s i x t e e n
" sixty-year-old virgin "
-

-

Despite his promises, Chris didn't call Louella the next day.

Throughout the remainder of their date she grew colder and colder. Smiling less, sitting to herself and responding with clipped answers. Gradually he grew tired of this and picked up on it as her annoyance more and more every time.

Frankly, he didn't understand it, but confronting her about her sudden change of heart seemed all too much after one date.

Seeing her again was definitely not on the cards.

Chris tried not to think about her as he kicked the ball back and forth between him and Harry, but he ended up wondering whether he should've given her more of a chance.

When the ball ended up going through his legs, Harry stopped short. Chris sighed and went after it, jogging back with it in his hands.

"Everything ok, mate?" Harry asked, frowning. He knew Chris and he knew when there was something wrong. He was usually incredibly focused, even when they were just messing around because any practice was good practice, in his eyes. Usually he made fun of this, but now that it was gone he was worried for his friend.

"Yeah, yeah," Chris dismissed, chucking the ball on the floor for it to roll to Harry's feet. "Let's go again."

"Maybe we should just call it a day and go get some lunch?" He tried.

"Maybe, but we're gonna have to go somewhere cheap because apparently I don't have enough money for anything good," He snapped. "Sorry, just got a lot on my mind."

"Clearly." He offered a somewhat comforting smile, which went appreciated, and kicked the ball to Chris. "Let's do just half an hour more and then go, ok?"

"Ok."

"And then you're going to explain to me why you're distracted today because you're never like this."

"Fine," Chris replied, focusing himself on the training exercise.

-

-

"So, it's a girl?" Harry asked after Chris had finished explaining himself. He sat back in the booth, sinking into the cushions with his arms folded across his chest.

This was the first he'd heard of this from Chris. He'd never really thought about it; he'd always assumed Chris was fine and didn't want a relationship or anything like that.

"Not just one girl, it's all of them. Why can't I find the perfect girl?" He groaned as he stirred the remnants of his milkshake around with the pink bendy straw.

"Who is this so-called 'perfect girl' then?" Harry pursued, genuinely interested. Maybe if he knew, he could help his long-time friend find exactly what he was looking for.

"It's hard to explain, but she needs to be sporty and intellectual to a degree and funny and--"

"Chris, stop." Harry cut him off, sitting forward and clasping his hands together on the table. He could have laughed if Chris wasn't his friend. Honestly, he was too much sometimes. A sweet kid, but locked on tunnel vision to the point where his chance of ever finding the one was narrowed down to near impossible.

He would need a miracle to find her.

"What?"

"You're ridiculous. You're never going to find someone who checks all your boxes. You're going to find someone who you're willing to compromise for, but you're not going to find that person if you just discount them without giving them a fair chance."

"I don't want to compromise."

Harry laughed, shaking his head at his stubbornness. "Alright, suit yourself, but don't come crying to me when you end up a sixty-year-old virgin with no wife or kids."

"I'm not a virgin, Harry, for God's sake."

"If you say so."

-

-

"I love it," Adela whispered to Alice as they followed the agent out of the apartment. It had pasted an optimistic smile across her face, one that she prayed would last.

It was cosy, but modern and she most definitely could see herself living here for many years to come. It was within walking distance to stores, which was good for her since driving wasn't something she had ever enjoyed doing. Alice had to drive her in her own car because she hated the busy London traffic and the stress it caused.

"I thought you would. I love it too," Alice whispered back. "There's so much of you here."

"How am I going to tell mum I found the one and that I'm moving out again already?" Adela instantly worried, but she wouldn't let that taint the experience.

"You're just gonna have to. Like it won't be enjoyable, but you'll feel great once you've said it." Alice knew before they'd even looked at new places for her to live that this is what Adela would worry about.

Her mum was always something she worried about because she valued her opinion immensely. Perhaps the only time she had gone against it was when she continued to date Simon against her mother's advise.

At first, her mum did like him. He was sweet and kind and always looked after Adela, but slowly he retracted that want to care as their comfort grew. Before either of them realised it, she was living for him and he was doing what he wanted to. Alice knew Adela's mother would have jumped with joy when she found out they'd broken up.

