Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series

by Eliza Bradley

  It made it all the more unsettling that he had turned his attention to me now. I shivered dramatically at the thought yet pushed the weird idea away again. He had to still be the kind boy he used to be. It was just harder to see.

  Chapter 6

  What exactly was this evening supposed to be? I wondered for what must have been the three hundred, and thirty third time. Were we just two friends hanging out? Or… was this a date? I didn’t want to give Tye a clear sign of just how much I was attracted to him as I was far too embarrassed at what he would do or say if he really knew. Despite our flirtation at the pub, it had kind of felt like more of a joke. Especially as he coupled everything that he said with a wink to break the ice. It was just what he did. I settled for wearing safe skinny jeans and a warm black jumper with a deep v neck.

  By the time he turned up at my room door, I had chewed my bottom lip raw with the amount of overthinking I had done. I flung the door open, trying to affect a smile, but the greeting was certainly not what I had expected.

  “Did you ask her?” These were the first words to cross Tye’s mouth.

  “What? No hello?” I asked in surprise as he walked straight past me, shutting the door behind him. I had to focus my eyes on his face, but as well as seeing frustration lodged there, they lingered on his good looks again. I reprimanded myself and turned away to look elsewhere. All he was wearing was his customary long-sleeved grey t-shirt and jeans. He slung a coat on the end of the bed as he walked in.

  “Hi,” his face softened into a smile briefly before it quickly vanished again. Like a bubble bursting – pop! “I mean Ellie. Did you ask her to stop?”

  Did we really have to talk about Ellie? I issued a silent prayer for it to stop.

  “No,” I opened the small fridge that was tucked under my desk. My stomach was sinking fast at this surprising conversation and I needed something else to think about. “Would you like a drink?”

  “She’s texting me now!” His voice raised a notch on both the volume and fury scale, not abating in the slightest when he earned a heavy glare from me for it. “Did you give her my number?”

  “No,” to say I was confused was not accurate. Disappointed was better. I had been sat here all evening trying to work and push away the thoughts of Kyle from the coffee shop, instead worrying over whether this was a date or not, and we were rapidly plummeting towards quite a heavy argument. I also didn’t appreciate the accusation.

  “Then how did she get my number?”

  “I don’t know, Mr Rude.” The cartoon of the red blob associated with the name from the children’s story book jumped into my mind, the waving hands and big mouth weren’t far off right now for a description of Tye. “I did not give it to her.” I took the one toffee apple cider I had left and opened it quickly.

  “Ivy, how else could she have got my number?”

  My dig had clearly made no indentation to his ire, nor done anything to calm him down.

  “I’m probably not the only mutual friend you two have. Now, sit down before you burst a blood vessel or something,” at my suddenly harsh words, he sat in the desk chair and hung his head in his hands. “She does not even know I have your number and I’m not the kind of person who would give it to her.”

  “She’s ridiculous. She has been texting me all afternoon.”

  Excuse me, but when did I turn into the weird friend you could bitch to? Well, he certainly looked stressed and I had no wish to continue this argument any longer. Neither did I wish to keeping talking about Ellie. Any hope that had grown in me this afternoon had gone completely and I was too miserable now to make any effort.

  I took a healthy swig of the cider then held out my hand to him.

  “Can I see?”

  He looked up with curious eyes, but dutifully pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the conversation. I perched on the desk next to him with the phone in my hands and read through the texts.

  They weren’t that bad. Ellie had flirted outrageously and asked him out again. As far as I could see, she hadn’t said anything stalker crazy, not creepy like Kyle, and despite the fact Tye had said no, neither had he been rude.

  “So let me understand this…” I looked up from the phone in thought. “In an effort not to be rude to her in your rejection, you opted to be rude to me instead?” My raised eyebrows brought a wince to his face.

  “I didn’t mean to be. I’m just angry.” He suddenly took the bottle from my hand and glugged a healthy couple of mouthfuls before he pulled away with repulsion.

