Her Unknown Lover

She was leant against Tom’s arm when they returned; the glass door creaking loudly in the quiet room – the only real noise coming from the film playing over the two televisions – Nathan stumbled through the door holding a red Coke can and pulling a giggling Violet along behind him. The pair dropped onto the sofa that she, Minnie, Tom, Laura and Aimee were sat on and looked round the small group before giggling again. Lydia had figured they were drunk but assumed that they were trying to sober up because of the Coke they were sharing – until the distinctive smell of rum drifted up and met her nose: she looked down at the can before nudging Nathan with her foot – when he looked round his eyes were slightly unfocused, but when he realised who had nudged him a wide smile broke out across his face.

“Nath, is that rum?”

Nathan glanced down at the can before meeting her eyes again; still smiling, and nodded.

“Yeah, rum and coke. Want some?”

Lydia gently shook her head and looked over at Minnie once he had turned back round, Minnie merely raised an eyebrow in a judging manner and looked like she was about to say something when she suddenly stopped and stared in Nathan and Violet’s direction; Lydia felt like she had been hit by a car when she looked over – Nathan was sat upright with Violet leant against his side, the hand holding the can was draped around her shoulders while his free one was linked with one of hers. A sharp pain in Lydia’s chest brought on a wave of nausea that was only suppressed by her forcing her mind back to the film.
About fifteen minutes had passed since Nathan had admitted that there was rum in the can he and Violet were sharing, and the pair’s giggling and talking had gradually risen in volume – this coupled with the strong smell of their alcohol was attracting glances from the other half of the group who were sat across the room, Lydia had also seen Tina look over a few times – this told her that she needed to get the pair to calm down. She once again nudged Nathan with her foot.

“Nathan, you two need to quieten down – Tina’s looking suspicious and I reckon she might kick you out.”

Nathan frowned and waved her off with her hand,
“Psh, don’t be daft Lydia, Chill out cause we’re just enjoying ourselves.”

His offish response to her rubbed her temper the wrong way, that and his obvious relationship with Violet. For a few moments she held her tongue to avoid messing up her friendship with Nathan; but when Violet drank from their can a fresh wave of smell washed over their area and Aimee’s cough – indicating that the smell was too strong to go unnoticed – snapped Lydia’s last nerve.

“For fuck’s sake, that stuff fucking stinks! You are going to get found out if you stay in here so will you just fuck off until you’ve drank it all and don’t smell like a fucking distillery!”

Her growled threat went unheard by everyone but those around her, and they were genuinely shocked by her uncontrolled outburst – especially Nathan – who sat there staring at her with his mouth slightly open,

“Get. Out.”
At the sound of her latest sharp command he quickly jumped up and dragged Violet out.
She sighed slightly and shuffled up to Minnie as Tom moved closer to her, the three quietly whispering in order to soothe her frazzled nerves; Lydia wound up in a million different emotions and fighting with her inner thoughts.

“Well I think he’s a total ass.” Tom’s frank statement caused her to look up and meet his dark eyes, now warm and comforting, Lydia just couldn’t help giggling – Tom was always so straightforward and never dodged around sensitive subjects; and it was a nice change for her. Minnie shuffled closer and reached round to flick Tom on the side of his head,

“You’ve no idea about being subtle have you Tom?”

Her face was dropped in an expression that suggested she was questioning Tom’s intelligence. While vigorously rubbing the side of his head Tom looked over, frowning deeply, before sticking his tongue out at the girl. Lydia giggled again at the pairs simple, childish behaviour – as they were now pulling ridiculous faces at each other with her sat between them.

“Will you two behave? It doesn’t matter anyway. He can do what he wants.”
Lydia mumbled the last part of her sentence, although she didn’t want to control him – she wanted what ever he did to be with her and not Violet. The other two noticed the changes of tone in their friend’s voice and felt pangs of sympathy for her, since she obviously held some kind of feelings for Nathan; to rid her of any worries Minnie changed the subject and the previous conversation quickly slipped into nothingness.

***

She barely noticed them enter the second time, all her focus had been forced onto the film that was still playing; unlike before, they came in with their heads down and wearing blank, silent expressions. Nathan glanced up at Lydia but she refused to meet his gaze and just nudged Aimee to indicate that she needed to make space for the pair – Aimee was slow to agree however, forcing Lydia to throw her a begging glance; not wanting to start anything, and thankfully she understood her meaning and shuffled closer to Tom. Lydia saw Nathan’s face twist slightly as he climbed to sit down – pulling Violet with him to sit her against his chest and wrap his arms around her shoulders; linking their fingers together. Lydia’s heart sank further into her stomach, churning the acid as nausea washed over her; she wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed the tops of her arms; as though fighting off a chill in the already hot room.
Minnie glanced over after spotting her friends odd behaviour from the corner of her eye and could see her occasionally looking over at the pair that were ‘just friends’ sat nearby and frowned.

