A Week With You

4

Iain arrived home and immediately was hit by a delicious smell.

Pizza.

He followed the smell into the kitchen and found Lily arranging the slices and chips onto a plate.

"To what do I owe this heavenly surprise?" He asked, shrugging his jacket off.

"Well, I figured that I should start paying you back for the favour. And I can't really cook, so..." she gestured towards the pizza.

"Oh, yeah! You do owe me!" He exclaimed and chucked the carrier bag he was holding with her clothes at her. She caught it and doubled over laughing.

"I'm so sorry, Iain! You did brilliantly, though!"

"I know, I'm amazing, you can love me forever!" He chuckled whilst sitting down at the table. Lily had gone silent. He looked at her and she stood frozen, staring at him. Her eyes were wide and he recalled the words he just said and inwardly face-palmed himself. I can't believe I just said that.

Their relationship was so uncertain, they weren't friends, but they weren't going out. They were something in between, but they were both holding back for some reason. The weight of what he said to her hit home, he knew it'd throw her off.

"Well, I think we made great team. We should do crazy stuff together more often." Where did that come from, Iain? Are you trying to scare her off?

She smiled at him warmly. "Yeah, we should." He wasn't expecting that response. She was stood far from him, yet she felt so close to him in that moment, closer than she'd ever felt to anyone. They remained staring at each other, and were suddenly broken out of their reverie by Lily's phone.

It was her alarm, reminding her that her shift began in 45 minutes. She switched it off. "I should get changed," she walked out of the room without looking at him. Disappointed, he focussed on eating, yet his mind kept wandering back to all of these 'almost' moments they kept sharing. Why was she holding back? He was too scared to make the first move, when she was clearly hesitant. He would rather stay at this in—between stage than lose her friendship altogether.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Iain. I'm going now." Lily's voice came from behind him.

"No problem, Chuckles. Can't have you being homeless now, can we? Um... do you remember anything yet?"

"No, I don't, weirdly. You?"

He shook his head, "Nope, not a thing. Anyway, I'm going shopping in the morning because the next crazy thing we're going to do together is teaching you how to cook." He clapped his hands together excitedly and gave her an exaggerated grin. "Bye, now!"

Lily's face fell and she blinked at him a few times. Cooking? This was going to be disaster. He ignored her and turned back around and continued eating. A few seconds later, the front door shut.