  “God – how on earth can you drink this?”

  “I like it,” I said sharply, stealing the bottle back. “There’s a lonely beer in the fridge that Leonora left here one time if you want it.”

  He quickly scrounged through my fridge near my legs to find the beer. While his back was turned, I typed a quick message to Ellie from his phone.

  I’M SEEING SOMEONE ELSE. T

  “Problem solved,” I handed the phone back to him with a sigh as he re-emerged, already glugging from the bottle. “Ellie may be a flirt, but she has a good heart. She wouldn’t take another woman’s man so that will get her to leave you alone.”

  He took the phone and read the message, the first smile of the evening creeping to his face as the works sunk in.

  “Seeing someone?” He quoted, looking back to her.

  “She won’t ask you who so it’s a safe lie. It will just make her stop,” I picked up the cider and moved to sit on the end of my bed, feeling completely deflated. You know how when a balloon goes down it crumples into that little piece of stretched-out elastic? All wrinkly, no bounce and pitying itself. That was me.

  The words stung as I said them to Tye, but from how this evening had started, there was no chance this was a date. At least all my nerves had gone, the little people in my stomach were no longer somersaulting, they were sitting around yawning with boredom instead, one or two with sadness. Maybe three.

  “Thanks,” Tye pocketed his phone and returned to the desk chair. “How did you become friends with her anyway?”

  It would seem god had ignored all of my fervent prayers not to talk about Ellie all night.

  “She’s actually really kind. I understand it’s not the side of her you have seen, but she loves the chase after a guy. That’s what she’s in it for.”

  “So, she’s actually not that interested?”

  “Nope.”

  “Ha,” he laughed, shaking his head as he swigged from the bottle. “I have a feeling I should be offended by that.”

  “I don’t really know why she does it.” I looked down at my own bottle, wincing as I revealed the reason it had perhaps all started. “It may be my fault though that she went after you.”

  “Your fault?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What did you do?”

  “I had this theory that Leonora and Ellie between them could conquer all of the heterosexual male population.” I shrugged, realising how ridiculous it sounded. “It had been a joke one night after a lot of drinks and, in my defence, it did appear to be true. Then you proved immune to Leonora’s charm.”

  “Not my taste,” Tye grimaced at the thought.

  “Really? What’s not to love? She’s gorgeous.”

  “She is not a one-man woman, that’s the first reason. The rest is a long list.”

  “Intriguing,” my eyes watched him carefully. Despite the smirk of humour he seemed sincere. “The idea that anyone could have a list of what is wrong with Leonora is strange. Anyway, when Leonora proved to not push your buttons, they decided to test my theory.”

  “So between them they set Ellie on me?” He laughed, still shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Yet, you appear immune to her too,” I gasped for dramatic effect. “Despite her most seductive efforts. I still admit I’m surprised.” I paused, letting the thought hang in the air as I sipped my cider.

  “Surprised? Why?” He repeated with a frown.

  “As I said, most guys if they don’t like on
e, they like the other.”

  “Ellie is not my taste either.”

  “Again, she’s gorgeous.”

  “And again, she’s not a one-man woman.” He spoke as if this point was obvious. “She’s also very annoying.”

  “That’s your experience of her,” I laughed, thinking back to the first time I had met her. “The four of us met in freshers’ week. Leonora, Ellie, Cara, and me. It was a meet up for the Runners Society. In the first race, when Cara fell over and sprained her ankle, Ellie carried her across the line. Sure she’s a flirt, and maybe she’s a little annoying, but a kinder heart would be difficult to find.”

  Tye nodded at my words, thinking over them for a minute.

  “Cara – is that the tiny one?”

  “She’s not that tiny!”

  “She’s mini.” Tye sniggered, relaxing back into his chair, and looking more at ease.

  “She’s bubbly, and full of energy,” I defended.

