Truth or Dare?

Friday Night Drinks

It's been four weeks since Marcus left and I've done everything possible to keep myself busy. Whether it's lunch with the girls or shopping with mum. I even went to the cinema with Roman! He's been overly nice to me and I know he's only doing it to try and make me feel better. I can't help but love that about my brother.

Mums been coming over for coffee to Marcus's house and Jane seems to appear roughly the same time. What a coincidence!

Sitting in a room with those two is definitely entertaining nevertheless. Jane seems to love what I've done with the place, even though the only difference is that my clothes are in his room and my make up in the bathroom.

The day she found my straighteners in the bathroom she squealed and ran back to ask if I'd moved in. She really is getting her hopes up higher than they should be. I've tried to tell both her and my mum that I'll be back with my parents when Marcus is home but they just look at each other with the look and then smile back at me.

Mothers!

Work has been a good distraction. I've thrown myself into the planning, marking and assessments that need to be done at the start of the year. I try not to stay too late so I end up taking some little bits home to finish off. I don't mind, it keeps my mind occupied while Marcus is away.

I've made some friends already in the school and I'm really glad that there's so many teachers that are only a couple of years older than me working there. They're all so helpful and happy to stay behind and help with things I've never had to do before.

Every Friday after work, they all go to the local pub for a drink before heading home but I keep hearing Marcus's voice in my head telling me not to go anywhere alone.

I have no idea when Marcus will be back and I'm starting to feel a little silly for avoiding the after work drink so being as today was Friday, I'm actually going to put myself out there and go for a coke. It's not like it's a club and I'm going to get hammered on my own!

Just as I finish marking the maths books from today, the door to my class creaks open and in walks Paul.

"Hey, you still coming?" I smile because I know they're all waiting for me to pull out.

"Yep, just finished!" I smile widely at him and grab my coat from the coat hook before throwing my bag over my shoulder. "Let's go."

I was excited to catch up on work gossip and see what people are like outside the school building. Paul laughs at my giddiness but follows along nevertheless. He was my first friend here and definitely one of my closest friends in the school.

We walk in comfortable silence but I can feel tension starting to come from my usually relaxed friend and take a quick peak up to see if I'm just imagining it. When I see the scowl on his face I know he's definitely brooding over something.

"Spit it out Paul. What's wrong?" I was a little surprised with how straight my comment was but try not to show my own shock. It's not normally how I'd speak to Paul.

"Sorry Fliss. I guess I'm just not looking forward to going home tonight." He looks at me sheepishly and I know something's wrong.

"What's wrong? Did you get into a fight with your boyfriend again?" He just nods and I feel like that's as much as I'm going to get. Paul doesn't talk much about Justin. I didn't even know he was gay until one of the other teachers asked about his boyfriend.

The rest of the walk is silent and slightly uncomfortable until we get to Ye Olde Lamb. I've never been before but it looks welcoming enough. When I push the door open the heat from the inside throws itself in my face and I'm suddenly itching to take my coat off.