The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One With In Sickness And In Health

Long after their food had been eaten and their coke bottles emptied, Jen and David were still sat together under the tree, or their tree as they'd already begun to call it. His back was leaned firmly against the trunk while she was curled up into his side, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders and his hand resting easily on her hip. They'd sat here for well over two hours so far and had only twice had to hastily retreat behind their masks and look down at the ground for fear of being spotted. However, the park beyond them was beginning to fill with more and more people taking advantage of a sunny late afternoon, and so they decided it was probably best to head back towards David's house before they pushed their luck too far. They stood and David carefully folded up the blanket, pushing it inside his backpack before slinging it up over his shoulder. He was just about to retrieve his mask from his pocket when they both heard the quick approach of feet. Someone was running at speed towards them. Without thinking David pushed Jen back against the tree, tilted his head so their caps remained in place, and kissed her until the runner's footsteps had disappeared just as quickly in the other direction. "Sorry" he said as he drew his lips away and quickly put on his mask, "that seemed the quickest way to cover both our faces."

"Except you're not sorry at all" she replied with a wide smile, before covering her face with a mask too, "and neither am I... or should I say I'm only sorry we had to stop."

"Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from" he winked, "come on, let's head home." He took her hand in his and led her out of the park in a different direction to the way they'd come in, along several wide pathways which were much busier than when they'd first arrived. After about five minutes they emerged onto a bustling street and Jen let out an audible gasp.

"Shit" she muttered beneath her mask.

"What?" David asked, dropping her hand instinctively, fearing they'd been spotted.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Of course I do. Why?"

"That's Justin's apartment right there" she said, nodding her head towards a tall building directly across the street.

"Ohhhhhh" David replied, fearing her reaction as she stopped dead in her tracks looking up at the tall windows above them. "I knew he lived around here but I didn't know exactly where. Sorry, I'll know to avoid it in future then I guess" he added.

"Hey, you don't need to be sorry and you don't need to avoid anything or anywhere" she replied with fierce determination. "I'm just thinking if anyone was going to recognise me it would probably be him, but it's fine, we're still friends and I'm sure he wouldn't say anything. And you certainly have nothing to worry about if you bump into him, in fact he'd probably talk your ear off." She began to walk again, taking hold of David's hand once more as she did so. "It just took me by surprise realising where we were" she said quietly to him, "but I'm not stressing so you don't need to either."

"Well, that's all good then" replied David, hearing the smile in her voice as she spoke and giving her fingers a tight squeeze, thinking back to her major panic yesterday and how much progress she had already made in such a short space of time. They continued to wind their way through the blocks, carried along in the flow of people who were all still buried in their own personal little bubbles and completely unaware of who was walking amongst them. They were just one block from his house when David suddenly slowed his pace and turned his head towards Jen. "Three o'clock" he whispered, nodding his head sideways and glancing in the direction of a small coffee shop they were adjacent to.

Jen looked over to where he was indicating, not seeing anything of note and returning her eyes to him with a puzzled frown and a shrug. "The dark haired girl sat at the table texting on her phone" he said quietly, slowing almost to a standstill now, "look at what she's wearing."