Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 52

Chapter 18

As Cara and Ellie arrived back, Leonora made me tell them. I was torn about whether to do it or not. Telling one person was hard enough, but Leonora threatened me if I didn’t. Playfully, but I still believed her capable of it.

What followed, I hadn’t been expecting. The four of us stayed in my room for hours while I showed them pictures of Rosie from my wall of photographs. I told them all about her – all those memories. In a way, it was nice.

It was painful as well. I cried a lot and Cara frequently went to buy chocolate, promising not even to steal any of it. Yet it felt truly special to be able to talk about her. To my heart’s content they let me waffle on about her.

When my dad called, I stuffed the phone back in my handbag, but Ellie fished it out and put it in my hand. She was very kind, practically talked me through what words to say.

I told him I was angry at him. Especially that he clearly hadn’t laid any flowers on Rosie’s grave. He didn’t argue, he just listened. He tried to apologise, but I didn’t want to hear it. We moved on to talking about uni, attempting some semblance of normality, and promised to meet up when he was back from Scotland. I was going to come up to Salisbury for the day and we’d go to the churchyard together.

My mum I didn’t want to disturb on her holiday, she really needed that time, but I arranged another dinner with her for when she got back. That was going to be my opportunity to tell her all.

I had never loved my three friends as much as I did over those few days. They periodically switched between asking me about Rosie, encouraging me to talk then distracting me with something more fun. We watched films, played games, as well as doing the occasional piece of coursework and revision.

We were laid out on the grass outside the coffee shop in a star position, our heads all next to each other as we looked up at the blue sky when I finally turned the conversation to something else that I needed their help with.

“What do I do about Tye?” I played with some of the blades of grass between my fingers. I had kept my hand clean, just as I’d promised to Leonora, but you could still see the grazes across my skin.

I had revealed the scale of my catastrophic mess up with Tye a few days earlier.

“I don’t know, I mean, it was pretty bad,” Cara teased in her usual way. I reached round and poked her side as I heard Ellie laugh. “Ow!”

“I know it was – that was not my question. My question was, do you think I can fix it or not?” I folded my arms across my chest, enjoying the warmth from the sun.

“Well, I know a few things about how to catch a man…” Ellie paused for effect.

“No, you don’t say! Knock me down with a feather.” Cara laughed.

“Such an evil pixie.” Ellie shook her head, her short black curls wandered among the grass. “How about a nice short dress?”

“Or a low neckline,” Leonora offered with her chirpy voice. “That black and white dress of yours is a killer.”

“Turn up at his door wearing nothing underneath it?”

“Ellie!” I gasped in pretend shock.

“What? I think he might like that.” She rolled from her back onto her front to look at me, so I did the same.

“I don’t want to catch him for one night,” I spoke firmly, shaking my head at her. “I want to keep him.”

“Finally! Some juice.” Cara rolled onto her front too from the side of me. “So you’re admitting that you don’t just quite like the guy, but you like him enough that you would really like him to stick around and be in a relationship? You know, cuddly evenings watching films with popcorn as well as the passionate nights of sex?”

“I’m always fond of how straight to the point you are,” I rolled my eyes.

“But yes?”

“Yes.” I frowned at her.

Leonora shielded her gaze from the sun as she turned her head on the ground to look at me.

“You know what you’ve got to do.” She said simply with a smile.

“No I don’t.”

“You do!”

“Can you stop being so wise?” I complained, digging my hands into the grass.

“No can do, it’s a gift from god himself,” she held out her hands to the sun above her dramatically. “Ivy, you have to tell him. Everything. Only then can he understand exactly what you were dealing with that night. It wasn’t just his shit on your mind, but yours too.”

“He’s also not an idiot from what you’ve said,” Cara reached over to a box of chocolates we had between us, eagerly unwrapping one. “You acted out of the best of intentions in what was a catastrophic moment. You were trying to protect his sister. He will know that. If he hasn’t already, he’ll realise it at some point after