Ok, so this takes place shortly after chapter 11, which if you can't be bothered to re-read to remind yourselves is the chapter where Pete and Allie…uh, you know.
I had this idea in my head for ages and was actually going to put it into the story but thought it was a bit harsh to throw this at you so soon after dosing you up on all that fluff! This was a little longer than the other's so I'm posting it in 2 parts.
Pete opened his eyes slowly and stretched, yawning widely as he glanced over at his bedside clock and noted with distain that it was already 10.34. So much for meeting the boys for breakfast then.
Feeling something tickle his chest, he looked down and smiled at Allie who was still flat out, half sprawled across his body, the steady rise and fall of her back letting him know that she was far from waking up. The buzzing sound coming from his dresser alerted him that his phone was vibrating and he reached over tactfully, careful not to wake her up and rolled his eyes when he noticed he had a total of 7 missed calls from Bovver. Tossing the phone onto the bed next to him, he slid out from underneath Allie and pressed a soft kiss against the back of her neck as she smiled sleepily and snuggled deeper into the pillow. Tugging the covers up so as to shield her from the slight chill of the spring morning, Pete reached for a t-shirt and yanked it on as he walked out into the living area, his body screaming out for coffee and food.
Flicking on the radio as he padded around the counter and into the kitchen, he yawned and rubbed his eyes, boiling the kettle and absentmindedly flicking through yesterdays paper as he waited. Scanning through the political bollocks, he clapped eyes on the sports section and smiled remembering that it was only a week till West Ham played Birmingham. He wasn't the slightest bit nervous about the inevitable meet that Bovver would set up for afterwards, but he was nervous about Allie finding out. He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't exactly want her knowing the complete truth either, because that would entail her knowing more than she already did about the GSE. It wasn't that Pete didn't trust her…he trusted her with his life, never mind a fucking secret or two about the firm…it was just that, the idea of Allie scared for him, or even worse, disappointed in him, was enough to kill him on the spot.
Sighing, he shut the paper and chucked it into the bin before reaching out to touch the kettle and then swearing a little too loudly when he established the hard way that it actually had.
"Fucking bastard!" he winced, shaking his hand quickly as though that would somehow get rid of the pain.
"I think I preferred it when you called me baby," Allie grinned at him as she padded into the living room, her fluffy white socks the only thing visible as she stood there swamped in one of this old sweaters. "But I guess I can get used to it,"
"Shit, did I wake you up?" he frowned, pulling her to him when she walked around the counter to stand next to him. He could feel her shivering slightly and felt bad for not turning the heater on last night so the flat would be warm in the morning. However, catching sight of the already fading red mark on her chest, he grinned realising that he'd had other things on his mind.
"No," Allie shook her head and leant against him, shoving his hands out the way and stared making coffee for both of them, smiling when he wrapped his now free hands around her middle and kissed her shoulder lightly. "Lara called me…again." She sighed and dropped her head back against Pete's shoulder as he passed her the milk. "There's only a week till we have to host this party and people still don't know what the hell's going on,"
Pete nodded and silently reminded himself to get his suit dry cleaned before the party; he'd agreed to be Allie's date without really knowing what he was getting himself into, but according to Shannon, the Vogue party which kicked off fashion week involved famous people, stupidly rich people, food that cost loads but tasted like shit and a lot of photographers. So in other words, it was about as far from the Abby as you could get.
As if on queue, Allie's phone started ringing again and she groaned loudly, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Maybe if she just ignored it…
Sighing, she reached for the damn thing and took a deep breath; if she didn't answer it then chances are all that would happen was they'd actually send someone looking for her.
"Hi Jack," she rolled her eyes as he screamed something undecipherable at her down the phone. Pete watched as winced and then strolled back into the bedroom, emerging a few minutes later looking tired and stressed.
"I know you like lilies, but Versace doesn't so for fuck sake do not order them, ok? I'll be in later," she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'll bring Krispy Kreme's,"
She snapped her phone shut and pointed it at her boyfriend.
