Kairos

Chapter 2

Her big fathomless black eyes flick to me, damn it now it will look weird if I turn around and leave. I sweep past her and use the toilet, praying she will have left when I emerge.

When I exit the stall, she is still there. We stand side-by-side at the sinks.

"Hello, Adelaide." She swallows.

"Lara," I reply tightly, struggling to get the soap to dispense. Useless machine. I decide to forgo the soap.

Her discomfort wafts from her like a heavy perfume. Why doesn't she just leave and save us both from this conversation?

"Addy..." She hesitates, a thick emotion laced through her voice, "I don't know what to say to tell you how sorry I am for everything."

Betrayal twists my heart in a brutal grip.

It was the same thing she'd said the first time Ben had cheated on me with a blonde waitress when we spent the evening eating chocolate ice cream and crying...I guess he had a thing for blondes. I should never have forgiven him then, once a cheater always a cheater.

"If I could go back and change how things happened-"

"I literally don't care." I dry my hands and make for the door. Only for Lara to block my way. She has a determined look on her face. I know that guilt is eating away at her, and she thinks that getting my forgiveness will somehow ease it. The selfish little crap.

"I know you, Adelaide, and I know you aren't so indifferent, not to me."

Bitterness stings my throat. "You do know me. You know more about me than I have ever shared with anyone else. And that is why I can't forgive you, Lara."

I met her in high school, and we have been together since, I remember the hours we spent squished together in our dorms, staring at the ceiling and chatting about nothing and everything. It was the first meaningful friendship I'd ever had. And now it has ended, my chest feels so hollow it hurts.

"I'm so so so sorry." At least she looks apologetic. Except it does nothing to remove the image of her and him together. Or the knowledge that they've been seeing each other behind my back, without any regard to how it would make me feel.

"I didn't mean for anything to happen. I felt sick the whole time-" She felt sick? She, as in the one who was doing the cheating, felt sick? Did she not understand how much it hurt knowing my ex- fiancé and ex-best friend were sleeping together?

"This topic is boring," I sigh, "I know, let's talk about how my ex- fiancé is in bed!"

She makes a noise of frustration. "Stop doing this, stop pretending you don't care."

"You want some honest emotion from me? Fine." The words pour from my lips severely because I want to hurt her. "I hate you. I hate you for what you did. I hate you for still doing it. And I hate you for acting as though I'm in the wrong. You're dead to me, Lara. If you talk to me again, I will punch you. Is that enough emotion for you?" Her face loses all colour.

"I'm sorry." Her voice is so quiet it is almost inaudible.

"So am I." I push past her and leave the bathroom.

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I was this close to flipping this entire table, and I would've had it not been for the frustratingly complex pottery on it. I would get to the bottom of it! But I wouldn't if Ben insisted on annoying me. After my...interaction with Lara in the bathroom, she had clearly texted him or something because now Ben was here, mainly to try and get me to give them the wedding. Which I couldn't do, because I'd already cancelled everything whilst drunk and crying at two am.

"Please, we've been through so much together, don't let it end like this. Ever since I saw you in the cafe with your little blueberry muffin and our eyes locked, the whole of London went quiet a-"

"Leicester," I correct him wincing, "we met in Leicester, not London." Then the rest of his words register, and my mouth drops open.

"Did you just quote your wedding vow, the one that I bloody wrote?" Yep, that's right, you heard it from me. I wrote my ex-fiancé's wedding vows. Now he is trying to win me over with my own words. Wow.

"N-no, I mean...maybe. Whatever, it doesn't matter! The point is, I've been there for you for three years. Can you just do this one thing for me?"

"Wow, you really do love to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Don't worry, someday you'll get past a pre-schooler's intelligence level, guess it's just not today though."

I give him a pitying look then turn back to the artefact. Perhaps if I tilt it and then-

"Don't be so stuck up," He attempts. Is he still talking?

"I am running on caffeine right now, and you're this close to being punched." I thought I would give him a fair warning. He leans on the table with one hand and I hope he might slip and hit his head. Okay, maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night.

"Punched? Now, now, there's no need for violence. Let's talk about this like adults."

I roll my eyes and look back down at the artefact, regretting every single decision I ever made involving this man-sized pig. His over-inflated ego is doing my head in. I can't even find peace in a library, for god's sake.

"So," He continues clearly thinking he's calmed me enough, "about cancelling the wedding venue."

Oh. My. God. Deep breaths. I exhale slowly through clenched teeth and rub circles into my temples. He literally wouldn't know a brain cell if it slapped him in the face. The idea of knocking the stupid, condescending grin off his mouth is tempting though. The more I think about it, the better it seems. It would be so satisfying to slam my fist into his sweaty cheek.

"Um Addy?" I am rudely awoken from my violent fantasy by Ben waving a hand and clicking obnoxiously in front of my face. I shudder at the nickname, why do people insist on using it?

"Don't call me that and leave me alone."

"What were you thinking about?" Punching you. I choose to ignore him. I have restraint, I can be the bigger man. My mother would be so proud, for once, I am taking the high road that she was so fond of whenever she ignored her problems. Not everything has to be solved with aggression. It can be solved with words and not actions.

"Addy, were you thinking about calling the wedding planner?"

UGH! Can he just leave me alone? It makes my blood boil.

"I know this has all happened so fast, but we do need to have the venue booked by tomorrow so if you could get a move on that would be gre-"

I pick up the nearest thing to me, swing round and club him over the head with it. His knees buckle immediately, and I almost flinch at the sound of his head hitting the stone. Almost. A weight lifts off me at the sight of him and a sense of satisfaction emerges.

Jesus, he is weak. I didn't even hit him that hard! Though the artefact would disagree, now dust in my hands- WAIT! My hand flew to my mouth. Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no. I watch in horror as the leftover ceramic shatters in my grip and crumbles, joining the unconscious man on the floor.

In hindsight, knocking someone out with a priceless ancient artefact was probably not a good idea. Whoops.

I shake the rest of the sediment from my hands and watch it billow into the air. Some sucks into my throat with my next inhale and I cough but can't dislodge it. I try to swallow but the dust seems to have thickened onto my tracheas' walls. Choking, I cough again and again, watching in petrified shock as more dust rises from the ground. Like actually rises. Like some weird amoeba cloud. Suddenly it is everywhere, in my clothes hair eyes mouth nose ears-

Then spots of darkness leach across my vision like ink blots in water and that's all I know.