Chapter Four-

72.8K 2.5K 745
                                    

    "I told you, she was just a work colleague," Lee's father's voice bellowed from the lounge. I sat on the third step from the bottom as I looked down at where Lee was sitting, right on the last step. His forehead resting against the banister stand, his blonde hair dishevelled from the earlier occurrence it had with his hands - when he'd ran them through his locks obsessively from frustration.  

    It was dark, the light emanating from the doorway, where his dad and mum were conversing, was the only thing keeping us from sitting in darkness. 

    My chest felt heavy as I recalled what Lee had told me when he rang me up about an hour ago. I wasn't talking to him, for obvious reasons, but with the way his voice was shaking - straining to even push out the few words he managed to speak - I couldn't ignore him. I couldn't neglect the responsibilities of being a best friend, my conscience wouldn't let me. 

    I raced straight over, finding him in his bedroom where he was sat hugging his knees. He won't admit when he looks back at it, but there were visible streaks of tears running down his cheeks as he'd explained to me that he'd caught his dad with another woman. Well, he was doing a lot more than just being with the woman, from what I heard. Lee had told his mother, and when his dad returned home, that's when we found ourselves on the steps, listening in on the confrontation. 

   "Alexandra, you know I would never do such a disgus-"

    "And all the late nights at the office, Tony, were you with her?"  Lee's mum's voice cut his dad's off, their argument droning in the distance. I was thankful that Kimberly and the other Towson son, Murphy, wasn't around to hear it. But it killed me that Lee was, out of all of them, Lee was the one that'd always hoped to continue having a happy family. I didn't want him to listen to it, asked him to go on a walk with me, but he refused. 

    I slid down the steps separating me and Lee, stopping by his side where I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. With his head hung low, he fell against me and I wrapped my arm around him tighter before sliding it into his hair and resting my cheek atop his head. His body shivered from the heavy breaths he was taking, trying to force the tears away - because he'd be damned if he'd let himself be weak, as he put it. 

    "Come on," I whispered. "Let's go." I didn't give him a choice, grabbing his wrist in my grip and pulling him up. He barely seemed to have the strength or determination to stand, his body slouching against mine. I pulled him towards the door and, very quietly, opened and shut it behind us. The air was cold and dark with only a slight breeze to tinge our cheeks a pale red. 

    I could hear him sniffling into his sleeve as I walked us both, clumsily, down to the river that we liked to think of our place. It was only a short walk away, down through a muddy field, we arrived at the small, grassy bridge that arched over a stream. The noise of the water flowing underneath us was calming. I perched him against the bridges' wall where I sat myself beside him and waited patiently until he felt like talking. I didn't have to wait long. 

    "I don't get it, Jake," he began, wiping the tears away. "This wasn't supposed to happen." 

    "I know Lee," he abruptly stood up, turning on me with a pure look of anger. 

    "No, you don't fucking know! You're fine, Jake, your parents are still fucking together!" He yelled, his face turning red and the veins on his forehead standing out. "How could you possibly know what it's like?" He said through gritted teeth. I didn't react the way he wanted, he was just cruising for a fight that I wasn't about to give him. He soon realised and decided to stick with talking. 

    "Just- just seeing him with that...whore... just fucking made me sick." His face demonstrated his feelings before he broke out in a surge of frustration and kicked his foot, hard, against the brick wall of the bridge. I made a wise decision in staying silent. "I can't believe he would do this. Everything was great, just fucking awesome, and he had to go screw it up." He started up kicking the wall again and I had the urge to stop him, but I thought it was best to just let him work his anger out of his system. 

A Little More than Just FriendsWhere stories live. Discover now