Behind the Screen

Chapter 40

Emily was standing in the kitchen and she immediately looked over when we came inside.

Her eyes quickly went down to my hand that was still holding on to Chloe's, and she gave me a questioning look.

"I'll explain later," I said to her.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Well uh, Emily this is Chloe, Chloe this is Emily," I said awkwardly.

"Not a great way for us to meet, sorry," Chloe mumbled.

"Yeah, not really," Emily agreed, "but nice to officially meet you either way."

"Yeah um, you too," Chloe responded.

"Come sit down," I said to her as I led her into the living room.

"I'll be right back," I continued as she sat on the couch.

Chloe nodded at me as she looked down at her hands in her lap. I couldn't help but feel bad that I hadn't given her a chance to explain this earlier.

I walked back towards the kitchen to tell Emily at least a little bit of what was going on.

"Alright, so..?" Emily said as soon as I was within earshot.

"Her boyfriend threatened her," I said quietly, "said if she broke up with him he'd make her life a living hell and she'd regret it...that's the gist of it."

"Oh, well fuck," Emily said, "that's not what I expected."

"Yeah, obviously I didn't either," I agreed, "she didn't know what to do."

"Damn," Emily responded, "what now?"

"No idea," I shrugged, "she's just uh, she's pretty worked up so I don't know, I thought it might be better to sit in here than outside."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Emily agreed, "I'll give you guys your space, but let me know if you need anything."

"Okay, thanks Em," I said.

She nodded as she walked out of the kitchen and back towards her bedroom. I felt a little weird using her house to comfort Chloe, but it kind of needed to happen right now.

My mind was spinning as I went back out to the living room with a glass of water. I didn't know what to think about all of this. I was obviously glad that it wasn't really what I thought it was, but this didn't seem much better.

"Here you go," I said as I handed Chloe the water and sat down next to her.

"Thanks," she said as she took a sip, "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you this sooner."

"It's okay, I get why you didn't," I said.

"Yeah but - well I could've just told you about Mason right away, maybe we could've avoided all of this," she said as she looked down.

"Maybe," I shrugged, "I mean yes you should've told me, but who knows if it would've helped or not."

"It would've at least helped our situation," Chloe said as she glanced over at me.

"I - yeah I guess that's true," I admitted.

"Exactly," Chloe said, "this is so fucked up."

She rubbed her hand over face and I hesitantly reached over and rested mine on her thigh. She quickly looked over at me like she wasn't expecting it, but she looked away just as fast.

"I know," I said, "but I'll help you figure something out to get out of this, don't worry."

"I don't know how you'd do that," Chloe said, "it seems like a lost cause."

"Well you can't just stay with him forever because he's being a jackass Chloe, there has to be something we can do," I said.

"You really don't have to get in the middle of this," she said as she shook her head, "I'm the one who got myself into this mess."

"Well I - I mean, I still care about you, you know that," I responded, "I want to help if I can."

"I don't know Katie," she sighed, "and what does this mean for us?"

"I um, I don't really know," I said hesitantly, "this isn't exactly what I expected...I've been pretty upset with you."

"Yeah, and I deserve that," Chloe said as she hung her head.

"No I mean - I know you were put in a shitty situation," I started, "but you did still lie to me...for quite a while."

"I know," Chloe said, "that's why I'm saying I deserve you being upset or angry or whatever with me."

"Maybe we should figure out how to get you away from Mason first," I said, "and then worry about everything else.

Chloe nodded as she took another sip of her water.

"I can handle that," she said.

"So Mason..." I started.

"Mason..." she sighed, "he's the issue."

"He hasn't uh, he hasn't tried to hurt you or anything, has he?" I carefully asked.

"No, no," Chloe shook her head, "definitely not...but I guess I don't know what he means when he says he's going to make my life a living hell, and I don't really want to stick around long enough to find out."

"Uh yeah, definitely not," I agreed.

"Guess it makes more sense why he started showing up at the office," I continued.

"Uh huh," Chloe nodded, "just continuing to be a controlling asshole."

"Damn it Chloe," I said, "I really wish you would've told me about this earlier."

"I'm sorry, I told you I was panicking," she said, "I didn't know what else to do."

"I know, I just - now I can't help but think about how we could've avoided most of this," I said.

"Well it's too late for that now," Chloe responded.

"Right," I sighed, "just need to focus on how to fix it."

"I just need to do it," Chloe said, "break up with him, rip the band-aid off."

"You know I want you to be done with him, but from what you've told me he's like, I'm not sure that's the best idea," I said.

"Well what else am I supposed to do then Katie?" Chloe asked me as her voice raised, "I want this over with."

"Hey, come on, I know that," I said quietly, trying to keep her calm.

"Right, sorry," she said as she took a deep breath, "this is so frustrating."

My hand was still sitting on her thigh, and without thinking about it, I began to rub my thumb along her leg. She glanced over at me again, and I looked down before taking my hand away and clearing my throat.

"Sorry, it's a habit," I said.

"You don't need to be sorry," Chloe said as she gave me a slight grin.

It was clear that she was ready to jump back into things as soon as she got rid of Mason, but I don't think I was quite there yet.

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