"I guess so," Adela murmured. She knew that Alice was right, just like usual, but there was still such a large part of her that wanted to keep it from her mum until it was too late to back out and her mum couldn't tell her no. She was an adult now. Her mum had such little authority, but, emotionally, the authority remained in the shape of guilt. "It's just going to be difficult. You know how she is."

"Yeah, but she also loves you. She won't be mad, she'll be happy that you're striking out on your own instead."

"Instead of following Simon like a lost puppy, you mean," Adela grumbled, not looking at her friend.

"Yeah, instead of that." Alice shifted her bag on her shoulder. "Right, next on the list is finding you a new, better job than that smelly old bookstore."

"It's not smelly. Besides, it's a family owned thing, I feel bad quitting."

They paused mid-conversation to thank and say goodbye to the agent, telling her that she would call when she made up her mind. In reality, she was going to call as soon as she got home.

"You shouldn't feel bad quitting. Your mum still works there. She'll just have to employ someone else and I'm sure she won't struggle to find some uni student to fill your place."

"You're right," Adela admit. "I'll talk to her about it tonight."

"You better had, or I'll just blurt it out and drop you in it instead."

"I'll definitely tell her tonight."

-

-

It had been a few days since he'd tried to call Adela, but chickened out of talking to her once he got sent to answer phone the first time. When she'd tried to call him, he couldn't physically bring himself to answer because he knew what she was going to tell him was far from good.

Work rolled around quick.

As much as he wanted to stay home, he had a commitment. So, he pulled himself out of whatever form of self-pity he was in, managed to tie his tie into a somewhat presentable format, and left for work.

Although he arrived late, only Catherine was in their shared office already. He didn't want to ask where Cal and Josh were, but he was told anyway.

"They went out again last night and will probably be in late again. Just relax and do whatever you feel like because Cal won't be checking up on it anytime soon," She told him, her chin resting on her palm as she looked at him from her desk.

Hi eyes flickered to the clock and then back to her. "Won't they get into trouble if they're late?" He asked, cringing at his own question immediately.

"Of course not. Cal can get away with anything and they would find it very difficult to replace Josh, so no. Besides, friends of Cal get away with murder in this office, trust me." When Simon raised his eyebrows at her, she laughed wonderfully and blushed, which he didn't think she was even capable of doing. "When I say 'trust me' I don't mean I've murdered someone, I mean I've been late my fair share of times but gotten away from it because of Cal."

"I know a figure of speech when I hear one. Used to work in a bookstore and trust me they didn't get a whole lot of customers. Bad wifi, so reading was the only thing to do to pass the time when my girlf- when my co-worker wasn't there."

"It's ok, Cal told us about Adela." She brushed her hair behind her shoulders, her smoky eyes never leaving his. They were devastating.

"He did?"

"Yeah, which was, of course, wrong of him, but his moral compass has been fucked since the day he was born. If it counts for anything, I think breaks are a good thing sometimes. It will really show you who is really invested and who isn't."

"And, is that from experience?" He dared to ask. If she knew his business, he sure as hell wanted to know hers. It was only fair, right?

She seemed to stiffen with his question, sitting up straight and dropping her eyes to the floor. He instantly regretted asking, feeling as if he'd overstepped the line.

But, Catherine answered in her own time.

"It is from experience, a regretful experience. I'll just say that we're a lot more alike than I first thought, Simon, and leave it at that." Her eyes turned back to her computer screen, but her fingers did not move across the keyboard. They didn't move at all.

From where he sat, he couldn't see clearly enough to tell if she was crying, but her eyes shone in the sunlight and that was all he needed to know.

He took one last look at Catherine before logging into his computer, sifting through the emails in complete, still silence until Catherine stood and left, signalling lunch.

-

1724 words
trying a new format out in this chapter. let me know whether you prefer it this way with like three mini chapters in one from each perspective rather than one dedicated to one person. i feel like this is a lot better for me because i tend to forget about chris' side of things so this makes sure i progress his story.

anyway, let me know what you think! <3