When the unexpected became the inevitable

Chapter 17

-Alex

I get to the apartment door and see that it's been left open for me. I go inside and see that everything is dark. Once I kick my shoes off and put my jacket on the sofa I go into the bedroom and look for April but it's empty. I double check in the living room and the kitchen even though I know she's not there. Then I notice the light shining through a room. I push the door open and see April sitting in the bath tub but she's not taking a bath. Her hair's in a messy bun and she's wearing a long white dress shirt.

"I didn't know this was a bathroom. I thought you had just the one in your bedroom." I say, trying to break the silence.   

  "Yeah I-" She croaks but stops and clears her throat before speaking again, "It used to be a storage closet. I got it turned into a bathroom when my brother used to stay with me a lot." She puts her legs to her chest and looks at me. Is she inviting me to sit with her? I join her in the bath and sit opposite her.         

"Are you close to your brother?" I ask.          

"Yeah I guess." She responds.             

 "That didn't sound very confident." I lightly laugh.           

"He fell in love and got married. He hasn't got time to see me."    

"I don't think it's his fault he fell in love Apricot."     

 "Yeah. I just miss spending time with him."           

"Tell me about him." I say and she looks up at me, confused. "Tell me about your brother and what you guys used to do together." She smiles and instantly starts talking.

It's been an hour and we're still sitting in this small bath tub talking about April's brother. She's enjoying it so I choose not to tell her that my body is very uncomfortable. What I know about him is that his name is Conor and he's 29. He's always been over protective of April and has always included her in everything. He's taken her to a lot of different countries and he's always been her best friend. She told me a lot of other stuff too but I decided to pick out the important info. 

"Even Melanie." She says which snaps me out of my daze.      

"All of my friends had a crush on Conor, including Melanie." She says and looks down.   

"How long have you guys known each other." I ask.              

"I don't even know. Something like 9 years. I met her when I was school, year 10 so I must've been around 15. My old best friend from the beginning of time moved to South Africa. Then somehow my paths kept crossing with Melanie and we hit it off. She was one of the popular girls that's why we weren't friends before. She even introduced me to my first ever boyfriend."  

"You would've been a great popular girl. Sounds like you guys were good friends." I say.   

"Yeah well..." She looks at me, "We saw how that turned out today."       

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but what was that about?" I ask. She opens her mouth and closes it, thinking about what to say.       

 "We can get out of the tub now. I'm sorry if you were uncomfortable I didn't realise how small it is." She speaks while standing up and getting out of the tub. I follow her and we walk into the bedroom. She sits down and falls backwards graciously while moving her hands along the bed.

"Is it okay if I change? I can go to your bathroom if you'd like." I say.           

"As long as you aren't going commando." She says in a jokey voice. I assure her that I'm not commando and start changing.                                                                                  

"It was about you." April says. I don't turn, instead I continue to change and listen to her talk.  "Mel told me that she heard stories about you." She pauses, Crap what if she knows about Gwendolyn?  

"I told her I didn't want to hear it. Whatever you did with anyone in the past is in the past for a reason. I for one don't think it's right to have judgement on anyone's past" She says and stops again. She's too good for this world. I pull a pair of sweatpants on and sit on the bed beside her, I decide to not lay down as she is. She looks at me and then looks at my naked chest. She doesn't seem to mind that I'm shirtless but her eyes settle on the one scar I have on my chest.                                                                                                                                                                                  

 "I got a tattoo removed." I lie, "They warned me it would leave a scar." April see's right through my lie and says,

 "It's okay, you can tell me another time." I put my head down and she resumes her story from where she left off.   

"Melanie thinks you're trying to sleep with me. To be honest I thought that too. Look at and look at me, we don't seem like the likely pair. But I thought about it..." She sits up on her elbows and carries on. 

"If your intention was to sleep with me I think you would've tried it by now. You've had many opportunities alone with me. Plus you've literally stopped going to work because of me. Normally I'd think that's another trick in your book but today after I woke up your eyes were glued on whatever paper work you were doing because you miss work. I've made sure to observe as much as possible before deciding if I'd let you stay the night or not. At the end of the day we are still strangers." 

She sits up properly now and tugs on my arm for me to look at her.        

"If you really want to be my friend then I'll be yours. This doesn't mean you can live with me but it means I won't give you the cold shoulder."

 I cock my head to one side and look at her with a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.                                                                                                                 

 "Really?" I ask. She nods and taps me on the nose.

"I know I was not the only reason you and Melanie got in such a heated argument. You can tell me when you're ready." I say. She smiles at me, she smiles differently. Almost like a thank you smile. She comes closer to me and speaks,   

"You can also tell me about this." She lightly touches my scar, "When you're ready." I smile at her and nod. She gets up and wraps herself in a blanket and heads for the door.  

"Where are you going?" I ask before she leaves the room.     

"I'm not tired. I had a nap today and I should really answer some emails. You go to sleep and on Monday go to work Alex. You don't need to stop your job to be friends with me." She switches the light off and says goodnight to me but leaves the door open.

Tomorrow is Sunday, she wants me to work on Monday. Which means she wants me to stay. Or am I thinking too deeply into this? I get under the sheets and look at the bed side table opposite me and see my Rolex near her phone. I smile to myself and go to sleep.