Hey everyone! Just wanted to thank you for your kind comments about the previous chapter and bring you a new one. This one is a bit shorter than the last one but I hope you like it.
Let me know what you think! Any comments are always welcome.
CHANGES
After work, she drove all the way to airport, listening to music and singing, excited to see her other best friend again; once there, she parked and Sarah, who was already waiting, recognized the Striped Tomato right away, so she ran to it dragging along her suitcase with a big grin on her face. Lea got out of the car, grinning as well, and ran to her friend to hug her; a classic best friends-meeting-after-a-while scene at the airport.
"I can't believe you're here!" Lea exclaimed as they hugged.
It had been a few days since Lea got a text from Sarah, jokingly asking if there was enough space in her bed for her.
"I know!" Sarah replied.
"Where's Mike?" Lea asked pulling back from the hug.
"Working, you know how it is, but I have a couple days before the event I have to attend to and then I have to go back to Hershey"
"I'm so bummed that you only get to be here for a couple days, but I'm also so excited to have you here!" Said Lea jumping some and Sarah laughed.
They got in the car and Lea drove to hers and Shaun's apartment; Sarah had told her that she was only joking when she asked about staying with her but Lea insisted, saying she shouldn't spend any more money on yet another hotel. Both worried about Shaun's opinion about it, but Lea actually consulted him and he said it was okay, as he was curious to meet Lea's other best friend.
"This is it!" Said Lea, smiling as they entered the apartment. "Kitchen, living, dining area…" She said pointing to each area. "That's Shaun's bedroom; mine's the one with the L, of course, and that's the bathroom… oh, and this is Albert" She skipped to where the fish tank was with a new fish in it.
"Aw you even have a pet already!" Sarah said and chuckled.
"This is actually our second child" Lea said and chuckled too.
Sarah arched a brow amusedly "Second child?"
Lea giggled and nodded "Hubert died a few days ago, I thought it had been my fault but Shaun basically - I'm not actually sure what he did but he found out the fish died of ichthyo-something that he picked up at the pet store" She chuckled, and added "You should have seen him, we went to the pet store and he showed the lab results to the guy there; I had no idea, and he was like 'You need to provide a replacement. You have no leverage and no cards to play'. If he would have had a mic at that moment, he would have dropped it right there, in front of the guy" Sarah laughed some and Lea grinned, proudly adding "It was pretty badass and unexpected"
"Sounds like you two are getting along again" Sarah said and lea nodded.
"Yeah, we talked" She moved closer to Sarah again, pulling her phone out of her pocket to show her a picture she took of her and Shaun with the fish tank, the day they got their first fish "This was Hubert" She said pointing to the fish in the picture.
Sarah leaned in to look at the picture and grinned "That's Shaun?" Lea nodded and her friend added "I can't wait to meet him"
Lea chuckled "He should be back from work in a couple hours"
They sat on the sofa and chatted about Sarah's honeymoon, Lea and Shaun's moving adventure, and other random things, then Lea looked at the time and asked Sarah what she would like for dinner and ordered something through an app.
"Shaun will be here soon; be nice to him, okay?" She told Sarah, trying to hide her nervousness about her two best friends meeting for the first time.
Sarah chuckled "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know, just be nice… I'll be right back." She said getting up from the sofa to go get the food when it arrived, but before walking out the door, she glanced around the apartment, making sure everything was fine and thought —Okay…— then finally walked out and Sarah chuckled again at her friend's obvious nervousness.
A few minutes later she was back in the apartment and placed the food on the kitchen counter.
"You need help?" Sarah asked from the sofa.
Shaun pushed his key into the door lock making both, Lea and Sarah, look in that direction, then he walked inside.
"Evening, roomie" He said to Lea, as he left his backpack and coat on the rack, unaware of Sarah's presence yet. Lea's face lit up with a grin and Sarah noticed it.