Minnie’s P.O.V

‘I can’t believe that idiot is doing this to her! He must know she likes him, and I’ve seen him flirting with her. Lydia doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. God, Tom was right when he called him an ass.’

I frowned as I sat and watched her glancing at the pair and twisting her fingers together in her lap whilst chewing on her lip; something I noticed her doing a lot, and usually when Nathan is involved in the situation.
‘This whole thing with Violet is ridiculous, she’s ruining Lydia and Nathan’s friendship and just doesn’t seem to notice or care.’

I sighed sympathetically and wrapped my arms around her tiny figured and hugged her to my side; she tensed slightly in surprise before quickly copying my actions and burying her face into my neck. My heart sank at feeling her hanging onto me – Lydia hadn’t planned this when she came on holiday, the possibility of her week being ruined made me feel slightly ill – I thought that it seemed a little exaggerated at first – but then I realised that I was thinking like this because of the strong friendship I had created with the girl I currently had in my arms, I couldn’t just leave her to get her heart broken.

I thought about saying something to Nathan, just to see if he understood what was going on. But since he and Violet were obviously a couple I decided against it for the moment since it meant that she would be constantly attached to his hip and I couldn’t deal with her going all ‘jealous girlfriend’ on Lydia; because things would get messy. The sound of sudden silence brought my attention back to the real world and I noticed that the TV was no longer on and that all eyes were on Tina as she began to speak,

“Come on then, it’s midnight so out you go; you know the drill. If you’re going to hang around keep it down cause it’s my ass on the line.”

Lydia twitched and lifted her head away from my neck whilst looking a little embarrassed before smiling slightly and pushing herself to her feet and reaching for my hand.

Third person P.O.V

Lydia grasped Minnie’s hand and pulled her towards her; the state of half consciousness Lydia had just been in had given her opportunity to think properly, and she’d come to the conclusion that she needed to talk to Nathan – alone – but she knew she couldn’t do it tonight as the wounds were still too fresh. Her body now just ached for her bed, pulling Minnie towards the door she quickly shouted her goodnights; praying she could slip away with Minnie – no such luck;

“You’re not going to bed are you?”

Quickly turning she came face to face with him – she was shocked to see his deep hazel eyes filled with emotion, burning into her to a point where she had to look away from him; only for his gentle fingers to catch her jaw and slowly tilt her face to meet his while he examined her expression.

“What’s up? Do you want me to walk you to your room?”

Lydia was very aware that people were watching the pair – but Nathan seemed perfectly oblivious, leaving his hand gracefully on her jaw. In response to his questions she bit down hard onto her lip while she tried to come up with an answer. Until Minnie stepped in,

“No it’s ok Nathan, I’ve already offered.”

With that she grabbed Lydia and pulled her out the door.

***

The lift ride to Lydia’s floor was silent; Minnie not daring to say anything and Lydia lost in her own thoughts. When the doors opened they both jumped slightly before looking at each other and started laughing, they continued to giggle halfway down Lydia’s hallway until she suddenly stopped still, bringing Minnie to a halt. Lydia sighed and slumped to the floor, carefully leaning against the wall – Minnie copied her move, only sitting across the hall from her, politely watching the girl as Lydia willed the words to come out of her mouth,

As you may have figured, I have a bit of a thing for Nathan. Well, it’s turning into more than a bit of a thing,”
Minnie merely nodded in agreement and Lydia continued,
“Anyway, now that he and Violet are probably a couple things are starting to look difficult for me since it already hurts to see her in his arms instead of me. I feel like if I’d gone to that guy’s room, coped with the panic attacks and the fears, then I’d be in Violet’s position.”

Minnie stared over at the fidgeting blonde girl sat across from her; who was silently frowning and biting her nails. Minnie paused in quiet thought before climbing to her feet and pulling a dazed Lydia up with her, she held her at arms length and looked her straight in the eyes – ensuring she was paying attention:

“Listen to me Lydia. You are beautiful; don’t ever let people like Nathan and Violet make you think otherwise. Nathan doesn’t know what he’s doing – he may even be sparing you the heartache of a week fling because he cares about you so much that he just wants you to be happy and enjoy the last bit of your holiday. Stick with him, and the rest of us, because I’ve seen how well you two get on and I don’t want you losing such a good friend – just don’t let them bring you down.”

Tears of happiness stung in Lydia’s eyes as Minnie’s sweet, caring words set into her mind, she smiled and embraced the dark haired girl before her – a quiet ‘Thank you’ escaping her lips just before she pulled away to swiftly close the gap between the pair and her room, turning just the once to wave at the most important person in her new, extremely fucked up world.