Chalk and Cheese Ch. 07

Hello there, Sorry this has taken a while I have been laid up with tonsilitis and writers block - not the best combination. Am glad you all hate Roni with such ferocity, she is a bitch isn't she!. Once again, thanks very much for your comments and please continue to do so - it's such a great way for me to learn. Thanks very much again and I hope you enjoy this one. This should be the second last chapter in the Tori and Greg saga!

Thanks again everyone

Elle x

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I could hear the stage whispering through the door,

"No, I will not be coming to watch you play cricket, I have explained to you, I have a friend in crisis who needs me and so this is my priority now. Let go of the tray and stop moaning."

I had the feeling that if I stayed with Carrie and her very tolerant fiance Francis for much longer, there wouldn't be much of a wedding for me to arrange. Again, Carrie had proved her mettle in my time of emergency and hadn't even blinked when I had arrived on her doorstep at seven o clock in the morning sobbing heavily. She had simply taken one look at me and swept me in to her arms and smothered me in a massive hug. From there, she had allocated me two rooms in their house, one for my work and one for me to sleep and cry in and she had mothered me and nursed me back to health.

The office door creaked open and I saw a pair of brown eyes peek around.

"Oh good, you're not crying. I was a little worried when we could no longer hear Mariah Carey wailing, I thought maybe you had bitten the bullet. Literally."

I looked at her in disgust and she shrugged back,

"I've brought you some tea."

Since my arrival, I had shed enough tears to fill Niagara Falls about three times over which was amazing considering when Luke had left me, I hadn't cried at all. But when I analysed the true source of my unhappiness, it wasn't so much that my sister had shagged my ex fiance continually and lied to me about it. It was more that as a result, I had run from the best thing that had ever happened to me and had done it in such a cowardly manner that I didn't feel that I could ever gain Greg's respect again should I be lucky enough to get him back.

On that eventful night, somewhere between 2.24am and 5.00am, I had realised that although I desperately wanted to take life on the chin, I just wasn't brave enough to. I didn't think that my heart or my ego could take such a bashing again, and Greg had taken up so much space in my life both physically and metaphorically in the short time that we had been together, that I couldn't bear the idea of being so dependent on him for his love that this dependence put him in such a strong position that he could take it away from me in a heartbeat and reduce me to a ashes once again.

I accepted the tea from Carrie gratefully. Taking a sip, I looked at her,

"So why are you not going to the cricket?"

Carrie rolled her eyes, "Because I have to look after you silly."

I smiled at her, "Nice try, but as you can see, I'm doing much better now so you can leave me here and spend some time with your fiance. I have so much to do for your wedding and to be honest, you prove to be a massive distraction with your constant updates on celebrity gossip."

Carrie humphed, "Please don't make me."

I shrugged at her, "Think about it, your fiance has welcomed a complete stranger into his home for all this time, has not complained about being ignored or sleeping alone in his bed because you've been sleeping here with me, which frankly wasn't necessary, and he hasn't said a word. Not a complaint, or a moan, or a whinge. The least you could do is the one thing he has asked you."

I turned back to Carrie's wedding invitations which I was proofing and finding no response turned back to find her looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"What?"

She said nothing but continued to watch me and then said slyly,

"So you think you should do something you don't want for someone you love do you?"

I saw immediately where she was going with this, that bitch, and narrowed my eyes back at her,

"This is not the same as my situation, and if you mention Greg or my sister or anything again I will cut your hair while you sleep. You'd make a beautiful bald bride bride."

Carrie stuck out her tongue and muttered something under her breath about me being deluded and how I should listen to my own advice, but I pretended not to hear her. However, my words had given me pause for thought. I watched Francis and the way he watched Carrie flit about. He was so different from her; grounded and serious and level headed, and on first sight I did wonder about the wisdom of their union. But then one day, she made him laugh and I had never seen someone's face light up so majestically that it changed all his features. He became this man bathed in someone's love and it made him so very attractive it was amazing to watch. And so I knew that Carrie would be going to watch the cricket, not because she wanted to, but because he wanted her to, and I supposed that this was the way love was. You did what you didn't want for those that you loved.

Her voice interrupted my thoughts,

"Your mum called again."

I raised my head to look at her,

"She asked if you would please go and see her."

"Is she still there?"

Carrie sighed, "Yep, Roni's still there."

"Well then I'm not going."

Carrie nodded and took a breath to say something but then thought better of it. I hated when people did that, so I took the bait,

"Say it."

"Say what?"

"Whatever you were going to say"

"I wasn't going to say anything."

Two could play at this game,

"Ok."

I turned back to her wedding invitations and heard,

"I think you should go and see your mum because I don't think Roni's going to be there for much longer."

I really wanted to maintain that I didn't care, but my curiosity got the better of me,

"Is Mike taking her back?"

Carrie shook her head and started to twirl her hair, a bad sign,

"Well if Mike's not taking her back, where is she-" The truth hit me like a freight train. I sat back in my chair and sighed heavily, throwing my pen onto the desk,

"She's going to Luke isn't she?"

