Page 31 of Catch Me

I grin back at him. “You barged intomyroom,” I waft a casual hand through the air, apathetic about his concerns. “Anyway, Sean won’t find out.”

“Don’t take advantage of her, she’s younger than us and she’s had a massive crush on you for ages.”

I grin wider now. “You know, you’re not the first person to tell me that.”

Kyle grabs a cushion from the ground and throws it at my head. “I mean it.”

“Look Ky, this thing has gone way past a crush now, so feel free to mind your own business.” I stand up, my dick moving with me and Kyle grimaces, covering his eyes.

“Don’t break her heart please, for all of our sakes.”

“I wouldn’t,” I stop in the doorway to my bathroom and Kyle uncovers his eyes at my serious tone. “I love her.”

Kyle titters a laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah, sure you do, you fucking simp.” He leaves my bedroom, still shaking his head with a laugh and closing my door softly behind him.

I whip my phone off it’s charging cord and close the bathroom door.

Nick:

‘Kyle knows.’

Lois:

‘What? How?’

Nick:

‘I have no idea how he worked it out, what with your excellent acting skills out there.’

Lois:

‘Ha. Ha. So that’s Molly and Kyle that know now, we need to be more careful.’

Nick:

‘We will, don’t stress about it today, you need to focus on your routines.’

Lois:

‘I’ll try not to but it’s hard Nick, if Sean finds out we’re dead and buried. What time will you be free tonight? You wanna come over to mine where we don’t have to sneak around as much?’

My face lights up, she wants to see me again already and she only left about five minutes ago. If I’d have known this is how good love is I’d have tried even harder to find her, my girl.

Nick:

‘I’ll come over tonight, be there about 7.’

I consider telling her about my plans today, but I decide it’s too risky. I know there’s a chance I’ll get all the way there, see those towering grey walls, the barbed wire, the metal detectors and that I’ll chicken out.

I’ve decided to go and visit my dad. I have no fucking idea how it’s going to be seeing him after all these years but I have to try, for my sake and for my mum’s. I know it would mean the world to her if we could reconcile and maybe, just maybe, if he gifts me a heartfelt, meaningful apology for what he did, then I can start to heal from it. But that’s me hoping for a miracle. If the man is anything like he always has been, he’ll just gaslight me the second he opens his mouth. But I have to try, for my sanity, so I can say I did everything I could.

The smell is something you could never forget. The heavy stench of authority hangs in the air the moment the automatic doors slide open. The man in a blue uniform waves me forward towards the large metal detector, signalling for me to walk through it. He doesn’t say a word to me, only nods once I'm cleared and through without a signal that I have anything prohibited on me. This isn’t new to me, we used to visit dad's brother in prison pretty often when I was younger. But this time it feels different, the throbbing dread that nestles into the pit of my stomach is making me queazy when I sit down in the waiting area. My fingers are twiddling nervously, leg bobbing constantly and for a split second I feel the bile rise up in the back of mythroat. But before I can litter my breakfast all over the squeaky lino floor, someone calls my name. I get to my feet and wipe both sweaty palms on my jean clad thighs, following the officer to a private room off the side of the reception area.

There’s a small, school like table in the centre of the painfully vast and empty room, two chairs sit on either side. I sit down, the cold plastic making my skin tingle. I inhale deeply, watching the door on the other side of the room with bated breath, not exhaling until it opens tentatively.

The man who enters is handcuffed, one arm gripped tightly by a prison guard who’s face is scrunched with discontentment. He roughly pushes the bearded, scruffy, barely recognisable man into the room with me and closes the door.

“You have ten minutes,” he says gruffly through the glass and turns to lean against the wall, sporting a tired frown.

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