Night shift - Completed

Chapter 35

Poppy's PoV

I sat down in Terry's house, his sleek modern taste obvious from the minimalist design of the front room. The sofa was dark grey leather and was rectangular, the black legs holding it up from a diagonal angle. Beside it sat a glass top coffee table, where a modern black and white lamp sat.

"Why are you here, Poppy?" Terry slumped down after being away for a few seconds. He now clutched a steaming cup of coffee. Thanks for offering me one, douche.

"I know you sold the stories on Calum to that dumb celeb gossip show." I spat, my eyes narrowing as I turned my nose up in disgust at him. He looked at me as if I'd just spoken a foreign language to him; half flustered, half confused.

"What?" He managed to mutter.

"You sold Calum's story to the paps. Let them know his injuries." I stated, now feeling like I was explaining something to him that he probably should already know. Had I got this all wrong? Was it actually him?

"Poppy what are you talking about?!" His voice was suddenly raised in anger. "I haven't sold any information to anyone! I'd never risk losing my license like that!" My face suddenly dropped, guilt and regret hitting me instantly as I straightened in the chair.

"W-What?" It was my turn to play dumb. It was impossible. No one else knew about Calum's lung...

"Look, I know we don't really get along but that's no reason to come storming round accusing me of things!" Terry's face was screwed up in anger, his jaw clenched. "I don't even watch these dumb shows!" He shouted, flinging one hand in the air with such force that his coffee moved around in the cup, a millimetre from spilling over. I straightened in the chair, suddenly scared of what he could do to me in his angered state.

"But they spoke about his ankle being broken and the fact he had a collapsed lung. The only people who knew about both were me and you." I tried to explain my reasoning to him but he stood up, smashing the coffee cup on the table beside me. This time some did spill out and lay around the bottom of the mug.

"Well then maths would suggest you were the issue!" He shouted back at me. "Look, just get out of my house! How did you even remember I fucking lived here?" He was irate. Furious that I'd stormed into his house to accuse him of something he claimed he didn't do. I had no proof that he did it, but everything circumstantial pointed to him.

"Hun?" A voice called from upstairs. "Is everything okay?" Footsteps made their way across the upstairs hallway and down the stairs, into the front room where the person witnessed Terry leaning over me in anger. We both looked over, Terry standing up and brushing himself down as he smiled over to his "girlfriend".

"Sorry babe, this is just a work colleague. We were-"

"Chanel?" I quickly piped up, interrupting Terry as he tried to lie his way through the situation. Stood there, in the doorway, wearing a small black nightdress was the gossip channel female who had told me about Calum in the first place. Suddenly the penny dropped - well crashed like a meteor into earth - and everything made sense. If he'd been sleeping with her, he most likely spoke about his work and she drunk it all in knowing she could use it in her show. Terry threw a confused look back at me, then towards Chanel again.

"Erm, how do you know each other?" He questioned, clearly the maths not adding up in his head. No doubt she lied to him so he wouldn't be suspicious and I was about to shove her in it and let the hole eat her up.

"We don't. I've seen her on tv, the gossip channel for celebrities. The one that I've just been talking about." Terry's face changed instantly and he took a step back, his eyes not moving from Chanel.

"Ch-Chanel?" He asked, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer. "You said you worked for your dads insurance firm?" She hesitated for a minute, looking between the two of us knowing the truth was going to have to come out. I had so many things I could prove her wrong on because a simple search on the internet would have brought up her whole life story.

"Alright!" She threw her hands up. "So I lied. So what?" Terry took a few large steps away from her and looked back at me with a mixture of emotions on his face. Thankful that the truth was out, angry for the lies, annoyed that I'd showed up and cocked everything up. I knew how he felt.

"Was this all just some elaborate plot?" Terry spat, his hand gesturing between the two of them. She looked down at her feet for a second before looking back at us.

"I really needed a good news story. Stacey had told me who had been on shift and it was between you, Mr Sheik, Mr Keller and the receptionist. You knew the most and you were single. It was a win win." She shrugged, not quite knowing how else to act after everything became clear.

"You're a monster." I spat at her, my eyes narrowed at her in pure disgust. Okay so I didn't like Terry but no one deserved to be treated like crap.

"You took what I said about Poppy too?" Terry snapped at Chanel, who simply nodded her head. Terry looked down at the floor.

"I'm so sorry Poppy. It's just, you know we've never got on and that day you wound me up and I may have voiced a few things and over exaggerated..." I held a hand up to silence him.

"It's fine. Chanel will clear this up live on air tomorrow. Won't you, Chanel?" A mischievous grin played on my lips and one was quickly followed on Terry's face too. With both of us ganging up on her, she had no option but to agree. She nodded quietly.

"Terry, please understand it was for work but the more I was with you the more my feelings for you grew. I do actually like you." Chanel began her pathetic crawling back to Terry and I knew it was time for me to get out of there and let them sort themselves out. I grabbed my stuff and stood up, excusing myself as I had the information I needed. I shut the door quietly and hailed another cab to get home. As I jumped in, I got my phone out and turned off the recording, realising I had a few missed calls from Calum. Crap. I'd probably scared the life out of him disappearing like that.