Between Lovers and Friends

Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter, hope you enjoy this one
I somehow managed to review the first chapter myself, not sure how that happened or how it's even possible. I'm so embarrassed and honestly not that narcissistic!

Chapter 2

Kate tried to hide how she was feeling from Anna when they arrived back at her flat. She made them tea and they sat either end of her sofa, watching something on TV until Kate thought it was a respectable hour to go to bed. If Anna noticed that anything was wrong with her friend, she didn't comment on it. With Kate currently sleeping on the sofa, Anna retired to the bedroom although she was still too awake to think about actually going to bed yet.

Kate was relieved to find that Anna was still asleep when she woke up the next morning. She showered and went through her normal morning rituals, trying to decide why she felt so pissed off at her best friend. When Anna had first arrived, tired and emotional from her long and exhausting separation from her husband Jason, Kate had felt nothing but sympathy for her. Maybe Anna had flirted with Jake last night, and who could really blame her but Kate couldn't help feeling betrayed by it. It wasn't like she had romantic feelings for Jake; it would be too awkward with them working in such close quarters all the time. She didn't think Henry would be too pleased if they made their working relationship a romantic one, either.

Physically, Kate felt much better than the day before as she logged onto her computer with no lingering hangover from consuming red wine. It was emotionally that she felt off and out of sorts, she hoped Jake would be as oblivious to her feelings as Anna had been.

"Morning," he said quite cheerfully when he arrived, setting his cardboard coffee container down on his desk.

"Morning," she replied as neutrally as possible, looking up from her computer monitor just long enough to give him a welcoming smile.

"I had a good time yesterday evening," he said his back to her as he took off his jacket and hung it over their communal coat rack.

Kate rolled her eyes. Of course you did, she wanted to mutter sarcastically but managed to stop herself before the words came out.

"Me too,"

"We'll have to do it again sometime," Before Kate could reply they both heard Henry calling Jake's name from the corridor. "Maybe you could invite your friend along, too."

Kate opened her mouth but Jake had already left the office, covering the ground between him and Henry in long, easy strides. She clamped her jaw shut, trying to decipher what his words actually met. If they were in court, she would have asked him to clarify his statement for the jury but this was real life and the rules were much more complicated.

They spent most of the rest of the day in court, so there was little time to talk about anything other than the case. Kate decided that this was for the best, before she still didn't really trust herself not to say something inappropriate; something that she would regret. Perhaps she was being an idiot, after all Anna was her best friend and Jake was a good man, so the two of them being interested in each other shouldn't upset her, should it? Anna certainly deserved to be with someone decent and kind after being messed around by her evil bastard of a husband.

"Drink?" Jake asked when they were back at the office, packing up their things and shutting down their computers for the evening.

"Not tonight, thanks."

"Are you sure? Anna is going to meet us outside in," He checked his watch. "About ten minutes."

Kate rolled her eyes, she couldn't help it.

"I wouldn't want to intrude," she turned away from him, not wanting him to see the hurt in her eyes. It wasn't fair to make him feel guilty when he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Kate," when she turned around again she found that he had silently moved closer to her; so close that they were almost touching.

"It's fine," she replied. "It'll be nice to have my flat to myself for a few hours."

Jake was shaking his head slowly, but Kate had already pushed passed him and was heading for the exit. If she left quickly enough she would miss Anna's arrival and hopefully Jake wouldn't be able to catch up with her either.

Kate was quite often messy, but she was a stress cleaner. Her flat was immaculate by the time that Anna arrived home from drinking with Jake, but she knew better to comment on it. She had lived with Kate for three years when they were at university together, and was used to her habits. The cleanliness worried her though; it meant that something was seriously bothering her friend.

"You're home early," Kate said when she saw Anna entering the kitchen. She was proud of herself for keeping any note of bitterness out of her voice; she didn't want to be a bitch to Anna.

"It wasn't the same without you," Anna replied. "We ran out of things to talk about after about half an hour, so we ended up talking about you."

"Oh god," Kate said sarcastically, but inside she was suddenly full of happiness as she thought of all the hours she and Jake had spent at the pub. It wasn't just work that they talked about, it was everything from what was on TV the previous night to their childhood memories. She had even started opening up to him about her sister and the problems in their relationship.

"Only the good stuff, obviously." Anna smiled, taking the bottle of white wine she had bought earlier out of the fridge and pouring herself a glass.

"That explains why you're home early, then."

The tension seemed to have ebbed out of the room, and Kate knew that it was due to more than the couple of measures of whiskey she had drank while Anna was out.

Before she went to bed, Kate went to plug her iPhone into the charger and checked it for messages. She saw she had a text message from Jake that had arrived a few hours early, around the same time that Anna had arrived back at her flat.

"Missed u tonight. See u at work in the morning. J x."

She smiled, turned her phone off and fell asleep more quickly than she had all week.