Tainted Attraction

11/ First Impressions count

I followed Kitt down to the car, being only an intern, she had little time off from the magazine. We'd mutually come to the conclusion that our time best spent together would be after the wedding, that way avoiding any chance I'd have to blow her off for wedding plans. Even so, I wasn't exactly thrilled to be letting her go.

"Don't look so down, I will be seeing you at the weekend."

"I don't want to be left here."

I looked up to the luxury of apartment block. Even though Shelly had provided me with all the passes I needed to use the cinema, pool and gym onsite, I just didn't want to stay. Despite the overwhelming generosity of it all, Shelly couldn't resist a small dig at me here and there, ensuring she had warned me of the dire importance of my attendance to the gym when handing over the pass.

"Tough. You haven't even had the dress fitting yet. I can't ferry you over here every morning when Shelly decides she needs you."

We both knew she was speaking sense, although I was alone now at least I could have the gym for company. That was if the days of drinking to oblivion hadn't wreaked havoc with my stamina.

"What am I going to do about Grey? I'm going to have to face him alone now."

I couldn't help the quiver that forced its way into my voice. More than anything I regretted snooping around that night. I wanted to face him blind, like he would be facing me. Instead, he would be looking into my eyes when the realisation dawned on him that he'd slept with his fiancés sister. Worse of all was the thought that frequently ran through my head, whether he would assume that I knew his identity all along. Shelly, undoubtedly wouldn't have fed him the best stories of me, the estranged, attention seeking sister that runs away to her daddy when her boyfriend cheats on her. I could imagine how it would have come across to him. It made sense that he would think that night occurred out of pure spite for my beautiful darling sister who, in Shelly's eyes, I've always wanted to be.

I'd already fed all of my worries to Kitt, but her standpoint always remained the same.

"He made the decision to cheat, that decision isn't on you,"she uttered in her mothering tone as she pulled me into a light hug. "I'm going to call you when I get home tonight. If you ignore it, I will be calling Shelly, so don't do anything drastic."

A small laugh left my lips. I was going to miss her. It had been hard when I packed up the measly bedroom I'd shared with Shelly and fled to the Isle of Wight, I had arrived friendless, without a job and living off of my father. Even now, I had no plans to leave the financial safety of his seaside duplex, I held a job and paid rent on a storage box where my mum kept my things. Despite this, the short break home made me realise how much I longed to be closer to Kitt. I'd made friends from my waitressing job, but nothing could compare to the bond I had with my lifelong friend. None of which even battered an eyelid when I hadn't turned up to my scheduled days this week, there had been no texts or calls, just silence. It made watching Kitt leave allot harder than it should have been. I'd hadn't managed to give her an answer before Amber interrupted us the other night. Desperately, I wanted to have said yes, but financially, it was simply impossible.

I wiped the shed tears from my cheeks as I watched her drive off, the windows drawn down to diminish the summer heat and her radio blaring a tune. I watched on as she drove away from the apartment and turned on to the main road where we ogled the building for the very first time together, and now she was gone.

If Shelly hadn't lived in the penthouse suite, I would have probably walked up the stairs to kill time rather than taking the lift. Instead, I let a family take up their screaming children and promised both them, and myself, that I'd get the next one. I did get the next one, but that was after I roamed around the lobby picking up leaflets about the local area relying on anyone else to summon the lift before id made the awkward quick jump in before catching the closing doors.