Mr and Mrs Nemesis✔️

Chapter Fourteen - Knuckle Sandwich

"Collins!" I shout across the cafeteria. The blonde haired boy spins around and once he's located me, offers me a grin, throwing a lazy arm over my shoulders to pull me into a chaste hug.

"Hey Chaps." He muses, joining me in unison to walk over towards an empty table. I have Ellie in one arm, a smoothie, despite our troubled history, in the other. "What's up?" He asks as we sit.

"Oh, nothing!" I chime, an obnoxiously large grin on my face. It's not been for lack of trying, but both Collins and Alena are yet to admit the new foundations of their relationship. I don't want to force it, but I'm just trying to offer them as much opportunity as possible to tell me. "How are things with you?" I ask him innocently. He narrows his eyes at me but the suspicion fades quickly and he shrugs, taking a bite from his panini.

"Good. Had a cricket match this weekend. It was good." He tells me. I pull a disgruntled face at the pointless information but quickly plaster over it with a wide smile when he looks at me.

"Good, good." I say, tight lipped, slightly despondent that he finds cricket that much more important than his canoodling with my best friend. "You looking forward to Halloween?"

He nods emphatically before ripping off an end to his panini and handing it to me. I accept graciously with a grin that flashes all my teeth. "Oh yeah. Can't believe it's less than three weeks away. I just hope Nat doesn't get as wasted this year." He says through a laugh.

I shove the food in my mouth and shake my head. "I think we've more chance of being blessed by the Pope." I tell him, sending us both into a tumble of laughter. At the same time, Alena and Seb join us, both probing for an explanation. "Just talking about Nat's inability to moderate her alcohol intake." I tell the pair. Seb snorts and tumbles into a tale of one of her drunken escapades with Collins, while Lena turns to me with a pointed expression.

"I haven't heard from her recently." Alena says. "Have you?" I think back and suddenly feel awful when I realise, I haven't heard from my friend in a week. I shake my head and Alena nods as though that's what she suspected. "She's hiding something." She tells me, pointing a fork at me which has a piece of lettuce and half a tomato impaled on its prongs.

"Seems a couple of us are." I mumble under my breath, thrusting the baby into Collin's arms while I begin to rifle through my bag for my phone.

Chaps: Hey Nat Nat, how you doing? Missing you this week xx

Not too long after, I receive a reply.

Nat: All good sugar tits ;). I miss you too. We'll catch up soon, promise. Love you xx

With a long hum of dissatisfaction, I let Lena know. She seems as conflicted as me, reiterating that she's convinced Nat has something private going on that she plans to uncover. Slightly put off by her insistence to figuring it out, I use Nat's own words to defend her.

"I'm sure she'll tell us in her own time. She's probably figuring it out." I'm not sure if my look was too pointed, but she almost looks stunned and flushes slightly, quick to distract herself by eating her salad with far too much enthusiasm.

"Can you take your child back now," Collins asks. "It doesn't feel right sitting and holding a doll." I frown at him but accept Ellie as she is returned to me. Last night she was an angel, sleeping soundly, and I'm hoping tonight will be the same. Then, she'll be returned to her father and I'll have two days peace and quiet before I have to pick up the mother role once more over the weekend. "How's it going anyway? You and Eli seem to be getting on pretty well."

I nod in agreement and shrug. Anything - even the avoidance we've committed to since our rather obscure exchange following my catnap at Elijah's house - is better than us fighting with every breath. Neither of us have spoken since, simply exchanged a mumble when he handed back responsibly of Ellie over to me yesterday. I think it's safe to say the pair of us are uncomfortable. I mean, an expression of gratitude and an apology to par? It's perhaps the biggest evolution of our hate-ship in all the thirteen years we've known one another. So yes, things are weird now.