Not A Second Time

Chapter 11

A/N: Okay - this chapter is short and pretty bad tbh. I have writer's block and I just wanted to give you guys an update, but shit is going down next chapter.

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Shyla’s POV:

After just a little bit of a hug, Cleo pushes Calvyn away. She looks on the verge of tears. “Do you think, uh, he’ll come back?” she asks.

“For his sake, I hope not,” Calvyn says. He flips the door off and looks back at Cleo. I know that look, it’s the look he’s always given her, and I’ve known about his little crush on her for as long as he’s had it. Cleo and I have been friends since she moved back from Liverpool, but Calvyn and I have been friends since grade school. I know his looks.

“Excuse us,” I tell the rest, grabbing the collar of Calvyn’s shirt and pulling him out of the apartment. I shut the door and ask “Are you insane?!”

“What?” he asks, clueless. What would he do without me?

“I know you were about to ask Cleo out.”

“So?”

“So? So she just separated from her not-so-technical husband! You need to give her time! That kind of betrayal doesn’t heal fast.”

“Ugh, well I want to get to her before that second-rate excuse for a man gets her.”

I almost start laughing. “You’re jealous of him!” Seeing the look on his face that proved me right made me burst out laughing. I couldn’t even breathe as Calvyn yelled “What’s so funny?!”

“Just the fact you’re jealous! You always have girls all over you, and you’re worried about losing grip of Cleo?”

“Well, yeah! He makes her happy when I couldn’t make her crack a smile! They have history – and I’m treated like one of the girls!”

“Why is being her friend so bad? Why can’t you accept you can’t have her in that way?”

I heard the door start to open and we both turned out heads. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“Nothing at all,” I say before Calvyn can get a word in. I smiled at George to assure him nothing was happening.

“Well, Tessa suggested we all go out for dinner since it’s already getting around that time. Everyone’s invited so, are you guys in or not?”

“I’ll go,” I say happily. Calvyn doesn’t say a word, just crawls back into his apartment. You’re never going to make friends that way. We all head back into Cleo’s apartment, and we’re all ready to go.

Ringo and Cleo are holding hands, George and I are and Tessa is all alone. One thing about Tessa she made me swear to never speak of is that she has a schoolgirl crush on Calvyn, and he’s so busy mooning over Cleo to notice. If he’d hook up with her this would all be in balance.

“Let’s go,” Tessa said as we began to leave.

“Wait,” I start. “We are NOT drinking because I’m not dragging back a bunch of drunk adults home back again.” Everyone grunts in complaint.

“Fine,” Tessa agrees. We all leave the apartments and get ready for a night out.

It would be an eventful night.

Cleo’s POV:

Richard hold my hand tightly, as if he’s afraid to let go. I squeeze his hand. I’m afraid to let go to. We all leave my apartment, and I realize I probably look like a wreck. Oh well.

We walked out the front door and we passed Calvyn’s apartment. I wonder why he doesn’t want to join us. Nevertheless, we got a taxi and started driving to some restraunt. We all had to squeeze in back and Tessa sat up front.

When we got to the place, we paid the cabbie and got out. We went into the restraunt and the worker smiled at me when I walked it. “Miss Chadwick! This is a surprise!” she exclaims.

Wait – what did she just call me?

“Uh – if you don’t mind me asking – why are you calling me by my maiden name?”

She looks surprised and said “It’s all over the papers, you’re affair! Well, I don’t support you but…”

“My affair?”

I grab the paper that was on the front desk and flip through the pages when I find it. The title: Cleo Banning – not-so-much a Banning anymore! Husband comes forward about his wife’s affair. It said the interview took place yesterday.

“Oh I’m going to stab him in the neck.” I say, throwing the paper down. While Ringo explained the real situation to her, Tessa came up to me to try to calm me down.

“Cle, calm down. We can clear this all up tomorrow, and we already gave Allen what he deserves. Now let’s just try to have nice dinner.”

I nod and we all sit down. We order and we’re all laughing and having fun until I see something from the corner of my eye.

I see a mound of bright blonde hair.