"Never, ever work with gay men," she laughed. "Best friend or not, that…thing is as high maintenance as it gets,"
"Do you want me to make you breakfast?" Pete asked her as she flopped back down onto the sofa so that all he could see of her was her feet. He knew that the last few days she hadn't really had the chance to eat proper meals which pissed him off. Allie was slim and he didn't want her looking like those skeletal freaks that she worked with, in fact he was pretty certain that Allie and Lara were the only two female members of that company who actually ate anything.
"What are my options?" she asked, peeking her head over the side of the sofa.
"Bacon, eggs, cereal, toast, that weird muesli shit you eat…" Pete shrugged and grinned at her. "Whatever you want,"
"Do you have brown sauce?" she asked, narrowing her eyes and then grinning when he nodded. "I'll take the bacon," she sat up straighter and rested her head on her arms. "Do you want me to cook?"
Pete snorted as he turned on the grill, remembering all the times she had tried to cook him breakfast or dinner and ended up filling the flat with smoke.
"Nah," he winked at her. "You can be in charge of the TV,"
"You're willing to hand over remote control responsibility?" Allie gasped. "Jesus am I that bad?" she grinned as she obviously struggled with what to say to her. "Relax Dunham, I'm well aware that my talents aren't confined to the kitchen," she winked at him suggestively and he laughed loudly, pulling four pieces of bread out of the cupboard and buttering them.
Surfing through the channels, Allie landed on the morning news and decided that it would do; it was only really serving as background noise anyway.
"And just a reminder for our sports round up,"
Pete's head snapped up and he stared motionlessly at the TV screen, knowing they were about to announce the teams playing next week.
"…And not forgetting the eagerly awaited West Ham-Birmingham match next Wednesday, I think after last months performance against Chelsea, Birmingham will be looking to…"
Allie froze on the sofa, not knowing what to do or say, if anything. She knew that Pete would want her to just breeze over it, but at the same time, she also knew that if there was a match, he would be going and if he was going then that meant that there'd be a fight…
She didn't move an inch, even when he sat down next to her on the sofa and held her plate out to her she just stared at it as though she had no idea what it was.
"Allie?" he prompted.
"Huh?" she blinked and broke out of her thoughts long enough to shake her head and take the plate from him, suddenly not as hungry as she had been a few seconds ago. Placing it on the table in front of her, she stood up quickly and caught Pete's look of surprise.
"I need some water," she mumbled, darting into the kitchen and grabbing a glass out of the cabinet; she made a point of rinsing it three times before she filled it with water, just to give herself an extra few seconds to calm down. Turning around to walk back towards the sofa, she wasn't surprised to see Pete staring at her.
"I was going to tell you," he explained.
"Its fine," she smiled brightly and shrugged. "It's not any of my business anyway,"
Pete sighed and threw his sandwich back onto his plate, wiping his hands on his boxers and watching the petite blonde intently as she sat down next to him.
"What?" she asked him exasperatedly.
"What?" he shot back.
"Pete," she sighed and shook her head. "I'm not saying anything, alright?"
"Yeah, that's what worries me," he frowned. "You're telling me there's not a million questions running through your head right now?"
"'Course there are," she nodded and took a long sip of water. "But that doesn't mean I actually want to know the answer to any of them. I know what you do Pete, and it's not…" she took a deep breath. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm fine with it because you know I'm not, but I just…I don't get why you have to…" she trailed off and shook her head. "I'm talking complete crap, just forget it,"
She didn't want to fight with him and she knew that they kept talking, that's where they were headed.
"It's about reputation," Pete explained carefully, gauging her reaction. "Proving you're better than anyone else,"
"And you achieve this by coming home with someone's footprint imbedded in your ribs?" Allie raised an eyebrow at the slight smirk on his face. She hadn't meant that as a joke. Throwing her head back, she closed her eyes for a moment and sighed tiredly. "Look, just be careful, will you?"
"It's not us that need to be worried," he grinned. "Birmingham are in for a right old treat,"
Allie shook her head and he thought a little too late that that may not have put her mind at ease; instead, he realised how stressed she looked and how tight the muscles in her shoulders seemed to be.
