“Stocking the fridge, eh? Never heard it called that before,” Aaron said, a little dolefully.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Elodie replied, smoothing down her dress and bending down to look into the drinks fridge.
“Oh come on, he hadn’t even done his shirt back up properly. Be careful Elodie, I’ve heard about him…”
“Oh, you have, have you?” Elodie said, wheeling around to face Aaron, her eyes flashing. “Well, he knows what you’re like and I don’t need to explain myself, especially to you.”
“No, but I think I need to explain myself to you.” Aaron began, but Elodie had had enough. Aaron had had his chance and he blew it. Elodie didn’t know what was worse, that or the fact that now he was trying to come between her and Chase. The sheer nerve of the guy made her blood boil.
She made to leave but he caught her by the wrist. She turned to look at him, their faces only inches apart. Elodie felt heat radiating between them. “Let me explain.” Her eyes fell to his fingers, which were still wrapped around her wrist. She gazed at them for a moment; confusion swelled inside her and she looked at him. “Please,” he repeated.
“I’ve got to go,” Elodie said hotly and pulled her arm from his grasp. She moved past him and averted her eyes; she couldn’t bear to be in his presence for a moment longer. Her foot had barely left the first step when a horrible dawning sensation swept over her. A shudder ran across her body as she realised that she had probably missed all of Steph’s birthday meal by now. Guilt began to weigh on her as she wondered just what she was going to say to excuse her tardiness.
Elodie crept into the flat, her mind all over the place. ‘How could I have been so stupid?’ she scolded herself. Carla and Steph were sat on the sofa, watching a film. Elodie did a double- take: she hadn’t been expecting them to be there.
“The wanderer returns,” Carla said. “Fancy enlightening us on where you’ve been? We’ve waited and waited, called and called and nothing.”
“I got caught up with work,” Elodie began apologetically.
“You’re a terrible liar,” Steph said bluntly. “How could you? I never ask for anything, ever, and you couldn’t even be bothered to send me so much as a text.”
Elodie rubbed her arm nervously. They knew her so well, they knew she wasn’t being truthful but would they understand if she told them the truth? Elodie decided that the only thing to do was to try her luck, she’d already upset Steph enough today, she didn’t need to add insult to injury.
Once Elodie had finished relaying her near- miss story to Steph and Carla they stared at her with wide eyes of disbelief. Steph could not believe Elodie had been so reckless and Carla couldn’t believe Aaron had almost caught them at it.
“I’m so disappointed in you, El, I never thought you’d be the type to put a guy before your friends,” Steph said sadly.
Elodie said nothing; she feared another word from her lips would push Steph over the edge. She really hadn’t meant to upset her, she’d just got so caught up in things with Chase. There was a silence between them that was so palpable Elodie felt as though she could have reached out and touched it.
“I’m sorry,” Elodie said truthfully, “Steph…”
Steph said nothing, her gaze fell to the floor, she looked beaten. An uncomfortable silence pressed down on them, Elodie could feel its weight on her shoulders. She looked to Carla pleadingly.
“Jesus, El, that’s a near miss and a half,” Carla said in an effort to break the tension. Carla exhaled loudly and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. “Well, Aaron would really have seen what he was missing if he’d been a few minutes earlier.”
Steph said nothing for a moment or two, but instead offered Elodie an appraising look that Elodie couldn’t work out.
“Well, I think you should see this as a lesson to be learnt,” Steph said eventually. “You know what happened to your predecessor and here you are making all the same mistakes. You’re not a teenager, Elodie, you need to exercise some control at least. I don’t mean to be harsh, but what would you have done if that had been Gareth, or worse, Grace?” Steph said, unimpressed. “And what about me? Did I just get pushed out of your mind the minute Chase put his tongue down your throat?”
Elodie stared at the floor. She had apologised already and didn’t know what else she could do.
“Just imagine if you’d been caught, you’d have lost your job on the spot,” Carla said knowingly.
