Done

CHAPTER 7

"We need to talk. Not here, somewhere quiet. I really need to talk to you." His voice was soft and eyes were sympathetic.

"Talk? Are you shitting me? You fucking left without a word!" I practically shouted at him, the sadness being taken over by anger. 

"Tilly" he tried to interrupt.

"Don't you Tilly me! Over 22 years of friendship and you couldn't even be bothered to text me to tell me you were leaving" I spat at him.

"Let me" he tried again. I cut him off before he could explain. "Let you what? Try to explain why a year and half ago ago I waited for you to turn up to meet me and you never showed" I couldn't hold back to venom in my voice any more. "Let you explain why for the first 3 three months I phoned and text you every day to find out where you were, worried out of my mind that you were dead somewhere!" My chest was heaving with my heavy breathing."Let you tell me why your mum and dad who I had known for 20 years wouldn't even answer the door to me until they finally moved away? Is that what you want me to let you do Luke?" By the end of my tirade I was shouting and my cheeks were flushed with fury. 

He stared at me for what felt like a life time. Our eyes locked on each other. He looked so different than the last time I'd seen him. Like Jake, he was tall and equally as built but he had no tattoos filling his arms. He had short brown hair that was much lighter than when he left. He must have been spending a lot of time outdoors. I remembered back to our summer holidays as children, his hair always went lighter when we spent endless days playing together in one of our back gardens. 

I couldn't believe that after all this time he was sitting in front of me within touching distance. We had always been so close. But now, he felt like a complete stranger. He had been the first person I spoke to at primary school. He had seen me on the playground on my own and come over to talk to me. After that moment we became best friends. He had been 2 years older than me and I was devastated when he left for Secondary School but we remained as close despite us being as different schools. I thought we would always be that close. 

The emotion of seeing Luke again was too much to handle. I stood up to leave. My legs wobbled. Determination filled me as I started to walk away. He grabbed my hand but quickly let go when he saw Jake striding back over to our table.

"What's going on Till" Jake questioned. His eyes darted between me and Luke and where our hands had joined for a brief second. Anger came over his face. He looked intimidating and I could see where his reputation as being not someone to fuck with came from. I walked quickly over to him and took his hand and lent in to whisper in his ear

"Let's dance"

In that moment it was all I could think to do to move him away from Luke and start asking questions about what had been said between us. 

"He bothering you or something" Jake snapped. He eyed up Luke and I could feel the fury vibrating off his body. "No baby, I just want to dance with you. Isn't that what you want?" I was aware that I was manipulating him to get him away from Luke but I really didn't care!

He looked down at me quizzically. In the year I'd known him, I don't think we'd ever danced together. I leaned into him to further prove the point that I wanted him to dance with me. Clearly believing me, he nodded his head once but glared over at Luke in warning. 

I dragged him towards the dance floor that was filled with writhing bodies. I could feel his hesitation. This wasn't what we did when were out. His hands snaked around my hips and he pulled me so my back was flat against his front. I linked my arms around his neck.

I felt shameless. I started moving my body, swaying my hips against his front. His grip on my waist tightened, I took this as a sign he liked what I was doing.