Chapter 19
It’s Blue Monday. ‘Are you okay?’ a colleague asks. Alison is startled. ‘Yes, why?’ ‘You’re very far away today,’ he says and leaves the office.
Alison tries to focus on her work but her thoughts float away again.
‘Fuck Steph.’
‘Lucious!’ she shouts as she clenches her jaw.
‘Alison!’ he mocks her.
She looks at him for a while and decides to go back in before Steph comes out.
He gently grabs her arm. Alison is scared that Steph might come out and see them. ‘You don’t belong with him and you know it.’ ‘I’ve moved on. So should you.’ Her heart breaks immediately after saying that.
Alison touches her lips with her finger tips. ‘The kiss.’ She remembers how it felt. ‘I can’t believe I just stood there and allowed him to kiss me!’ she scolds herself. ‘Jamie. I need Jamie.’ Alison takes her phone to text her, but remembers, she can’t, Jamie is Steph’s cousin. ‘But I didn’t cheat. He kissed me.’ So she types the message.
To: Jamie 10:48
Hi. I need you. Need to talk.
Jamie calls. Alison feels relieved. Her friend is calling. ‘What’s up?’ ‘First tell me how you’re doing. You’ve been so quiet lately…’ ‘I’m very good, Ali, sorry I’ve been busy. And with Max around…’ Jamie says and laughs. ‘Oh, it’s okay.’ ‘You sound down, what’s wrong?’ ‘I just needed to hear your voice again, I miss you.’ Alison decided not to tell her about Lucious. ‘There’s something I want to tell you, I’m not sure how you’d feel about it though…’ ‘Okay?’ ‘Max asked me to marry him.’ ‘He did… What?’ Alison gets up and goes to the bathroom. ‘Yes, I’m taking him to my parents next weekend.’ ‘But… Isn’t it too soon? I mean you don’t know him that long.’ ‘I don’t think so, we love each other, isn’t that enough?’ ‘I suppose… Can we talk later?’ ‘Okay, bye…’
Alison feels sick. She vomits. The thought of her friend with that old womanizer makes her sick!
‘I was meaning to ask you, what happened on Saturday?’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You were in a hurry to leave, I know you said you were tired but I got the feeling that something happened while I was in the bathroom,’ Steph says.
Lucious grabs her and kisses her. His scent. His touch. She runs away.
‘Fuck Steph.’
It flashes in front of her again. ‘Nothing happened, I was uncomfortable being there with Lucious. And yes I know we have mutual friends, I must just get used to it first…’ ‘Okay, I get it. But at least Lucious behaved himself, so hopefully it will only get better from here on.’ ‘Yeah, uhm I want to sleep now, I had a rough day, I’m actually very tired.’ ‘Goodnight Angel.’
‘Angel?’ Alison wonders. Guess that’s the pet name Steph decided on. Nice one, perfect timing!
It’s been two days and Alison is still vomiting. ‘I guess it’s not Jamie’s weird relationship that made me sick on Monday,’ she thinks while facing the toilet pot.
‘I’m calling the restaurant, something’s wrong with their food,’ Steph scolds. ‘It’s been a few days now I doubt it’s their food.’ ‘Well my stomach is still not okay, maybe your body is just reacting late or something. Nevertheless, you need to see a doctor. Food poisoning is serious.’ Alison agrees to make an appointment and goes that afternoon.
Alison is booked off for Thursday and Friday. She feels better on Thursday but she feels very tired so she uses the time to rest. Steph works half-day on Friday so he surprises his girlfriend. ‘Let’s go watch a movie tonight.’ ‘Rather not,’ Alison answers. ‘What are you in the mood for?’ ‘Honestly?’ He nods. ‘Let’s just stay in, I’m tired.’ ‘Are you okay?’ ‘I think so, I’ve felt tired for a while now.’ ‘Are you drinking enough water?’ ‘Nope. But I think I need to start taking a supplement.’ ‘And start exercising, it will do you good.’ Alison starts to laugh. ‘Isn’t it going to make me even more tired?’ ‘No, you’ll be surprised, just try it.’ ‘Okay, Mr Muscle,’ she mocks.
They spend the weekend in. Sunday morning she wakes up feeling nauseas again. She sleeps late and feels better later. She checks her phone and sees Lucious called her late Saturday night. ‘What the eff is wrong with him?’ she wonders. Luckily Steph didn’t see. And that Lucious didn’t end up at her flat again. She feels sick again and realises, ’This is stress. Stress kills. I need to sort out my life.’
After Steph leaves she calls Lisa. Lisa takes her to Casualties.
‘Miss Crane, we’ll need to do some tests.’
