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

by Eliza Bradley

  It felt only fifteen minutes later when the police arrived. They took Kyle away without much hesitation, taking statements straight away from Leonora and Cara. One of the police officers appraised me for practically punching a hole through Kyle’s cheek. They promised me they would come see me at the hospital for a statement.

  The idea of the hospital was a surprise. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, but Savannah’s hard stare showed me there was no way I was getting out of it. When everyone had their backs turned, Leonora did my jeans button up for me, preserving my modesty.

  When the paramedic arrived, Savannah and Leonora tried to urge me to my feet, but I was struggling. My ankle was suffering from shooting pains and my body was too much in shock to move. The trembling was like nothing I had ever felt. Those lightning bolts of fear hadn’t completely abated. They sat there, waiting to rumble again even though the threat had gone. Once the paramedic said I needed to get up the stairs, I felt a set of hands take hold of me.

  With one hand under my legs and the other round my back, I was lifted into Tye’s arms.

  He didn’t look at me. He kept his focus straight ahead as he carried me down the corridor and up the stairs.

  “Tye?” My voice sounded small. In answer, his cheek twitched, his whole face was taught. I didn’t know what to do. This was not what was supposed to happen. It was a greater mess than I had ever thought.

  I had been so wrong as well. Thinking that Kyle was not mad enough to try something somewhere so busy. Guess you never really know what’s going on in someone’s head.

  “Tye?” I said again as we reached the floor above and he directed his steps to the main door, heading for an ambulance parked outside. He wouldn’t reply.

  It was crushing.

  At the paramedic’s instruction, he placed me to sit on a stretcher in the back of the van, then he turned away. His eyes never lifting to my face as he jumped down onto the pavement.

  “Tye!” I said it louder that time. My voice angry. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t speak to me. He froze. His back turned towards me yet making no move to walk away. I didn’t know what to say first, there was so much, but I was too angry right now. Too scared of what had happened to pour it all out. “Do you want to know what the ladybugs are about?”

  My random words caused him to turn his head. He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

  “That’s what you want to say?” His voice was incredulous. “Kyle just attacked you and you’re talking about ladybugs?”

  “Yes. I am. It’s…” I couldn’t think of a good word, so opted for something strange instead. “Relevant.”

  When he made no move away, the paramedic hovered on the doorway.

  “You coming or staying?” The paramedic asked.

  Tye looked away for a second, trailing his hand up the back of his neck as he always did when stressed, then he turned back to the ambulance and climbed in.

  The legal process of it all sounded strange. Kyle was being charged. I gave my statement in a room alone with the police as I sat in a cold plastic chair. The room was white again. Too white. When I told the police officer about Kyle’s comments that I looked like my sister, there was a dawn of realisation on her face.

  “I think he needs help,” my words made her nod.

  It was possible that Kyle’s own grief had turned him into that thing. He was giving a confession and cooperating with the police after all. He made no attempt to hide what he had tried to do.

  Cara had taken charge and called both my parents to explain what had happened, passing the phone over to me to explain as well. I didn’t cry, amazingly. I felt like that dried up piece of toast again.

  I had fractured a bone in my ankle. Tye had stayed the whole night, holding onto my hand as the x-ray came through and only leaving when they had to do a little operation to reset the bone. He was back by my side when they put it in plaster.

  I was out by morning. We hadn’t slept and were walking, well, he was walking, I was hobbling on crutches through the park in the centre of town.

  We hadn’t really talked yet. Everything had been too busy. He had asked me to tell him exactly what Kyle had done, so I had given a brief overview without talking about the Rosie bit. There was a point in the night where I thought he’d beat up the pillow they had given me to rest my foot on, just so he could have an outlet for his anger.

  Now, as we walked and hobbled through the park, we were quiet. I was trying to get used to how you walked with crutches, he had his hands in his pockets, staring down at the tarmac path.

  “Can we stop?” I had trailed behind him, struggling to keep up. My words had broken him out of some deep thought, he looked back surprised, but nodded. I slowly clambered onto a bench nearby, looking out at the skyline of Exeter and the cathedral that peeked above the buildings.

  He sat by my side, keeping distance between us.

  “My sister loved ladybugs.” My words startled him. He snapped his head to look at me with bewilderment. “She loved them. Ladybug backpacks, clothes, everything. She died six years ago. She was dating Kyle at the time.”

  My words practically struck him across the face as good as a fist. He turned on the bench, resting an arm on the backrest and pulling up one knee so he could face me properly.

  “They were together?”

