"Who Is He?"

Part 17

After tea with Dave and Andy, I headed to bed. Andy seemed a little disappointed that I wasn't willing to share his bed with him again, especially after the kiss - but I explained that I didn't want things moving quickly just because we were living together. He seemed quite happy with this and we'd also decided that we weren't going to tell anyone yet as we weren't even sure where our relationship was going - and it particularly seemed a good idea to not let slip to Dave, Andy assured me that he would act strangely if we did. I agreed with him, he was acting weirdly enough already.

The next morning we had a more healthy breakfast in the form of cereal. Dave was dressed in a suit with a navy shirt and no tie. He was once again reading the newspaper, occasionally sighing or shaking his head.

"Are you at work today, Dave?" I asked. He looked up at me from his newspaper.

"Yeah, I should have been in yesterday but there were more important things to deal with."

I nodded my head, quite touched that he'd taken the day off to spend time with me. Then I reminded myself that it was also so that he could get away from Scott. "What do you do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm a journalist," he replied - the scrutinising of the newspaper everyday now made more sense. I got the impression that he would be a very good journalist; the job seemed to suit him. "If you want me to nosey around to try to find you a job, I could try." He was now looking at his newspaper as he spoke to me.

"That would be good, thank you. Anything would be better than what I've got now," If I've even still got a job, I thought.

"Well, like I said, I'll try - I can't promise anything. Besides, you need money to help pay for stuff if you're going to be living here."

"Don't be harsh, Dave," Andy interjected.

"It's not harsh, it's fair," he replied.

"Dave's right. It's not right that I'm getting food and a place to live for free." I smiled at Andy and he nodded his head in reply.

Both men went off to work about an hour later, leaving me alone in the house. I decided to do some tidying up to try and repay them for their hospitality and it also gave me chance to have a nice long bath in peace and quiet. I began to feel like I was finally settling down, like I was gaining stability. I was on the verge of a relationship with a great man, I was hopefully going to get a better job soon and I was living in a much better place than I was not long ago. All the bad things with Lucas and Scott seemed less heavy; the good things were beginning to help balance my life a bit.

The doorbell rang as I was getting changed after my bath. I hurriedly brushed my wet hair back and wrapped a white and extremely fluffy towel around my head. Whoever was at the door would have a shock when I opened the door to them, not either of the men I was living with. Or they would have been if it wasn't Lucas who was standing there in his favourite leather jacket with a depressed look on his face.

"Is anyone else in?" he asked in a low, monotone voice.

I shook my head and opened the door for him. He sat down on the leather sofa as I went to put the kettle on. A cup of tea seemed to make me feel more relaxed when I was having serious conversations like the one that would take place soon. Failing that, it would give me something to do if I didn't know how to reply to something that would be said.

"So did you get my text the other day?" he questioned, taking his cup of tea from me. I sat on the other end of the sofa, bringing my legs onto it so that I was facing him.

I nodded.

"Well why didn't you reply?"

"It wasn't the kind of conversation I wanted to have via a mobile phone. I was kind of hoping you'd be man enough to talk to me in person."