Dust

A Girl (13)

Phelan thanked Jim. The sound of girls' voices downstairs made him frown. It wasn't Feather or Delia - he knew their voices. These were higher in a way that made them seem younger without knowing what they looked like.

"Ah, Phelan!" That voice was familiar in the most distant way.

He thumped on the last step, picking his eyes up off his feet. Staring up him was Marina Sawyer and...

Phelan's heart dropped into his stomach.

"Fi-Fi, it's so nice to see you!" Melissa grinned him, but Phelan almost flinched at the nickname.

"What're you doing here?"

Marina glanced between them, smiling awkwardly, and Phelan couldn't blame her. While it wasn't common for Phelan to look happy on the outside, he knew he'd completely shut down now. And with Melissa beaming up at him like he was the best thing since sliced bread, it had to be confusing for Marina.

"Oh don't be like that," Melissa laughed. "I'm only here for the week. Marina's my cousin, so I'm staying with her family for the minute."

"Cool. It was nice seeing you Marina, but I've gotta go." Phelan nodded his head at Marina and turned to run back up the stairs.

A hand gripping his wrist stopped him.

"Fi-Fi," Melissa was frowning at him now. "Don't be like this."

Heart racing, Phelan struggled not to just rip his arm away or curl up into a ball.

"I know you're a good guy, why are you acting like I'm the devil?" Her tone was hurt, even as her nails dug deep.

He took a breath. "Melissa, we've been through this."

Melissa stepped closer, still hanging onto him. "Oh come on. Smile for me Fi-Fi."

"Why should I?"

"Mel," Marina cut in, "maybe we should go?"

"Fi-Fi. Smile for me and I'll know it's all alright."

"Marnie?" Oh, Robbie was home.

Knowing that didn't help Phelan, though. He couldn't think of anything to say. And then... he realised exactly what he'd done. Seeing her...

It'd taken him back to being sixteen, stuck with the only girl in his year that'd paid him any attention and used whatever she could get her hands on to teach him how she wanted him to behave. A wooden spoon. A shoe. A piece of fucking cake dumped in the bin on his birthday.

Melissa was manipulative in all sorts of ways and it'd been so hard to teach himself that she was wrong after they'd broken up. And here was, so close to rolling over so that he could earn her kindness.

"Er, Robbie, this is my cousin Melissa. She's Phelan's ex apparently." Marina's voice shook with nerves.

Robbie huffed. "And you thought bringing her here was a good idea?"

Phelan sighed, finally finding control of himself. And then yanked his wrist out of Melissa's grip. "She probably said something like 'oh it's fine, we parted on really good terms, we still speak to each other and he says he misses me'. Right?"

On Marina's part, she had the grace to wear the guilt clearly on her face. "I'm sorry. Come on Mel, we should go."

Robbie nodded. "See you later Marnie."

She offered him a smile and practically dragged Melissa away.

"You okay, Phelan?"

Phelan was not okay. "C-can you..." He sat heavily on the stairs.