I Will Always Be By Your Side

Chapter 2: Back to work

Chloe’s POV:

The lights in the staff room never helped when you were hungover, they made everything fuzzy and slightly green. I sipped at my third coffee hoping that I would suddenly feel more alive. Abbie was positioned on the other side of the staff room, huddled in the corner. The other members of staff just smirked while we waited patiently for the meeting to start, they were used to us turning up in this type of state and most of them had turned up in worse states in the past. I knew why we could not start yet, but that did not make me any more patient. The lads had not arrived yet and we could not start any meeting without the full team here. They were always late, but I was glad that they were today. I did not want to deal with Charlie at work right now. I heard the door open and I looked over my shoulder to see Dave and Charlie walking in, looking worse than Abbie and I felt, which I didn’t think was possible. I turned to face Rob, who just tutted as the boys leaned up against the kitchen top looking as though they could vomit any minute.

‘RIGHT’ Robs voice was like a bullet. ‘The waters off so, as some of you will be relieved to hear,’ he glanced at Dave and Charlie ‘We are going to have to shut’ A sigh of excitement and relive echoed throughout the staff room ‘Whoa slow your horses, that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done!’ My face fell I hated cleaning days they were the bane of my existence the day would go by so slow and everything you had on would somehow be covered in bleach by the end of the day. Rob had been rattling off all sorts of jobs for us to do ‘And the fridge could do with a good cleaning. Oh, and the emergency exit stairs need a lick of paint.’

Abbie’s eyes shot open ‘Put me and Chloe down for that!’ she almost sounded excited. Fran looked over at me inquisitively.

‘Clo, now are you sure you are okay with painting the stairs?’ I hated it when she spoke to me with that mocking, patronising tone, as if I were incapable of doing anything. Fran was the opposite to me. She was tall, slim and blonde with hazel eyes. I tried to be civil with her but the fact that she flirted with Charlie in front of my face made it ridiculously hard. However, Fran had never been my biggest fan since I had started working at the leisure centre. I did not know at the time, but Fran had a thing for Charlie when I first started and after he asked me out on our first date, she had been horrendous towards me. It got so bad that management had to get involved. But now she just inserted herself into everything that happened between Charlie and me.

‘Yeah, that’ll be fine, but thanks for your concern hun.’ I smiled at her; I knew she hated getting called hun.

‘Right hop to’ snapped Rebeca, our self-appointed supervisor, ‘A busy bee is a happy bee’ she added, and slowly but surely, we all got up and moved out.

‘Why painting’ I whispered in Abbie’s ear as we left the staff room, because even though I was glad to be out of the horrible jobs I had no idea why she had got so excited and put us both down for this one.

‘I am not going a whole day in this place and not being able to go for a smoke.’ I was even more confused now ‘What are you on about Abs?’

‘If someone’s painting the back stairs there’s no way down to the smoking area is there?’ she tapped her head with her index finger ‘smart cookie me mate’ I could have slapped her over the head right then and there if I am being honest.

‘There is no public in divvy! We could just go for brakes out the front for f**ks sake’. The sudden realisation that she had signed us up for a pretty pointless job for an even more pointless reason showed all over her face. I could not help but laugh.

Abbie’s POV:

As we sat and half heartily painted a step each, we could hear voices approaching from the upstairs hallway. I could hear them laughing. I knew it was Dave. He had one of those distinct laughs, and I knew if he was with anyone it would most definitely be Charlie. I honestly hated him after last night. The stuff he said to Chloe was vile. Her brother used to always tell me to look after her when he wasn't around and last night had made me feel as if I had failed both of them. I had never seen her like that before, genuinely scared. She had always been the tough one out of the two of us, she was always the one to finish any fights we got ourselves into. To be honest, it was usually me that got us into those fights. But last night was different. Last night, how scared she had been terrified me and what made it worse was the fact that she just took it. She did not scream back like she usually would, she did not just walk away and pretend not to hear him, she just stood there and let him scream, shout, and say all that c**p. It really made me wonder what was going on when I was not around. She was my best friend and I always thought she would tell me if something was wrong, but after last night, I was not sure anymore. I had stood by her when she found out about him cheating on her and I had even supported her dumb decision to get back with him afterwards. I wish I had said something now.