"Evening, roomie" Lea replied and Sarah got up from the sofa, then walked towards the kitchen area to be with them and Shaun looked at her. "Shaun, this is Sarah, my best friend; other best friend… Sarah, this is Shaun" She grinned as she introduced them.
"Very nice to meet you" Said Sarah with a smile, as she held her hand out to shake his. He reached out to shake her hand gently and nodded politely.
"Hello, nice to meet you too" He said while Lea watched with a goofy grin on her face, happy but still nervous for some reason.
"I ordered food for the 3 of us" Lea said and Shaun looked at her, then leaned over slightly to see what she got.
"Okay, I'll get the plates… in a moment." He replied and looked over at the fish tank before walking to it.
"Hello, Albert" He said to the fish "Did you feed him?" He asked Lea while her and Sarah watched him.
"Oh crap, no, I knew I was forgetting something. I'm sorry, can you do it?"
He nodded with a slight smile as he took the tub of fish food and opened it to feed the fish; in the meantime, Sarah watched her friend's interaction with him, kinda studying them, and grinned amusedly.
Once Shaun was back in the kitchen, he reached into the cupboard, pulled out 3 plates and Lea pulled out the forks, napkins and placemats.
"What can I help with?" Sarah asked, watching them.
"No, no, you're a guest" Lea replied stubbornly as she walked to the dining table to set it up.
"Okay…" Sarah muttered reluctantly and chuckled as Shaun pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge then he took that, along with the plates, to the table. Sarah, refused to not help and ended up doing it by taking the food to the table but Lea narrowed her eyes at her in a scolding manner to which Sarah laughed "What? I can't not do anything!" She said stubbornly.
Lea chuckled shaking her head a bit then they all sat at the table, she sat next to Shaun, and Sarah sat across from them. She poured the wine and Shaun reached for food to put on his plate.
"Seems like you two have like an established routine and all, already" Sarah mentioned, watching them.
"Sort of… sometimes" Lea replied. "We're still learning and adapting" She added and Shaun nodded, agreeing with her.
Sarah smiled and reached for some food, too. "Lea has told me a lot about you, Shaun."
"Mmh… She didn't mention you… until a few days ago when she told me you were coming" He said and Lea's eyes widened as she chuckled at his comment.
Sarah chuckled too "I see, I thought she was more communicative" She joked.
"Sometimes" He replied and lea giggled. "Sometimes she doesn't like telling me things. Like, at first she didn't want to tell me about her ex, but then she did" He nodded some and continued eating.
Sarah's eyes widened a little and glanced at Lea who was drinking some wine but she then gave her friend an "It okay" kind of look, and Sarah nodded slightly.
"Yeah, some things are hard to talk about… it's complicated" Sarah replied.
"The world is very complicated… I wish it wasn't" He said.
Lea looked at him then glanced down at his hand resting next to his plate and reached out to rest hers on it sympathetically. Shaun looked down at their hands briefly, then continued eating and Lea moved her hand away to eat as well while Sarah watched the scene in front of her.
"A patient kissed me" He randomly mentioned and Lea almost choked with some wine.
"Wow… and you're okay with that?" Sarah asked and chuckled.
"She has a tumor, that's why she kissed me. It was a mistake, caused by the protein her tumor produced; cheating on her husband was also because of that" He nodded.
Lea's eyebrows arched up in shock "Wow…" She said, just like Sarah did before, and they kept chatting about Shaun's interesting case, as well as eating.
The next morning Sarah woke up earlier than everyone due to jet lag and got off lea's bed quietly while Lea was still sleeping, then walked out of the room. She glanced around for a moment and decided to give herself another tour of the apartment, so she wandered around it, curiously leaning in, every now and then, to closely check the things on the desk and bookshelves, without touching anything.
Pictures of Shaun and his brother, Rubik's cubes, medical and engineering books, puzzles, among other things; everything seemed to be divided in his and her's sides, even the inside of the fridge was divided by name tags, and there was a chart on the front of it, marking his and her's obligations. Shaun was in charge of doing the dishes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; they had sorted out the days they would each do laundry, or when they would clean the whole apartment, etc.
