Hold my hand.

~12~

[Part 2.]

Perrie opened the door to her house wiping a lonely tear off her cheek. She watched Mr. parsons driving away before shutting the door behind her.
She immediately took her high heals off leaving them in the middle of the room, letting herself go on the new sofa. As she took her phone out of her bag, she found a text from Leigh-Anne.

Leigh-Anne 8.05pm
<<Sorry hun, Blake is very sad and keeps crying, asking for you. I'll try and get him to settle, but give me a call when you get back x Hope you're okay xxx>>

Perrie felt awful reading that. She checked the time and noticed that text was sent a couple of hours before.

-Hi, P? Are you at home?
-Just got back. Sorry Leigh, I just got your text.
-No problems, I knew you were busy anyway. So, how did it go?!
-It was horrible.
-Are you crying, P?
-I'll explain to you tomorrow. How's Blake?
-He's still awake. I'm sorry Pez, he's always been fine here with us. I'm not sure why he's so upset tonight.
-No, I'm the one who has to apologise. He told me he didn't feel up to it and I didn't listen. I know it's late and you probably don't fancy a drive, but could you bring him back? Please?
-Of course honey! That's the main reason why we've been waiting up. We'll be there in a bit. See you soon.

As promised, Leigh-Anne brought Blake back as soon as she could and although she could see her friend was distressed, she didn't ask any questions.
'Are you sure you're okay? You don't want me to stay?'
'Yes, Leigh. I'm sure. I'm okay really, just a bit upset about the whole thing.'
'Do you promise me you're gonna come over for coffee tomorrow and tell me everything? I hate leaving you like this.'
'I promise.' Perrie picked up Blake, who was half asleep by now. 'Now I better go and put this troublemaker to bed. Thanks Leigh, for everything.'
Perrie closed the door and brought Blake to his bedroom. As soon as she laid him down in his bed, he fell asleep.
The girl felt tired and overwhelmed but didn't feel like going to bed just yet. She opened the fridge and got out a bottle of wine instead. As she poured a glass and was about to turn the tv on, she heard another knock at the door.
She rolled her eyes and smiled going to open it, thinking it would just be Leigh-Anne, still worried.
'Alex! What are you doing here?!'
Perrie was extremely surprised in seeing him there.
'Hei. Sorry, I know it's late.'
Perrie invited him in. 'It's okay. I... I was awake anyway. I just wasn't expecting to see you. Is everything alright?'
'I realised that it's almost been a week since you moved in and I never came round to drop off the present I got for Blake.' Alex handed Perrie a gift bag.
Perrie smiled. 'That's really sweet but you're such a bad liar.'
'I'm not lying.'
'And did you really need to come and drop it off at eleven o'clock on a Friday night? I don't think so.'
Alex smiled back, embarrassed. 'I guess you're partly right... but I was worried about you.'
'That's kind of you, and part of your job I guess, but I'm fine.'
'I'm not here as a social worker, Perrie. I'm here as your friend. And I figured you could do with a friend tonight.'
Perrie went in the kitchen to get Alex a glass of wine, whilst the boy took his coat off and sat on the sofa. The girl then joined him on the sofa, passing him the glass.
'Since you're not a social worker tonight then, you won't judge my drinking habits, will you?' The girl said laughing.
'Nah, don't worry. It's cool.'
The two remained silent for a few moments.
'Go on then. Ask me what you want to ask.' Perrie said.
'I just want to know if you're okay. You seemed pretty upset leaving the restaurant earlier.'
Alex looked at Perrie in a way he had never looked at her before, making her feel like she couldn't hide from him nor lie about the whole situation.
She sighed profoundly. 'This is so fucking ridiculous.' The girl looked away as she continued. 'That man you saw... that's my boss. Well, one of them. As soon as he found out his partner offered me a permanent position and a raise, he's been obsessing over me. He asked me every day for the past two weeks if he could take me out for dinner, telling me that I owe him since he agreed with assuming me in the first place and that they're doing me a favour by giving me the contract so early. He became so insistent, I just didn't know what to say anymore.'
