Darken up

15. All good things come to an end

Flóra woke up to the smell of coffee and a painful headache. She heard Ove rummaging in the kitchen. She reached for her phone and checked her WhatsApp messages. There were two missed calls and an unread message from Hayden.

'How did it go? Did you break up with him? I'm here for you.'

She frowned. she had no idea what she was on about. There was a voice message sent yesterday afternoon from Hayden, so she listened to it, and suddenly it all came rushing back: how they met for lunch and what she found out. Her heart sank and she got out of bed to get dressed. She was confused. How could she forget something like that and even worse, sleep with him? She went to the kitchen. Ove was sitting by the counter, sipping coffee, reading something on his laptop. He smiled at her.

'Good morning, sleepy head.'

She did not respond. She had to gather herself.

'What's with the long face?'

'That threesome...it wasn't your first that day, was it?' she got straight to the point.

'What do you mean? Of course it was.' he replied, confused, and put down his coffee cup.

She felt her rage compress her lungs, making it hard to breathe.

'For once in your life, Ove, stop lying!'

'I'm not lying.'

'Hoxton, happy endings? Massage therapy? We had an agreement! You were supposed to tell me if the test failed! We even signed a fucking paper as ridiculous as it sounds! You promised me!'

He did not say anything. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

'Say something!' she shouted and her eyes welled up despite her best efforts.

'You're right. I broke our agreement.'

Flóra got dizzy from his admission, she had to grab one of the chairs for support. She felt cheated and betrayed, heartbroken.

'For what it's worth I...' he spoke.

'Please, stop talking. This? You and I? It's over. You knew exactly what you were about to do and you did it anyway. I hope it was worth it. I don't ever want to see you again.'

Loki panicked. Now that the break-up was actually happening, his ego, his heart wouldn't let it go.

'So you sleeping around with actors is completely fine? Give me a break.'

'Is that it? You found out about Tom which happened right after your little dalliance with that actress by the way, yet you still signed the agreement just to break it? Why? To teach me a lesson?'

'What did you just say?'

'You heard me.' she snapped back and went to the bedroom to pack her things.

Loki saw red, he appeared in front of her and pushed her against the wardrobe.

'Tell me you're not talking about Hiddleston.'

'The one and only.' Flóra grinned and revelled in his fury.

'How many times?' he hissed.

'You mean how many times we met behind your back? Only that one time. How many times he made me come? I've lost count after four. I was quite busy getting you out of my head too.'

'I don't believe you.' he said. 'You're bluffing.'

'Too bad you're not actually Loki. Then you could read my mind and see that I'm telling the truth.'

'Indeed.' he hissed and put his hand on her head.

'What are you...? Take your hands off me!'

Loki let go of her once he scanned her mind and stormed out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He was so angry seeing her memories, his whole body was shaking, his hands sparkling with green. He picked up one of the barstools and began to smash the kitchen to pieces, then continued with the living room. After he managed to calm himself down and get his rage under control, he walked out to the balcony to try and think.

'Ove?' he heard her from inside and he shut the balcony door with a wave of his head so hard, the glass shattered to pieces.

Flóra couldn't believe her eyes. She stood there in complete shock. He turned to look at her and saw her eyes growing wide with fear. She took a few steps back, then ran into the bedroom to grab her bags, but he was somehow already there.

'Look what you made me do.' Loki said menacingly. 'It wasn't supposed to happen this way. You were supposed to storm out of my life without looking back.'

'Stay away from me!' she whispered, scared to death.

'Oh, I tried. And I will keep trying, Flóra. For you.' he grabbed her arm, gazing into her eyes, 'You will forget what you've just seen. You will forget about everything that happened after you asked me to stop talking. You will walk out of that door with your bags and leave. Go!'

She shut her eyes and felt like her head might explode. When she opened it, she was standing in the bedroom, her bags in front of her. She picked them up and walked to the living room and out the door without taking notice of the smashed furniture. When the lift closed, she broke into tears and sobbed all the way down to the lobby.

✧

Flóra was twenty minutes late. Hayden was about to call her when she spotted her entering the pub. She was staying at hers for the past two weeks since she left Ove until she can find a place to rent. She looked a bit more like her old self, but when she smiled at her, it failed to reach her eyes.

'Sorry, I'm late. The workshop ran over. They had to postpone the shooting of the new Thor movie and on top of that, they now want us to alter the storyline.'

'Why? What's going on?'

'Haven't you heard? Tom was in a freak accident.' Flóra said and sat down.

'What? No, I haven't heard.'

'He was walking his dog and managed to fall down some stairs. He broke both his legs and hit his head. Black eye, concussion, short-term amnesia and whatnot. Poor guy.'

'Well, he has insurance, I'm sure.'

'Yeah, but still. Really weird.' Flóra murmured, something nagging at her, but she couldn't quite put her fingers on what it was.