Page 17 of Only Ever You

Ellie went quiet, and Faye was about to ask if she was still there when?—

“You really care about him, don’t you?” El’s voice softened.

Faye swallowed. “I care about all of my friends.”

“All of your hot male friends.”

Ah, right back to usual then.

Faye took a deep, centering breath. “I never said that Bash is hot,” she argued, toying with the drawstring of her pyjama bottoms.

“But your eyes do every time I see you in a room together.” The smirk in El’s voice couldn’t have been more obvious.

“Oh shush.” A pillow on her bed was good to shove in place of El’s arm.

Her step-sister laughed. “He’s the most attractive guy that you know. You can admit it.”

“You have a husband, El, why are you noticing the attractiveness of other guys?” Turning the conversation around was Faye’s best tactic for moving past this conversation.

“I can buy one cake and still admire the others on the shelf too, but I’m still going to only eat the one that I bought.”

Her eyes rolled. “Please stop insinuating you’re eating Scott.”

“Well when he comes home from leg day, his glute pump is rather juicy?—”

Faye’s fingers went straight in her ears as she sing-songed, “I’m not listening to you.”

“Faye! Fine, I’ll stop.” Ellie paused for a fleeting, hope-filled moment. “Only if you accept you’re attracted to Bash.”

Would this merry-go-round ever end?

“No.”

“Scott gets this really tight and juicy?—”

“Fine! God,stop.” Faye didn’t realise how much she’dscrunched up the pillow between her fingers. She released it and sat down on her sherpa-covered bed instead with a sigh.

She’d never said this out loud before, but Ellie wouldn’t let whether she wanted to sleep with her best friendgo, otherwise. Not easily, anyway.

“I was attracted to Bashonce, when we first met. But you know he dated Kiera all through that year and I wasn’t going to be that girl who tried to break up a perfectly happy relationship. So now we’re just friends.”Unfortunately.“Is Bash still attractive? Holy cow, yes.”Fortunately.“Am I going to ask him out? Definitely not.”

Denial was a river and Faye was in a one-woman canoe paddling upon it.

She’d tried to get over him. She really had. It’d just never quite worked out – though she couldn’t admit that to anybody.Ever. Any man she’d dated ever since Bash rooted himself into her life, she’d just shamefully strung along … Because Bash could never be hers, could he?

“We’re just friends,” she said. “We’ve only ever been friends.”

“Why though?” Ellie asked. “He’s single right?”

“He … dates?” Faye winced at the uncertainty of her own tone. Outside in her kitchen, the boiling kettle clicked off.

“Dates? You don’t sound confident.”

Bash’s love life was a bit of a mystery. Like Pandora’s box, Faye wanted to know what was inside, but for the sake of her own sanity she kept that lid firmly shut. Only accepting details if Bash offered them of his own accord. Otherwise, she stayed well away. Why taunt herself with that knowledge? Bash was herfriend, not hers to cherish.

“Well, he seems to have a lot of … fleeting encounters.” It was the best way to describe the sort-of hookups, sort-of short term romantic trysts that Bash had.

“Fleeting encounters of the bedroom kind?” That smirk-filled voice again trailed down the phone.

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