It wasn't until 3 days later when Karen's mobile finally rang with Jaynes number flashing up on the screen, Chris was still practically living with Karen and they were both helping each other along the way, keeping each other company and trying very hard not to think about their best friend too much, but they just couldn't help it the amount of time they spent thinking about something else was very limited. "Karen the phone! Answer it!" Chris said, jumping up from the armchair and picking Karen's phone up from the coffee table, and thrusting it at her face as he rushed into the kitchen. His face lit up like a kid in a candy shop when he saw Jayne's face on the screen but at the same time he was flooded with butterflies in his stomach as he waited to find out everything he could.
"Jayne? Hello! Now you tell me everything missy!!" Karen said smiling at the sound of Jayne's voice. "Karen? I'm so so sorry I haven't spoken to you... But I'm going to tell you everything now okay?" Jayne sounded teary but she was just as pleased to hear Karen's voice and she was so happy to finally be able to let everything out. "Jayne seriously you have no idea what the hell you have put us through honest to god swear you'll never do anything like it again please" Karen said going into the lounge with the phone pressed up against her ear as she sat down cross legged on the sofa in preparation for the long explanation she was about to get. "one thing before I start... Chris isn't there is he? I just don't want him to hear this yet" Jayne said and Chris did hear, but Karen turned round to a nervous looking Chris who was standing in front of her with one hand in his mouth, Karen put a finger to her lips to signal Chris not to make a single sound. "no, no he's not and don't worry honey I won't tell him anything you don't want me too I promise" Karen lied, of course she was going to tell him everything she found out. "okay well... Karen I don't even know where to start or how to tell you this I really don't..." "okay well I'll help you... Where are you??" "I'm.. I'm at phil's" Jayne answered nervously. "that's who you saw me drive off with..." "what's going on then? How long have you been seeing him?!" "a year..." "a year?! Jayne bloody hell why didn't you tell me before? How come you went on lying to Chris all that time?" "well it started off as nothing, then our relationship developed we were having sex and stuff and I didn't know what to do, I still loved Chris, I didn't want to tell you or Chris, it was...." "okay calm down Jayne.. It's fine, tell me more?" "we're married" Karen nearly choked at Jayne's words she definitely was not expecting anything of the sort. "you're married? You've lost me. When?? Jayne what have you done..." Karen sighed heavily. "the day after mine and chris's supposed wedding...Karen I feel absolutely awful just saying all this but I had to tell someone I just didn't know how to say it, but I knew with you it wouldn't matter, thank you so much for being here for me, seriously I'd be such a mess without you..." "so what... Do you love this phil?" "yes I do I do... I wouldn't have married him otherwise would I? Just, standing in front of that alter with Chris I just couldn't do it, not then not ever, I just couldn't. And I had to marry phil, he's the one Karen. I had to marry him to prove to everyone that it wasn't just a fling, it's serious" "well if that's how you feel... Jayne im going to support you either way whatever you do, I'm not saying what you did to Chris was a good thing but I'm always going to be here for you and whenever you're ready I'll be here to help" "thank you Karen..." Jayne was in tears on the other end of the line but she had phil next to her, rubbing her back comfortingly as she spoke, he'd been trying to get her to open up and tell someone for ages and he was so happy she finally had and it was official what they were doing. "okay I'll let you go then I guess... Do you want me to tell Chris anything?" "erm just tell him whenever you see him that I'm so so sorry but it was something I had to do, I didn't intend to hurt him quite so bad I think I might have and I hope we can still be friends eventually, even if it takes us a while..." Jayne trailed off a little. "okay well thank you so much for telling me jayne... You have no idea how worried I've been" "thank you... Bye" "bye..." Karen slowly put the phone down and looked up at Chris giving him a sympathetic look, standing up and giving him a big warm hug as a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, landing on chris's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry" Karen whispered into his neck, realising he must have heard the whole conversation from start to finish, every word, each of which had broke his heart now leaving him totally devastated. "shes been seeing this guy a year and I never knew? How bloody stupid am I?" he said sitting back on the sofa putting his head in his hands. "you're not stupid... I had no idea either and we normally tell each other everything no matter what it is, I feel stupid myself" "I just can't believe she's actually married as well though... She's been seeing him a bloody year!" Chris was not going to let it go for a long time he was in total disbelief and Karen just sat next to him not knowing what to think of it all. "go and get the wine honey" Chris suddenly said breaking the silence. Karen did as she was told and poured them a glass each as they sat and would have looked quite relaxed to anyone else but what was going through both their heads was everything but, the complete opposite.