“It wouldn’t such a bad thing if Grace did know,” Elodie said slowly. “At least it would get her off my back about Aaron.”
“And that’s another thing, are you sure all this isn’t to get back at him? You said it so many times that you didn’t like Chase like that…” Steph said.
“I didn’t but people can change their minds, you know?” Elodie said defensively, feeling her mood begin to spike.
“OK, ladies,” Carla interrupted, raising her hands in the air loftily, as Steph took a deep breath, presumably to keep on battling. “I think that’s enough. Let’s put this behind us shall we, or at least try? We can safely say that we know where you’re coming from, Steph. Elodie, you shouldn’t have missed her birthday. But we’ve all been caught up in the moment before, so can we try and forget it?” Carla said in an attempt to mediate the situation.
Elodie looked from Carla, who always seemed to be on her side, to Steph who recently always seemed to be against it, maybe this time with good reason.
The three women watched the rest of the film in near- silence: fortunately, it was a comedy and a good one at that, and by the time the credits rolled the majority of the bad atmosphere had dissipated.
“Oh, I almost forgot, I was going to announce this at my meal but…” Steph said coyly.
“I knew it, you’re pregnant!” Carla exclaimed.
“No, I’m not. I am however going to lay off the cake for a bit though,” she said, running her hand over her stomach in a mock ‘with child’ sort of way. “No. As you guys know, Mum’s taking early retirement in a few weeks. Well, she wants to do a sort of unofficial handing over of the baton- type thing, before everything gets too crazy with the move and stuff. So she’s proposed the fourteenth of next month, if that works with you guys?”
Carla and Elodie said they weren’t sure but, upon seeing Steph’s face fall, quickly altered their answer.
“Yeh, of course!” they replied in unison.
“So what do you reckon, another film?” Elodie asked, glad that with the change in subject had come a change in atmosphere.
“What about this?” Carla said, scrolling to a thriller starring none other than Jenna Broderick.
“I’ve met her!” Elodie exclaimed proudly. She loved it when her work and private life collided, it gave her a sense of pride and fulfilment.
“Oh, really? You never mentioned it…” Carla said sarcastically, giving Elodie a grin. For the entire week succeeding that flight, it was all Elodie had been able to talk about. Elodie blushed slightly but took the jibe with the good humour that it was intended.
“Let’s just watch anything, I just want to forget about today,” Elodie said, unable to stop the words from coming from her mouth. “Just the bit with Chase and Aaron, not that it’s your birthday, I mean.”
“So what are you and Chase then? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Just friends? Or, friends with benefits? Or something else entirely?” Carla asked slyly.
“We’re… I don’t know. More than friends, definitely, I think anyway. He did say that he missed me, after all, and I’m not seeing anyone else, and he’s not. It’s complicated…”
“It isn’t. I can tell you want more,” Steph chimed in. “You want to know what you are.”
Elodie had tried not to think about this. She wasn’t a casual sort of girl when it came to relationships. In her mind, people usually knew what they wanted and if it wasn’t the ot
her person, then what was the point? Chase had said he wasn’t ready for a relationship, but Elodie could tell that he liked her and that given time he’d change his mind about the whole relationship thing.
“We’re definitely dating; we just don’t want to rush things, that’s all,” Elodie said with the certainty of someone who knew this for a fact. The truth was that she and Chase hadn’t yet discussed anything remotely close to ‘what they were’. Elodie was fearful that sailing too close to that particular wind would result in something that she wouldn’t like. No, it was far better to let things develop naturally instead of forcing things with awkward conversations. Chase was relaxed about the whole thing, so she needed to be as well.
The weekend came soon enough. Elodie had both the days off, which came as a great relief. Carla’s questions about her and Chase had been playing on her mind. She wasn’t about to go proposing to him just yet, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt like maybe knowing his bottom line wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Well, unless his bottom line was that he really didn’t want to be in a relationship.
