Evie Adams vs The World

Evie Adams vs The Close Call

Seth must hate me; I argue with him, pour coffee over him, throw a bar of soap at him and then show up on his doorstep a crying, blubbering wreck. I was sat on a plump, orange sofa in the living room of his tiny cottage on the other side of the loch, there were two steaming cups of coffee and a plate of shortbread on the table in front of us. The television was on in the background with the sound turned down, an episode of Friends where Ross gets a tan was being repeated again.

I'd pushed the letter into Seth's hand when I'd walked through the door, he'd read it and immediately realised what the problem was. Now he had his arms around me, comforting me while I soaked the shoulder of his t-shirt with tears and snot. His hands circled my back, tracing patterns that calming me down. I had stuttered to a few final tears and a last sob, Iwas shattered, emotionally and physically.

His arms loosened and he pulled back away from me, my head lolled as it left the support of his shoulder. He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted my face towards his, again I had the overwhelming feeling he was going to kiss me; I looked into his eyes that were full of worry and concern. How could he go from being so annoying to being the person she went to in a person crisis?

"Are you feeling better? Now that you've sobbed all over my top. This is one of my favourites, now when I wear it I'll only think of you crying on it." I looked down at the shirt and took in the writing I hadn't noticed earlier; it was covered in quotes from the TV show Friends. I read the whole shirt and smiled as I remembered each episode they represented. Friends was my favourite show; Lola and I had watched it while we were growing up, worshipping the characters and changing our hair each week to get The Rachel  style exactly right.

"So you like Friends?" I smiled as I looked into his eyes again, he had shifted around on the sofa but he still had his arm around my back.

"Aye, it's my favourite show. It's got me through some bad patches, if I've had a rough day I come in and put an episode on and it just relaxes me." He smiled and I felt my stomach flutter with something other than lust. His arms had been so strong around me and I could still smell him on my clothes, sort of musky but sweet and intoxicating. Yet he'd been so soft and gentle while he'd been comforting her, taking care of her like he had when she'd burnt her hand.

"Don't change the subject though. Are you feeling better?" Glancing at him, I caught a smile playing on his lips; he'd seen through my plan to avoid talking about my feelings.

"Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you for everything, I didn't mean to disturb your evening and ruin your t-shirt. I didn't know where to go when I found the letter, but I just had to get away from the house." I shivered slightly and he tightened his arm around my shoulder, I wasn't looking forward to going back to house but I'd have to put in an appearance soon, Lexie's dinner would be ready.

A phone began to ring in the kitchen and Seth got up to answer it. "Yes, she's here with me. She's had a bit of a shock . . . she found a letter from Lizzie while she was tidying up . . . she'd written it after Colin died but never got round to sending it. I'll bring her up now. See you in a minute." He hung up and stood at the end of the sofa looking down at me. "Lex says dinners ready, I told her I'd take you up there."

We set off back to the big house, walking side by side in a comfortable silence. It was still light outside as the nights began to draw out for summer, it was pleasantly warm with a slight breeze making the leaves dance in the trees above us. I looked out across the loch and was struck by the beauty of the place, it was stunning how the setting sun glimmered off the water as it lapped the shore.

"So, have you walked in on anybody else having sex?" I turned to Seth, who was smiling at me suggestively; I don't know how he could switch from caring and considerate to flirty in the flick of an eye. I was never going to live this down.