Time gone by

Drinks

I arrive at the club and instantly find lily and seb outside waiting for me, they don't look too happy. I really hope Seb didn't have the conversation before coming out tonight, otherwise our night just got even more interesting.
"Hey guys, happy birthday lily"
"Thanks"
"Hey Abbie"
"Everything okay?"
"Yup" they both said at the same time. Yeah something was definitely off. God help me!
"So we waiting on someone or we going in?"
"Just waiting on my friend and we can go in"
"Okidokie" we just stand outside the club in silence. There is no conversation, there not holding hands or being all over each other like they would normally. Just as I'm about to say I might head home, Sebs friend comes up behind us.
"Hello all"
As I turn I notice the blue eyes on this man. He is a very handsome guy and he has a beard. Always had a thing for guys with beards. Eric had a pretty great beard too.
"Hey Chris, you know my girlfriend Lily"
"Yeah of course, nice to see you again"
"Yeah you too" lily sounded so pissed off!
"And this is our good friend Abigail"
"Nice to meet you Abigail"
"Please Call me Abbie, nice to meet you"
We shake hands and head on inside, the tension was crazy, I send Lily and Seb to grab a table and Chris stays with me at the bar to grab the drinks. "Is it just me or was there something going on there?"
"Definitely something going on, but I'm not getting in the middle of it."
"That makes two of us" he laughs
We order the drinks and make our way over, Lily and Seb look deep in conversation.
"Drinks are here"
They both look at me and smile, it's a fake smile of course.

After a few hours I can see Lily is pretty much wasted and I really didn't want to stick around for the usual argument with her so I try to make my excuses to leave but she wasn't having any of it.
"You can't leave, it's my birthday" she says to me while waving a vodka and coke in my face.
"Lily, you drank a lot maybe you should head home."
"You can't tell me what to do"
"Lily she isn't telling you what to do, you have drank a lot and I think maybe it's a good idea to head back" Seb said trying to diffuse the situation.
"Of course you'd be on her side. You two are in cahoots after all"
I look at Seb and he just shrugs.
"Don't think I don't know. It's your fault. You gave him the idea of not wanting me in Atlanta"
"What?"
"That wasn't Abbie. It's me lily I told you that"
Chris is just sat at the table watching the exchange between us. I feel so bad for him. He doesn't even know me and now he is going to see this.
"Oh whatever she shouldn't even be giving relationship advice"
"And why is that Lily?" At this point I'm getting frustrated with her.
"Because the only man you've ever loved died and it was your fault."
"And there we go! Every time you have a drink it's the same thing. Grow up lily"
"Grow up! Your the one sticking your nose in where it isn't wanted"
I just look at Seb "I'm going home"
" Abbie wait?"
"Yeah Abbie don't go, let's talk about how you let my brother die shall we"
I turn back to face her and I just see red, I slap her so hard across the face and she falls to the ground. I instantly regret it but I've had enough of all this blame. I turn to Chris and apologise "I'm so sorry you had to see this, it was really nice to meet you"
I look at Seb and just shake my head and then I leave. I'm half way down the street when I hear someone calling after me "Abbie wait!"
As I turn around I see Chris running towards me "you forgot your phone"
"Oh thank you"
"Are you okay?"
"I will be"
"What was all that about?"
"Long story"
"Well let me walk you home and you can explain it to me"
"You don't have to do that Chris"
"I'm a gentleman, I'm not going to let you walk home by yourself"
"Okay, thank you"
As we walked to my apartment I explained everything to him. What happened to Eric and how lily thinks it's my fault. He is shocked at first and doesn't say much.
"I mean, it's crazy right, she can't really think your to blame"
"In her twisted mind she does, we used to be best friends and then Eric died and all of sudden everything was my fault"
"But you lost the person you loved as well, surly she could see how hurt you were"
"As much as I love lily she tends to only ever think of her feelings. Her and Eric were really close, he took care of her when there dad died. There mum wasn't really around much and so Eric was her only family really, so when he died she blamed everyone around her. I tried so hard to be there for her but she just kept pushing and it got to a point where I couldn't be around her. I was grieving for my fiancé, my soul mate and she only saw her pain."
"I'm so sorry for your loss. How long ago did he pass?"
"1 year tomorrow"
"A day after her birthday?"
"Which is why she gets extra emotional today. I usually don't let it get to me because I know she is hurting but I just saw red and couldn't stop myself. I'm sorry you had to see all of that. I'm not that kind of person usually"
"Don't worry, I completely understand."
I smiled at him as we headed towards my door.
"Well thank you for walking me home Chris"
"Not a problem"
"How far do you live from here?"
"Erm....the other side of town"
"Chris? Why didn't you say something? You've literally walked in the opposite direction"
"It's okay. Your home safe that's what matters"
"Your not walking back by yourself, I don't care if you play a superhero or not"
"I wondered if you knew who I was, normally when people meet me they act more....."
"Like lunatics?"
He laughs "exactly"
"Eric was an agent so I meant a lot of actors and actresses along the way. Famous people don't really bother me. Your all human after all right?"
"No! I'm a super solider"
"Yeah yeah cap" I say sarcastically. He laughs again.
"Look come in and I'll see if I can get an Uber to take you home"
"Okay"
We walk in and it suddenly hits me, I've not had another man in my apartment since Eric died apart from Seb but he doesn't really count.
"Make yourself comfortable and I'll try and sort a car"
"Thank you"
I get on my phone and order an Uber it says a 2 hour wait. It's already midnight.
"Good news I can get you a car bad news it's going to be 2 hours"
"Look I can walk home in that time its not a problem"
"I'm not letting you walk all the way home at this time of night. Why don't you take the couch? I can trust you right? Your not going to rob me or anything" I lift my eyebrow and smile at him.
He does his signature laugh and boob grab.
"No your safe. But are you sure? I don't want to over step"
"No it's okay. I would offer you the spare room but it's filled with boxes at the moment, so if the couch is good then it's yours?"
"Thank you Abbie"
"No problem. I'll just go get you some bedding"
I walked down the hall and grabbed some bedding out of the cupboard. I went back to Chris and handed it too him as well as some sweat pants and a T-shirt. They were Eric's but he couldn't sleep in a shirt and smart pants so it was ok.
"Are you sure this is okay?"
"It's fine Chris. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen and I'll see you in the morning"
"Okay. Goodnight Abbie"
"Goodnight Chris"

I walked to my room and got ready for bed. As I lay there I couldn't help think about Chris. He was a nice guy and truly understood what I was feeling. He was respectful and I liked that.
I drifted off to sleep with thoughts of my new friend.