Love's Complicated// Flee

Chapter Eleven

Faye sighed as she ticked off yet another note from Claire's list, turning back to her work to review the next sentence. Her eyelids were drooping shut and she was having a hard time keeping them open, having been stuck at her desk for hours on end. Eyeing the radio on the shelf next to her, she decided now was as good a time as any to take a break, and got up to turn it on. Admittedly, she would never listen to Lee's show out of choice, but something in her compelled her to, and so, she did.

"I just need someone to explain to me the whole Venus versus Mars equation," his voice came over the speakers, "so, I'm at lunch with a very attractive, very interesting and intelligent woman, and even though it wasn't a 'date' date, it was kinda starting to feel like a date, and we have some nice banter going back and forth, and she asks me some questions, and I ask her some questions, and then bam, out of nowhere she makes up an obviously fake excuse and storms out of the restaurant. Can someone please run that through the opposite sex app and translate for me? You know the number."

Rolling her eyes at his audacity, she picked up the phone from the table and dialled the number.

"Caller, you're on the air" she heard through the phone

Faye wasn't prepared to get on his show a second time, and had definitely not planned what she was going to say to him. Racking her brain for something to say, she heard his voice again,

"Is there anyone there? You're on the air"

Still, she could not think of what she was going to say and it was obvious Lee was getting impatient.

"Look, you're on the air but you're not gonna be for much longer if you don't-"

"This is Amber Rose" she blurted out suddenly

"Amber Rose, you sound familiar" Lee commented

"Yeah, well, I'm a regular caller" she replied nonchalantly

"Okay, so what are your thoughts on my situation?"

"You know, you're a lot to handle, you're very very direct and while admirable it can put some people off. Some things are personal and private and maybe you need to learn to keep some things to yourself. Maybe that's what this person was thinking when she decided to leave" she tutted

"Faye, is this you?" he asked, a smile evident in his voice

She started panicking internally, cursing herself for being so rash.

"Nooo," she denied, "who's Faye?"

"Faye, if you have something to say to me go ahead and say it. I'm all ears, we're all listening."

She pondered her options for a brief moment, deciding not to say anything further, and hung up the phone.

-----

The next morning she was awoken by the sound of knocking on her front door. She shot up, noticing how she had fallen asleep at her laptop, and quickly began gathering together the papers that had previously been strewn over her bed, putting them into a neat pile. She all but ran to the front door, pulling it open, expecting to see Lisa, or even Kyle and greeted the person accordingly,

"Hey"

She definitely didn't expect to see who it turned out to be.

"Amber Rose, I presume? Nice to meet you, I'm Lee Latchford-Evans" he smirked, holding his hand out for her to shake

She gently slapped his hand out of the way, sighing in annoyance, "what are you doing here?"

"It's time for my field assignment"

"That's today?" she groaned

"Yes, now let's go before I change my mind" he nodded, turning around and beginning to leave

"Wait!" she called, grabbing his attention once more, "I need shoes."

They exited Faye's apartment building, heading out onto the street and walking in a comfortable silence. A few minutes passed before Lee decided to broach the subject,

"So why do you call into my show as someone else? Am I someone you're afraid to be in conflict with?" he suggested

"No" she denied quickly, "I suppose it's because as Faye Tozer I always say and do the right thing and I didn't want to say the right thing to you"

"Okay look," he stopped walking, turning to face her, "my audience got a sneak preview of the soap opera that is my personal life, the ratings spiked and now my producer wants to make it a regular thing"

She gulped, "I cannot, are you kidding?"

"I'm totally kidding," he laughed, nudging her arm, before turning and carrying on walking.

The pair made it to Lee's dad's office fairly quickly, and they were told by the receptionist to sit down and wait, and that he'd be free shortly.

It was obvious Lee was nervous, so Faye decided to be a friend.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her eyes locking with his

"I don't know" he answered honestly

The door to his dad's office opened loudly, and Lee turned his attention to his father, just as his father saw him.

"Okay, let's go" he turned back to Faye, taking a deep breath

"I think you should do this alone" she smiled encouragingly

Clearly not agreeing with her, he grabbed her hand, pulling her into the office with him.

"Or I could go with you" she mumbled to herself

The tension in the room was so thick, you could almost cut it with a knife. Hating the awkwardness, Faye jumped in,

"Hi I'm Faye" she greeted his father

"Nice to meet you. I apologise but my son caught me off guard with this ambush" he told her

"Ambush? Can't a son just drop by to see his dad?" Lee asked, clearly annoyed

"But you never just drop by, last time you stormed in here you accused me of sabotaging your radio show!" the older man yelled

"Because you did! You called in and on the air you took down my whole argument!" Lee raised his voice, "He took down my whole argument" he repeated to Faye

"It's called a debate. Google it"

Faye sniggered at that, but upon seeing Lee's disapproving look, she quickly stopped, "sorry" she mumbled

"Look, I've got a plane to catch to Washington tonight, what do you want, Lee?" his father asked

"To talk" Lee shrugged

"About what?"

"I don't know, anything I guess," upon seeing his father's look, he gave up, "you know what this is a waste of time"

"For someone who makes a living out of talking I'm surprised you have nothing to say" the older man snarled

Sensing his queue to leave, Lee gestured to Faye that they should just go and forget about it.

But Faye wasn't going to give up that easily, as she mouthed, 'hug him' back to Lee.

"What?"

"Just do it" she pleaded

"Faye," Lee's dad started again, "I'm going to assume you're in a position to tell me what's really going on here?"

Taken aback by his question, Faye took a moment to look at Lee before answering, "well, I guess I'm here to remind Lee you can't avoid some things forever"

Sighing to himself, Lee slowly walked towards his father, enveloping him in an awkward hug. Taking a deep breath, he spoke, "I love you dad. Thank you for challenging me to be the best man I can be."

His father was shocked, but ultimately hugged him back, "I love you too, kid" he smiled to himself.