She eventually sat on the sofa and texted her husband while waiting for everyone else to wake up, then, about half an hour later, Shaun woke up and opened his bedroom's door, Sarah looked at him and smiled.
"Good morning" She said.
"Good morning…You wake up early, are you jet lagged?" He asked.
"Yeah, it sucks, but I'm happy to be here for a couple days with Lea"
"She is happy to have you here, too" He said with a small nod then headed into the bathroom.
Sarah smiled and looked back at her phone. Lea eventually woke up too, Shaun got ready for the day, and then they all moved to the kitchen.
"It's Saturday" Lea mentioned happily.
"It's pancakes day" He said, smiling.
"Yes!" She replied and grinned.
"You're gonna let me help this time, right?" Sarah asked.
Lea rolled her eyes in a playful way, saying: "Fine…" then giggled.
Shaun prepared the mix while Lea, standing next to him, was in charge of slicing up some fruit.
"Sorry…" She said gently touching his tricep and slightly gripping it to get his attention "…Need a knife" She added.
"Oh" He said with a nod and stepped back so she could open the drawer in front of him and Sarah watched them as she poured milk into a glass for Shaun and coffee in two mugs, one for her and one for Lea.
While eating their pancakes, Sarah noticed Lea reaching out to touch Shaun again; Lea pointed out to Shaun there was a bit of syrup on his chin and he wiped it but missed the spot so Lea reached to wipe it herself and he didn't seem to mind, but It was small things like that which Sarah noticed Lea doing, in the few hours she had spent with them, and she wanted to say something but decided to wait until later when she was alone with Lea.
About an hour or so later, Shaun left for work and Sarah helped Lea with the dishes.
"You wanna go out for a run?" Lea suggested and Sarah nodded.
"Sounds good… I need to talk to you about something first though"
"All right, what is it?" Lea looked at her friend, pausing the loading of the dish washer.
"Okay, first… you didn't tell me Shaun's autistic…" She mentioned, in the kindest way she could, because she down't want to sound judgmental.
Lea frowned some, and crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly getting a little defensive, which was what Sarah feared.
"So what?" She replied.
Sarah raised her palm signaling her friend to calm down "Nothing, there's nothing wrong with that, I mean, there's things you told me that now make sense, but, anyway… Just tell me something, have you changed your mind about your feelings for him? Like, about telling him and maybe starting something?"
Lea arched a brow wondering why she was asking such thing. "Uhm… I don't think so, why?"
"I think you should maybe kinda change your ways around him then… like, the way you look at him… the way you touch him… you know?" Sarah suggested, not wanting her friend to get mad.
"What do you mean?" Lea asked completely puzzled.
"A lot of times, actions speak louder than words, Lea… and I think you're going to confuse him if you continue doing what you're doing… I don't know if he notices these little things, you probably don't even notice them either, but they're there, and if he's not aware, he may be at some point and it might get confusing for him… because you told him you just wanna friends but I think your actions say something else"
Lea went from looking at her friend while she spoke, to staring at the nothing in front of her as she lost herself in thought. Was her friend right?
"I…" She said as she came out of the trance she was in.
"I'm only telling you this because I know you left things clear for him with words, but your actions are a bit contradictory, and I know the last thing you want is to hurt him"
Lea nodded some "No, you're right… I didn't realize, and yes, that's the last thing I want" She sighed and rubbed her face a bit with her hands, thinking —What have you been doing, Lea?—
"Or, you could change your mind, talk to him and continue doing what you're doing…" Sarah shrugged one of her shoulders.
"N-no" Lea said shaking her head and Sarah mouthed an "okay" with a slight nod, but Lea was still shocked by what her friend had deduced in such a short amount of time.
"You talked to him about Ben?" Sarah asked changing the topic and Lea nodded.
