Page 34 of Someone Like You

“You like him, eh?”

As a response, Kibble skimmed her nose against Phil’s elbows, over and over again, typical behaviour of a cat claiming its territory.

Ian shook his head. “We can’t keep him, Kibbs.”

Kibble’s chest vibrated with a trill.

“Because he already has a home and a family.”

Another trill, this time accompanied by a whip of tail.

“I know, but there’s nothing we can do.”

Fed up with his objections, Kibble laid her head down, putting an end to the discussion.

There was nothing Ian could do at this point other than accept the situation. He fetched a blanket from his room and draped it over Phil, then, knowing how cold his flat was at night, fetched another one for good measure. After turning off the TV and pulling the blinds closed to shut out the lights of the street, there was only one thing left to do. He went to the kitchen and closed the door behind himself, phone in hand. The name sat at the very top of his contact list, as easy to find as it was hard to call. He didn’t have much of a choice.

The line rang a few times, then a delicate voice said:“Ian?”

“Hey. It’s about Phil.”

“What’s wrong?”As expected, Abigail sounded worried.

Ian immediately reassured her: “Nothin’ serious, I promise. He had a panic attack.”

“Oh god!”

“He’s alright. He got it under control.”

There was music and noise disturbing the other end of the line. Abigail told someone she’d be right back and seconds later the disturbance ceased, replaced by the muffled whoosh of a car speeding by.

“It hadn’t happened in a while,”she sighed. Ian imagined her running a hand through her dark hair, throwing her head back to stare at the sky.“I’m glad he was with you.”

“I wanted to drive him home,” Ian cut short, his dirty conscience far from comfortable with Abigail being grateful of him and Phil being together. “But, uh… He’s knocked out cold on the couch.”

Silence fell. Another car sped by Abigail.

“Would it be a problem,”she said,“if we just… let him sleep?”A brief hesitation.“I don’t want to inconvenience you, but he never falls asleep without his pills and—”

“No, I agree,” Ian interjected. “He looks so peaceful, it’d be a shame to disturb him.”

“Peaceful,”Abigail repeated.

“Like a baby.”

A shaky laugh ticked Ian’s ear, followed by a sniff.“Thank you, Ian.”

“For what?”

“Being there for him. I thought he needed a friend, but it wasn’t just any friend he needed.”Ian sensed a smile through the fleeting pause.“It was someone like you.”

Ian didn’t know what that was supposed to mean.

“I’m as much of a pain in the arse to him as he is to me,” he played it down, but Abigail wouldn’t have any of it.

“That’s why he likes you. You’re a good man.”

Somehow the compliment managed to make Ian feel even worse. He didn’t feel like a good man. He felt like a backstabber who coveted things that he shouldn’t have set his eye on in the first place. It’d been an accident, a miscalculation, like the very day he and Phil had met.

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