Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 46.

I wasn't keen on seeing Lea again at first, but she was only there to pick up Lily, and somehow I felt the need to invite her in. Maybe to find a better ending than the one we parted from. In ignorant silence I somehow never found the peace I was looking for.
"You want to come in? Ciara, Joe and Zendaya are there as well." I said and pointed with my thumb over my shoulder to the girls.
"Oh I am quite sweaty and smelly-" She tried to explain, but I interrupted her.
"Oh no worries. Just for a small drink!" I pulled her in nonetheless, her jacket sleeve feeling icy from the cold outside.

"Freezy outside, eh?" I asked, trying to make small talk while she hung up her jacket right next to Zendaya's.
"Much so."

The girls noticed her immediately, all waving to her while saying hello, yet remaining seated.
"Lea! How have you been?" Zendaya asked. With the two of them I never knew whether they still had contact or had lost it, because they had always got on quite well, but after this question I assumed that they hadn't seen each other for a long time either.
"Pretty good. How about you?"

We all nodded, sat down again while the conversation started to flow. I poured Lea a glass of wine, putting the bottle aside again once I was done.

I was pretty sure Parker and Lily had fallen asleep in front of the TV before it was even bedtime, because as quiet as it was, it could well have been that they had disappeared into their dreams for a while already.

"Haven't seen you in a while." I repeated Zendaya's words, referring to her appearance this time though.
"Can't say the same for you, just saw you in Tom's story the other day." Oh.
"You have?" I questioned.
"Yes, the one with the grey jumper." Then it came back to me. The selfie I had sent Tom that he had posted in his story.
"Oh yeah." I smiled softly, avoiding her gaze as I began to wonder what else he was posting there. And what others thought when he uploaded a story again after months, even though it was only a picture of me.

Again Zendaya's mobile vibrated and she took it off the table before anyone else could notice.

Her frantic typing no longer with a giggly grin on her lips, but with her eyebrows drawn together instead. Maybe I shouldn't even worry so much about her, and just solve it in a straightforward way.

"Who are you texting?" I asked, throwing her a curious smile. Then she looked up, the question not having quite reached her yet, she was startled.
"Just Harrison." She said. "He's picking me up at 12."
"Huh." I murmured. Sounded like the truth, not that she had to lie about it. Maybe I was just mistaken when I saw the message earlier. I shouldn't worry about that.

So for the next 20 minutes I tried to enjoy the time with the girls and also- to find out Lea's intentions. To say that I didn't care about what happened between Sam and her was a lie, but not because I was curious, but because I was worried. Mostly for Sam, but a little bit for Lea too. So seeing that they were both doing well again, and hearing about their stories, relieved me quite a bit. She had definitely improved a little, but never enough for Tom to accept her. Speaking of Tom, I didn't quite know when he would be coming home either, but was still glad when Lea left around 10 with Lily, and it was just the four of us again.
Parker long since lying in bed, listening to an audio book to fall asleep.

We were just talking about the interviews Hero and Josephine would soon have to give for their promotion of the film, when the door opened and Tom came in. Hair all tousled, pale face as he threw the keys on the kitchen counter.

He ignored our presence at first, making me wonder if he was doing it out of politeness so as not to disturb us, or because he had such a busy day, but then he caught my glance from the kitchen and gave me a warm smile, where I could clearly see his lazy eyes.