Never Let Me Down

Chapter 4

Chris was roused out of his sleep by his phone ringing, fumbling to pick it up.

"Yeah?"

"Chris, I've managed to get you a flight to London on the twenty fourth. Believe me I had to pull some serious favours."

"Thank you, you don't know how grateful I am."

"Chris, those photos are everywhere. I don't know how you intend to make it up with Lauren. Social media is having a field day with this. You need to get back into a good light."

"Now you know why I don't like social media and I have something in mind, just send me the flight details please."

He hung up and looked at the time, it was 3am and then opened his email to check on the flight details. He sighed as he saw the flight wouldn't be landing until the early hours of Christmas day. He had hoped for something sooner, like today but he was thankful that he got a flight at all.

Putting the phone away he tossed and turned as he tried to get back to sleep. He woke up again at 5am and after laying there for about half an hour decided that he wouldn't get back to sleep so got up and went downstairs. He made himself a coffee and sat in the dark, willing the day to hurry up already.

His mind wandered to Lauren again, he thought about the mornings when he'd wake up to the smell of baking bread. She loved to get up early sometimes and bake and initially Chris had freaked when he saw the mess she had made in his kitchen, he was a self confessed clean freak and initially felt bad when he half shouted at her. She had taken it in her stride though and had responded by throwing flour over him.

She never seemed to get upset or angry with him even though when she first moved in she drove his cleanliness and neatness mad. Little things she did, like leaving wet towels on the bedroom floor after a shower, or leaving clothes in a crumpled mess on the closet floor. Eventually he came to love it and got used to it, realising that this is who she was.

She wasn't like the other girls he'd dated, she grounded him and kept his head level. She wasn't famous for anything, okay she played guitar for a local rock band every now and then and worked at the local Veterinary surgery. She was still painfully shy when it came to public appearances, she would cling to his side and hated having photos taken of her.

He always got upset when they would criticise her appearance as it made her critical of herself. He loved that she looked beautiful even when she made no effort, she loved to wear her favourite band shirts and didn't really like anything designer. He remembered when he bought her a pair of Christian Louboutins, she freaked at him and demanded he return them. He laughed to himself, they were still in her closet upstairs, she'd worn them twice.

He watched the winter Californian sunrise, it was going to be another beautiful warm day. he wondered what she was doing at this moment, it was about 3pm in London already. He contemplated calling her again, turning the phone over in his hand. He didn't want to push her but he'd never gone this long without talking to her or sending her a message and it was killing him inside.

He washed his mug up and went upstairs. He made the bed, anything, to take his mind of the situation, then decided that going for a run would be a good option.