"So when are you heading back to work then?" he asked her, trying to get her mind off of their previous conversation.
Allie looked at him and smiled faintly; she had to give the boy points for trying.
"Not till 1," she told him. "And I managed to blag Sunday off so we can sleep off our hangovers in peace,"
"Right well in that case," Pete picked up her sandwich and held it out to her. "Eat this, I slaved over a hot fucking grill to make it," he grinned when she laughed and took it from him, taking a huge bite. "Then we need to shower and I'll walk you to the station," he leant back on the sofa and pulled her to him, liking the way her feet tangled with his where they were propped up on the coffee table. "Until then, we have a good two hours of Saturday morning cartoons to get through and we've already missed X-Men…"
"Give me a call later, yeah?" Pete asked turning Allie in his arms as they approached the platform on which her train was due. They'd finally made it out of the shower with enough time to peg it to the station and buy her ticket. "I can come pick you up from work if you want,"
"Sure," she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her tip toes to brush her lips delicately over his; or at least she tried to be delicate, but it was hard when Pete's hands were skimming the back of your neck and sending shivers down your spine. "I have to go to work," she mumbled reluctantly.
"I know," Pete smirked, still not making any move to let her go. It was a good minute or two later when Pete finally released her and bent his head, pressing a kiss against her shoulder. "D'you fancy seeing a film or something later?"
"Yeah," Allie grinned up at him, playing with the buttons on his jacket. "Sounds good to me,"
"No girly shit though," Pete warned her.
"Would I do that to you?" she laughed as he rolled his eyes. "Besides, you got teary eyed during Love Actually and you know it,"
"Bollocks," Pete laughed, playfully tugging on a strand of her hair. "And besides, you were-…"
"Allie?"
Both of them turned in the direction of the voice, Allie's stomach tensing up as she met the all too familiar set of brown eyes that she had hoped to avoid for the remainder of her days. Apparently, no one was on her side today.
Eyes narrowing at the young man in the suit, Pete knew exactly who he was; you didn't forget someone like that.
"What are you doing here?" Will tried to smile, but Pete could see him staring at where Allie still had her hands pressed against his chest. And he didn't look very fucking happy.
"Um," Allie stuttered. "Hey, Will. I was just…heading back to work actually," she ran a nervous hand through her hair. She hadn't even heard from Will since she'd pretty unceremoniously dumped him the morning after the fiasco at the train station when she had met Pete and the boys. Not that it had been anything to do with them necessarily, it's just that when you had a boyfriend who you could just about stand as it was, having him throw you into the side of a car and scream in your face tended to be the last straw. "How've you been?"
How've you been?
Pete stared down at his girlfriend as if she was insane…did she honestly not remember what a complete and utter prick this bloke had been to her? Why was she suddenly set on being so nice to him? Personally, Pete would have sold his soul to floor the bloke right then and there.
"Not bad," he nodded, shoving a hand into his blazer pocket and pulling out an expensive looking phone, flipping it open briefly and then putting it back. "How about you?" he smiled sickeningly. "You seem…" he looked at Pete. "Different."
"Oh," Allie looked up at Pete and pleaded with her eyes for him to help her out. "Will this is Pete," she gestured to him. "My boyfriend,"
Will raised his eyebrows and tried to bite back his laughter; oh, this was too perfect…
"Yeah," he nodded, looking at the blonde man glared right back at him, apparently unfazed by the awkwardness of the situation. "I think we met briefly didn't we? You were the bloke who looked after Allie for me," he nodded curtly. "Very valiant of you,"
"Well it beats yelling at her and throwing her into the side of a car, doesn't it?" Pete responded in a polite tone, frowning when he felt Allie elbow him in the ribs. What? Why the hell should he be biting his tongue around this wanker?
