t w e n t y t h r e e
" not everything needs
to be perfect "
-

-

Lewis and Adela were in her new apartment. It was refreshing to be somewhere new, somewhere she could call her own. Not her parents' house. Not Simon and Adela's. It was Adela's.

Currently they were attempting to assemble her book shelf. An essential for any home owned by Adela, but it turned out neither of them were adept at constructing furniture.

"No, I think it goes in there," Adela instructed, holding the manual in one hand and pointing with the other.

"That's what she said," He joked, laughing at his own immature joke. But even Adela couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Shut up and get building." She rolled her eyes at him, passing him the next piece. "This is why we became friends: building furniture, not 'that's what she said' jokes."

"Nah, but the jokes are a bonus, hm?" He said, locking eyes with her. She watched as his eyes flickered all over her face without a word. She wished he would speak, tell her what he was thinking. But, then again, maybe it was better not to know.

"Sure," She replied, a screwed smile on her lips. "But this bookshelf won't build itself."

He chuckled, turning back to fasten the shelf in. And she busied herself with scanning the instructions, even though she'd already read it twice over.

Lewis could see her doing it out of the corner of his eye and sighed at the sight. "You know, the instructions won't change the more you read them," He quipped light-heartedly.

"I want this to be perfect," She responded, but folded the instructions in two.

Lewis put down the screwdriver and stepped in front of her, gently prying the instructions from her hands. "These?" He waved the instructions for a moment before ripping them in half. "Don't need them, ok?" Adela gawked at him. "Not everything needs to be perfect down to the last nail."

"What if I want it to be?" Adela grumbled, watching the torn instructions fall to the floor. Her attention snapped to Lewis as he put his hands on her shoulders and bent his head to look her intimately right in the eyes.

"You're too hung up on what's right and wrong. Perfection ain't a human necessity. I'm not a bad boy by any shot, but you make me look like the devil with how much you care for everything to be perfect," He said, meaning every single word. "I've only known your for a short time, but it's easy to see how that obsession with the perfect is eating you up."

"I know, I know," She admit, her head dipping to stare at her feet. "But I just want this apartment to be perfect because this is a new chapter in my life and I want to start out on the right foot."

Lewis gently made her eyes meet his with a hand under her chin. He was glad they were alone or she would probably have jerked away from his touch on her soft skin. Instead, she allowed the touch and peered right at him with those striking brown eyes any good man could get lost in with the right look and whisper.

"Things don't have to be perfect to be good or to leave you with memories that will stay with you forever," He told her in complete and utter honesty.

Adela wondered if he was speaking from experience, but she couldn't think it through at all. The hot touch of his fingers at her jaw was all she could think about.

"Okay," She whispered. "You're completely right."

His hands dropped from her with another chuckle. "I know," He said, turning back to the bookshelf to finish piecing it together.

And she stood there for a moment just watching him. Watching the hands that had been touching her so gently and caringly, watching his face that was so full of life and lacking in worries. He was at peace with a whole lot more than she was and she couldn't help but wonder how he did it.

Adela rocked on her feet for a second before pacing from the room to grab the box from her car. He looked after her as she left.

-

-

After that first day they left for lunch together, it became a regular occurrence for Simon and Catherine. Part of the routine. It was a welcome company and he enjoyed learning more about Catherine.

She was one of five sisters and the middle child of that bunch. She'd never really known what she wanted to do in life, just followed where she was led. In school, she was high achieving, but a misbehaving student. Homework handed in late, but done well, constant chatter in class, snark remarks to teachers.

Catherine delighted in telling him about the time she'd been the one to initiate a food fight in the school's canteen, and never got caught for it.

It was strange to see this side of her, but he liked to hear all these stories and even had some to tell in return.

When they'd first returned from lunch together, Cal took a double take at them walking back in, laughing with each other. He frowned from his desk as he picked at his pasta.

"Where've you two been?" he'd asked, leaning back in his office chair, trying to look disinterested. "You're late."

"We're one minute late," Catherine said, rolling her eyes as she strode over to her desk. "Nothing compared to you some days, so I'd be quiet, if I were you."

"I hope this isn't becoming a regular occurrence, Simon," Cal commented as he walked past him to his desk. "Catherine seems to be a worse influence than I am."

"We just went for lunch in our lunch hour," Simon said slowly, confused to be the receiver of this bitter tone.

"Whatever," Cal grumbled, sulking like a child.

"If you wanted to join us, all you had to do was ask, Callum," Catherine mocked as she slid her slender body down into the office chair. "Not so hard just to ask, is it?"

"I don't want to intrude on your lunch dates," He replied, turning back to his computer. "Because that's what they are, isn't it? You chat shit about me always pouncing on the new guys and taking them out clubbing, turning them into me, but you're out here tryna get in his pants already."

"Oh, yeah?" Catherine laughed the question, rocking back. "Because going out for lunch together is really intimate, hm? But what would you know? You've never been on a date in your life."

Simon's head was snapping between the two after each insult was thrown. He wondered if it was all going a bit far and if he should say something, but it didn't seem like it was his place. Clearly, they had history and he wasn't about to step in, as the new guy, to diffuse something that did not involve him. This was far beyond him.

"Unbelievable!" Cal pushed his chair back, slamming his hands on the desk. "I'm going home." He looked to Simon. "If anyone asks where I've gone, tell them I wasn't feeling well due to a germ in the office."

"Okay," Simon said, not sure what else to say.

-

-

Alice and Adela sat cross legged on the floor in front of her newly assembled bookshelf going through the box of books that she has not gotten around to unpacking at her parents' house.

They'd been boxed up since she'd left Simon and a twang shot through her when she'd opened it because they smelt like him. Smelt like their home they shared and all those memories, good and bad.

If Adela had opened this box a month ago, she would've been unable to avoid crying over what she'd lost. But, as she'd opened them today she smiled. Smiled because of how far she had come since then, since the day she'd packed all these books away and cried over the boy who she thought would be her husband, the father of her children.

Instead, she took a moment to look at where she was as Alice made tea in the kitchen. The clinking of the spoon in the mug made her grin because this was her apartment. She was living alone for the first time in her life, she was starting a new job the next month after securing employment at the local publishing house. She was closer than ever with Alice after drifting from her in her years with Simon, not realising how much she had missed the girl's company.

She was still smiling when Alice came back with the mugs of tea and handed one to her. "What's got you so happy?" She asked, chuckling at the wonderful sight of her best friend's grin. "It doesn't happen to be anything to do with Lewis, does it?"

Of course, Alice thought Lewis was amazing for Adela. He'd helped her a lot in the weeks following her break up, picked her right back off the ground, dusted her off, and swept her into a whirlwind of new friendship.

"No... Yes, but also no." She lowered the mug onto the floor as she picked through the box and took out a stack of five. "I'm just... really happy, I guess."

"You have no idea how nice it is to hear that," Alice said, leaning her back onto the warm radiator. "You've done wonders since you broke up with him."

"I have, haven't I?" Somehow, the grin got even wider. "It feels good to say that I think I'm better off without him."

"You're definitely better off without him." She put her own mug down and picked out a stack. "Now, we've got more important things to discuss than stupid boys with selfish dreams. How do you want these damn books organised?"

Adela laughed and said, "By colour, of course."

-

1663 words
so there was a lot of adela in this chapter, but I think this was important because she might not be as prominent next chapter because I need to develop Chris a little more as well as Simon.