"Yeah, I was going to tell you but then you said you were coming and I decided to just wait… I need to get over it, like for good… I didn't realize how much it's affected me until recently… You know, seeing him again in Hershey and him being the same idiot that he was… I thought I was over it but no" She shook her head, and added "I snapped at Shaun again, and I snapped at work too, the other day. I mean, we know men; not all men of course, but we know how they can be, and it's just too much sometimes, you know? And Ben, well, he fucked me up… I don't know if I didn't know or I just didn't want to admit it, but he did, and I need to work on that"
Sarah nodded feeling bad for her friend "I'm so sorry… I was your best friend and I didn't see it either, I knew you better than anyone else, you're like my sister, and I didn't see it, I didn't help…" She said with guilt.
"It wasn't your fault, I pushed you all away because I believed his crap and fell into his traps; I didn't see it myself at the time, how were you supposed to?" The both sighed.
"I'm just glad you're okay now" Sarah said.
"I'm not completely okay, I don't know if I'll ever be, but I'll try" Lea replied and nodded once, feeling confident; Sarah nodded too and reached out to hug her friend.
That night, Lea took Sarah to a party her and co-workers were invited to, at their workplace; she invited Shaun too, but he was unsure about going, given the amount of people that were going to be there, he also chose not to go because he said he'd meet up with Dr. Glassman that evening to help him with some memory tests, and with what Sarah had pointed out that morning, it was probably for the best that he didn't go to the party with them, because Lea didn't want to possibly gent drunk and end up doing something else that could confuse him, like Sarah had told her.
At the party, while chatting with her and introducing her to a few co-workers, Sarah noticed a guy constantly looking in Lea's direction from afar, so at one point she nudged Lea to get her attention and subtly pointed at the guy with her eyebrows.
"You know him? He's been looking over here all night" She grinned.
Lea subtly glanced at the guy and chuckled "That's Jake… He's a cook here, and I think he's been flirting with me pretty much since I started working here; I don't know if he's like that with all the girls or just me though"
"Well, he's cute" Sarah smirked and Lea laughed.
"You're a married woman now, Sarah!" Lea teased and they laughed.
"No but, seriously, he's cute, why not give him a chance? Like, a proper one"
"Because, what if I'm not the only one he flirts with or is after?"
"I only see him looking at you, that must be a good sign, right?" Sarah shrugged and sipped some of her drink.
"I don't know… I don't know if me trying to heal from my past should involve properly dating someone, yet… but at the same time, maybe I should actually stop fooling around with men, having only one night stands or flings…"
Sarah nodded "You deserve to be happy, Lea… with whoever, and whenever you're ready, just know that, you - deserve - to be - HAPPY" She said, pushing Lea's shoulder a little with one of her pointing fingers; Lea smiled and nodded, then Sarah added "You could at least get to know him better and see what happens… but, again, whenever you are ready. Don't let me, anything or anyone else, rush you"
Lea nodded again, letting out a soft "Okay" while moving her drink to her lips to take a sip and glanced quickly at Jake, considering everything.
Since her relationship with Ben ended, she began dating men, mainly for the purpose of having fun and blow off steam, because she felt that in that way she was in control of her life again; no one would touch her without her consent, she wouldn't let anyone else belittle her or control her every move, etc; she was not willing to give anyone else the ability to break her again, so she began to avoid commitment. She would either sleep with a guy for a night or hang out with them for a couple months, but as soon as she felt the guy wanted more, she would end it and move on, and even though it was probably wrong, she was okay with that, until she met Shaun…
She began to question her commitment issues and the way she was in control of her life. She began to open up to him, but things with him were rather complicated, or so she thought, and in combination with her baggage, it wasn't something he deserved to deal with or something she was ready to embark herself on, therefore, decided to leave it as just a friendship.
She wasn't sure if she was ready to get involved in a proper relationship again, but one thing was certain, she had to change her ways for the sake of everyone, and like Sarah suggested, there was no harm in just getting to know someone and be open to the outcome.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Jake approached her, holding his beer, smiling at her.
"Hey, I saw you from over there, decided to come say Hi" He said.
