I'll Get The Coffee

Chapter Forty-Five

Celeste knew it well, that new relationship energy.  The urge to spend every waking moment with John.  The way her legs went to jelly at the slightest touch.  The butterflies in her tummy whenever his name flashed across her phone.  She was feeling all those things and more, but history had left its mark on her and she was determined to learn from her mistakes.  Whilst laying in bed on Wednesday night with her headphones in as she tried to block out the sound of Declan and Olivia going at it again, she had opened the self-help book on starting a new relationship she'd picked up from Waterstones on her lunch break.  It wasn't an easy read, in fact she thought a lot of it was a personal attack, like 'watch out for red flags'.  How was she supposed to know Eric joining John's gym was because he wanted to perv at him and not get fit!?  But some of it had struck a chord, 'maintain independence'.  Making her partner the centre of her life was something she knew she had been guilty of in the past and that was why when John had asked if she would be at the pub on Thursday night she'd said she couldn't make it.

"What are you doing?"  Liv had asked in mild amusement when she had arrived home to find Celeste watching a rainbow bath bomb exploding into the bathtub.  The scent of a lavender candle flickering on the side of the bath filled the air.  "I just spoke to John and he said he said you were busy?!"  Liv hadn't been able to resist the urge to tease him over how she had suddenly become second choice when he was looking for someone to play with.  He'd shot back he thought she might be busy with Declan, which had only made her roll her eyes.

"I'm maintaining my independence Olivia," Celeste had said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.  "If you make your whole life about your partner, you end up putting a lot of pressure on the relationship to be your sole source of happiness and fulfilment," she quoted from the book.

"Right," Olivia tried to hide her smile.  "That all very deep and meaningful but now he's paranoid because 'I'm busy' is code for 'I'm not interested."

Celeste felt her heart drop, playing it cool was not easy.  She spent the rest of the night and most of Friday whipping herself into a frenzy that she was giving off all the wrong signals.  By Friday lunchtime, she cracked and messaged John to tell him she was going straight to the pub from work if he fancied meeting her earlier than the group usually assembled, no longer caring if she made herself look too keen.

*

"CeeCee!"  Declan's eyes light up when he sees her making her way through the still quiet bar.  In an hour's time people will be shoulder to shoulder, but for now there's only a handful of tables occupied by groups of tourists or one of the pensioners who seem to spend their days in the pub.

Celeste's eyes narrow, Declan looks far too happy to see her and she purses her lips to tell him not to get too excited as Olivia isn't with her but then she spots Thea perched at the bar.  As Celeste hugs her hello, she catches Dec's eye and resists the urge to laugh as he mouths 'save me!' 

"I just popped in to see Luce," Thea explained with a wry smile as she sat herself back down and started stirring the almost melted ice cubes around her empty glass with her straw.  The fact her drink was gone made Celeste wonder how long she had been here.  "But I forgot she'd be at work so I've just been keeping Dec company for now.."

Celeste's poker face had never been her strong point and she winced at how obvious Thea was being once again, she hadn't come to see Lucy at all, she had come to catch Declan on his own, just like Celeste had planned to meet John, just the two of them. 

"Sorry ladies," Declan gave an apologetic shrug of his shoulders.  "Kitchen's calling."  He'd filleted his fish this morning but he still had to make his batter.  "Thea, I'll leave you in Celeste's capable hands.  Zach, can you get the girls a drink please?!  Thea's been gagging for about 20 minutes now."  Celeste masked her giggles with a faux cough - Thea was gagging for it in more ways than one.