breathless

Her initial look at Rio was one of never-going-to-happen, but after a moment of thought, Skye's features settled and became calmer. "Okay, you may actually have a point," she laughed cheekily. "But my whole life has been defined by rules for as long as I can remember." A pause. "Do you know what that means?" the blonde asked Rio, giving the other woman a playful nudge with her elbow. "It means that I'm going to need somebody to show me the ways of the non-rule-abiding world. Are you up for the challenge?"

*

Elsa had made a note of when Skye was due to return to Stamford, and almost the minute the blonde arrived home Elsa had walked down to her house to greet her. Truthfully, she had missed her more than the girl could possibly understand and had felt incredibly lonely without Skye around to talk to—even though it had only been for a few weeks. She hadn’t been able to spend much time with anyone outside of work for a while, and it was only once Skye had left for the capital that Elsa realised how much she needed friendly company. “I din’t even realise ya were gone,” Elsa joked as she followed Skye inside. “Nah, of course I did. How was London? Tell me all about it.”

*

A cheeky grin swooped over Skye’s lips as she looked at her best friend. “You know, I’m surprised you managed to last even a day without me,” she joked. The happiness slowly faded from her features and Skye’s head tilted downwards for a moment or two when Elsa asked how London was. “Yeah, it was okay,” she said softly, nodding her head. “My parents have been a little difficult since the accident and my Aunt and Uncle - the famous ones - are an even bigger nightmare. I think it definitely reiterated where I want and need to be. Here I have you, Oscar, Marcia, Jake and Isabella. I have the support I need and I’ve never been more thankful for that.” She paused, her eyes looking suddenly back up to Elsa upon remembering Jake. “I feel sick that I wasn’t here when that video came out about Jake again.” The situation made her heart pound with sadness every time she thought about it. She’d lost two best friends in Jake’s ex girlfriend and their mutual friend from the whole situation when they’d found out she was friends with Jake, but his part in it was the saddest part. “Is he okay? Has he told you what happened?”

*

Tae had been working overtime on some spreadsheets his boss had given to him, but as Louisa spoke he glanced at his watch and decided to finish for the evening. Shutting his own laptop, he moved over to sit beside Louisa and looked at her screen. He frowned and blinked a few times as Louisa spoke, before he finally realised what she was doing. “Oh, you mean that online dating stuff,” he replied, his distaste obvious in his facial expression. “What happened to meeting people in bars? Does nobody do that anymore? Although, I guess for you that’s just… work.”  

Tae ran a hand through his hair and began to think. “Don’t be too quick about it. You want to make sure the person you settle with is right for you, and treats you well. I don’t want you just choosing the first man who shows an interest.” Tae hadn’t been too caught up in looking for romance lately: he’d had a few short relationships over the past few years but since landing a rewarding job at a local accounting firm, he’d been more focused on work and didn’t really have much time to find a girlfriend. “I suppose you could start by talking about your likes and dislikes. What do you like? What don’t you like?”

*

Louisa tangled her hand in her brunette waves, wondering why life had to be so difficult. The dating part especially. “Exactly, I flirt on the job a lot but I don’t think I could date on the job. I prefer my dates to be sober.” It certainly wasn’t that nobody was interested, more so that she was picky and needed somebody who wasn’t going to be scared to have kids within the next couple of years. 

“I don’t have a whole lot of time to settle, Tae. I’m almost thirty three and I dedicated half of my life to somebody and he slipped through my fingers and nobody’s ever reached his standard. ” Louisa took a couple of deep breaths to relieve her stress. She wasn’t even in love with Aiden anymore, she was just in love with the time she’d lost to him. And nobody had his passion and nobody was as good in bed either, but she would never admit that to anyone. “Well I like caring for people, but that’s going to sound lame. Probably why I was with Aiden for so long, he needed to be taken care of,” she said a little bitterly. She hadn’t meant it. Louisa didn’t feel any animosity towards he or Fina and actually hoped that she could be friends with them like she was with Sophie. “I like horses and babies and I don’t dislike very much.”