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Greg had always maintained that his flat was a king bachelor flat. This was expressed as he stepped on a large piece of lego and confirmed by his choice of expletive. Greg hopped around the room in frustration cursing all and sundry, and this was only halted by the arrival of his new housemates.

Mike and his two children, Sebastian and Ava had arrived as a surprise not only to Greg but also to Mike as well. Mike had explained that he was finding it difficult to live in that massive house without Roni and wondered if Greg minded them spending a couple of days with him. Greg had welcomed his friend, not least because he looked a mess and was obviously struggling with the two young children, but also because Mike was his only link to Tori at a time when she seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth.

Mike, Seb and Ava had taken up residence in Greg's spare room, and Greg had found their presence comforting if not a little disconcerting. Mike was a mess. He couldn't get his head around his wife's betrayal, and really couldn't understand the ease with which she left their home, and their children. He tried to explain to Greg - of course he was happy to have the children, but he couldn't understand the haste with which she had left them. She had gone to her mother's and he hadn't heard very much from her since.

Greg started at this piece of information, but Mike was already ahead of him. No, Tori wasn't there - apparently she had gone to her mother's but once she had found out that Roni was already staying there, she had refused to stay, refused to discuss the situation with her mother and had left again. Interestingly enough, when Roni arrived, she hadn't told her mother what had happened either, simply saying she and Mike had had a bit of a falling out and that she was giving him some space.

Mike said that the first Mother Grayson had heard about this whole mess was when Tori had arrived sobbing into her mother's arms, taken sight of her sister and apparently had screamed insults that Mother Grayson felt that Jesus wouldn't approve of and then without her mother being able to get a word in, Tori had wiped her tears, kissed her mum and then left and hadn't been seen since.

Greg's heart sank at this news. He had hoped that maybe Tori had checked in with Mike to check on the kids ash she usually did twice a week. But apparently this mess had affected everyone so much that Tori hadn't been in touch with the kids, Roni hadn't been in touch with her husband, Mike had learned how to use the dishwasher, and Greg had learnt to play Mario Kart and how to do plaits. Yes, it had been a revelatory time for all.

In the first week that Tori had left him, Greg had done everything to try and find her, but short of asking her sister and her mother, there weren't very many other people who he could have asked. He tried Carrie who explained that she hadn't seen Tori, but if she did she would call him and then he had run out of ideas. In the second week, he sat in her flat, ignoring her request to return the key and to move his things out and waited for her to come back. When that didn't work and Greg could no longer smell her perfume on her pillow, he decided to move back into his place. Week three was his week of anger. He was pissed off at her, Roni, Luke, but most of all at himself. He was angry that he hadn't conveyed to her just how much he loved her, and went over everything in his mind over and over again what he would have done differently which could maybe have made the situation a little better, a little different. He could never find it.

The arrival of Mike and the kids had distracted Greg somewhat, enough to get him out of his stupor and to engage in life a little bit. And now this was the life they were living - this pseudo family, two men supporting one another in the absence of the women they loved and trying their best to look after these two children.

Greg's thoughts were interrupted by the pitter patter or rather the elephantine stomping of a three year old and a six year old coupled with the frazzled murmurs of a hassled father.

"Uncle Greg!"

Ava took a running leap to him always confident that he would catch her, and he never failed. Swinging her up into his arms, she gave him a resounding kiss on the cheek and waited for her brother and father to make their way into the room.

"Guess who we saw today?"

"I don't know baby, who did you see today?"

"We saw that lady Carrie with the yellow hair, and she was talking to Daddy, and she looked really pretty and she was buying ice cream and I asked Daddy if we could have some ice cream but he said no and then Carrie bought me and Seb an ice lolly each and do you know what else?"

Overcome by the little one's speech, he simply shook his head,

"Carrie was wearing Aunty Tori's snake bracelet."

Greg nodded distractedly keeping an eye on Sebastian who had made his entrance into the lounge with what looked like a new baseball bat which he was wielding very close to Greg's new 42 inch television. Greg put Ava down on her feet and made his way across to Sebastian to remove temptation out of his way. He stopped half way and turned back to the little girl,

"Ava, what did you just say?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "I said, Carrie bought me and Seb ice lollies.

Greg shook his head impatiently, "No, the other thing."

She looked up to the ceiling thinking hard, "Oh yeah, she was wearing Auntie Tori's snake bracelet."

He ran to Michael who was taking some peaceful time, or rather hiding in the bedroom having survived the experience that was shopping for new school shoes.

"Hey, did you see Carrie today?"

Mike struggled up yawning,

"Yeah, she looked good. Hey, you ever been shoe shopping with kids? Jesus Christ, Ava took all the shoes off the shelves and hid them in the handbags, it was embarrassing. I think we were asked to leave."

Greg laughed and shook his head, "Mike, I need you to focus."

"Ok, ok, I'm focussing."

"Ava said that Carrie was wearing Tori's bracelet. Did you see it?"