"I saw you too…" She replied with a little smile and Sarah grinned, slightly turning away so they could chat, but Lea reached to hold her hand with a squeeze, like begging for support, so her friend stayed where she was, and Lea added "This is my friend Sarah, she's visiting from Hershey"
"Oh cool, Jake Dahlen, nice to meet you" He reached out to shake the blonde girl's hand and she moved the snack she was enjoying to her other hand so she could shake his.
"Sarah Bauman, nice to meet you too" She greeted him.
"Those are pretty good" He said pointing at her snack after letting go of her hand. "They would have been even better if I made them thought, but I'm glad I don't have to be in the kitchen tonight" He chuckled.
"They are pretty good, indeed" Sarah smiled with a nod "You want to become a chef?"
"That's the goal, yeah" He nodded.
Both lea and Sarah nodded again, and the three of them stood in an awkward silence for a moment, until Jake broke the ice.
"So… I was actually wondering, would you like to go out for a coffee or something one day?" He looked at Lea.
She blushed and glanced quickly at her friend who arched a brow up and gave her hand a little squeeze, just so she knew she was there for her and also like telling her to go for it.
"I… okay" Lea replied with a small nod and a smile.
"Cool" Jake said grinning "How about I give you my number so you text me or call me and we can arrange something?"
"Sure" Lea simply said, still a little nervous; pulled out her phone, unlocked it and handed it to him so he could type in his number and, after a minute, he handed her phone back. She created a contact with his name, then took a quick photo of him to add it to his profile and he laughed some.
"You could have warned me! That probably turned out horrible, it wasn't my good side!" He joked.
"Nah, it's fine" She giggled sliding her phone back into her pocket.
"All right" He said grinning "Will you call or text?"
"I wouldn't have made you a whole contact profile if I wasn't planning on doing anything with it" She said and he chuckled.
"Okay, I'll be waiting for your call then!"
Lea nodded smiling and he walked away, back to his group of friends, probably other cooks from the company or who knows.
"Are you really going to call him or you just said that so he'd leave?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know, we'll see" She grinned, watching Jake from afar for a minute, and shrugged.
They got back home a bit late that night, and found Shaun sitting on the sofa, lost in though. Lea looked at him as she hung her jacket and keys, and frowned a little, sensing something wasn't right.
"Shaun?" She walked to the living while Sarah hung her stuff on the rack. "Are you okay?" She sat next to him leaving some space between them.
"Dr. Glassman is losing his memory"
Lea was about to move her hand to his shoulder in a supportive manner but stopped herself and tucked her hand under the side of her thigh, remembering what Sarah told her.
Sarah walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
"Why? What does that mean?" She asked Shaun.
"It's because of the radiation. It means his coordination would be affected, which means he could need more in-home care, and he also would not be able to drive. I already called Dr. Blaize and left her a message about the memory test results. I will ask for his driver's license tomorrow. Would you teach me how to drive again so I can drive Dr. Glassman to his appointments?" He turned to look at her and Lea blinked a couple times, taking in everything he just said.
"Of course, Shaun. Anytime… I don't think Glassy's going to be happy about it though"
"He is stubborn but it's for his own well being. When do we start with the lessons?"
"Well… We'll have to check our work schedules and figure it out" He nodded at her response "But, are you okay?"
"I'm fine" He nodded again and got up from the sofa "I'm going to sleep now, I was just waiting for you to tell you all this, goodnight. Goodnight, Sarah"
"Goodnight, Shaun" Sarah said from the kitchen and smiled as he walked into his bedroom.
"Goodnight" Lea said as he closed his door then she turned around on the sofa to look at her friend and they chuckled; Lea went to the kitchen and they chatted about who Dr. Glassman was and how important he is for Shaun, then they went to bed and Sarah fell asleep rather quickly while Lea was still awake, thinking about that whole day. At one point she took her phone from her bedside table and opened Jake's profile, contemplated it for a while hesitating, then she gathered enough courage and texted him.
"Hey… it's Lea"