"Listen," Will sighed and shook his head. "I can't even being to tell you how sorry I am about that," he met Allie's eyes and smiled earnestly. "I was so out of order that night and I treated you horribly,"
"Ok," she frowned. Christ, could this possibly get any more awkward? "Its fine," she shrugged, sending him a nonchalant smile. "It's all in the past. But I kind of have to get to work now, so…"
"Oh, of course, of course," Will smiled at her. "It was good seeing you though," Allie missed the way his eyes trailed quickly up and down her body, but Pete sure as hell didn't. "You look great,"
"Thanks," she smiled and then turned to Pete, giving him a knowing look. She wasn't at all surprised when he leant down and kissed her fully, one of his hands coming up to hold her face while the other stroked her hip. "I'll see you later, ok?" she asked once he finally released her and she tried to get her breath back.
"Yeah," Pete nodded. "I'll come pick you up at about 8, alright?"
"'K," she kissed him again, quickly and lightly before making her way towards the train and grinning at him from the window, mouth the words 'please behave' behind Will's back and making Pete laugh.
When she was out of sight, he let the smile bleed off of his face and turned his attention back to the smug looking pretty boy in front of him. Giving him a semi-disgusted look, Pete turned on his heel and walked back towards the stairs that led to the upper platform.
"You must be pretty pleased with yourself,"
Pete stopped at the sound of Will's voice and frowned; what the hell did the little shit have to say to him that would be worth listening to?
"You what?" he gave him an uncaring look as he turned back around to meet his smug gaze.
"Getting a girl like Allie," he nodded and rubbed his chin. "How'd you manage it?"
"I could ask you the same fucking thing," Pete snorted. "Now I reckon we're done here, don't you?"
"You really think she's interested in some council estate junky like you?" Will laughed. "I almost pity you, Pete." He walked closer so that he was standing in front of the taller man, his arrogance temporarily overcoming his fear. "See girls like Allie grew up with luxury, with people of their own class and wealth. Which correct me if I'm wrong but I'm guessing is a category which you don't fall into. See for you, Allie's the ultimate girl. She's gorgeous, sexy, smart, good sense of humour…but she's lowering herself for you,"
Pete glared at him, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; he's listened to all these worries in his own head a thousand times, but hearing someone else say them was making it hit home that little bit harder.
"What are you going to do when the day comes when she wakes up and realises that she'd wasting her time with a fucking loser like you? Because when it comes down to it, she's just a pretty little rich girl who thought it might be funny to go slumming for a while," he looked Pete up and down. "And she hit the jackpot with you, didn't she mate?"
"If I were you," Pete gritted his teeth as he lowered his head and glared dangerously at the brown haired man, watching as the familiar flash of fear made itself known in his eyes. "I would fuck off pretty sharpish, because if you don't I can't guarantee that I won't do something we'll both end up regretting,"
"You're wasting your time with her anyway," Will snorted, picking up is briefcase and swinging it. "She might be a demon in the sack but other than that, she's nothing special,"
Pete reached out and grabbed his wrist, making it look to anyone who was passing that they were just shaking hands, but in reality he was squeezing the other man's wrist so tightly that he was waiting for it to crack.
"Talk about her like that again, and it'll be the last thing you ever do, do you get me sweetheart?" Pete hissed, keeping his eyes trained on Will's who was clearly trying not to cry out as the pain throbbed in his wrist.
Letting him go, Pete watched as he doubled over, holding his wrist protectively and laughing lightly.
"God, you must be seriously fucking deluded," he shook his head. "But you know what's funny?"
"The fact that you're still stupid enough to be talking?" Pete guessed.
"No," Will grinned at him. "I was just thinking that if you really thought what I was saying was total bullshit, then it wouldn't have bothered you. You would have been able to walk away from it…but the reason its bothering you, the reason you're going to go over all of this in your head over and over again for the next few hours, is because you know what I'm saying is true." Will flexed his fingers and then stood up straight, walking away Pete and making sure he slammed his shoulder into him, what little good it actually did as the guy was a good foot taller than him. "And that is fucking hilarious,"
Boo-Hiss! Even I hate Will and I wrote the bastard! I hated being so mean to Pete : ( and what's worse, is that that's not the last we see of him...