*

Elsa had accidentally stumbled across the video and, as soon as she’d realised what—and who—it was, she’d shut it off in shock. She didn’t know the circumstances behind it, but that mattered little to her—all she cared about was Jake, and the fact that this video had clearly been obtained and distributed without his consent. Such matters never failed to give her flashbacks of her own experience several years ago, the scars of which had not yet faded and still traumatised her to this day. It horrified her to hear that Jake had endured something similar, and was now having that torment exacerbated by the incident being shared across the internet.

Of course Elsa believed him. He was her boss; she trusted him implicitly. What touched her the most was how he told her he hadn’t wanted to hurt the girl. Her heart ached for him, partly with compassion and partly with concern for what was going to happen to his career. “I believe you,” she assured him, holding onto his hand. She didn’t care whether or not she was being unprofessional; right now, he was a friend and not a colleague. “I’m so sorry tha’ happened to ya, Jake. It’s not fair.” Elsa gently used her finger to tilt his chin upwards so that he could look at her. There were tears in her eyes as she spoke to him. “Ya not on ya own, I promise. Wha’ever happens, I’ll be by your side through it all. I’m not gonna let ya get punished for somethin’ tha’ wasn’t your fault. Did you ever… Did you ever try to press charges?”

*

“Thank you,” he breathed out, knowing deep down that she would believe him. He wouldn’t have gone into so much detail if he hadn’t thought she would, just like he hadn’t with many others. “No,” Jake said simply as he tried to fight his mind for some more words. It took a moment or two. “Between the chance of her turning it on me and me losing my job over it, it didn’t seem worth it. She was both the smartest and least smart person I’ve ever met, god knows how she’d have reacted. Even before this Skye didn’t like her and I’ve never known Skye to dislike anybody.” Jake sighed and brushed his hand through his hair in frustration. “And I blamed myself. I led her on to try and get my girlfriend’s attention because that’s what we always did to each other. This time I picked the wrong person to lead on.” His eyes were in another world, unable to fixate them on anything and looking almost as if there was a midst against them. “I don’t even know if I want to be a cop anymore. We just go around doing as we’re told regardless or what’s right or wrong. We could be arresting a ton of people who are innocent.” His thoughts were coming out aloud as he was having them. He’d never thought about changing career before but now this was all happening it was beginning to make sense to. Only, he wasn’t sure he was skilled in anything else.

*

Rio gasped and pretended to look offended. “Are you saying I look like a stalker? I’ll have you know I’ve been hiding in the bushes with binoculars for astronomy reasons, nothing more,” she joked as she took hold of Francesca’s hand and walked with her down the driveway. “No, the truth is that my best friend Louisa told me that footballer extraordinaire Marcos Garcia happened to have a pretty sister so I thought I’d come and investigate for myself. You are her, aren’t you? I’ve not just grabbed the cleaner or something?” Rio glanced sideways at the woman, but her facial features and accent meant that she knew she’d found the right person. She was also far more attractive than Rio had envisaged, which was exciting. “My New Year’s resolution is to be more adventurous—so I’d like to take you out for a drink please, beautiful stranger. What do you say? You can tell me all about this thriller you’ve been reading, and I’ll pretend I’m listening and not just staring at you the whole time.”

*

It wasn’t often that Francesca felt a little shy, but the woman in front of her was not only beautiful but chatty too and Fran wasn’t used to not being the most talkative in a room. But then, she did live with Mila. “It is often the pretty ones but no, I thought you were here to warn me about one. Not that I’m opposed to hot stalkers or anything, you do your thing.” She was thoroughly confused, but not a single feature on her face showed off that confusion, instead she looked as confident as ever. Cesca’s eyes widened as she looked at the pretty blonde with humour. “Are you saying I look like a cleaner? Anyway, don’t you think it’s a bit... different to show up on a stranger’s doorstep and drag her out of the house? Don’t mistake it for a complaint, but I do know karate.” Her lips pushed together into a smile as she nodded. “If you want adventure, you’ve come to the right girl but I’m going to need your name before I let you get me drunk.” She tugged on her denim jacket, pushing her hands deep into its pockets. “Are you always this creepy, Miss Stalker?”