I looked up towards the second-floor door and saw the lads whispering before I could even get Chloe’s attention. They were making their way down towards us. I didn’t want to start anything. I knew how Chloe felt about keeping work and private life separate, but there was no way I was having a repeat of last night.

‘You can f**k right off if you think your gonna come waltzing down here after last night’ Chloe’s eyes shot up from the one spot she’d been painting this whole time as soon as she saw him. I could tell she wanted to scream or cry or both all at the same time and honestly I wouldn’t blame her, but instead she just looked back down at the step as if nothing was happening.

‘Abs leave off’ I could hear Dave getting annoyed with me. I glared at him ‘No!’ He should have known that I was not in the mood for any bulls**t today, not with how I was feeling!

‘Please, Clo I’m sorry!’ I looked at Charlie trying to make his feeble apology. He tried to take another step.

‘What did I just say?’ I wanted to punch him so badly, but I knew there were cameras around.

‘Please, Abs, let me just say my piece. I know I was an a** last night’. I could not tell if he was being sincere or not.

‘I do not care we have spent an hour painting these stairs and you are not walking down them now and ruining all our hard work! And if you think you are gonna get away with not apologizing to her face, you have got another thing coming!’ It was not a lie. We had been painting for an hour. However, we had only painted one step each in all that time and I was not bothered about him ruining them at all.

‘Fine!’ he turned on his heals and left with Dave scurrying behind him. As much as I loved him, it did always worry me how much of a follower Dave could be. Sometimes I was pretty sure if one of the lads suggested cheating on me for a laugh, he would go ahead with it just because they had told him to do it. He was lovely Dave, a real teddy bear, and that was part of the attraction to him, but he was not always great at gaining or keeping my trust. Some day’s we would take 3 steps forward and by the end of the week we would have taken 6 steps back. I went back to painting my steps.

Then I heard a weird sound like a random thumping coming from somewhere. I looked up to see if anyone was upstairs. I could not see anyone. I peered round the corner to see if I could see anything on the second-floor landing. Nothing. I looked at Chloe thinking I was going mad. Then I realised just as Charlie burst through the basement door. For f**ks sake.

Chloe’s POV:

I hated dealing with stuff like this at work. It was not professional, and I did not want everyone to know all my personal business. Charlie burst through the plant room door as if he were on fire. I could already sense Abbie’s frustration.

‘Can you please just hear me out!’

You’ve heard it a million times before. Just shut it out. Don’t listen. Don’t react. Just shut him out.

‘I was an i***t last night. My anger got way out of control’ Like it did last week when I didn’t reply quickly enough to your texts ‘I was in the wrong’. He's said all of this before. He never changes, just concentrate on painting your steps ‘I’ve signed up for anger management’

‘WHAT!’ now that was new he had never actually tried to change before. But no, it was far too late for all this. I had made my mind up and this time I was sticking to it!

‘Yeah, that’s what Dave was helping me do before work’. I could see him start to smile, like he thought the second he mentioned anger management I would have forgiven him.

‘Last night was bang on Charlie! I did f**k all and the things you said to me hurt!’ I gingerly stood up so that I was facing him. He placed his hand on the wall next to me so that he could lean in towards me. I hated it when he did that. It made me feel like I could not go anywhere, that whatever happened next, I was stuck. I stepped off the steps so that I could be away from his arm. 'Like you said last night, We are done.' I could see Abbie smile proudly towards me.

‘Babe, please, I got jealous. How’s that a bad thing? Doesn’t it just prove to you that I really do care!’ I had heard all of this before. It was his go-to defence when we had fights. ‘And I went home with Dave, even though I could have gone back to any girls last night and you know that!’ Abbie scoffed.

‘And I’m supposed to give you a pat on the back for not going back and f**king some slag’ I caught Dave’s expression in the corner of my eye. He looked almost guilty, Abbie had caught it too. 'No Charlie, I'm done. I can't do all this anymore. You can go sleep with whoever you like from now on because we are no longer together.' Not that that had stopped him before.