Elodie spent the day on her own, with nothing but her own thoughts, which were rapidly spiralling out of control. She kept taking her phone out of its drawer and checking it, hoping that she would hear from Chase. Each time she checked she was disappointed with the result. It was like paying top dollar to hear your favourite band play and then them not singing any of your favourite songs. She sighed, a long, low sigh that she usually reserved for cold callers, delayed tubes and people that didn’t say thank you when you opened the door for them. ‘Why can’t he just ask me out, then everything would be so simple,’ she thought to herself as she loaded the dishwasher. Nowadays both she and Carla were busy with work and the flat had taken on an altogether more dishevelled feel. The weather was wonderful and she planned on missing as little of it as she could.
Elodie was mid- daydream when a clattering noise came from her dressing table drawer: she had a message. Moving faster than what should have been physically possible, she leapt to retrieve it. The message was not from Chase, it was from Aaron. ‘Jeez, when will he get the message?’ Elodie thought, annoyance beginning to stem. Against her better judgement, she read his text. She had thought about just blocking his number but felt that maybe that was a little too dramatic and, after all, as Steph had rightly pointed out, she wasn’t a teenager any more.
Hi Elodie, it’s Aaron. Can we talk, but not over text. Please give me a chance to explain? A x
Elodie let out a small derisive laugh; she really couldn’t understand what this guy’s deal was. Why was he so desperate to pump her full of lies just so they could be on decent terms? It just didn’t make sense, did it? Aaron came across as a really genuine guy, but looks can be deceiving. Elodie tried to approach the situation from his perspective and fathomed that maybe, if she felt that she hadn’t done anything wrong and someone thought badly of her, then she maybe would try and right that wrong. But that couldn’t be it. Aaron had kissed her, made her feel so special and organised a really wonderful and intimate date. He’d shared his dreams with her, and she’d confided in him. No, if you boiled it all down he was a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ kind of guy who was only sorry because he got caught out.
As August drew to a close Elodie really felt that she’d hit her stride at Alpha Whiskey. Things with Grace were frosty still, but the scathing remarks and catty put- downs had given way to complete indifference, which in Elodie’s eyes was a win. Elodie tried hard with her every day, under the supposition that, eventually, Grace would warm to her. She wished she could confess to her what was happening with Chase: perhaps then Grace would see that she wasn’t a threat at all. Carla and Steph were always keen to find out the latest news when it came to Chase; sadly, though, Elodie didn’t have a great deal to tell them. Work for him was extremely busy and at the moment it seemed like every flight Chase piloted went unassigned to Elodie. Because their tryst was to be kept secret she couldn’t even talk to him properly when their feet were on the ground. She had messaged him asking to meet up a few times but his responses were always the same – he would love to, but he was busy. Every time Elodie thought that Chase was losing interest he would do something to quell those thoughts. A secret kiss when no one was looking, a sneaky pat of her bum as she walked by or a knowing look from across the room in plain sight of everyone. Despite all of this, Elodie was on the precipice of giving up. She wasn’t used to the pursuit of romance and felt that you could only get knocked back so many times before it just didn’t seem worth it.
Other than that, work was great, and luckily she had only bumped into Aaron once. She had decided to do the grown- up thing and be amiable. They had exchanged pleasantries for a few moments; however, Aaron quickly managed to steer the conversation into uncomfortable territory, so Elodie had made her excuses and left. She really had to take her heart in her hands with Aaron: he did a fantastic impression of a wounded puppy and played the innocent so well. Plus there was, as hard as Elodie tried to ignore it, a little bit of tension between them that had nothing to do with him having led her on. She wasn’t a ‘the more the merrier’ type when it came to dating. She knew that she really needed to keep Aaron at arm’s length, to protect both herself and her fledgeling romance with Chase. She checked her phone again, knowing full well that there wouldn’t be a message but unable to help herself all the same. She had been right: there was nothing. Checking the time, Elodie decided that she needed to get out of the house, perhaps she’d give Chase a call, just to see if, on the off- chance that he was free, he’d like to do something.
