"Your friends seem really nice." Amy smiled at Chloe as they walked towards the cafe.
"Some of them are." Chloe said shortly.
"Is Michelle the one you told me about?" Amy asked. Chloe nodded slowly, her heart fluttering nervously when she spotted Duncan sitting at a table in the back. As soon as she laid eyes on him, her thoughts wandered to Lee, like Duncan was a constant reminder of him.
"Hey Chlo Bo." Duncan said happily as soon as they reached him. Chloe smiled and quickly hugged him tightly, suddenly realising how much she'd missed him.
"How are things?" Chloe asked him.
"Fine, nothing exciting going on." he replied. Duncan turned to glance at Amy when he felt her watching him. She let out a small squeal of excitement and quickly threw herself into his arms. Duncan raised his eyebrow questioningly at Chloe, smiling slightly when Chloe rolled her eyes and smiled.
"This is my cousin Amy by the way." Chloe chuckled, quickly sitting down at the table, smiling to herself when she noticed that Amy was still holding onto Duncan tightly. Duncan breathed a sigh of relief when Amy finally let go of him and sat beside Chloe.
"I can't believe you worked with them for three years and I didn't get to meet them." Amy pouted.
"We've been over this, we weren't in touch!" Chloe laughed.
"I still don't know if I can forgive you." Amy teased.
"I'm a Blue fan, in case you haven't already guessed." Amy laughed, turning to face Duncan when he sat opposite them.
"I had guessed." he laughed.
"Thankfully not one of the fans that hate me." Chloe said, smiling slightly. Duncan smiled slightly, a warm feeling spreading in his chest when he realised how much better Chloe was than when he last saw her.
"If you want, I could arrange for you to meet Anthony and Si at some point?" Duncan offered, smiling slightly when Amy's eyes lit up.
"What about Lee?" Amy frowned, when she suddenly realised that Duncan hadn't mentioned him.
"He's not in the best place at the moment." Duncan said, glancing at Chloe nervously.
"Why, what's wrong with him?" Chloe blurted before she could stop herself.
"Didn't you read about it in the papers?" Duncan frowned. Chloe shook her head slowly.
"I stay away from the media now for obvious reasons." Chloe told him.
"Not long after you left he ended up in rehab." Duncan said quietly.
"What?" Chloe whispered, swallowing the lump that was rising in her throat.
"His drinking got really bad." Duncan told her, trying to downplay just how much Lee was struggling. The last thing he wanted was to cause Chloe more anguish.
"Is that why the tour got cancelled?" Chloe asked. Duncan nodded sadly. Chloe swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat, her eyes filling with tears as she thought about the man that she loved struggling so much to get through each day that he'd had to find a way to drown his sorrows.
"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault." Chloe whispered, gently wiping away her tears.
"You can't blame yourself, you were struggling. It's not your fault, it's the media's." Duncan told her, quickly reaching over and squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"Is he still in rehab?" Chloe asked, not quite able to bring herself to say Lee's name.
"No, he got out about a week ago." Duncan replied, realising instantly who she meant. Chloe nodded slowly and fell silent, her brain working overtime. She knew that she was the reason that Lee was struggling and she needed to see if there was something that she could do to help him, to be able to reach out to him as a friend, to try and repair what she had accidentally broken.
