11. Chapter ElevenFiona
Chapter Eleven
Fiona
T he knocking persisted and won over my will to ignore it. No one should be knocking at this unholy hour. I picked up my phone to check the time, a few minutes after six am. It was really a ghastly time to come calling on someone’s door.
I dragged myself off the bed and walked to the door where the person, whoever they were, was having a field day with the door. This type of behavior should fall under public disturbance or something of the sort.
And the person at the door would hear from me in really colorful words. Every single word died in my throat as I came face to face with the offender, who looked absolutely put together and was wearing a pleased look on her face.
“Oh, Allison!” I said, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly.
“That’s enough; let me go,” she said with a chuckle, but her arms remained wrapped around me. I had missed her so much.
“How did you find your way to my apartment?” I asked, knowing she couldn’t have done it without Christian’s help. I looked past her hoping he had come too, but there was no sign of him.
“Christian brought me, but he went back home,” she said, and her eyes roamed around my face.
“Okay,” I said, my heartbeat picking up, hoping I hadn’t given myself away.
I was good at concealing my emotions with Christian, but I’m uncertain I can manage it around Allison. She is my best friend, for crying out loud, and we have both grown to be very vulnerable around each other.
“Come here,” I said, and grabbed her left hand, pulling her into the house. I led her to the sofa, pleased to have distracted her.
“Sit.”
“Thank you,” Allison said, pulling me closer. The grin on her face was all I needed to know: she was happy to be back in Laketown. I was so glad to have her back, too.
As kids, we spent all our time running around in their backyard, Christian joined us sometimes. She was always quick to protect me from her mother’s judgment. While Melissa never made it obvious that she wasn’t pleased with our relationship, some things couldn’t escape my keen eyes.
Things have changed, not just the times, but Allison. She was taller now and elegantly dressed. She has the same emerald green eyes as her brother, but besides that and their kindness, they share nothing in common.
I rushed out of the living room, happy to tend to her. I made us cups of coffee while making small talk with her. Allison grinned when I handed her the cup of coffee.
“Thank you,” she said, and took a small sip.
“So, tell me, how have you been?”
When she started to talk, it was easy to see that the coffee wasn’t doing much to wake her up. Whenever her voice began to drawl, she took another sip of her coffee.
I wondered why she decided to come back early. When I contacted her about Christian, we had agreed on a date for her to return. She just came earlier than the date. The coffee wasn’t enough to distract me, and neither was the small talk she was holding for my sake when we both knew there was a serious matter we had to tend to.
“About Christian...” she said, and looked at me.
I nodded, encouraging her to keep talking, but she stalled for a while because it felt like she was leaving it up to me to read between the lines. And what was written between the lines felt like a request to leave Christian alone. He was off limits because of Aurora, after all.
“I think we should go out tomorrow and talk about it,” I said, unwilling to give her the chance to continue. I needed to regroup my emotions because I was under-prepared to have the conversation.
“Are you sure about this, Fiona?”
“Yes, I am. You are tired, and I do not think it is a good idea to talk to you in this state.”
“Alright, but I traveled so early to spend enough time with you today; why don’t we just talk right now and have fun tomorrow?” She raised a brow, but I didn’t feel like giving in.
“Allison, you are still as insistent as you have always been. Let’s just get you into the shower, get you settled, and then we can play games later at night.”
“Fiona, you are still as defensive as ever,” she counters with a shake of her head, but it looks fond if I am to read it as something. “Anything you want is fine.”
I grinned at her words before getting to my feet with the promise of a mind-blowing breakfast.
*************
I stumbled out of bed with the knowledge that I had overslept. Last night, we stayed up playing games, which I lost every time to Allison. I have come to terms with losing to her every time since we were young.
My head was pounding slightly, and I braced myself for the light that’d poured into the room when I pulled the curtains back. Still, the brightness made me shut my eyes. I squinted them open, and stumbled back to the bed to get my phone. The time read that it was almost two pm.
How could I have slept for so long?
Allison was already in the kitchen, munching on something, when I stepped in, “You are awake!”
I heard the smile in her voice as I poured myself a glass of water.
“Yes, I am,” I said tiredly.
“Have some breakfast? Lunch?”
I laughed at her words, but settled down to have the sandwich she made me. It made me feel happy that she had settled into my house.
“We are leaving in thirty minutes,” she said, looking at her phone.
“Thirty minutes?” I asked, pretending not to know we had an outing planned for the day.
“Yes, Fiona. We are going to the Clover Club to have cocktails and then talk,” she said, with emphasis on talk.
“Okay,” I said, reluctantly going to my room, looking back as though she’d change her mind.
It took less time for both of us to get ready. We didn’t go overboard with getting ready. Christian had left us his car; Allison was kind enough to inform me when we walked out and found it sitting in front of the house.
I didn’t know what to do with the information that he showed up at the house, and I was still sleeping. A single glance at him would have really woken me up.
Allison drove us to Clover Club, and we pointed out buildings we had spent our childhood in, reminiscing about the good times. We laughed the entire time until we drove past our favorite ice cream parlor and saw a sign that said it was closing down soon. The news cast a bittersweet shadow over our joyful trip down memory lane.
We arrived at Clover Club with a new feeling of excitement. The place looked stylish, with round tables decorated with a small vase of flowers. The lights were dimmed, and it provided a type of intimacy.
The bartender got to us almost as soon as we settled down.
“We will have two Mojitos,” Allison said to the waiter, who nodded once and got to mixing. I looked away from her, pretending to take in the view. Once the drinks started coming, it was only a matter of time before the talk started with my drunk ramblings.
“Fiona, what is it?” Allison’s voice pulled me out of my head.
“Hmm?”
“You are not going to pretend for long, so you had better cut the crap and speak to me,” Allison said impatiently.
“I do not like how sad Christian has been in the past few months because of Aurora. It’s disturbing,” I said, waiting for her to say something most definitely disagreeing with it.
“You bet I am just as disgusted, Fiona. I am quite sure Christian was never in the relationship wholeheartedly, and he only did it to please Mom and Dad,” she replied with gritted teeth, and I couldn’t help but allow my eyes to travel back to her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Allison said with a roll of her eyes, and looked away from me. I watched as the wheels in her head turned, and when she turned to look at me, there was no denying that I had been found out. “Don’t tell me —“
“You’re mistaken,” I said with a firm shake.
“I didn’t even say anything.”
I said nothing, but maintained eye contact with her. I would not be the one to break, but that resolve lasted until the bartender placed the drinks before us.
“Okay, fine, I have feelings for Christian. Look… I know it’s wrong because he is your brother, and Aurora is still around him, but I cannot help it. I tried to push him away, believe me, but it’s been eating away at me for months.”
I waited for the backlash, but all she did was whistle and take a sip of her drink. “I think you should tell him. He has to know how you feel and vice versa.”
A part of me wanted to agree with her, but there was no need for me to do anything of the sort. I didn’t want to rush into anything and have regrets. There were a million ways this could pan out, and none of them looked like I would come out on top.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said and shook my head.
“I think it is. It might turn out really well. You know how Christian is; trust me, this is not something you want to regret down the road.”
“What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” I asked.
“Then you know that you gave it a try,” Allison said and gave up her drink to pull me into a hug.