Fran had invited Ki over to watch a horror film or three with her and in a house as big as Marcos’, it was never a good idea. Her brother was away for work and Mila was looking after Charlie - something Francesca only did when Mila, Luke and Louisa were all busy which was rare. The early hours of the morning had quickly loomed over them and Francesca had lost sight of time. “It’s nothing, probably just Charlie snoring. That kid has some loud fucking nose,” the Spanish woman began, but when she thought again that didn’t seem likely. Charlie’s room wasn’t exactly close. “Maybe we need to investigate. The CCTV broke yesterday so there is a small, like tiny chance of a burglary.” 

*

Marcos had never enjoyed having any negativity with Louisa, although when she first appeared into his life it was true that he hadn’t been too keen on her. He’d initially considered her meddlesome, as if her intention was to critique his parenting from the very beginning, until he finally warmed to her and realised that they both wanted the same thing: a good, fulfilling life and home for little Charlie. That didn’t mean that they always saw eye to eye, of course, but Marcos tried to refrain from creating too much tension with his son’s aunt. After all, she had lost her twin sister so he had to exercise some sensitivity.

He placed a warm mug of tea down in front of Louisa and sat down opposite her at the table. He looked at her and could see the compassion in her expression. He hadn’t mentioned what had happened with Lise, mostly because he believed it was her story to share far more than his, but evidently the sorrow he still felt was more apparent than he’d realised. “Thank you,” he replied softly, a smile crossing his lips. “Family… Yes, of course.” Marcos nodded. “I do worry about this friction between you and Mila, though. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand but I’m also aware that Charlie will be seven this year and I can tell he’s becoming more perceptive as the days go by. I’m sure it won’t be long before he picks up on the animosity and I can only see that doing more harm than good.” He sighed gently and reached out his hand to touch Louisa’s. “I know this house may seem a strange set-up, what with housemates coming and going all the time. But I only ever allow people I trust to live here. I promise you that.”

*

It was becoming pretty clear that Marcos had a thing for Mila, so Louisa decided not to pry in it anymore, despite her concern for her nephew. Soon she’d learn Mila’s schedule so that she could visit Charlie when she wasn’t around, that way it couldn’t possibly bother her. “No need to worry. I won’t speak of it again.” Her lips curled upwards into a forced smile, a little frustrated that he’d brought the subject up again and acted like she was to blame for the animosity. “Seeing Charlie makes me feel so much closer to Alice,” Louisa breathed out into her tea, feeling the heat of it warm her face. “He has her eyes.” The change of subject was on purpose, but it wasn’t untrue. “He’s very lucky living somewhere he can really thrive... all of this space. It’s what every child dreams of.” 

Louisa frowned. Perhaps she and Mila were both more similar than she knew; both desiring a family but neither able to obtain one for different reasons. Louisa had split from Aiden because he didn’t want a family but she hadn’t found one without him either, other than adopting Ewelina but that wasn’t the same as having a baby. “You won’t ever send him to boarding school, will you?” It had worked out for her, but she would never want it of her children, nor her sister’s.

Louisa looked up from her laptop screen and cocked her head to the side in amusement. “I’m talking about my bio for Tinder. Have you seriously never heard of Tinder before? Anyhow, I need you to help me come up with a bio. Something to say about myself because I don’t have a clue what people write on these things.” Why was it so much effort to try and find a partner these days? She’d met Aiden at school and there hadn’t really been anybody else serious in all of the years since she’d split up for the twelve and final time. “My body clock is officially running out and I need to find somebody quickly.”