t h i r t y s i x
" golden smile "
-

-

Alice sipped on her coffee tentatively. Freshly brewed and ready for a gossip session after not being around each other for too long. Adela had missed her a lot, even though she'd found herself some new company.

"So," Alice said, setting down the mug on the table and leaning back into the old sofa, "what's the deal then?"

"With me and Lewis?" Adela's rings tapped against the china mug's worn pattern.

"Yes!" Alice exclaimed. "I need to know everything. You two sure looked cosy when I walked in on you like three days ago. Wish we could've had this catch up sooner because I've been dying to know the details, but you've been a little busy with work since the New Year."

"New job, new demands," Adela replied. "So, after we kissed under the mistletoe you craftily stuck above my door, he took me out for a date and it went really well."

"More importantly, did he like the dress?" Alice's eyebrow cocked up cheekily.

"You were right," Adela mumbled, staring down into her coffee with burning cheeks and a grin on her glossed lips. "I mean, I didn't intend to have sex with him this early on, but it just kinda happened after a deep conversation where some... worries were cleared up."

When she looked up from the swirling brown coffee, Alice was beaming from ear to ear.

"I'm so proud of you!" She punched Adela's arm gently, congratulating her in sorts. "Does this mean he could be your Mr. Right?"

"It's a little early to know just yet, but I hope so. He's actually been spending a lot of time here recently too."

"Spending time here or in your bed?"

"Shut up." Adela's cheeks flamed once more. "He's not using me for sex. We go for lunch together, I sometimes go with him on dog walks, and we actually cooked dinner together the other night. He's a nice guy."

"I know, I just wanted to hear you gush about him a little more," Alice admit. "So, when's he gonna ask you to be his girlfriend, then? Or is this just a friends with benefits type of thing?"

"Maybe soon," Adela responded. Honestly, she'd been wondering the same thing. "Because this definitely isn't just friends with benefits. If it is, I've got more strings than a puppet."

"You really like him, huh?"

"I like him a lot." She grinned a golden smile, brighter than the mother sun.

-

-

Simon was dripping with sweat when Cal clapped a hand on his shoulder and toothily smiled at him, a drip of sweat running down his nose.

"Thanks for suggesting this, even if it did take a little more persuasion. It's been fun," He admit, though Simon could see he didn't want to admit he was wrong.

It had taken a few weeks of subtle hints, blatant digs and borderline begs for Cal to agree to join him at football practice. They'd even dragged Josh along, prying him away from his phone long enough to kick a ball around for a few hours.

Their first session had been a little more intense than Simon anticipated it being and he was worried it was going to scare them away, but both of them seemed to already be gelling with the rest of the team, sharing jokes about how unfit they both were.

"Better than going out, right?" Simon joked; Cal almost spat out the water he was guzzling, splashes escaping from the corners of his mouth and running down his neck. 

He gave Simon a serious look. "No," He said. "Not at all, but a close second, I guess." He took another long drink and then just stood and looked at Simon and Josh for a moment, an odd moment. But Cal was an odd guy and it was difficult to question such consistent madness. "Boys, how about we go back to mine and ruin this training with a couple of beers?"

"Yes," Josh said without hesitation. Simon didn't even think it had been a heartbeat. "We've known each other for three years and this is the first time you've ever invited me to your apartment."

"Sure," Simon responded when both men turned to him for an answer. "I've got nowhere better to be."

"No dates to go on?" Cal asked, raised brows.

"No dates," Simon said, holding up his hands. "Not for a while now. I don't need a girlfriend in my life right now."

"That, my friend, is the only good thing Catherine ever did for you." He swung his arms over Josh and Simon's shoulders, leading them away from the rest of the team. "What a catty bastard she was, huh?"

Simon laughed and shook his head, choosing not to respond to the comment.

"History has a way of repeating itself and what she did to you is exactly what she did to me," Cal explained, staring right ahead as they approached Simon's car. He'd driven them all there after work because Cal didn't want to waste his own money on fuel when Simon was driving there anyway. Josh just tagged along. 

"What?" His brow furrowed. He'd always known there had been some kind of unspoken history between his ex-girlfriend and co-worker, but no more had been said and Simon was left to read between the lines. 

Finally, the words were clear. No longer a smudge of ink on the page, blurred. 

"She's insecure, I guess," Cal said with a shrug. "Always worried about other girls, not about the way you are with her."

"How long were you two together?" Simon asked as he pulled his car keys out, unlocking the car. 

"For the longest year of my life," Cal muttered, complaint in his voice as he got in the passenger seat, not even blinking at Josh's claim t shotgun. "Anyway, gimme your phone so I can put in my postcode."

"Alright."

-

-

It'd been a total of a month since Cora realised she liked Chris a lot more than she'd bargained for. January was fading into February and Cora still couldn't shake the feeling from her shoulders. She had been the sole warmer of her bed for the longest time; she couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd been alone. 

Regulars still came to the bar, flirted with her like she owed it to them to have sex. 

A couple of months ago, she would've basked in it, but that was before she ran face-first into a brick wall. 

"Hey." A sweet looking girl with hair just above her shoulders and a handsome, tanned man attached to her side, who clearly couldn't keep his hands off her, stood at the bar. "Two gin and tonics, please."

Cora locked herself in gear and plastered a smile onto her lips as she poured out their drinks, charged them the cost and shoved the money into the register, watching them slip away to the seating, the man leaning down, brushing the hair from the woman's ear and whispering gently to her. 

Cora wondered what he was saying, but the moment was too personal and she felt weird for watching them for as long as she had. Instead, Cora busied herself with going around the bar with a tray and collecting all the empty, discarded glasses. 

Rhythmically, she whisked herself around the bar. Between tables and chairs and drunken idiots who'd already drunk too much too early. Pick up a glass and put it in the tray, ignore drunks trying to talk to her, ignore Chris walking into the bar, ignore the girl on his arm, pick up another glass, pick up discarded straws and try not to get caught staring.

With a sigh, she took the empty glasses back behind the bar and began to clean them at the sink.

Rosa's hand clamped down on her shoulder, her chin resting on the other shoulder. "What're you doing? You never clean the glasses." She said, her cheeks fittingly rosy.

Cora let out a low laugh, keeping her eyes on the glass as she shoved the sponge into it. "Yes, I do."

"No," Rosa deadpanned. "You usually just make either me or whoever the other unfortunate soul is on shift do it."

"I just felt like it, okay?" She replied shortly. "Get back to work. You might be my friend but I can still fire you for slacking off."

Rosa rolled her eyes and kissed Cora's cheek mockingly wetly, leaving her to wipe it off with the tea towel as she turned back to serve another customer.

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