What are the chances?

Already Gone

Kat shifted from leg to leg as she stood before the large wooden doors of Damian's villa, and forcefully knocked again before gnawing at the side of her fingernail whilst she waited. Raising her hand to impatiently knock again the door swiftly opened and Matt stood before her wincing uncomfortably at the brightness of the sun.

"Hello, Kat." His thick Scottish accent was corse like he had just woken.

"Hi Matt, is Damian about?" She timidly shifted and returned to biting at her fingernail.

Matt pushed his unkempt hair back and winced again before taking a deep breath. "He's gone, Kat."

"Gone?" She quickly interrupted him before he could finish. "Gone where?"

Matt sighed heavily as she continued to fire questions at him in quick succession.

"Gone into town, gone for a drive, gone home?" Her hands erratically waved back and forth.

Matt blew out a long breath as he prepared himself for what was coming. "Kat, I don't know what happened between you two and it's not something I want to get in the middle of, but Damian was in a bad way when he came back this morning."

Kat's eyes dropped to the floor as she felt them begin to burn.

Seeing her reaction Matt opened the door wider and stepped out next to her. "Look, hopefully, he could be back tomorrow."

Kat's eyes darted up and confusingly studied Matts face as he spoke.

"Jack somehow managed to get him an amazing opportunity to read for a part. The writer and director are currently in Rome, supposedly meeting with the guy they cast but some things happened and it all fell through. Jack heard about it and put Damian's name forward to read for the part."

"So he's gone to Rome, just like that?" Kat's eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

"Yeah." Matt uncomfortably shrugged again. "I'm sorry Kat but sometimes, and it's not often, but sometimes this happens. Damian has to take these opportunities when they come his way. It's honestly nothing to do with you and whatever's happened, that's just how his job works sometimes, and it really is a great opportunity for him so he had to go."

"And he couldn't have told me this?" Kat's eyes darkened as she huffed.

Matt shrugged again and nervously bit on the inside of his lip. "Look I don't know the full story, I was still half soaked from the painkillers and whiskey, but it sounds like he lost his phone again. Jack was supposed to go over and tell you when he got back from dropping him at the airport."

"He couldn't have just popped by on his way past to tell me himself?" Kat's nostrils flared as she tried to slow her breathing.

"Kat it all happened really fast, to be honest, I don't even think he knew what he was doing, he was that disjointed from whatever went on between you two. Jack out of nowhere announced that the opportunity was there but if he was taking it then he would have to leave straight away as they had chartered a private jet to fly him from Florence to Rome. It really is an amazing opportunity for him, Kat, he couldn't have passed it up, and I know he'll feel terrible about just going like that, but he just couldn't find the dam phone again and Jack was pressuring him to get going because of the plane waiting and costing them money."

Kat rolled her eyes in irritation.

"Honestly Kat he really didn't want to go and not tell you, but we all pushed him. I'm sorry to you Kat, but we're his mates and it really is too big an opportunity to pass up, we had to push him to go. Jack promised he would go straight to you and tell you everything once he got back from dropping him off at the airport."

"So I take it no one had found the phone then?" Kat sighed heavily.

Matt's head shook softly. "Nah, we've all still been looking. It's weird really, he's only ever once misplaced his phone in all the years I've known him, yet he's done it twice in a week now."

"So where was the phone when he lost it the other day?" Kat quizzed Matt, not fully buying what he was saying.

"That was fucking weird." Matt shook his head again. "We all searched every inch of that fucking bus and it was nowhere to be seen, then Jack went out to make a call and came back saying he found it wedged down one of the seats."

"Weird," Kat mumbled just loud enough for Matt to hear.

"Do you wanna come in and wait for Jack to come back and he can explain it all to you properly? He shouldn't be much longer."

"No thank you." Kat finally smiled offering a small token of thanks to Matt.

"Kat." Matt paused for a second too long as he mulled over his words. "As I said, I really don't wanna get in the middle of what's going on with you two, but I will tell you wholeheartedly that Damian is a good guy, a really good guy, so whatever's going on with you cut him some slack, please. He really likes you and this is not his fault, it's just how his job works sometimes."

"What are the chances ay?" Kat sighed heavily, accepting that even though Damian had to leave on the circumstances he did, it still felt shitty and caused her stomach to knot uncomfortably. "Thanks, Matt, I'm going to head back, but can you let Damian know I stopped by if you hear from him."

"Of course Kat, absolutely." Matt sympathetically smiled. "Look, for what it's worth I'm gutted for you both that it's not really worked out. I haven't seen Damian this way since..." he paused again and his eye twitched like he was consciously stopping himself from carrying on. "Hopefully he'll be back soon and you guys can sort this out before you actually have to go your separate ways."

Kat's body winced as Matts words pierced through her chest like a thousand daggers slicing through her heart. Her head dropped away from him as she turned and plodded back towards the solace of her Villa.

The ladies were all still sat around the outside table chatting away, oblivious to Kat quietly sneaking past them on her return. She darted up the stairs just in time for her tears to finally release from their hold as she threw herself onto her bed and sobbed into her pillow.