  “Like one of those little dogs that yap and jump around?” His face showed he was just teasing, yet I still threw a cushion from my bed across the room at him, which he dodged easily, pushing to the side on the wheels of my desk chair.

  “Evil man.”

  “To prevent another pillow missile, I’ll apologise. As I’ve never met her, I can’t comment on her.”

  “She’s lovely, blunt too,” I smiled, looking down and thinking of how much she could make me laugh. “She’s a little down in the dumps at the moment though.”

  “Why?”

  “I can’t tell you,” I looked back up with a shake of my heard.

  “Gossip?” The idea lit up his face with humour. “Guys are never told secrets. We miss out on all the good stories. Can’t you just tell me this one?”

  “I could tell you a little of it…” I felt myself capitulating, he was too persuasive sat here in my room emanating good looks, and suddenly good humour too. At my words, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees expectantly. “Cara has a crush on a guy she met last term. Someone you know of, I think. She only told me. Two weeks’ later, he had been added to Leonora’s collection.” I waved in the air, emphasising the word collection.

  “Collection? Is that how it sounds?”

  “Pretty much. Ellie was trying to make you part of hers.”

  “Ergh,” he faked a shiver. “No thanks. Ouch, poor Cara. That can’t have been easy to watch,” he sat back and winced. “Can’t imagine what it would be like to see the girl I wanted sleeping with someone else.”

  “Most of the time she’s fine. Some days, well, you can see she’s in pain, even when she pretends that she’s not.”

  “Am I allowed to have a guess at who the guy is?” He asked with a mischievous glint.

  “Nope,” I popped the ‘p’. “That would be revealing too much.”

  He laughed again, his voice rumbling deeply through the room.

  “Is this your family?” He stood and walked towards the bed where I sat, pointing with the beer at the notice board covered in pictures tacked behind my head.

  “Yep,” I swallowed, loudly. So many pictures that told me hundreds of stories. More than one picture held the fake smiles of mum and dad, taken moments after arguments. Others…

  “Who’s this?” Tye kicked off his shoes and knelt on the bed beside me to see the picture better. He pointed at one of the pictures as I mimicked his position to see which image he was gesturing to. My heart sank at which one he had chosen.

  “My sister,” I tried to smile, but it didn’t work. It was a photo taken eight years ago when I was ten and she was fourteen. “Rosie.” We were at the beach, somewhere in Northumberland on holiday, running up and down the sand in the strong wind. Even though you couldn’t see it in the picture, I knew Rosie had been wearing her ladybug backpack that day.

  “Cute picture,” Tye smiled, his lips quirking in humour. “I particularly like the Winnie the Pooh t-shirt.” He pointed at the small ten-year-old me. If I had thought it through, I would have taken the pictures down – both to prevent my embarrassing fashion choices as a child and the question I feared was coming next. Please don’t ask. Please don’t ask. “Where is she now?”

  God damnit, he asked. Apparently my mind control skills are still imaginary.

  I paused, letting the silence draw out between us as I struggled with what to say. I don’t think a literal answer would have been the right way to go. It would have also been a little too morbid to drop into the conversation.

  I was tempted to move away from the bed, stand up and walk away from Tye. Yet at the thought of Rosie, my legs had turned to stone.

  “She’s…” I bit my lip.

  Tye looked at me with a question in his cocoa eyes.

  “She’s… no longer with us.” I hastily drank some cider, needing something to douse the sudden dryness in my throat. “That’s what they say isn’t it? When someone dies.” I was relieved my voice sounded more comfortable than I felt.

  Tye’s face fell, the eyes closing, a silent swear falling from his mouth.

  “Ivy, I’m so –”

  “It’s okay. It’s a lot easier now than it was.” I had been in a good place for such a long time, then my parents announced the divorce.

  “How long ago?”

  “Six years.” Please don’t ask me how it happened.

  “Oh shit. That’s the second time I’ve put my foot in my mouth this evening.” He sat back down on the bed, leaning his back against the wall the bed was pushed against.

