Chapter Twelve

After two days of not hearing from her friend, Bianca was getting concerned. It was unlike Heather to be incommunicado like this and Kevin couldn't, or wouldn't, tell her what he knew, as Heather skipped the Tuesday training that night.

On Wednesday therefore, Bianca went by her friend's house to find out what the hell was going on with her.

"Heather, Bianca's here to see you," Mrs Fawcett said carefully as she knocked on her daughter's door.

"I don't want to see anyone," she heard her respond.

"But honey, we're worried about you," her mother said resolutely, opening the door to let their visitor in. Mrs Fawcett and Bianca looked concerned when they saw her lying in bed, her duvet up to her chin and the drapes drawn closed. "I hope you can get her to talk, she's not said anything to us," she said in a soft tone, before she left the two girls alone.

"Heather… what's happened? You seemed to have such fun on Friday," Bianca started softly, sitting herself down at the foot of her friend's bed. The brunette didn't respond, instead pulling her favourite teddy bear closer, hoping she was cried out for now; she'd done nothing but for the whole of Sunday night and into Monday. "I take it this isn't about Jamie?" the blonde knew that was completely off-target but hoped it would get a response out of her.

"No, not Jamie," Heather said with a despondent sigh.

"Another guy then?" Bianca checked, knowing she was getting closer when her friend stifled a sob; apparently, she wasn't done crying. "It's not…" she started, not sure if she dared to say it out loud, "it's not Kevin, is it?"

"Don't be silly," the brunette managed to choke out before she burst into tears, belying her words.

"Oh, babe…" her blonde friend said sympathetically as she moved up closer on the bed to try to give her a hug. "What happened?" she asked, though she could figure out that Kevin had most likely told her nothing could happen between them again.

"I couldn't help myself, it's been so much like old times," Heather sniffed. "And I guess… I never got over him in the first place," she admitted honestly, wiping her tears away as she noticed her friend didn't look surprised at that revelation. "I called him on Friday, apparently telling him I still have feelings for him. So on Sunday he told me… he told me… Stephanie deserved better and he couldn't do that to her," she summarised, and started crying again. Bianca was about to point out that Kevin hadn't actually said he didn't return the feelings, just that he felt he couldn't reciprocate, but she realised that was not what her friend needed to hear right now. Instead, she hugged her tighter and rocked her gently.

"I'm sorry babe," she said softly, one hand softly going through her hair. She let Heather cry without offering her any advice or counsel.

They were sat there for over half an hour before Heather's tears finally ran out, at least for now.

"Bianc, what do I do now?" she asked softly, feeling exhausted just trying to think of a plan of action. After all, she never went through this process to begin with and with all her other relationships she cut and run before it could get serious enough to develop deeper feelings or get hurt.

"You pick yourself up. Grieve what you had with Kevin and move on," Bianca said, as if it was that simple.

"How?" her friend asked a little exasperated.

"Cry as much as you need, go over old photos and memories, but after a few days go back out into the world… even if it's just an hour. And you don't have to see him, not to begin with. Get back to normal things," the blonde answered, thinking it couldn't be that hard, even if admittedly she'd never been so in love and consequently heartbroken as Heather was now. "Right, I know," Bianca added now as she got up, confusing her friend when she walked over to where her pictures were on her wall. "This… is… practice for… Friday's social… events, just in case he shows up," she started to explain as she started peeling one off carefully. Heather still didn't get it, frowning as she sat up a little straighter. "Pretend… that I'm Kevin," the blonde said, holding his picture in front of her face.

"What?" Heather was torn between crying and laughing.

"Come on," Bianca said now. "Hi Heather, I'm Kevin," she started, putting on a deeper voice, moving the photo in time with her head. At this her friend managed a giggle, which grew into a proper laugh. "I'm serious," Bianca tried, but she was way too happy that she was laughing to try properly.

Heather got up off the bed, still laughing, and pulled her in for a big hug. "Bianc, you're so silly. I love you," she told her friend now, planting a big kiss on her cheek.

The blonde gave a teasing grimace at the kiss before she returned it. "Any time hun," she promised.

The next day Heather implemented her friend's step-programme; she got showered and joined her parents for lunch and dinner. On Friday, she knew that there was a good chance she'd have to see Kevin at dinner with her friends, so she went outside to walk the five minutes to the shops. She needed some fresh air, to test herself before she had to stay out for longer.

In the end, she needn't have worried. Kevin had gone to see Stephanie from Thursday until Saturday morning, so he didn't join the group for dinner that Friday night. It gave Heather an additional day to try to work through her feelings and put on her poker face around their friends. Aside from Bianca, she didn't want them to know what had happened and to treat her differently because of it. They went to Da's Thai Diner, along the High Street towards the station, as it was a cosy little restaurant with very good food. It was also close to Cramptons pub on the other side of the road for a few drinks afterwards.

She was relieved that, by the end of the night, none of her friends had been able to tell that she was hiding heartbreak.