Evelyn

Chapter 5 - He probably thinks I'm crazy

We stayed like that for a while. It felt so natural.

Mark then realised we were standing outside and ushered us inside.

The first thing I noticed was the White wooden floors and the pale blue walls. It was lovely and bright, yet surprisingly felt cosy. Pictures hung with care on both sides of the hallway. Most of them were paintings, a few were pictures of people I kind of recognised.

Mark brought us into a sitting room, big inviting sofas and armchairs the colour of milk chocolate were perched in the middle of the room, covered with oversized cushions. They faced a roaring open fire.

"Do you girls want a drink?" He asked.

"Yes please Mark." I replied. Violet still hadn't opened her mouth. She was taking in her surroundings and I guess she still couldn't believe she was here.
We sank down into the sofa and curled our legs up to relax.

Just then he strolled in with a tray full of drinks and set it down on a nearby table. "I wasn't sure what you wanted so I made tea and brought a bottle of red wine."

"I'll just have tea, I'm driving." I said, as Violet pounced on the wine, getting a chuckle from Mark. She was blushing again.

He must've just realised that we were all dressed up as his eyes fixated on Violets body.

"Wow" he whispered. Clearing his throat he said, "You look amazing Vi." and then blushed himself.

That was my cue to excuse myself. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall, first door on your right." He said, not taking his eyes off of Violet.

I skipped down the hall very proud of myself and went straight into the bathroom. The sound of the shower running confused me, but not wanting to interrupt them I pulled back the curtain to switch it off.

"Aaaaah!!" I screamed and tumbled backwards onto the floor. It wasn't left on by mistake. There was a naked man in front of me.

"I'm so sorry." My voice was shaking as much as my body. I was so shocked I didn't realise I was still staring at him. I heard Mark call out to me but I was in a daze.

It wasn't until I felt him pull on my arm that I snapped out of my trance.

"Are you ok? What happened?" he asked.

"I happened." The naked man had a voice too, I like when they have voices.

"James? I didn't know you'd be here tonight. Sorry man!" James, nice name.

"Um, Evie? You can use the bathroom in my room so we can let James finish his shower." Mark said as he half dragged me out the door.

"I've never been more embarrassed. He probably thinks I'm crazy!" I moaned.

Mark chuckled. "Na, James would've loved that. We don't get a lot of women in our shower." He teased.

I hid in the the bathroom for as long as I could until Violet came to check on me.

"You're exaggerating Eve, he doesn't seem too fazed about it. Come on, don't leave me up there on my own!" She whined.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and felt lightheaded. "Might as well get it over with." I mumbled.

When we walked into the sitting room it was just Mark and I relaxed slightly.

"James is gone to work, he won't be back for ages."

"I'm so mortified! I just stood there staring at him, he must think I'm a complete weirdo!"

"Seriously, don't worry about it. He thought it was funny."

"Who is he anyway? I've never seen him before."

"He's my cousin, just moved here for work from England. I haven't seen him since we were kids."

"So this is his house then?" I asked.

"Yeah, he insisted I stay here to get away from..you know.." He trailed off.

Violet reached out to comfort him, "you're too good for her anyway, she never deserved you." She said shakily, dropping her hand from his arm and blushing again.

I had forgotten why we came up here and instantly felt guilty for making the last hour about me.

"Don't you think Vi looks beautiful Mark?"

"She always does." He stated and his eyes went wide when he realised he had said that out loud.

Violet began to fidget and excused herself to the bathroom.

"Do you like her?" I don't know why I felt the need to ask, I knew the answer already.

"Is it that obvious?" He gasped, running his fingers through his hair. His whole face lit up.

"Only to me, she has no idea." I soothed, "she likes you too you know."

His eyes snapped up. "How do you know?"

"I'm her best friend, she tells me almost everything and I can read her like a book." His mouth tugged up at the corners and he looked happy. "I haven't seen you smile for a while, it's nice. But we'll have to hit the road soon. If I hadn't made such a big deal about James earlier we could've had more time."

I lowered my head as I realised I had taken away their chance to finally get together.

"No, you can stay here tonight. I don't want either of you driving out there in the middle of the night, it's not safe."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. We have a spare room. We can hang out tomorrow." He smiled and blushed again. "I can't believe she likes me, I've loved her since the day we met."

I pounced on him with excitement and squeezed him. "My two best friends." I whispered.