  “Yes. They hadn’t slept together, but they were exploring.” I couldn’t smile. My face felt flat of emotion. “When she died, he was broken too. Just like the rest of us. When I first saw Kyle at that party back in February, he said I looked like her. He said it again last night.”

  Tye’s face scrunched up, he looked down at the seat of the bench and his hands balled into fists.

  “Yes, it’s just as horrifyingly creepy as it sounds.” I nodded, not wanting to say it in detail out loud again.

  “Having you was a way to get close to her?”

  “In his mind,” I winced, hating that he had said the words. I breathed deeply, pushing on and feeling determined to get out the information as quickly as possible. “Rosie died of drinking too much. Alcohol poisoning.” He looked up again, surprise settling in his cocoa eyes. “They said, she couldn’t vomit properly. She couldn’t…” I struggled to gesture the action. “She couldn’t get rid of the alcohol.”

  He leaned forward, resting his face in his hands in realisation.

  “Isabella,” he said eventually, breaking the silence.

  “I knew she had to be sick because I had seen it before,” I nodded, almost formally. “After Rosie, I went to first aid classes and actually learned about it. What signs to look for, what to do to help. You have to make them be sick.”

  “You stopped her from getting her stomach pumped.” He looked up from his hands, but they were clouded over, looking away and not at me.

  “I’m sorry I said what I said,” I kept my focus on the cathedral, feeling that lump back in my throat. “Isabella wasn’t the only one in my head. Rosie was there too, but I couldn’t do anything for her. I can’t pull her out of that grave and make her live again. Yet there was Isabella drinking for what is really an absolutely ridiculous reason!” I realised it was course and harsh to say, I winced at the words, refusing to look at him. “I’m sorry, but I just wanted to stop it. To get rid of that reason, to…” I felt my breath hitch as tears pooled in my eyes.

  “I know,” he slid along the bench. Suddenly his arms were around me, I was cradled into his side. We could have been back on the bench in Exmouth with his hand in my hair, only this time I was crying.

  “I’m getting snot on your t-shirt.” I tried to wipe my eyes clean and back away, but he just pulled me towards him again.

  “I don’t care.” He buried his hand in my hair. “Ivy, I’m so sorry. You should know, Isabella adores you.”

  “She does?” I was struggling to control my breathing through my tears.

  “Yep. I can see why. You may well have saved her life.” He buried his hand in my hair, holding me close to his side. “Sh
e’s also promised never to speak to me again if I don’t apologise to you. So, I’m sorry for kicking you out of the house. I’m sorry for being angry in the first place – I was just… well, it was shock. I’m sorry for being an idiot.”

  “You don’t need to apologise,” I shook my head against his t-shirt. “I’m the one who spoke out of turn.”

  “Well, maybe Savannah was right.”

  “Savannah?”

  “She pointed out that what you said had to be said at some point.” He scoffed slightly. “Why is that girl always right?”

  “What did your dad say?” I kept my eyes down, focusing on the hem of his grey t-shirt.

  “He was angry. I said nothing, as usual.” He shook his head; I could feel the movement. “Then we got to the hospital to see Isabella. She was awake, we told her what happened. Her first word was ‘good.’ Should have seen my dad then. She practically climbed out of the bed and yelled at my dad that she didn’t want to go into the business and that she shouldn’t be feeling so guilty about not wanting to either. She should never have been in the position she was in. The nurse staff were not very happy she had got herself into such a state. Said we were exciting her too much. Dad turned to me, expecting me to be on his side and I sided with Isabella. He’s not particularly happy.”

  “Still?”

  “Not really. That’s when my mum stepped in. She’s actually asked my dad to see someone.” He pulled me closer to him, suddenly dropping his arms around my waist and holding me to him. “She thinks his need to hold onto family has festered long enough. Become something toxic.”

  “Festering. Sounds familiar.” The idea that grief festering lingered. It did for me. My parents. Kyle. Tye’s dad too it seemed.

  Tye lifted one of his hands and picked my fingers off his t-shirt, looking down at the scarred skin on the back of my hand.

  “You draw ladybugs to think of Rosie?”

  “I do.”

  “Right, in which case, I have an idea.” He stood up suddenly, leaving me bereft and longing for him to come back into the hug. At my sad look of wondering where he had gone, he bent down to me with a smile. He set a kiss on my lips. It was gentle. Soft and brief yet reassuring. It was desperately what I had wanted. “I’m not going anywhere. Come on.”

  He pulled me to my feet and passed me the crutches, urging me to follow him back down into the city centre.

  “Where are we going?” I asked again after twenty minutes of hobbling.

