Chapter 16

I played with the remaining fries on my plate as I stared into space; mindlessly swirling the ketchup in random patterns across the now near empty plate.

"Lola if you're not going to eat those chips give them here and stop playing with them, remember I have way more alcohol in my body to soak up." Danny said cheerfully trying to produce a smile on my face.

I smiled weakly at him and shoved the plate across the table where Danny pounced on it almost immediately. I looked at him as he shovelled the food into his mouth.

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach repeatedly every time I thought about Harry, but a little flicker of happiness glimmered in the pit of my stomach when I looked at Danny. He was suffering through one of the worst hangovers he had ever experienced yet he had not let one ounce of negativity cross his face or appear in his demeanour.

As Danny placed the last chip into his mouth, he crunched up the food wrappers and readied himself to leave.

"Come on Lols now that we are fuelled up, we have many things to get before this Danny/Lolly day can truly commence in all its glory. There are many traditions that need to be followed so the mystical magic that occurs on a Danny/Lolly day can happen, now move your mopey butt we have to empty tesco of its stock of junk food." he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the door.

As we wandered through the aisles of tesco grabbing everything and anything that from the shelves, people must of thought that we were stocking up for a big party with all the junk in our trolley. This theory would have been greatly strengthened when Danny piled our trolley high with beer and fluorescent coloured Alco pops. "Well they say the hair of the dog is the best cure for a hangover" he said defensively when I smirked at him.

We had nearly finished our shopping when we went in search of some straws- I point blank refuse to drink Alco pops out of the bottle, its just not ladylike - well that's what I tell people its really just that i love those cute bendy straws you get in clubs.

As we turned the corner I felt Danny freeze beside me. He quickly went to turn in the other direction but someone called him back.

"Fancy meeting you guys here!" I turned to face the voice only to feel my body repulse in shock when I saw its beholder.

Grace and Tom were both looking at us from the opposite end of the aisle holding about a million different bottles of carpet cleaner.

"Thought you guys were heading to Lolly's And here you are on some kind of secret date in tesco!" said Tom grinning. God I loved that guy but he couldn't actually be more clueless right now if he tried. I could feel my insides curdling with the discomfort of the situation. Grace was politely smiling, she didn't know us well enough to join in Tom's playful slagging, it was obvious she didn't want to overstep her boundaries and make a bad impression on Harry's friends - god if she was absolutely anyone else's girlfriend I would be singing her praises and congratulating them on finding someone who seemed so nice and for once had a brain, unlike the bimbos those boys usually come home with, but my pride and the remaining shreds of dignity within me refused to make her feel any more comfortable in the situation.

"yeah mate, I brought her to tesco on a red hot romantic date, that will definitely win her over, god you really need to get better at this slagging thing that was pathetic" jeered Danny. Tom just smirked at him in reply; he obviously had nothing of any wit to say in reply.

"Hey why don't you guys join me, Harry, Tom and Lyndsey for lunch, we are going to get stuff and bring it back to the house. We can get to know each other better." grace said enthusiastically. Although I tried to hide it id say the look of dread on my face was very clear for all to see. Even the suggestion of having to sit and watch Harry and his perfect girlfriend be all lovey dovey over lunch made me feel ill. " I'm afraid we can't Grace, Me and Lola have a date with her little brother to play video games, I promised the little monster ages ago, he is convinced that he will be able to beat the master." said Danny quickly. "Oh ok well maybe another time yeah." said grace nicely. Tom was looking at us like we had ten heads, obviously trying to figure out what we were playing at considering I didn't have a little brother. We nodded in reply. "Well I guess we will see you guys later, we best be off." I quickly said as we began to walk off down the way we came. As we turned the corner I looked back at them, Tom had returned to looking at the cleaning products but Grace was looking in our direction, as I turned I caught her eye and she smiled politely at me but as I turned away after attempting to reciprocate the gesture, out of the corner of my eye I saw a foreign expression make its way across her face. It was like a mixture of confusion, disbelief, worry and wonderment. It only stayed on her face for a matter of seconds, but for some unexplainable reason it sent a chill through me. As much as I wanted to dislike her, I couldn't which made the guilt that pulsed through my body all that more severe. I knew I was a somewhat innocent party in this mess as I hadn't known that the girl existed, but I had been an accessory to her boyfriend's infidelity, a fact which truly upset me, even if I thought I deserved to be happy and therefore deserved to get the guy I wanted, I didn't want to be THAT girl, the girl that preys on other peoples men. It just wasn't me. As I followed Danny around the shop in a daze, he found the aforementioned essential straws and we made our way to the checkout.

"We're home where are you jerks?" Tom shouted as he walked in the door. I was up in my room still trying to figure out my life. Lyndsey and I had sat in the sitting room in silence for ages trying to think up a solution but after while I couldn't handle it any longer and needed to be on my own so I jumped up off my seat and headed upstairs. I was hoping by some helpful miracle that grace would have decided to head home and leave me to sort out my head and figure out what I was going to say to her, not that she had any clue that any of this was going through my head. As I lay on my bed I heard some very soft footsteps make their way up the stairs, pausing slightly before they turned into my bedroom. I closed my eyes, hoping that my feigned sleep would send her back downstairs. The bed dipped slightly as she crawled up onto the bed and lay down beside me. She rested her arm around my waist and snuggled into my side, her warm breath tickling my neck as she rested her head on my shoulder. "You awake babes?" I heard her whisper, afraid of waking me. I wanted to feign sleep for longer but I knew she would cotton on eventually and I didn't want t be cruel, well even more cruel than I already had been.

"Yeah, I'm just dozing, what you get for lunch?" I said. "We got a whole load of stuff enough to feed an army, I'm sure you'll find something you like she said softly

while tracing her fingers across my chest gently. If I was honest it felt nice lying there with her, I mean I didn't not like her , I liked her a lot but I felt like I could truly

love Lola, my body urged for Lola, it didn't for Grace.

I moved off the bed and walked towards the door. "You coming for lunch?" I questioned. I couldn't talk to

her yet I needed to figure out what I was going to say. "Eh yeah, Harry are you ok? Have I done something?" she asked nervously sitting up and shuffling across the

bed. I didn't think it could sink any further but I felt my heart sink down into my body, weighed down with guilt. How did I constantly make innocent people feel guilty

when they have done nothing wrong, first Lola now Grace.

"You haven't done anything I promise, I'm just knackered come on lets get food." I said with a plastered

on smile. She grinned at me and walked out the door pulling me by the hand out the door, she went to lace her fingers through mine but I quickly distracted my hand

with the banister of the stairs.