The Apprentice (Girlxgirl)

Chapter Twenty

We got to the house just in time, as two huge delivery vans appeared seconds after us. There were four men moving our things into the house and it took them over two hours. Ellie and I showed them where everything should go. Most of the things I had ordered were pre-built, but there were some things we would need to make ourselves.

"It's been a long day for all of us, why don't we stay at the apartment tonight, and we'll come do this tomorrow?" Ellie suggested. Alex and I agreed, and we drove back to the apartment.

I offered to share Ellie's bed so Alex could have mine, but she insisted she sleep on the sofa. We all went to bed early, but I couldn't sleep.

I was worried about leaving the Ryles contract. And Ellie hadn't spoken to me much since I told Damien, without consulting her first. I knew she wouldn't be mad, because I had enough money to expand our business now. But something told me that Damien had a lot of influence, and I didn't want our company to have a bad reputation for this.

The time on my phone read 01:17. I needed to sleep. I thought maybe a cup of tea would help. I quietly snuck out of my bedroom, trying not to make a sound, until I saw Alex was already awake.

As I got closer, I saw she was looking through some photos of Mona on her phone. I sighed, and went to join her on the sofa.

"Hey," I said quietly, remembering Ellie was asleep.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked.

"No, I just couldn't sleep. Do you want a cup of tea?" She nodded at my offer, so I went to the kitchen to make us both a drink.

I brought the drinks in, and set them down on the coffee table. Alex had turned on a lamp, and moved over on the sofa, gesturing for me to sit next to her.

"How're you doing with all of this?" I asked her.

"I don't know, I was really upset, but I thought about what you said, about her not fighting for me. She couldn't have really loved me, if she would just take his money and never see me again," she said, and I gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm starting to wonder if the only reason she was with me was for the money."

"I don't know about that, but I do know that she's out of your life now. You have a chance to move on with someone better. Someone who loves you, who can't be paid off." I told her.

"I know, I was just deleting her pictures, I need to forget about her,"

Alex smiled at me, and I caught a glimpse of the yellow flecks in her eyes again. I realised I was staring at her, and didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so I looked away and picked up my cup of tea.

"Jamie, what happened with your husband?" she asked, which took me by surprise.

"Oh, umm... It's kind of a long story," I replied.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me. I just thought, we're both here, unable to sleep, and-"

"Okay," I interrupted, knowing that I would tell her someday anyway. "We were together for about eight years, married for two. After we got married, we had no sex life. I dealt with it for quite a while, it really knocked my self confidence though, because I just thought I wasn't pretty enough, or good enough.

"So I tried a few things to spice it up, and nothing worked. And one day, a couple of weeks ago, I just lost it. We argued, and I left."

I decided not to tell her about the whole HIV scare, and sleeping with him a few days ago.

"Is he blind or just stupid?" She asked, and I wasn't sure how to respond, "He didn't want to have sex with you?"

"No," I said, as I felt my face heat up.

"Wow, well he's a moron," she said and I laughed, "so you should also be moving on with someone better now. Someone, who appreciates how beautiful you are."

I was staring into her bright green eyes again, watching the yellow flecks move around freely. We weren't sitting too close to eachother, but I was worried that Alex would hear my heart beating.

When we went up to the mountain, the first time, I was sure my heart was beating fast because of the height. Now I couldn't help but wonder if it was because of those beautiful green eyes that felt like they were staring right into my soul.

We weren't looking into eachothers eyes for long, not to the point where it was uncomfortable. I felt like I could look at them all day. They were peaceful.

But then, my eyes travelled down to her plump, pink lips. Only for the smallest amount of time, and then back up to her eyes.

I knew Alex would have seen me look at her lips, and I wanted to look away, but I also didn't want to. I watched as her eyes looked at my lips, and made a decision fast.

"I'm gonna go to bed now, Alex," I almost whispered. She smiled and said goodnight.

I walked to my bedroom quickly, threw myself in bed face down, and whispered curse words into my pillow for a while.

I wanted to kiss Alex. And I think she wanted to kiss me. I thought about her lips and how inviting they looked, and butterflies decided it was time to fuck about with my insides.

I lay awake for most of the night, trying to justify what was going through my head.