Teach Me Something // LH44

Chapter Thirteen

"Where in the hell have you been?!" Jenny yells, appearing at the end of the hallway from the living room as I walk through the front door of our flat at seven am. Unlike the last few times I've done something like this, there's no teasing tone or amusement in her voice. This time she seems pissed and it stops me in my tracks.

Her hands are on her hips and before I can answer her, I see Lucas standing behind her but what makes my brain refresh is that he appears from her room instead of the living room. It seems a little strange but I brush it off because I know that it isn't the time for me to have questions right now given the storm in her eyes and her hands on her hips. I use his appearance to encourage me to rethink my explanation but I can't come up with anything other than the rather obvious truth. Honestly, I was rather hungover and sleep-deprived, so when I finally went to open my mouth once more to answer her a few minutes had passed and I was treated to yet another surprise. All possible explanations die on my lips when a third person appears in front of them both, exiting from the kitchen with my favourite mug cupped gently in his hands.

Lewis looks a little uncomfortable with my appearance but probably not as much as I feel with his. I feel ice slowly covering my heart with a light chill that I wasn't expecting as my throat dries up from the shock of seeing him. He's in different clothes from when he appeared yesterday and somehow that makes me feel twice as bad about being in the same ones as I look at him. Despite her anger, Jenny says nothing more as we stay frozen like stone by the three-way stand-off.

"Gigi?" I can hear Jenny's voice but it's as though she's suddenly miles away, her words muffled by air so thick that the room may as well be filled with water because I can barely hear her when my eyes are locked onto Lewis. I watch as his eyes look up and down my body, taking in my appearance before meeting my eyes, no discernible emotions or judgment on his face as he swallows and we both abstain from saying anything.

"I... er... came back to try again this morning," he explains uncertainly, taking a step towards me as I just stay still. I'm vaguely aware of Lucas pulling Jenny out of the hallway and into her room, closing the door behind them from the corner of my eye although my attention is completely on Lewis. The explanation sort of makes sense but he's here so early that I can't help but check my watch as I finally find something in his eyes to help me walk further into the flat as I hang up my coat and kick off my shoes. "I'm early because the thing I had to ask you kind of requires a decision by eight." That gave me twenty minutes to make a decision because my walk of shame had been done early. Mark was nice and last night was fun but it hadn't come close - as I'd expected and so I'd left early this morning with a polite kiss on the cheek and neither of us suggesting we would see each other again - both knowing exactly what last night was.

He follows me to the door of my tiny bedroom as I walk through my flat and I find that I'm not only surprised by his presence in my flat but also a little annoyed. I realise that I had never invited him into my home and his sudden presence in the doorway of my tiny room is feeling rather suffocating. Not exaggerating but his second bathroom is double the size of my bedroom - I had done the mental maths the last time I was there and everything about this was making me feel inadequate. Now he was standing in my doorway, I was acutely aware of what he was seeing and realising how embarrassing it was.

"What's going on?" He asks when I look around my room before back to him and crossing my arms. While his face was showing no emotion, it was pretty clear mine was and he wanted reasons I didn't want to share.

"You've been gone for two months, Lewis! Then you turn up right after I delete your number and begin the process to move on. Again! You don't even message me to let me know that you're coming back, you just turn up at my door and I still don't know how you knew which door to buzz. Then after I come back home... you're here again? With a deadlined offer? Like why do you think that I have any idea what is happening?" I ask him, giving in and pulling him into the room, shutting the door behind us because as embarrassing as it is, I don't want Jenny listening in to our conversation - although she likely has far more information than I do on the topic given I left them alone last night.