Picture Perfect

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Elliot

Hi all! I'm very excited to say that my top surgery got moved up, to the 20th December!!! How amazing. I also had my PhD graduation the other week, which was absolutely bonkers (mostly because I actually finished my PhD 11 months ago and have been Dr Cam for a while now). If anyone wants to laugh at me in my utterly ridiculous PhD bonnet hat, my insta is dr.cameronjamie

(my insta also features my cats, my crafts, and my cakes)

Love, Cam

♡ 

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Elliot

I was nervous. Things had been tense between me and Tyler since his panic attack after meeting Joshua. I felt weirdly guilty, like it was my fault that he felt this way, and not Colin's. I hadn't done anything wrong; I'd gone on a walk with my friend and his dog. We'd had a nice time. But I still felt guilty.

Our texts were short and to-the-point. We hadn't been on another date, although it wasn't for lack of us trying; we just had schedules that didn't line up that week. Unfortunately, that meant we'd settled into an awkward, tense series of polite texts. It was uncomfortable, and I both hated it and had no idea how to break it.

I was cleaning up my breakfast plate when there was a knock at the door, and I walked over to it to see Sorcha stood there, smiling and holding two cups of takeout coffee.

"Sorcha!" I said, surprised.

"Morning," she beamed, handing me a coffee and walking inside without a moment's hesitation. "I wanted to meet your cats, and I know you have the morning off, so I thought I'd surprise you."

Spice immediately trotted over for attention, and Latte hid underneath the table. Pumpkin barely looked up from her spot on the sofa, because there was no way in hell we were interrupting her post-breakfast nap. I took a seat, sipping my coffee, because I knew there was another reason Sorcha was here and I had a feeling I knew what it was.

"I hear you're dating Siobhan," I smirked, trying to distract her.

Sorcha lapsed into a grin and said, "Yes, I am. I'll tell you all about it, but first I need to talk to you about Tyler."

"I figured," I grimaced. "Does he know you're here?"

"Yes," she replied, surprising me. "I didn't want to get involved without his consent. I'm meddling, but I'm not about to go sharing his personal stuff without him knowing. He agreed that right now, he's a bit raw and there isn't an appropriate time for you two to meet and talk without Saskie being, y'know, there. I offered to come by, keep you in the loop with where he's at, and maybe shed some context from a bit less emotional of a place. He agreed because he's worried he's being a terrible communicator."

I smiled despite myself. "Okay. Go for it."

"Okay," Sorcha said, and took a deep breath. "Tyler's having what I'm labelling as a Delayed Reaction to Colin Being An Arsehole. I think his mind and body realised he's in a comfortable place and decided now's the perfect time to drop months of repressed anger and misery on him. He's having a hard time."

My chest ached at the thought.

"And he misses you," Sorcha said casually, like the words didn't cause tendrils of hope to rise in me. She sighed. "Look, Colin and Andrew... that whole thing was a nightmare. I've dragged the story out of him in pieces, and it's pretty textbook. Colin and Tyler had been going through a rough patch in their marriage, having a young kid to focus on and life getting in the way. Colin meets Andrew at a work event, they get on great. They become good friends, and Tyler encourages the friendship because Colin seems so happy to have made a new friend."