Above is a list of characters, in case you want a little reminder of them, their main traits and any key things that have happened to them or that have been mentioned so far :) you have not officially met Sophia yet.

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Jay sat besides Eddie in Marie's office, she was going through their action plan for Eddie's sucess. Once again, Jay had been given the blame for what he had said to the boss, yet Marie was forgiving about the whole situation. Problem was, her usually kind eyes and sweet smile were replaced by a stony face and steely cold eyes that Jay knew was a reaction to what had happened when she had got home and represented her marriage.

"-so by this time, Eddie will be fit and ready to win correct? Then we can prove to my husband that Eddie is perfectly capable of winning" she pointed to the month of December on her massive planning calendar and Eddie nodded as she glanced over at him. Marie must've noticed the sudden nervousness that Jay saw forming on Eddie's face from miles away, as for the first time that day, she smiled, actually smiled and said:

"Not that you have to win of course, do what you can".

Eddie smiled at his boss and nodded. "Thank you".

"And Jay, you won't fuck it up again if he turns up?"

"I'll sew my mouth shut if I have to" Jay forced a smile, still feeling slightly agitated at how everyone was blaming him for what had happened with 'The Big Boss' himself. How was everyone just going to lie about it and pretend Eddie was perfectly fine? What if he wanted to claim work compensation for what had happened?

Still. He had realised about an hour ago, when Jessie and Peter were trying to get Marie out of the mood she was in, that he should take more of the blame than he had originally.

"Okay good. Right well, I'm going to lock up and head home soon. You're free to go, have nice evenings"

"Y-You...um...too" Eddie, said, stuttering over his words as he usually did, but his tone of voice was more awkward than usual because, it was quite clear, that Marie would not be having a good evening with her Husband. Her thin make up free lips were pulled into a forced tight smile. Jay glanced at Eddie; raising an eyebrow to question his wording, Eddie bowed his head, his ears, neck and face turning a deep pink.

They left the office together and Jay shut the door behind them, sighing loudly as he rubbed his forehead. He glanced over his shoulder to look through the glass walls at their boss who held her head in a similar positron, scrolling through her phone which sat in her lap.

"Right well, do you need a lift to the station Ed?" He glanced at his friend, who stood in the light that the window on the far wall provided. Jay was reminded on the fact that he was never entirely sure if Eddie's hair was light brown or a light ginger. Eddie smiled.

"I'd love one actually, my car's still being repaired...you don't mind?"

"Course not" he crossed the room to meet him. "In fact, I'd love the company for a bit"

"Okay I'll go get my rackets and racsac and I'll be back" Jay scooped up his bag from under the table and watched the other man walk away, he glanced away at Layla who was watching him. He beckoned her over, she grinned and was quickly at his table.

"Can I get your order, Sir?" She giggled and he rolled his eyes despite the grin on his face. She was quite a bit younger than him, her long blonde hair usually bouncing at her elbows or tied in a very high ponytail secured with a green hair band that matched the uniform. Layla was turning nineteen in October and was already planning her damn party, still Jay and her shared the same humour and found they had a lot in common.

He trusted her, but found that everyone else seemed to act strangely around her, or at least thy did when he was there or when he mentioned her in a conversation. He wasn't really sure what there problem was really. Maybe he'd speak to Marie when she was in a better state of mind.

"You're not heading home?" He looked up at her face, round and cute, with a natural blush and bright blue aquamarine eyes that lit up whenever that blind man with the cute puppy came in to get his daughter from tennis class.

"Nah, evening shift, gotta finish my shift at the café before I man the last shift on reception with Max later" she groaned and rolled her eyes, resting a maincured hand on her petite hip. "Well, have a good evening, I've got to get back, Gerald's giving me dirty looks from the kitchen- alright I'm coming! See you later Jay"

She leant down and pressed a kiss to his cheek, which he smiled at. She patted his hand then ran back to the kitchen, he watched her go then saw Eddie approaching his table.

Eddie raised his eyebrows and gave him a weird look. Jay opened his mouth to say something but Eddie held out his hand and shook his hand.

"Look man, it's none of my business"

"But I-"

"No, really, none of my business" he said his words with a sense of urgency, knowing that others were for sure gossiping no doubt.

***
The rain fell vertically, hitting the ground directly hard and fast, Jay took a breath and opened the car door. The rain splashed against his shoulders as he ran, it blurred the streetlights, stained the windows of the flat complex and created small rivers in the lower parts of the road. Jay looked up at the apartment that they shared, noticing that the light was still on, he sighed and made a quick dash for the door.

His keys jangled and shone in the harsh artificial light as he took them from his cotton short pockets, when the lift opened on his floor he took his time walking along the fading patterned carpet to his flat. He yawned, not bothering to cover it as no one was around and began to unlock the door. The door swung open and he heaved his tired limbs through the door, dropping his rucksack to the floor.

