April Fools (3 page)

Chapter
Four

We drove the
rest of the way in silence. I was relieved when we pulled up in the car park
behind his place. He ran his hand through his messy hair and I noticed how he
kept the engine running. He took hold of my hand and began to stroke it
reassuringly, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Do you
mean you're going to help her right now?"

I watched the
muscles in his jaw tighten, "Yes."

"Can't
it wait?"

He sighed,
"No."

"Do I
not get an invitation to her pity party?"

He frowned,
"April..."

"I was
joking, I'd rather stick pins in my eyeballs. Have fun." And with that, I
got out of the car and didn't look back.

When I got
inside the apartment, I waited until I heard his car drive away before taking a
few deep breaths. I wasn't about to sit on my own and wait for him to return. I
found my phone and text Lucy -

"Have you still got a spare room?
x"

A few seconds
later, she replied -

"Hell yes!"

I'd been
planning on moving out of Isaac's when I started going back to class, which was
tomorrow. One day early wasn't going to hurt.

"How does half an hour sound? x"

"It sounds awesome, see you soon."

I gathered my
things together, which consisted of a bag of Lucy's clothes and my toiletries,
before walking over to her place. It was about a fifteen minute walk, not too
far from Lukas's house.

When I
arrived, she opened the door and threw her arms around me. I was caught off
guard but I think a hug was just what I needed. "That dress looks much
better on you than it ever did on me, you can keep it. Come in."

Her place was
only small but I liked it immediately. The orange and yellow decor gave it a warm
and positive feel. She gave me a mini tour, saving the spare room until last. "And
this is your room..." she said as she opened the door.

"It's
hardly my room, I'll only be here for a couple of weeks until I sort everything
out with student services."

"Well
it'll be
your
room for a couple of weeks then."

It was nearly
as big as my old bedroom. It had a single bed and some fitted wardrobes, even
though I didn't have anything to hang in them apart from Lucy's clothes. I
needed to go shopping. "Thanks Lucy, I really appreciate everything."

"No
problem. It's going to be nice having someone else here with me, it can get
lonely sometimes. Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving."
Isaac had been planning on cooking but now he had more important things to take
care of.

"I'll go
and make us something to eat while you settle in."

"Thank
you." I watched as she practically skipped out of the room. I sat down on
the bed and looked out of the window just as my phone started to ring.

Isaac.

"Hello"
I answered.

"Where
are you?"

"Lucy's."

I heard him
breathe a sigh of relief, "I was worried, I came home and you weren't here.
It's getting late and you didn't text or leave a note. Your clothes were
gone...I thought..."

"Thought
what?" I asked when he trailed off.

"I don't
know what I thought, I was just worried."

"Well I
didn't mean to worry you, I just didn't know how long you were going to be."

"Are you
coming back?"

"Not
tonight. We've talked about this, I was going to move out tomorrow
anyway."

"I know,
I was just looking forward to spending one more night with you."

I bit my lip
to stop myself from saying something that I might regret.

"Are you
okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"There's
that awful word again."

"So what
happened with Abbie?" I couldn't hold it in any longer.

He sighed,
"I'll tell you...just not right now."

"Fine."

"I
seriously hate that word."

I
seriously hate that woman.

"Are you
going to be okay going back to class tomorrow?" he asked.

"Of
course."

"Well you
know where I am if you need me or want to take some time out."

Lucy appeared
in the doorway, "I made us omelettes, they're ready." When she
noticed that I was on the phone, she mouthed sorry before hurrying off.

"Did you
hear that?" I asked Isaac.

"Yes,
omelettes, without me. Awesome."

"Stop
sulking."

"Will
you come and see me tomorrow night?"

"It
depends how good Lucy is at spooning."

Chapter
Five

My first day
back after the fire wasn't as bad as expected.

It was worse.

A total
number of seventeen people asked me about the fire.

Yes, I
counted. Yes, I know it's sad.

I started off
being polite but quickly lost my patience. By the end of the day, I think
people were too scared to even come near me. I knew it wasn't their fault, they
were just interested but I was tired of reliving what had happened.

