Page 56 of The Fallback

‘Well maybe you shouldn’t have brought it up then?’ Mitch shouted back.

A noise in the corridor behind Rosie startled them both. Mitch peered around her.

‘Is someone here?’ he asked. ‘Did you spend the night with someone?’ Mitch’s tone switched completely from anger to interest.

‘What?’ Rosie said, that queasy feeling rising up inside her again. ‘No, don’t be silly, it’s just…’ but her voice tailed off. There was a reason she didn't want Mitch in her flat, there was a reason she was reluctant to let him in, and Rosie was fairly sure that the reason was still fast asleep on her sofa, or had been, but was now probably wide awake and listening to every word. Something bad was about to happen, something that no amount of explanation would smooth over. And there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop the disaster that was just this moment making its way down the corridor towards them.

‘Morning, Mitch!’ Ben said with a swagger as he stepped out from behind Rosie and put his arm playfully around her neck. Rosie closed her eyes and shuddered.

Mitch said nothing, just stared at Ben with his mouth wide open. Ben looked from Rosie whose gaze was now fixed on the ground, a blush creeping up her neck and into her cheeks, to Mitch who continued to stare speechlessly.

‘Right,’ Ben said confidently. ‘Well, it sounds like you two are having an interesting discussion. Don't let me interrupt. I’ll leave you to it.’ He dipped his head to kiss Rosie on the cheek but she flinched and moved away.

‘OK, well I’ll see you soon,’ he said, moving past her and out into the corridor. ‘Mitch.’ He nodded and walked off. Rosie and Mitch both watched him go.

There was a long silence.

’You spent the night with him?’ Mitch eventually said in a strangled voice. ‘You spent the night with Ben?What were you thinking?’

Rosie said nothing and went back to staring at the ground.

‘Seriously Rosie, I don’t get it? You hate Ben, you’ve always hated Ben.’

Rosie continued to stand in silence. She could have told Mitch that it was because she was drunk, because she was lonely, because Mitch had Jenny, because Rosie was running away from the drama she had created and Ben was a useful decoy, because she had wanted to annoy Mitch and this seemed like the best way to do that? None of those excuses seemed like they would help defuse the tension. They all sounded so stupid in the clear light of day, stood in her hallway in her dressing gown, with a hangover. Mitch was right, what had she been thinking?

Rosie shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Mitch, it just sort of happened.’

‘I can’t believe you,’ Mitch said angrily. ‘You lecture me on inappropriate relationships, telling me how Jenny isn’t right for me, that she’s too young, and all the while you’re sleeping with Ben!’

‘We’re not sleeping together,’ Rosie said weakly, wishing she had the strength to explain. Mitch had seen what he had seen and was going to read whatever he wanted into it and she was going to allow him to because she couldn’t face telling him the truth.

‘Whatever Rosie,’ he said scornfully. ‘I’m not interested. Whatever you want to do, that’s your business. I really don’t understand you anymore. The Rosie I know wouldn’t have slept with Ben and she certainly wouldn’t have set out to sabotage my relationship.’ He glared at her and took a deep breath. ‘Look, I am sorry that things didn’t work out with Graham, I know you were disappointed. But please don’t think that means you can ruin things for me, OK?’

Rosie had never seen him look at her like that before; he had such scorn and distaste in his eyes. He turned around and started walking back down the corridor.

‘Mitch, wait,’ she called. ‘Where are you going?’

Without turning around, he shouted, ‘To try and make it up to Jenny, if she will listen.’

‘I’m sorry, OK?’ Rosie called, desperate for him not to leave on this note.

Mitch turned to look at her one last time, ‘No, you’re not. For some reason you want to split me and Jenny up, and until you tell me why, I’d rather you just stay away from me.’

Rosie thought of running after him, trying to get him to stay and talk but she didn’t have the energy. She watched him walk away without turning back, then she closed her front door, slid down the inside of it and sobbed.

ChapterSeventeen

By the time Rosie dragged herself to work on Monday morning she had cried herself out. Her eyes were swollen and red and she had a constant headache from dehydration. She had spent the weekend calling and texting Mitch, who never replied, and avoiding calls from Ben. Every time his name flashed up, she shuddered.

Rosie was grateful that she had a day planned in the lab on Monday. Rachel had made it quite clear that she wanted to see some results on the BioChem project soon and Rosie had put her off but she knew she could only do that for so long. Rachel was not the sort of person to take heartbreak as a legitimate excuse. Rosie thought it might be touch and go as to whether Rachel would take heartfailureas a legitimate excuse.

Once Rosie had her lab coat and safety goggles on, perhaps no one would notice she had been crying and she might even manage to go the whole day without speaking to anyone. The only person she wanted to speak to was Mitch. Every time she replayed Saturday morning, she felt sick. She had never seen him so angry, especially not with her. Of course they had had fights over the years, but the fights were about whose turn it was to do the washing up, or which one of them had forgotten to book a restaurant table. Not about ruining each other’s relationships.

Rosie tried to make herself smile when she recalled one of those more recent fights. Mitch had had a promotion at work and wanted to go out to celebrate. He had booked them a table at a restaurant he had been going on about for weeks; it had been described as London’s culinary event of the year and had a waitlist of months. But Mitch being Mitch, he had managed to get them a booking, or he thought he had.

THEN

Mitch looked down at his phone in confusion. The hostess looked like she was about to lose her patience with him which was an unusual situation for Mitch to find himself in.

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