Siren Call

Realisation

As the weeks moved on into months, me and Kat were spending more time together. There was no denying the building closeness between us, but we still kept it a secret from her family. Neither of us wanted to complicate the happy bliss that we were enjoying, with concerns over how serious we were from her parents, or Sean. I was shocked at how easy things were going with her. Given how long we'd been at loggerheads before getting together, I'd have expected to run into far more issues along the way. But there had barely been any. The only bumps we'd hit were small, and easily forgotten. The longer it went on, the more I found myself spending days at work, counting down the hours until I could see her again, going out with Roxy and Jamie, and wishing that she was there, or that I could sneak off and find her. I'd even voluntarily hung around outside the hospital, just hoping to catch her for a few moments whilst she was on a break. I hadn't even realised my own building vulnerability as I began to care more and more for her.

"Ev, are you even listening at all?" Roxy laughed, pulling me from my reverie.

I shook off the memory of last night at Kat's place, and turned to my best friend.

"Sorry Rox, what did you say?" I replied, rubbing the back of my neck as I tried to focus my attention on the present.

Roxy shuffled closer on the sofa, pulling her legs up towards her chest, and shaking her hair back over her shoulders.

"What's up?" She asked, resting her arms on her bare knees, her fingers tapping slightly on her golden, sunkissed skin.

"Nothing, was just thinking, that's all."

Roxy looked at me, skepticism clearly defined in her expression. It wasn't that I was lying, it was just that I wasn't sure exactly what was bugging me. It was that kind of niggling feeling inside, the one where you know something is off, but you can't figure it out.

"You can talk to me Ev, I know it's about Kat. But you're my best friend, I want to help." She said sincerely.

"It's fine, I promise."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, instantly feeling brighter, and pulled her towards me. She wasn't prepared for the sudden movement and toppled over with a yelp, landing sprawled across my lap. Both of us burst out laughing as she lay there, before she pushed herself up. I combed her hair back from her face, whilst she pulled the bottom of her white, floral top down over her ribs then rose to her feet, dusting off her denim shorts and slipping her little sandals back on.

"Okay, get your ass moving, Sean is meeting us at the leisure center in ten minutes."

Roxy grabbed her car keys from the table as I stood up, and moments later we were leaving the house and jumping in her car.

The leisure center was hot as always, but thankfully pretty quiet at this time. A few familiar faces sat at the steel tables with their babies in their arms.

"We were beginning to wonder where you'd got to." Sean called out from the table just ahead.

Everly sat on his lap, beaming as she recognised me and her mother walking towards her. Roxy swept down, planting a kiss on her daughter's rosy cheek, and then pressed her lips to her husbands, her arm wrapping around Everly's waist. Standing straight, she lifted Everly out of Sean's arms and held her close.

"I'll take her with me to get changed," She started, taking the little pink flower bag from Sean's shoulder. "And we'll meet you both in a minute."

Roxy walked down the slope to the side and off to the right, through a door labeled 'Ladies'.

After exchanging brief pleasantries with Sean, we followed after them, turning to the left, into the men's room.