  “It’s alright,” I worked to release the tension from my body as I sat back, facing Tye. He quirked his eyebrow, disbelieving. “Honestly, it is.” I breathed out, imagining all my tensions leaving my body with it. “If it helps, I think I missed the first time you put your foot in your mouth.”

  He laughed, still not believing me.

  “Oh? And Mr Rude wasn’t bad?”

  “I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, just not putting your foot in your mouth. Take a look at the Mr Men book, you did look surprisingly like him.” I made a show of my eyes wandering over him, as if amazed at the similarities. Well, Tye was actually all tall and lean, nothing like the round red blob. Stop ogling.

  “Thanks, princess. Let’s pick a new topic.”

  A few hours later, we had covered a fair many topics in detail, including my Maths degree which I had chosen with no idea what to do when university finished. Tye was doing Engineering, but his first year had not gone well. Contrary to gossip, that was why he was dropping into so many different modules this year, including my Mechanics module, to retake some exams.

  He shared a flat with Sam in the city centre, though Savannah was there so much it felt like he had two roommates. He also had no idea what he wanted to do after uni. His dad was pressuring him to go into his car dealership, alongside his older brother. This went someway to explaining Tye’s rather snazzy BMW. It turns out Papa Aritza wanted all three of his children to follow in his footsteps, but neither Tye nor his little sister had any intention of doing so.

  We also covered favourite tv and my running.

  “You love it that much?” Tye asked from his position lying back on my bed.

  “If I could have done a degree in running, I would have.” I was lying on my front close by, propped up on my elbows and desperately resisting the urge to touch him.

  “Why not P.E?”

  “Only so many options. Like teaching which I’m not interested in.”

  “I like the gym, but I prefer sprinting to the long distance.”

  “No stamina?” I teased, with a sideways smile.

  “I have stamina when it matters,” he waggled his eyebrows, making me laugh. He pushed his sleeves up past his elbows and I saw the same flash of ink on his skin again.

  “Is that one of your tattoos?” I angled my head to get a better look but could see nothing beyond a fleck.

  “One of them, yeah,” he lifted the sleeve a little more, revealing a string of words wrapped around his elbow and d
isappearing up his bicep underneath the t-shirt.

  “How many do you have?”

  “A fair few,” he dropped the sleeve back to his elbow and I tried not to look too disappointed.

  “You’re not sure how many you have?”

  “They blend together a bit. About five.”

  My imagination went into haywire, thinking of all the places he might have tattoos, I scrounged desperately for another topic.

  “What’s the time?” I looked round in search of my clock. “It’s two in the morning.”

  “I should get going,” Tye climbed off the bed and I followed. Discovering the time had made me realise just how tired I was, yet I still longed for him to stay.

  He put his shoes back on and straightened up in time to see me dump the few bottles we had been through in the bin. After his beer, Tye had switched to my stack of Fanta.

  “I think you’ve emptied my fridge.”

  “Next time, we’ll go to mine. I’ll be sure to stock up on toffee apple cider.” He smirked and opened the door, leaving quickly. “See you.”

  “Bye.”

  The door was shut, and I was alone again.

  So just friends. That had been made abundantly clear, as though it had been hammered home with a large mallet and I was the tiny nail. Yet, what a great night it had been.

  Chapter 7

  “What did you say?” I asked my mum down the phone, sitting suddenly down on a bench outside the campus auditorium building.

  “We’re selling the house.”

  “What do you mean you’re selling it?” They couldn’t sell the house. That just… NO. What about mine and Rosie’s rooms? We had grown up in that house. It was our home.

  “Neither of us want to live there anymore, sweetheart, it has so many memories and neither of us can afford the mortgage on our own. It’s for the best,” her voice was frustratingly calm considering how much I felt like a tornado had been whipped up inside of me.

  “The best?” I tried to keep my voice low as I dug into my backpack for a pen, yet it was seething with rage so the words practically came out like a hissing snake. “What about all our stuff?”