Always You || Patrick Cripps

54.

I was insisting on helping him in the rest of his bed time ritual. That was until we heard a phone ringing, only steps from the doorway.

"I think that's your phone" I told him, realising my own phone was in my pocket.

"Can you please grab it for me? It might be Mum. I said I would call her back and I never did" He asked, flashing his teeth as if he'd known he had made a mistake.

"She's probably worried sick about you, you idiot" I shook my head and tapped him lightly across the back of the head before strolling over to the couch to reach for his phone.

It was placed face down in the very spot he was sitting, under the cushion he used as a foot rest. I picked it up in one hand and placed the pillow back down in the other.

It was hard not to take a glance at the screen. Especially if it was Cath, I would have loved to chat to her and ensure her I was talking good care of Pat.

It's what I expected to see. But the name I was met with was unrecognisable. Someone by the name of 'Steph' had dialled his number which immediately concerned me.

The name left me perplexed. I wasn't upset or angry at first as I had no context behind the mysterious name. I was just confused.

Most of the people Pat knew, I knew.

This person however, was so unfamiliar to me that I had to assume there was a reason I hadn't heard her mentioned before.

Realising I must have been taking too long, I looked down to see the ringing had ended, and a missed call appeared on the screen.

Walking back toward his room, I was unsure how to approach him. The moment was bound to be awkward.

I entered anxiously, then met his smiling face in the bathroom as he ran his shower.

"Uh here" I said awkwardly and shoved the phone gently into his hand.

I then stood awkwardly and rubbed the palm of my hand against the back of my neck. "It wasn't your Mum" I told him as he accepted my movements for all that they were.

He turned over his phone and saw the same visuals as myself just a minute earlier. His face turned soft as he looked at me and realised my sudden displeasure wasn't uncalled for.

"I'm going to see if the boys need any help. Just call out if you need anything" I hurried the conversation along, trying my best to get out of the situation I was stuck in.

"George wait" He said just as I took a step away.

"Pat it's fine. It's none of my business, don't worry about it" I assured him, still creeping out of his way.

"But George I can explain" He tried again to explain, but it was no use.

"You don't need to explain, I swear. It's your life, not mine" I told him before leaving his room in a hurry.

I had already created this nightmare of an idea in my head regarding who she could have been. What she could have wanted with Pat.

Judging by Pat's reaction and sudden need to clarify, I understood that it was exactly what I thought.

He was moving on. Completely, entirely, given up on the possibility of us.

A hard pill to swallow but one I expected none the less. He never gave me a reason to believe we would ever become something.

It was my own twisted, cruel imagination that dared to trick me. Now I was paying the price for believing it was real.

Even though we were being civil, and we had no unresolved tension, our friendship was still falling apart.