‘It’s written all over your face Dave what the f**k happened last night?’ Abbie quizzed.

‘Nothing, for f**ks sake girls have some trust in us’

‘Oh, what, like you had with me last night?’ I snapped. This was just far too draining! He took a step closer to me and placed his hands on my neck and cupped my face.

‘Babe, honestly nothing happened! I promise this is the last time I lose it like that’ Part of me really wanted to believe him. ‘I was going crazy last night thinking that I’d really ruined everything between us!’

‘So crazy you couldn’t even be bothered to text me?’ I could feel myself getting upset but I pushed it all back down, I hated crying in front of people.

‘I did not think you would want to talk to me after everything that had happened, I thought it was best to just wait until I saw you face to face and talk about it together. I have never hurt you babe!’ I shrugged him off and put some distance between the two of us‘Just give me one more chance Clo please! Is not our relationship worth fighting for!’

I sighed ‘You are never gonna change, everything will go back to the way it was! I cannot put up with this any longer, Charlie!’ He stared at me shocked.

‘I will. I promise you babe.’ I shook my head; he walked back to the basement door, taking Dave with him. He turned just before reaching out of view ‘Love ya babes’

I looked up at Abbie. I knew she would be annoyed with me, but she just smiled sympathetically at me ‘Biff?’ I asked, knowing she would never say no.

‘Oh, go on then if you insist’ she giggled, whipping out a pack from her coat pocket. I grabbed the lighter and opened the fire exit door onto the side road. She went down the steps in seconds and passed me a cigarette. I lit mine first, then passed her the lighter. I knew it was not healthy and I had never thought it cool, but f**king hell did smoking help with stress! I kept promising myself that I would quit. One day I would.

‘You did the right thing Clo! Please do not let yourself get sucked back into it again. I cannot stand by and watch him treat you like that!’ I knew she was right; I could not put up with this any longer if my mum and dad were still around, they would have put a stop to this whole thing months ago.

‘I know’ I said sheepishly.

‘Good! Imagine if your brother were here now’ she said, grinning ‘If he was here and I’d told him all the things Charlie had said last night, that boy wouldn’t be able to walk.’ She said with a laugh. I had to smile too, my brother had always been protective, and I knew far too well that he would have thrown Charlie off a roof if he had heard anything that he had said last night.

‘Right okay then, we will finish these and then we will move on to the next step, shall we? Let’s see if we can at least get two steps done within the next hour, yeah?’ Abbie threw the end of the cigarette to the ground and came back inside.

*4 hours later*

Chloe’s POV:

Finally finished, it had taken us 4 hours in the end to finish painting those steps and the once grey sweatshirt I had been wearing was now splattered with red paint. We still had 8 more hours to go until this stupid shift was about to end. I looked up at Abbie, knowing full well that she was feeling the same as me.

‘Biff?’

‘Biff.’ I said in agreement. As we got up, I could hear people coming through the basement again. As I opened the fire exit door, Hayley, Charlie, Dave, and Fran came bustling through the plant room door.

‘Alright, girls' the stairs look amazing’, Fran smirked. Hayley looked at me up and down and laughed.

‘For F**ks sake Clo you look like you’ve got more on yourself than on the stairs.’ I looked back down at my clothes covered in generous lashings of red paint; I looked up apologetically to her ‘Can I nick a biff there been gagging for one all day.’ I handed her the pack, she helped herself. ‘You good chuck?’ She asked.

‘Yeah, just tired’ I’d always refer to Hayley as my work mum. She’d looked after me since I’d started working here 3 years ago, she’d been the nearest thing I’d had to a parent since the accident and she was as protective as both of them put together most of the time. I didn’t want her to know about the argument from last night because I know she would have kicked off on Charlie. ‘You all finished then?’

‘Yeah chick, we’re gonna grab some food then gonna go talk to Rob about what’s happening about this water and everything, I can’t be bothered with doing this for a week or so, can you?’

