Simon and Anthony glanced up as Lee walked into the rehearsal studio, his arm wrapped around Steph's shoulders, the two of them grinning widely. The two of them glanced at each other, raising their eyebrows questioningly.
"What?" Lee demanded as soon as he stood in front of them.
"Nothing." Simon said, quickly looking away from his intense gaze.
"We were wondering why you were late, but it makes sense now." Anthony grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Lee.
"I got a bit distracted." he grinned back, glancing over at Steph as she spoke to Jonny.
"I bet you did." Anthony laughed, quickly holding up his hand to high five Lee.
"You do realise we're not at high school anymore." Lee laughed, rolling his eyes as he high fived him.
"Hey Dunc, Lee's got a new girlfriend!" Anthony called out when he noticed Duncan quickly crossing the room. Duncan frowned for a moment, following Lee's eyeline, his stomach churning when he noticed that he was staring at Steph. His heart pounded against his chest angrily at the thought of Lee moving on so fast with the person that he'd cheated on Chloe with.
"Are you for real?" he snapped, not quite able to control the anger that was swirling in his stomach. Lee nodded slowly.
"Did you wait for Chloe's side of the bed to be cold before you started dating someone else?" he continued, an edge of anger present in his voice.
"I'm not dating her, it's just a casual thing." Lee countered.
"Besides Chloe doesn't love me anymore, she's not coming back." he added, sighing quietly to himself. Lee rolled his eyes when he heard Duncan scoff skeptically. He couldn't understand why it seemed to be so easy for Lee to give up on the person that he'd claimed was the love of his life, the only person in the world that he'd ever been in love with. It still didn't make any sense to him that Lee seemed to have forgotten about her, and had no idea how much she was struggling to get through each day, probably even more so now that she was alone. Lee was supposed to know her better than anyone.
"Well it didn't take you long to move on did it." Duncan said shortly, quickly turning his back on Lee when he couldn't stand to look at him anymore.
"How are things going with Amy, have you asked her to be your girlfriend yet?" Anthony asked Simon, trying to deflect from the tense atmosphere. Simon shook his head slowly, swallowing the lump that was rising in his throat.
"I'm not seeing Amy any more." he said sadly.
"What?!" Anthony exclaimed.
"But I thought you were really into her?" Duncan asked.
"She came down a few days ago and ended things." Simon said quietly, sighing to himself when he remembered how disappointed he'd felt when Amy had explained to him that she didn't want to see him any longer.
"Why would she do that?" Anthony frowned, slightly confused as to why Amy would suddenly feel the need to end things with Simon when things had been going well between the two of them.
"She said it's the age gap and long distance." Simon sighed.
"But I suspect it's because Chloe needs a clean break." he added thoughtfully, glancing at Lee for a moment and narrowing his eyes angrily.
"Chlo Bo wouldn't want her to end things with you though." Duncan said, immediately leaping to Chloe's defence.
"No, I know. But she probably felt like she had to pick a side." Simon explained.
"And obviously she's loyal to Chloe." he added, smiling to himself as he thought about what a kind and loyal person Amy was. Anthony nodded slowly, gently clapping him on his back to try and distract him from the sadness that he was clearly feeling.
"When you saw Amy, did she say anything about how Chloe is doing?" Duncan asked quickly, his stomach churning nervously as he waited for an answer.
"Not really, she just said that she's doing alright." Simon said, glancing at Lee awkwardly.
"I'm really worried about her." Duncan sighed, glaring at Lee's back as he walked across the room, quickly leaving the conversation. Duncan's blood boiled as Lee wrapped his arm around Steph's shoulders, the two of them laughing about something.
"Unlike the man who was going to marry her." Duncan said, an edge of bitterness present in his voice.
"I never thought he would be so cruel to Chloe, I thought he genuinely loved her." he continued thoughtfully.
"He's an idiot though." Anthony pointed out.
"And he has a lot of growing up to do." Simon agreed. Duncan nodded slowly, shaking his head when Lee took Steph's hand and twirled her around, quickly pulling her close.
"I really wish Chloe would let me be there for her." Duncan said thoughtfully, gritting his teeth in anger that the person who had broken his little sister's heart was parading around with a new woman, almost like he didn't have a care in the world.
"I'm sure she'll bounce back, she's quite tough." Anthony pointed out.
"She's really struggling right now." Duncan sighed, not quite able to bring himself to tell them everything that Chloe was going through. Even though he needed someone to confide in, the last thing he wanted to do was to break Chloe's trust in him, by discussing her problems with other people.
"And it's partly my fault." he continued.
"You're not the one that cheated on her." Simon said quickly, sighing quietly to himself as he followed Duncan's eye line.
"No, but I encouraged them to get together, I wish I hadn't done that now." Duncan admitted.
"I genuinely thought that he would take care of her." he added.
"We all did." Simon said shortly, quickly standing up when he heard Matt calling out to them to start rehearsals.
"Just try not to think about it for the sake of the band." Anthony muttered.
"You sound like Matt." Duncan sighed.
"I'm right though." Anthony grinned.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
"You're actually crazy do you know that?" Lee laughed as he perched on the edge of the lounger in the pool room.
"Not really....just a bit wild maybe." she grinned, quickly removing her underwear and jumping into the pool.
"Aren't you going to join me then?" she beamed as soon as she resurfaced, quickly brushing the hair out of her face.
"You're still just as sexy as you were all those years ago." he told her, smiling at her infectious excitement as he removed his clothes and joined her in the pool. Steph giggled as she swam over to him, quickly wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Is that why you are ready to go all ready?" she grinned.
"Probably." he grinned.
"You do realise that we are just a casual thing right?" he asked her, smiling at her as she stared into his eyes.
"Yes I know." she said quietly.
"I really don't want another relationship." he said quietly.
"That's handy, because neither do I." she grinned.