I rang the
one person who was guaranteed to cheer me up. "Hey Kitty, talk to me about
something non-fire related."

"Okay,
are you sitting down for this?"

"No, I'm
walking back to Lucy's place."

"Well
grab onto a lamppost or something because I have big news. I've lost my V card!"

I gasped,
playing along with her, "Oh my god! Did it hurt?"

"Yep,
I've never seen so much blood."

"How do
you feel?"

"Different,
more mature..."

"Well
I'm waiting until I meet the right guy, I won't give in to peer pressure."

She laughed,
"Were we really like that once upon a time?"

"Probably.
So Ian's finally remembered how to use it?"

"Oh yes,
the drought is over...literally."

"Too
much information."

"What's
wrong? Aren't you happy for me?"

"Of
course I am, I'll send you a card in the post. So how did you crack him in the
end?"

"The
kinky bastard likes to be tied up. Who knew?"

 "Wow, it's
always the quiet ones."

"He's
wasn't so quiet when I spanked him using a..."

"Changeeee
of subject!" I shouted.

She laughed,
"Okay, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you for a while now."

"Sounds
serious?"

"It is. Were
the fire fighters hot?"

"You did
not
just ask me that."

"I
actually did. Lukas is getting better so I'm allowed to focus on other
important things. So? Were they hot?"

"I
wasn't really thinking about that at the time, believe it or not."

"Yeah, I
guess you didn't need to when Isaac was standing next to you. Who needs fire
fighters when you've got your own little hottie?" She began to sing
'Sex
on fire' by Kings Of Leon.

"Oh
yeah, it had nothing to do with the fact that my house was on fire and my
friend was trapped inside."

"Okay,
okay. What about the policemen? Were they hot? Did they have handcuffs?" She
giggled which was so infectious that I had to bite my lip to stop myself from
laughing. She didn't need to be encouraged any further. "I'll take your
silence as a yes."

"And on
that note, it's time to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait...did
you see their
batons
?"

"Bye
Katie." I grinned as I ended the call, I knew that I could rely on my best
friend to cheer me up. To keep my good mood going, I rang Isaac. I missed hearing
his voice already.

He answered
immediately which made me smile. "April, now's not a good time." He
sounded stressed. It wasn't exactly the greeting that I had been hoping for.

"Oh, okay."

"Can I
call you back later?"

"Yeah,
is everything okay?"

"I'm
just busy."

"Are you
still at work?"

He hesitated
before answering, "No."

"Oh, so
where are you?"

"Why
does it matter?"

I narrowed my
eyes, "I was just wondering..."

"Look, please
can you interrogate me later?"

"Please
can you stop being a dick later?"

He sighed,
"I haven't got time for this, I'll call you when I'm home."

"Whatever"
I replied, which was universal girl code for 'fuck you'. I hung up before
shoving my phone back in my pocket. So much for my good mood.

I replayed
the conversation over and over again in my head. If he wasn't at work, where
was he?

***

"How was
your day?" Lucy asked as I walked through the door. I only had one class
with her on a Monday so I hadn't seen her all afternoon.

I groaned, "Crap."

She patted
the sofa, "Sit down. Vent."

I put my bag
down and made my way over to her. "Fifty billion people asked me about the
fire."

She raised
her eyebrow, "Wow, that's a lot of people. You're really popular."

"I don't
want to be popular, I just want to move on."

"The first
day back is always the worst, it'll die down."

"I hope
so."

"Anything
else that you want to vent about?"

Yes.
Isaac.

"Nah,
how was your day?"

"Uneventful.
I do have some news though."

"Spill."

"Lukas
is home."

I sat up
straighter, "He is?"

She nodded, "He
got back this afternoon."

"That's
great, how is he?"

"He
sounded okay on the phone. I'm actually going to visit him, I was waiting for
you to get back first to see if you wanted to come?"

My heart started
beating faster, "Um, I'm not sure..."