"Now, come on. Ava's six, how would she know about Tori's bracelet. It was probably just a a similar one."

An indignant little voice piped up, "Yes daddy, I am six, but that was Aunty Tori's bracelet."

Greg felt a pull on his jeans leg and looked down to see Ava staring up at him with her dark brown eyes,

"You believe me don't you Uncle Greg?"

Greg nodded distractedly thinking. How would Carrie have Tori's bracelet when Carrie hadn't seen-

Greg slid down the wall in his room realising that he had missed the most obvious thing in the world. Carrie had indeed seen Tori, and Carrie had lied to him. He was furious. Not least because he had underestimated the cunning of women and yet he was delighted because it meant he had a clear path to find her. Greg was startled out of his thoughts by,

"Did Roni call? She's supposed to pop by to take the kids today."

Greg shook his head and took a good look at his friend. Despite the horrible thing that his wife had put him and their family through, Mike still loved her and was hoping to work through it somehow. Greg admired his tenacity. For him, he couldn't get past the idea that Roni had lied to Mike consistently for three years, straight after their marriage, even after she had given birth to his child and yet she still betrayed him, and yet Mike still wanted her. It wasn't something he could get his mind around.

"Nah mate, the phone hasn't rung at all today, why don't you give her a try?"

At that, the intercom went off. Greg raised himself to his feet and squeezed his friend's shoulder in sympathy as he walked out. He pressed the button to activate the intercom and there was Roni waving cheerfully at the camera.

"Hi Greg, can you let me in, we've come to take the kids out for the day."

Nodding, Greg pressed the buzzer to let her in and was startled to see that her entrance was followed by none other than Luke.

Fuck, Luke and Roni were on their way up here together, shit.

************************

"Wow your tits are great!"

That was my friend Carrie. I was laying in the swimming pool that she called a bath having a beautiful spa experience, when she burst into the bathroom.

"Thank you, I think. Now what are you doing in here? Can't I have a bath in peace? Can't you go shag your boyfriend or something?"

"Nope, I've already done that three times today and you really shouldn't be so prudish. Actually, I came here to tell you that there's an urgent delivery for you downstairs."

"How urgent could it be? No one knows I'm here, and I haven't ordered anything. What is it?"

Carrie shrugged, "I don't know but it looks important. Get up and come and see. Only you can sign for it."

She was up to something. This much I knew. So I played her game, not least because she had been very kind to me, well that and I could never ignore a surprise.

She looked at me and I looked back at her.

"Well?" she asked.

"Turn around." I said

"Oh for God's sake. Let me see them one more time. I've always wanted to have big boobs."

Rolling my eyes, I got out of the bath ignoring her childish stares of delight and dragged on a robe.

"Well come on."

Rousing herself out of breast envy, Carrie nodded and skipped her way out of the bathroom. I followed her wondering what she had done this time.

**************

And there she was. Greg's breath left his body as she came into the room. He had been heartsick at losing her, and now here she was in front of him and all of his anger and heartache had been replaced by the ardent desire to sweep her into his arms and kiss everything that had happened over the past six weeks away. Her gasp of surprise at his presence and then her annoyance at her friend's betrayal were the only sounds that were heard in the room.

Greg cast a glance at Carrie who was perched on her dining table looking from Greg to Tori and Tori to Greg eager to see who would take the first step. It was obvious to Greg that Francis, who was not as comfortable with drama as his fiancee was, realised the best thing to do would be to give the two of them some space, and tugged gently on Carrie's arm to suggest to her that they take their leave. Carrie ignored him steadily and resolutely.

Greg stood up and made his way to Tori. She looked beautiful. Not a scrap of make up, hair bundled into a white towel and wearing a white robe and obviously with nothing underneath.

The air was charged with tension as the two of them simply looked at one another. Greg resolved to himself that now he had her back, there was no way in hell he was letting her go again. He looked her over, she looked nervous. It suddenly struck him that maybe she wouldn't want to see him. He hadn't thought of that. That maybe she didn't love him anymore. Now that he was standing here, having moped for the loss of her over the past six weeks, he was now scared so very scared that she didn't want him anymore and he wasn't sure what he would do if this was the case.

The silence was broken by the clearing of a throat,

"I have a question."

Greg turned to find Carrie raising her hand as though at school. He turned back to Tori who rolled her eyes. Greg nodded the go ahead, "Sure."

"How did you find her?"

Greg scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Well I would love to say it was my amazing detective work but actually it was more the amazing observations of a six year old. Ava saw you wearing Tori's snake bracelet."

Tori widened her eyes and looked over at Carrie, "You took my bracelet?"

Carrie nodded guility and fished into her bag to retrieve it muttering, "Damnit! Foiled by a six year old."

Greg turned back to Tori ignoring everything around them and drinking the sight of her in. Now that they were there together he didn't know what to say so he went with,

"Hey."

At that, Francis decided to be firm with Carrie and pulled her bodily from the room. Greg could hear Carrie's voice whining as Francis led her away, "But I want to see what happens, shit man, this is better than Dynasty."

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