“Hello?” Chase’s voice said down the line. He sounded groggy, as though he had only just woken up.
“Sorry did I wake you? I thought you’d be up by now,” Elodie asked, double- checking the time to make sure she hadn’t got it wrong.
“I’m in LA, it’s early here,” came Chase’s reply. “Is it important?”
Elodie suddenly felt really stupid. He had told her he was busy working and here she was pestering him, acting exactly as she had been advised not to and waking him up at God knows what time.
“I, I just wondered if you were free to meet up Sorry, I didn’t realise you were away. I’ll let you get back to sleep.”
“You’re alright,” Chase said, his voice a little clearer now. “Once I’m up, I’m up. I’ll get to the gym or something.”
Elodie felt terrible now. Being a pilot was incredibly taxing and she had robbed him of precious sleep; she could have kicked herself.
“How long are you away for?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Chase said distractedly. Elodie could tell he was doing something and that she didn’t have his full attention.
“OK, well let me know if you want to do something when you’re home,” she said sheepishly, not being able to help herself. She couldn’t play it cool; she wanted to see him again.
“Will do. Take care, Elodie,” and with that he was gone.
Elodie pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it. If it were possible to die from embarrassment, then she would have been struck down then and there. She cursed herself. Dating Chase was going to be really challenging and she would need to be super- chilled if she didn’t want to scare him off. She took a few deep breaths and decided to head out. A walk around the park followed by a trip to Betty’s Café, especially on a day like today, would be just what she needed. She decided that she would bring home with her two pieces of cake and a bottle of something sparkling for Carla; she had been enjoying a lot of success with her modelling and Elodie thought she deserved a little ‘well done’ gift. Carla, unlike most models, wouldn’t shy away from a giant piece of her favourite Mississippi mud pie cake and she certainly wouldn’t say no to washing it down with a glass or two of fizz.
Carla came through the door that evening just as Elodie had expected, only not with whom she had expected. Imagin
ing that Carla would be arriving home solo, Elodie had bought two pieces of cake and one bottle of fizz, certainly not enough to go around for three people, especially when Chris was the third wheel: man, that boy could eat for England. Elodie remembered their meal out when he had put away enough food for two people and still had room for dessert.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming,” Elodie said lamely, looking down at the pitiful spread she had put on.
“I’m not staying,” Chris said, leaning down and giving Elodie a friendly kiss on the cheek, “just making sure this one got back home safely.”
Elodie smiled, he really was a sweet guy. Chris gave Carla a hug and Elodie thought she detected a hint of awkwardness, as though he was hoping for an invitation to stay or something. Carla simply gave him a big smile and kissed him goodbye. She shut the door behind him, turned to Elodie and mouthed the words, “Oh my God” at her. They stood there in silence for a full minute before Carla descended into a fit of giggles.
“I can’t take it anymore,” she wailed. “He’s too nice. Always walking me home, ringing to see if I got somewhere safely, leaving little notes, it’s just too much.”
Elodie was gobsmacked. Chris seemed like the perfect gentleman, plus he was absolutely gorgeous. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“But I thought you really liked him?” she said in disbelief, pouring Clara a glass of Prosecco.
“I did, I mean I do, he’s sweet. He’s not got a bad bone in his body and I feel terrible for even thinking this, let alone saying it but… he’s just not that bright. It’s like having an incredible pair of shoes that you just can’t walk in. Great to look at, but not much use for anything else.”
Carla clapped a hand to her head and grabbed the glass of fizz Elodie had just poured and knocked it back in one. Elodie knew Carla well enough to know that she had made up her mind about this. Carla had a very small tolerance for the ick factor. Once she felt it, that was it.
Chasing Clouds Page 30