  “Trust me.” He suddenly stopped and opened a door of a shop. We were too close to the wall for me to see what the sign read so I went in, struggling on my crutches through the door.

  As we stepped in it became obvious where we were – a myriad of tattoo drawings covered the wall. I looked up in awe of the sketches, just as someone walked over to the small podium in front of us.

  “You’re back!” The older man said, covered head to toe in tattoos. “You want another?” He asked Tye.

  “Not yet for me, but she might.” He steered me with my shoulders forward. “How good are you at ladybugs?”

  We had found a new pub to play pool, much at my insistence, but not that anybody minded. The girls had been invited along too, so we made quite a group.

  Ellie and Savannah were sat in nearby chairs, commenting on Sam’s prowess of playing pool and Luke watched on shaking his head at their words. Leonora and Cara kept fighting over one glass of cider that Cara seemed to be able to keep stealing from under her nose, and I was beating Tye at pool. Shamefully so, even though I was hobbling round the table with my plastered ankle.

  “How is she still winning?” Sam complained again as I potted two balls at once.

  I stood up, wobbling on my one good foot. Tye was suddenly behind me, his hands on my hips steadied me from falling over.

  “She has a gift!” Savannah called with her sing-song voice. “Ten quid says she makes the next shot. Any takers?”

  “I’m not betting against her,” Leonora said as she tried to take her glass back from Cara.

  “I will,” Cara laughed. “Just push her over.”

  “Hey!” I complained, but she shrugged in her classically innocent way.

  “I can think of other ways to distract her,” Tye’s dark voice said in my ear, though perfectly audible for others to hear.

  “Please don’t do them here on the pool table,” Luke shook his head as he took the cue from Sam’s hand. “I’d like not to get thrown out.”

  “I think we’re likely to be thrown out of our flat at the noise the two of them make in the building,” Sam’s words earned a sharp elbow from Savannah.

  “Like you two are any quieter?” I pointed out. Sam looked at Savannah with nothing but pride at this statement.

  Tye brushed my hand, causing me to blur out the conversation and my focus to draw down to the ladybug now tattooed on the inside of my wrist. It was perfect. A simple ladybug. Not doing any of the weird things I had drawn before, just a solid reminder of Rosie. I loved it.

  That day in the tattoo parlour, contrary to Tye’s assurance that tattoos weren’t that painful, I had practically squeezed the blood out of his hand. He remarked that we might need to go back to the hospital so he could check for broken bones. Despite the pain, I didn’t regret the decision. It was perfect.

  The following few days, Tye had been reluctant to let me out of his sight, only really turning happy when the police confirmed to him that Kyle would do some time in jail and get counselling.

  We had gone back to Exmouth after that, hobbled up to the bench we had been on before and ate more fish and chips. As the waves rolled in and I was commenting on the soreness of my ankle, I was surprised when he interrupted me.

  “Sore, but it twinges –”

  “You do realise I’m not going anywhere now.” His words were firm, but he was smirking as he looked back at me, eating more chips.

  “Anywhere? I don’t think you want to stay on this bench forever. You’d get bored.”

  “Oh I’m sure I could think of some imaginative ways to have fun on this bench with you.” He winked, sending that jolt of excitement back into my stomach. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant that I don’t want this to be a passing thing. You and me.”

  “You don’t?” I’m not sure how big my smile was. I felt like one of those cartoons where the edges of their smiles stretch beyond their faces.

  “No. Hooked on you, remember?” He looked back at me from his fish and chips. His cocoa eyes crinkled with humour when he saw my expression. “You’ll hurt your cheeks from smiling that much.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “So, what do you say, princess?” He leaned forward suddenly, taking the empty foam box of chips from my hand.

  “I say…” I paused, enjoying the pretend look of anger on his face at making him wait. “I’m hooked too.”

  Now, as we stood by the pool table, it was very clear to me just how hooked I was.

  “We could go back to the flat now,” he whispered, this time just for me to hear.

  “Not yet,” I said loudly, hobbling away from him as the others turned to watch. “I aimed up my next shot. I’ve got to win this game first.”

  I potted another ball.

  “Yes!” Savannah punched the air, delighted at making more money. Sam beside her looked exasperated.

  “For god’s sake, we’re going to lose all our money again.” He complained, looking at Tye. “Tye, you’ve got to –”

  “I know, don’t worry.” He walked round to my side of the pool table. “I’ll distract her.”

  THE END

  Book 2 in The Exeter Running Girls Series coming soon…

 

 

 
: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share