Chapter Chapter Three

I floated through work the next day, eager to get home to Zeke’s call. My office mate Damien looked up at me just before home time and chuckled.

“What?” I asked him. I was so lucky to share an office with Damien, he was the loveliest guy who had a knack for pulling me out of any shitty mood. He rocked a huge dark beard and I don’t think I had ever seen him without his trademark Rockstar hat.

“Why are you so happy?” He asked me, cocking an eyebrow up.

“No reason."

“Bullshit,” Damien laughed and I just threw him a side eye. “Tell me, what's got into you?” I sighed way over the top before I spoke.

“I met someone".

"No way!” Damien shouted as I threw my head back. “Fucking hell Sash about time. Where did you meet him?”.

“Online call of duty," I whispered.

“Fuck off, like literally perfect. Does he know you're a girl?”

“A girl? Damien I’m twenty eight but yes he knows I’m a woman”. I was going to add now but thought better of it.

“Where does he live?” Damien asked me, packing up his bag.

“Manchester, so I don’t really know how it's going to work." I shrugged knowing I was getting ahead of myself. Damien stroked his beard looking around the room.

“Hmm it's not that far though, like a different country. You’ve seen him right? He isn’t cat fishing you?” I laughed while turning off my computer.

“No, I've seen him, we video called last night".

“Oh!” Damien cackled as we walked out of our office to the tube station. “I’m happy for you but be careful of this whole online shit."

“I know you're right, he seems nice.” I was grinning like an idiot and Damien pushed me with his shoulder.

“You deserve it Sash, believe it or not you can’t play video games for the rest of your life.”

"I could." I laughed as we waved goodbye, Damien got on a different platform as I quickly walked to mine, my train was approaching and I pushed myself in as it arrived. I felt my phone ding in my pocket and my smile came back. I managed to pull it out of my pocket with three bodies close to me and opened the message from Zeke.

Z: ‘Hope you had a good day. Will you be free in an hour?’ I beamed down at my phone.

S: ‘Yeah on my way home now.’

It would mean I probably wouldn’t be able to have dinner but I actually didn’t care. As I got off the train and ran up the stairs my phone went off again, this time a phone call. I pulled it out, puzzled and then my smile dropped. My sister.

“Hey Liv" I breathed out as I walked out the station.

“Sasha, you forget your sister and your nieces and nephews?” She was laughing but I knew it wasn’t a joke.

“No of course not, I'm manic at work sorry". I wasn’t sorry, my sister was the complete opposite of me and even spending the tiniest time with her extrovert self made my social battery die in minutes.

“I have some news". I rolled my eyes as I crossed the road to my street.

“Oh really? You're pregnant?” I smirked while getting my keys out of my bag. I heard Liv groan and I knew I was right.

“Way to ruin the surprise,” she sounded irritated and I slammed my door shut.

“Sorry!” Again I wasn’t sorry. Liv and her husband Andrew definitely needed a TV in their house, this was baby number five. “That’s fantastic news Liv, I’m so happy for you and Drew".

“Thank you. I haven’t told mum yet so keep your mouth shut". I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. I barely spoke to my mum so that wouldn't be an issue. I was walking to my bedroom, drink in one hand, desperate for Liv to get off the phone. “You'll come to mums soon?” She sounded desperate and I felt a pang of guilt.

“Yeah I will, I'll let you know when." I muttered getting into bed.

“Great, I need to do the kids dinner so I’ll speak to you later".

“Okay bye" I said, trying not to sound too relieved. I rolled on my side waiting for my phone to ring. I had been looking forward to this all day, even wearing my favourite bra for the occasion. I felt a little silly when I thought about it deeper but talking to Zeke made me happy so that's the bottom line no? I did a little jump when my phone went off and I saw his name. I pressed the green button, my smile not fading as he came into focus. I audibly gasped as I saw him, he was wearing a dark grey suit and had perched his phone somewhere in his kitchen and he was doing something in the room.

“Hey," Zeke said, turning around to me.

“You look nice,” I giggled and he came closer.