‘Oh, I completely agree.’ Fran butted in. I could see her fawning all over Charlie and him loving it. I honestly couldn’t stand the girl. Charlie placed one of his own cigarettes between his lips and lit it up, moving closer to the fire exit so that the smoke would go out the door and not back into the corridor. ‘I’ve always found boys who smoke to be way hot’. I stared at Abbie while I bit my tongue. She just looked back at me with that knowing look that just screamed Why is she here? ‘But I’ve never tried it. I don’t know, I just feel like when girls smoke it can look quite chavy, you know?’

Hayley turned to face her ‘Fran mate, look at who you’re talking to and choose your words a little bit more carefully next time, yeah.’

Fran just giggled ‘I obvy didn’t mean you guys.’

Charlie looked over to me and winked ‘Well I think it's sexy’. He smirked, blowing the smoke out the door, Fran looked devastated by the comment and just went quiet.

‘Well, I don’t like it one bit’ Dave blurted out. ‘I think it is disgusting’ I sighed.

‘Honestly, I just wanted a Biff, not a PHSE lesson on the pros and Cons of smoking. If you don’t like it, go back up to the staff room. We’re almost done here.’ I was sick of this day; I could not be bothered with dealing with another lecture or another argument today.

Just as all this was going on, Hayley’s phone started to ring. She looked at the number and shushed us. ‘Hayley speaking… Yeah… I am yes… How many? I can do that… can they bring dates?... Yes… Got it… Do not worry… Will do… See you tomorrow then.’ She hung up and we all looked at her in anticipation as she went to take another drag from the cigarette in her hand.

‘Who was it’ Abbie spat out in a panic.

Hayley grinned ‘It may or may not have been the manor.’

The manor was home to the wealthiest family in the village, they always hosted these elaborate dinners and parties and whenever they needed extra security, they called Hayley, as she used to work security in some of the bars and clubs in her hometown and set up a private security firm for hire when she moved down here. Half of the guys at work worked for her as a second job, and one of the major benefits of them being asked to help was that they got to bring dates, as long as there were not any distractions and they concentrated on the job they were meant to be doing. We have had some of the best nights at the manor. It was not like our normal nights out. We got to wear fancy dresses, drink free cocktails, and eat some amazing food, it beat our sophisticated cheap shots and kebab nights out by a mile.

Abbie and I had gone to school with the eldest brother and we had been quite good friends, but we only really got to hang out with him when we got to go as dates to the Manor’s parties. We had never been welcomed into his house, even though our parents had been friends and we had known each other for years, they always seemed to look at us as though we were something to worry about.

‘Don’t tease!’ Abbie yelled. I could see the excitement on her face.

‘They need 6 more security details for some event tomorrow evening.’ I could see her smiling as she dragged out the suspense.

‘Oh, come on Hayley, just ask us please! We have not worked there in ages and, honestly, I could do with the extra money’, Dave pleaded,

‘Yeah, please Hayley, who better to ask than your two favourite boys?’ Charlie smirked.

Hayley scoffed at the comment and looked at both, pleading like small kids who wanted a chocolate bar from the shop. She sighed ‘Fine!’

Abbie and I looked at each other in excitement ‘And did I hear something about the possibility of a plus one?’ Abbie said, ecstatic at the idea of a night of free drinks and pretty dresses.

Hayley just smiled at the pair of us ‘Yes they can bring dates but it’s up to them who they bring’. With that she left, going up the stairs and leaving a fait shoe print in the fresh paint in the middle of two steps.

Abbie spun round to look at Dave. ‘Don’t even think of taking someone that isn’t me!’ she warned, glaring at him.

‘Who on earth would I take that could compare to you?’ he said with a grin.

I looked at Charlie, unsure about what to do. I wanted to go, but the idea of being Charlie's date after we had just split made me feel uncomfortable, but before either of us could say a word, Fran butted in ‘So Charlie, would you consider bringing a friend?’

Charlie smiled at her and then looked back at me ‘I think I will stick with Chloe for now. If that is alright with you mate.’ He laughed and I just nodded, not fully sure if this was the best idea, but I was desperate to go!

Charlie threw the end of his cigarette out on to the floor, gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked off though the plant room door closely followed by Dave and Fran. I looked over at Abbie, who I could tell was thinking the exact same thing. Was this really the best idea? Should I just cancel?