Sink or Swim

Chapter 7

The pain in her leg was torturous when Skye widened her eyes. Her connection with Craig the night before had meant that she'd forgotten to take her painkillers before bed, though as she woke up she barely believed the night before had been anything but a dream. She put her hand to her head, trying to press for clearer memories of the previous evening. Once it started to come back to her, she immediately regretted searching for the memories in the first place.

It had only taken a couple of deep breaths before the memories were crystal clear. She'd ended up in Craig's apartment, they'd got drunk together and then they'd had sex. Almost gasping at her own memories, Skye's head immediately swung around to find Craig sat on the edge of the king sized bed with his head in his hands.

She stared at the back of his head, opening her mouth several times, but no words came out. Now she was the one with words stuck in her throat. What could she possibly say? It wasn't like her to be at a loss for words, but when she'd caused this, how could she possibly make it better?

Skye reached over to grab a spare blanket and wrapped it around her small but athletic frame. She'd searched the room with her eyes to try and find her clothes, but they were on the other side of the bed and it wasn't a good idea to go and fetch them. She was relieved to see that Craig had already found his.

Having settled for a moment with the blanket around her, she looked back at him. "Craig-" she finally breathed out, pushing her hair behind her ear.

It took a moment or two before Craig slowly exhaled and said, "I feel like I've cheated on her." His words forced a sharp pain down Skye's chest and for a moment it felt like she had forgotten how to breathe. The tone of his voice was enough to tell how heavy his heart was.

"You haven't," she choked out. Skye finally caught sight of her pink jumper hiding behind his bedside table. She grabbed it quickly and threw it over her head. She moved along the bed so that she was closer to Craig. From behind, she rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Skye apologised. "I should have known better." Craig's arm fell around her back.

"This isn't your fault," he stated in a hoarse voice, shaking his head. "I should have stopped myself. I shouldn't have let myself stop thinking about her." Skye's fingers brushed his arm. For one of the first times in her life she didn't know what to say. She could only wish that she had a time machine so that she could stop the previous night from happening.

She watched as Craig got up from the bed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"I'll go." Skye bit the inside of her mouth and pulled on her jeans. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Sure," he said, with a small nod back. She wasn't convinced. "I'll text you later." That helped.

Before exiting the bedroom door, she said, "We should keep this to ourselves. If Cass found out, she'd- she wouldn't be happy."

"It doesn't have anything to do with her. Nobody will find out."

"We don't ever have to speak about it again. Or think about it. Nothing's changed." It was a lie, but she didn't want him to think that it had disrupted their friendship. She would still be there for him, and it would definitely never happen again.

"Agreed."

"Thanks," was the last thing she said before she left the room.

When she got home, Skye headed straight for the shower, feeling more relaxed as the warm water rolled down her skin. Usually when Skye was having difficulties, she would go for a long run to clear her head. She loved jogging along the countryside and the beaches that surrounded the local town and village. She would often stop every time she saw somebody with a dog just so that she could stroke it. Skye couldn't resist them, but she knew she couldn't have one of her own. She had always spent so much time away from the house for as long as she could remember.