Jay's eyes found her hunched over at the dining table, face illuminated by the bright light of her laptop, she was writing her blog, as per usual. Jay often found himself struck with how beautiful she was and tonight was no exception, her long chestnut hair was braided down one shoulder, her hazel eyes wide and framed by long eyelashes as she read over what she had written, she was naturally tanned with an Arabic tattoo that ran from the top of her neck to the base of her spine, the font was cursive and was framed beautifully by her smooth shoulder blades. It's meaning was beautiful too 'As the sun rises and the moon sets, I'm forever lucky for the life I have and my own eternity' apparently it was something her Mother would say to her when she was dying. He had gone with her, morning after her funeral, to have it done, he had held her hands and she had closed her eyes, at peace for the four long hours that it had taken.

Sophia looked up, her perfect lips sculpting into a smile. She stretched, raising her long sun kissed arms above her and held her arms out to him. He rounded the table and wrapped his arms round her shoulders, she placed her own against his arms and smiled as he kissed her collarbone.

"Hi Love" even her voice sounded like a melody. "How was work today?".

"Oh you know, the usual" he had become more secretive about it without even realising it. Not that she had noticed. "Yourself?".

"Long" she nodded, resting against him. "I think I'm done with this issue though; need to send it off to Ned. I've been to the office for a few meetings, all good, my new collection's coming along nicely" she counted each thing off on her fingers. She sent a quick email and closed her laptop.

"Good grief, I didn't realise how dark it had gotten in here, turn the light on for me would you Jay?" Jay nodded and reached for the light switch, he placed his water bottle in the sink and sat down to the left of where she was sat at the head of the table.

She took his hands in her own and run her thin thumbs over the fine lines of his hands. He watched her carefully as she hummed an old Spanish folk song.

"I missed you today" she voiced her thoughts. "There were people playing tennis outside the office building and it made me think of the centre. You know sometimes I really miss it"

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Mostly the people. I love Marie, Max is a sweetie, Imogen's obsession with Leo was always entertaining, Peter and Jessie were always kind to me, Adam always makes me laugh and Eddie is just adorable"

And Layla? How would she find Layla?

"Speaking of which. How is Eddie?"

"He's doing good actually, he's made some brilliant progress. His arm is healing up nicely, or at least that's what he says. He's in the best place he can be progress wise".

"That's great! Let me know when the match is so I can come"

"Yeah of course" He turned his attention, and his thoughts away from work over to the cabinet that held a picture of Jay and Sophia, both grinning at the camera, Sophia gripping his arm. How could anyone question the love he felt for Sophia? Layla was just his close friend and nothing more and he would never feel any different.

Layla and him. He almost laughed at the thought. He had Sophia, the only girl he had ever truly loved.

"Anyway, what were you thinking for dinner? I was thinking Chinese?" She stood up and his eyes followed her round the table, she opened the heavy oak draw and riffled through the many takeaway pamphlets. "I mean it's Friday, one take away won't hurt".

"Exactly. I'm up for Chinese, I could definitely eat some chow mein, oh or some crispy duck mhm. Okay we need to get Chinese"

She laughed, coming over to sit on his lap, she wrapped an arm round his shoulders so he could read the pamphlet with her.

"Right I'll order a...61, 26, 76 and...chow mein is 9 and crispy duck is 30. Yeah shouldn't be too expensive, do you want prawn crackers? Fortune cookies?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll go order and you go sit down in the living room".

A few hours later when it did come and they were still munching through it, they sat side by side, Jay reached into the white bag with the red symbol and pulled out a small green packet. He tore it with his teeth and cracked open the cookie inside.

His nimble fingers unravelled the scrunched up paper and his eyes scanned the wording:

You will betray the one you love most to your deepest desires. Be aware.

Jay scoffed, the words then, were meaningless to him. He scrunched the paper into his pocket and frowned, partially disappointed, partially confused.

"Any good?" Sophia asked, curling up next to him, tucking her feet under herself. She held a fork full of crispy seaweed in her hand as she looked expectantly at him.

He shifted to hold his arm round her better and shrugged. "Nah, you try".

Sophia ripped her own biscuit in half and read her result aloud:

"'Keep your eyes open at all times', what does that mean?" She furrowed her eyebrows and looked back at where he too had read it, he shook his head and took it from her. He turned up the television and they settled back for a cozy night in.

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Dun dun dunnnn

Hi guys, sorry it's been a while, I'm on holiday in Portugal currently and wrote a lot of this by the pool, I kinda like this and I didn't even have the fortune cookie thing planned.

I read this chapter to my sister, she had never heard any of it before but said "oh my god Lauren you're so mean, I know what's going to happen!" And told me she liked it. Wooo.

Hope you enjoyed it and are well.

☮️PEACE☮️

-Lx