"April,
I think you two should talk. I'm sure there's a lot that needs to be
said."

Lucy didn't
know the half of it. As far as she was concerned, I hadn't spoken to Lukas since
we broke up and he went to Paris.

"I think
I should wait a little longer, give him some time to settle in."

"Don't
you want to see how he is? He risked his life for you."

"I'm
quite aware of that" I snapped.

"Sorry,
I just realised how that sounded. I wasn't having a go at you but he must still
have strong feelings for you to run into a burning building."

"I'm
sure he would have done it regardless of whose house it was. Anyway, he might
not want to see me."

"He
does."

"Did he
say so?"

She nodded. I
closed my eyes and thought about how it might hurt Isaac's feelings if I went
to see Lukas alone. But then I thought about how weird he had been acting on
the phone. Me and Lukas were friends, it wasn't a big deal. Just like him and
Abbie were friends. "Okay, I'll go."

She stood up,
"Great, let's get going."

"Now? But
I've only just got in."

"He's
still sleeping a lot, we should go and see him now while he's awake."

Chapter
Six

Ten minutes
later, we were walking down Lukas's street. Lucy had talked the whole way there
which had kept my mind preoccupied but when I saw a car similar to Isaac's
drive past us, it made me question what I was about to do. Shouldn't I speak to
Isaac first?

It was too
late. As we walked up to his front door, memories from the last time I was here
flooded through my mind. It was the night that we had slept together. So much
had happened since then. Lucy knocked on the door before walking straight in,
which made me raise my eyebrow in question. "He told me on the phone to
come straight in."

I mentally
told myself to stop being a baby as I stepped into his flat but I felt like
crying when I saw him sitting on the sofa. He glanced at Lucy before his eyes
locked with mine. We were silent for a long time. After what seemed like an
eternity, Lucy cleared her throat, "I'm just going to make a quick phone
call outside." It was obvious that she was giving us some privacy.  

"Hi."

I smiled at
the sound of his voice, "Hi."

"It's
good to see you."

"It's
good to see you too, I'm glad you're home." He smiled as I slowly walked
over to the sofa and sat down beside him. I couldn't help but stare at the burn
on his cheek. It would definitely leave a scar which meant that he would have a
constant reminder of the fire. He would never be able to forget what happened
that day.
I
would never be able to forget. I let out the breath that I
was holding, "You scared me."

He placed his
hand on top of mine and I felt the biggest surge of regret wash over me. If
only I would have followed my heart from the start, none of this would have
happened. I wouldn't have hurt Lukas, he wouldn't have hurt me and we would
still be best friends. I didn't know if it was even possible to go back to
being friends like we were in the beginning.

"You
scared me too so that makes us even."

"It was
horrible seeing you in the hospital."

He laughed
but it turned into a chesty cough, "You're not doing much for my ego right
now."

I smiled at
the way he was trying to make light of a shitty situation. It was such a
typical Lukas thing to do. "I hate seeing you sick, seeing you with burns."

"Again
with the ego thing." He pulled down the sleeves on his T-shirt, hiding
more burns on his arms. "Are there any other things that you hate about me
while you're offloading?"

I laughed,
"Yeah, you're such an attention seeker getting your name in the newspaper.
I bet you have an agent now, Mr Big Time."

"I do,
I'm actually writing a book about my traumatic experience."

I rolled my
eyes, "That doesn't surprise me. What's it called?"

"I'm
thinking about 'Fire in my heart'."

I had to
laugh at that one, "I like it."

He nodded,
"You can have a signed copy. And as far as the burns are concerned, they'll
turn into scars soon and women dig scars."

"That's
true, you do look pretty badass."

His eyes
twinkled, "Thank you for coming to see me, I've missed you."

"Pfft,
you were sleeping and getting crowded by hot nurses, I bet you didn't even
think about me."

"You
know that's a lie."

I did.

