?"

"What?" he sighed impatiently.

Lily swallowed anxiously. "Do you love me?" she asked.

"Of course I love you!" He snapped his head towards her with a hint of anger in his eyes. "I'm bloody dating you, aren't I?"

"I...I know," Lily stuttered in a small voice. "I just wanted to know, that's all. Thank you."

Archie shook his head and muttered something under his breath, as Lily walked back into the kitchen. Well, her question had been answered. Love was different for all couples, after all. Archie had gone and cooked her a nice dinner that evening, and washed up. Maybe the butter was just an odd mistake, and maybe Archie wasn't the sort of man to text his girlfriend every day with nice, loving messages. Anyway, he had called her beautiful earlier on, and it was her fault that he'd become angry. Maybe she was just being ungrateful.

"Lily!" he shouted to her.

"I...I'm just cleaning it up," she replied, bending back down to pick up the broken pieces. "Sorry."

"You're not going to tell anybody about tonight, are you?" He asked, hands in his pockets as he walked into the kitchen. "Just curious."

"Um...No." Lily shook her head, confused. "I...I wasn't planning on it. It's really no one's business as to what we get up to out of work hours."

"Okay." He nodded at her. "Good. Because..." he walked over and placed a hand on her upper back. Lily flinched at his cold touch and slowly began to pick up the pieces, her palm planted on the floor so that he wouldn't notice the blood. "If you do, there'll be trouble. You're right. It really is no one's business."

So I hope you liked the update. I've been extremely busy all day so couldn't update as much as I wanted to unfortunately. I really wanted to update this story though. I'll try and add another chapter soon, thanks for reading :-) x