Not the only one (formally Chloe)

Chapter 19

Chloe had worked a few times in Crimbo limbo. But she had worked daytime on New Year's Eve  meaning she had the evening off although she couldn't go too mad because she was working the next day too. She had decided to have a night with the girls. They were having a bit of a party with a few others including Chloe's work friend Nicky, a New Years party and a goodbye to Riley and Hattie. Less than 20 people although there living room and kitchen was pretty tiny for those few people. Chloe was mingling with the others, mainly art students like Riley, Emma saw Nicky alone and pulled her aside. "Hey, you must be Nicky?"
"That's right."
"I'm Emma, one of Chloe's housemates" Emma introduced herself. "A teacher right?"
"Yeah, primary school, little ones. Urm I wanted to mention something to you. Evan."
"Chloe's boyfriend Evan?" Nicky asked.
"Yeah, what is your opinion of him. Hattie and I have concerns" Emma explained.
"What kind of concerns?" Nicky asked
"Well, Chloe lives here, as you know, but she stays with Evan a lot, one day she was here and he came round and she seemed almost scared of him. He told her to go back with him and she just went. Even though we were having a lovely evening. It might be nothing but just gut instinct both Hattie and I felt. I don't know, it just didn't feel right."
"I don't see all that much of him to be honest. I mean he works at the hospital but on a different ward to me and Chloe. And he doesn't really tend to hang out with anyone but Chloe. I guess he's kind of possessive of Chloe" Nicky said picking her words carefully. "We work in a high pressure environment and we all struggle sometimes."
"If you're eluding to Chloe's panic attacks, I know. I have been living with her a few months. I mean she plays it down to us, but we've all seen it." Emma said quietly.
"Evan seems to really help her, and it seems like they really love each other. I'll keep an eye though, thanks." Nicky smiled.
"Thank you." Emma said "Chloe's a sweetheart and I'd hate to see her get hurt. Men can be..." Emma trailed off and shrugged, Nicky touched her arm tenderly and smiled "girls can be much better off without them sometimes." Emma continued. She'd had a bad experience, in fact it was what lead her to holby in the first place, she was better off now but just couldn't shake her feeling if unease whenever she thought of Evan and Chloe. "Oh Em you've met Nicky." Chloe smiled as she came over. "Just introducing myself." Emma smiled. "I better go check on the nibbles. Nice to meet you Nicky."
"She seems lovely," Nicky said. "She is, I'll miss her." Chloe continued. "I'm sorry you can't move in with me, Cam and Freida, not enough room. Living with Freida is interesting for sure. You should see her without all her make up on." They both laughed. Freida was a goth so the thought of her bare faced seemed crazy to Chloe. "Evan is my boyfriend. It makes sense for me to move in with him."
"Course but if you ever need a break or something you can always have a sleepover at ours" Nicky smiled.
"Sleepover?" Chloe laughed "we're not 12."
"Well you know what I mean. If you ever need anything you know where we are, and your mum."
"I'll be fine." Chloe said defensively "he's my boyfriend."
"Ok Chloe, it was just a thought." Nicky said smiling.
"C'mon, it's nearly new year or Hog day or whatever you crazy Scots call it" Riley said grabbing the tv remote and switching bbc on to the new year show. "It's Hogmanay," Chloe said. "And technically Hogmanay is  today aswell as tomorrow and the 2nd. Us Scots will use any excuse for a party, and string it out as long as we possibly can."
"I think I must have some Scottish blood in me then." Riley said  "I used to celebrate my birthday for a week when I was little."
"Why does that not surprise me."Chloe laughed as Hattie handed her a glass of champagne. She really would miss these girls. "10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year!" They all shouted and hugged. And they started to sing Auld Lang Syne. "This is Scottish right. What does it all mean?" Hattie asked. "I have no idea to be honest. I don't speak Gaelic, I think my gran told me when I was little that it's about like forgetting arguments and stuff and starting over."
Not long after Nicky came up to Chloe "see you tomorrow at work. Well later today. Happy New year!"
"Happy new year Nicky, hopefully these lot will get a shift on so I can get some sleep." Chloe sighed.
"Don't worry. No one expects you to be bright eyed and bushy tailed on New Year's Day." Nicky said.
"I think you're forgetting we work for Jac Naylor, who expects us to be perfect and full of life everyday." Chloe said rolling her eyes. She told her housemates she needed to get some sleep and went up to her room. She looked at her phone. She had all the normal generic 'send to all' new year texts. But she had a few personal ones. The first was from her friend Fiona.
Chlo-bow,
Happy Spanish new year my girl. It's only 11.15 in the U.K. I know. It's 15 minutes into the new year here but it's been good so far! Remember there's always a sofa to sleep in whenever you want here in sunny España, although I can't let Jose my boyfriend see that he's Catalan through and through. Don't wait for an invite Barcelona is beautiful all year round. Have you made any resolutions? This is gonna be your year
Lots of  amor (that means love)
Your best friend forever,
Fiona xxx
She sent a reply assuring Fiona she'd be visiting her in Barcelona in the not too distant future.

To my little fairy,
Gran had only gone back to Scotland 2 days ago but Chloe already missed her.
Happy New year darling. Here's hoping this year will be wonderful for you and you'll feel more settled but if you don't remember you can always FaceTime or call me. When can we catch up this week? All my love Gran xxx
Chloe smiled.

My beautiful girlfriend,
I wish I could be with you tonight but I know this year will be a wonderful change for our relationship to grow once we're living together. Happy new year.
Evan xxx
She was still smiling and pinged a quick reply back to him and checked the next text from her mum.
My wonderful Chloe,
Happy new year!  I hope you had a lovely night with your friends. Maybe we can meet on our lunch break sometime this week. Love you lots
Mum x
Chloe's Gran had spoken to Ange about her concerns about Chloe. Ange was worried too but knew she had to pick her moment to talk to her daughter. She knew not to go in all guns blazing. It would just upset Chloe and cause her to close off and possibly have a panic attack or even worse self harm. She decided she would let Chloe come to her.

Chloe sent a generic send to all happy new year text. Set her alarm, even earlier than needed because she knew she would press snooze a few times in the morning, even though technically it already was the morning. She thought back to Fiona's message. Any resolutions, she wished she could say no more panic attack or no more cutting but she knew that wasn't realistic so she went for 'this year I want to be the best doctor I can be!'