"April, I
have a few things that I would like to get off my chest, if that's okay with
you?" I nodded, preparing myself for what he was about to say. We were
both quiet as I waited for him to speak. "The day of the fire was the
worst day of my life. Not because of what happened to me but because I thought
that I'd lost
you
. In that moment, when I thought that you were inside
the house, all that mattered was getting you out of there. There was never a
choice for me, I was always going inside. I know that you're a good person
which means that you're going to try and blame yourself but no part of what
happened was your fault. I would run into that house every single day for the
rest of my life if it meant saving you from getting hurt. Although I regret how
things ended between us, some selfish part of me doesn't regret anything
because it led to something so real. Those moments that we shared had nothing
to do with anybody or anything else. It didn't matter what had happened in my
past or what was going to happen in our futures. All that mattered was us. I
really hope that we can be friends again."

I couldn't
stop the tears from falling, "I'm so sorry, I should have answered your
phone calls, I should have told you that I wasn't at home."

"Stop it
right now. What did I say about not blaming yourself? Look, I'm okay."

"How did
you know about the fire?"

"I was
walking home when I got a phone call from a friend. As soon as they told me
about the fire, I ran. I ran and didn't stop until I got there. You weren't
answering your phone so I went in. I have no regrets." He paused and
looked down at his hands, "There's something that I need to ask you. It's
okay if you don't want to answer but I would really appreciate it if you did."
I nodded. "Are you in love with Isaac?"

My heart leapt
at the mention of his name. Even though I knew that it was going to hurt him, I
owed him the truth. "Yes."

"That's
what I thought but I needed to hear it. The night before the fire, I saw the
way that you looked at each other. I didn't want to believe it, it was easier
for me to think that he must have taken advantage of you because you were
upset. But I've had a lot of time to think recently and I want us to go back to
being friends. I want to start over and earn your trust back. Above everything,
I want you to be happy."

I let his
words sink in as I remembered why I liked being around Lukas so much. He was a
genuinely good person. Sometimes good people make bad choices but that doesn't
make them bad people, it just proves that they're human. "Thank you."

"If
Isaac makes you happy, then I'm happy. If Isaac makes you upset, then I'll be
upset...and I'll kick his ass."

I laughed
before he pulled me into one of his signature bear hugs. When I pulled away, I
glanced down at my watch. "I think Lucy's been kidnapped."

"Well we'd
better call Liam Neeson."

I smirked, "I
deleted his number, his constant texts were starting to annoy me." I stood
up and walked over to the front door before looking outside. Lucy was nowhere
to be seen. I dialled her number and could hear music in the background when
she answered. "Hey, where are you?"

"I'm at
the pub with Dan."

"Oh, how
did that happen?"

"I was
sitting on the wall outside when I saw him walking down the street. I wanted to
give you and Lukas some time alone so I persuaded him to come to the pub with
me."

"I bet
he didn't take much persuading."

"Nope, I
told him that I'd buy him a drink and he was sold."

"When
will you be back?"

"I'm not
sure, I might stay here for a while. They're actually playing music that I like
tonight. Why don't you come and join us?"

"No
thanks, I'm just going to head back and have an early night. I'll see you
tomorrow."

"Wait...are
you and Lukas okay?"

"Yeah,
we're good."

I walked back
over to Lukas. "Do we need to go on a rescue mission?" he asked.

"Yes, we
need to rescue her from Dan."

"Why is
she with Dan?"

"They're
at the pub."

He nodded in
understanding, "Lucy took one for the team."

"We
definitely owe her one. I think I'm going to head home, let you get some rest."

"You
don't have to, you can stay if you want."

"I'm
really tired." I grinned, "Some of us actually went to class
today."

He laughed, "Some
of us are too busy running into burning buildings. You know, saving people's
lives."

I held my
hands up as I began to back out of the room, "You win this time. I'll see
you soon."

***

I spent the
rest of the night debating whether I should call Isaac. When I was lying in bed
at ten thirty with no phone call, I began to question why he still wasn't home.
It was sometime around midnight when I finally fell asleep. I felt better after
my conversation with Lukas but I couldn't shake the feeling that something
wasn't right with Isaac.