“You like my suit, yeah?” I nodded a little too enthusiastically. "Sorry I’m done here now." Zeke said, taking off his suit jacket. I actually moaned when I saw his white shirt stuck to his muscles. “Who’s the perv now Sasha calm down," he cracked up, picking up his phone and walking out of his kitchen.

“Shut up." I managed to say, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. I watched him intently as he took off the rest of his suit and dropped to his boxers, luckily he wasn’t looking at me and I covered my mouth from the groan that wanted to escape, if I looked hard enough which I certainly did I could see the outline of his dick under his black boxers. Zeke grinned at me, grabbing his phone to his face as he got into his bed.

“Sorry, I should have called you now but I told you an hour." He looked shy all of a sudden and I smiled.

“It's fine, don't be silly". I got comfortable and managed to set my phone up on one of my eight thousand pillows, moving lower to see him.

“Did you have a good day? You look nice by the way". Zeke's voice was low as he looked closer into the screen.

“I did and thank you, what about you?”

“Boring, I couldn’t wait to talk to you.” I grinned looking down, that makes two of us. I had thought about this conversation all day.

“Me too," I breathed out my eyes still on my duvet.

“Thank god you said that." Zeke laughed and I looked up at him on my screen. “Talk to me about yourself. You have siblings?” Zeke asked and I scoffed, his eyebrows going up.

“Yeah, sister Liv. She’s older."

“Why the scoff?”

“I just spoke to her before you called, actually, she announced her pregnancy."

“No way, that’s brilliant." Zeke’s voice got higher and I smiled. I was happy for my sister hundred percent but it was just a reminder to my mum that I wasn’t achieving what Liv was.

“Yeah it is, it's her fifth baby."

“Shit that’s a lot of babies". I threw my head back laughing at Zeke’s response as he grinned at me.

“Yeah a lot of babies for sure,"

“What about your mum?” His eyebrow raised. I had to stop myself from groaning and just sighed instead.

“Me and my mum clash." I muttered out.

“Why's that?”

“We just don’t get along, it's a long story". I mumbled.

“But why though? How can you not get along with your mum? That's weird. What about your dad?" I completely froze, wanting this conversation to end.

“He died a few years ago," I shrugged.

“Oh shit sorry Sasha, how did he die?” I rolled my eyes and Zeke picked up on it straight away. “Sorry none of my business. I'll shut up."

“It’s fine," I said flatly. I suddenly didn’t want this conversation at all and sat up. “I’m going to go."

“What the fuck?” Zeke said sitting up. “I said sorry we can talk about something else.”

“I just need to eat and then go to bed. I'm tired, sorry".

“Sash what’s wrong? I" I cut Zeke off by hanging up on him, throwing my phone to the side. I bit my bottom lip as I felt my hot tears down my cheeks. My parents, especially my dad, wasn't something I talked about and I certainly did not appreciate someone pushing me on it. It never went well. Liv and I have had countless arguments because of the same thing. She wanted me to open up and start some bullshit healing process and I wasn’t ready for that. I managed my life just fine. I didn’t need to talk about shit. I grabbed my phone as it rang again, an audio call from Zeke. I watched it as it rang, hoping he would get the hint. He clearly didn’t as moments after it stopped ringing he texted me.

Z: ‘I’m not sure what I’ve done but let me fix it please’

Before I could even attempt to reply he messaged again.

Z: ‘PlayStation?’

I smiled at his text, it really wasn’t his fault and I felt slight guilt in my stomach. I got out of bed and into the kitchen. I quickly made myself a sandwich and ate half of it as my playstation loaded. A message popped up immediately.

Zeke236: ‘I’m sorry I told you I don’t have a filter.’

MaskedS: ‘It’s fine’

That’s all I could stomach to respond and I clicked join when Zeke invited me into our game. Before our avatars even loaded I heard his voice through my headphones next to me. I threw them on as he was calling me. “Sash?” My heart jumped at his words and I suddenly felt a million times better.

“I’m here," I whispered.

“What’s our plan of attack?” Zeke asked me and I grinned. He was dropping it and pretending it didn’t even happen, which was perfect for me.