'Perrie, that's awful. He's harassing you. You should never be put in that position.' Alex replied shocked.
'I know, I know. But what else could I do? I need this job, Alex, you know better than anyone else. Anyway, I figured one dinner wouldn't hurt until he started to talk about how unhappy he is with his wife and then he would "love to get to know me better". He touched me in a way I didn't like so I clearly told him that I wasn't interested and he lost it. He told me I'm just an immature little girl that likes to play pretend with a pretentious job she doesn't deserve, that I'm ungrateful and that I just go begging for attention.'
'Well, you know he's not speaking the truth. You're amazing, you deserve the job and I honestly can't believe he's putting you through this. It's sick.'
Perrie smiled trying to hold back tears. 'Thanks. It doesn't hurt, what he said. It hurts that I'm probably going to lose my job and it's not because of my performance. Plus, I feel like an idiot for even agreeing to this dinner.'
'Hey... you're not an idiot. You were scared, it's understandable. You were thinking of yours and Blake's future.'
'A future we don't have anymore.'
'Don't say that.' Alex hugged Perrie. 'But you'll have to promise me you'll talk to someone at work and you'll report the bastard. What he's doing it's not right and he shouldn't get away with it. If you need help you just have to let me know. I'm just one phone call away, I mean it.'
Alex smiled at her once he broke the hug.
'I'll try. Thank you.' Perrie couldn't help but smile back as she sniffed. 'What about you?'
'Me? What about me?'
'Why are you not with Jesy right now?'
Alex smiled embarrassed. 'Oh... that. I was just worried for you, I told you.'
'So I was just an excuse for you to end the date earlier, I see! How did you meet her, if you don't mind me asking?'
Alex smiled embarrassed. 'It was my stupid friends. They made a profile for me on a dating app. Jesy is nice, we've been seeing each other a couple of times... but...'
'But? Don't worry, you can tell me. Jesy' any friend but we haven't actually seen each other for years, so I won't talk, promise!'
'She's nice, but she's not my type. We come from completely different worlds. I don't feel like she would understand my lifestyle, in the long run.'
'Just a bit of fun, then.' Perrie said.
'Yeah... no! I mean, not like that.'
Alex made Perrie chuckle trying to recover from what he just said.
'What I meant was, it's fun to see her and spend some time together but it's not sexual.'
'Alex, don't worry. We're all grown ups, I wouldn't judge you. Although I must admit I'm quite surprise, knowing Jesy!' Perrie laughed as she took another sip of wine.
'You know Jesy but you don't know me. I would never d...'
'Mummy!' Perrie and Alex were interrupted by Blake suddenly running into the living room and almost throwing himself on his mum's lap.
Perrie jumped, worried about what Blake would think seeing Alex.
'What are you doing up? I thought you were asleep.'
'Alex! Why are you here at my house?'
'Ehm, nothing. Alex just needed to tell mummy something. You need to get back to bed young man!'
'But I don't want to sleep now. I want to talk to Alex too!'
Perrie and Alex laughed.
'You can talk to Alex another day. C'mon, back to bed!'
Blake fussed a little, cuddling into his mum. 'I don't want to. I want to stay with you. And I want to play with Alex...' the little boy said in between yawns.
Perrie then began to stroke the little boy's face, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to Alex, who just smiled back, admiring that sweet picture.
As Blake fell asleep, becoming heavy in his mum's arms, Perrie felt her eyes becoming heavier and heavier, as she instinctively rested her head on Alex's shoulder.

[Good morning everybody :) how are you xx
It's super early in my world and I'm getting ready for work.. had a busy day yesterday and I'm exhausted already although it's only Tuesday lol so I thought an update would be nice in the Hope your lovely comments will cheer me up tonight Haha
I quite like this chapter, things are getting interesting! I hope you like it as much as me, let me know ;)
Peace and love to everyone xxx]