They'd finished the whole bottle of wine and Karen was feeling quite tipsy compared to normal, maybe it was because of everything she'd had to take in but she couldnt be sure. She sat closer to Chris and snuggled into him more and more each minute without realising, and he just sat back and let her, putting his arm round her as they sat in front of the tv. A while later Karen turned around, looked Chris right in the eye and slowly their lips acted like magnets attracted towards each other, in a matter of about ten seconds their lips were locked together and eyes closed, held for a few seconds and came away again. "I'm so sorry..." Karen gasped as she realised what she'd done, but it was like Chris had never heard her he just responded to her actions which were louder than her words, and leant in for another soft, intimate, passionate kiss, for longer this time.
They sat on the sofa kissing more and more passionately for a while, feeling each other’s bodies pressed up against each others, not quite sure what they were doing but neither of them cared it somehow it just felt right for them both. It didn’t feel at all weird or uncomfortable, maybe that was because it had happened so spontaneously. Before either of them could really think straight or very intelligently Karen had lead Chris up to her bedroom locking them both in there, having no idea that Laura was just in the next room. They had their hands all over each other like an addiction, they couldn’t stop. The night seemed almost magical, the moon was shining through the window and the curtains were wide open the light of the street light right outside Karen’s house wasn’t phasing them as it shone through, neither of them thought to close the curtains, they were too busy and focused on kissing, the rest of the world was non existent to them.
The next morning came far too quickly and Chris was first to wake up. It didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing he always woke up at around 6am, even if it then meant he did go back to sleep, realising he didn’t have to wake up. But today when he woke, in a strange room he’d never woken up in before panic just sunk into him instantly. He didn’t even know where he was for a few minutes, until he rolled over onto his other side, to see a peacefully sleeping Karen beside him, facing the wall. He tried to wreck his brain to remember what happened the previous night, but at first nothing came to him. Eventually he did remember kissing Karen rather a lot but he couldn’t remember everything or exactly what happened. The next 10 minutes followed no sense whatsoever. He got out of the bed slowly so he didn’t wake Karen, pulled on his clothes which were in a heap by the side of the bed, and left. Just like that. He didn’t even know where he was going to go but as he crept downstairs and through the kitchen through the lounge he just hoped Emma and Laura weren’t going to be around.
Luckily his car was parked outside Karen’s now from when he’d gone to get his things so he got in it and just drove. Just aimlessly. After an hour of aimless driving around the area they lived he did notice that his phone was ringing and vibrating in his pocket, and he chose to ignore it. Eventually he went back to his own house hoping like mad that Jayne wasn’t going to be there with this Phil guy, she was the last person he wanted to see, and Karen had now been added to that list of people he didn’t wish to bump into. He was in luck as he pulled up onto the empty driveway and made his way into the house, he just collapsed on the sofa. His head hurt. In fact, his whole body ached but he wasn’t sure why, he slowly began to relax and only a few minutes passed before he was lying curled up on the sofa with his eyes closed, his iPhone slipped out his pocket and on to the wooden floor a couple of feet beneath him.
At 10:30am he woke again to the sound of his phone that had been ringing for the past hour, but he had finally recognised the sound and acknowledged it. Opening his eyes, he reached down to pick up the phone and slid the bar across to answer it without checking who it was. “Chris?” “Hi… Karen…” he said, the phone call he’d been dreading and didn’t even know why. It was Karen, for gods sakes. She wouldn’t hurt him or anyone she was close to and he knew that but as soon as he heard her voice his heart rate increased by so much it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Suddenly he remembered feeling exactly the same way the night before, but for very different reasons, the total opposite. “Chris you scared me sick… When I woke up I thought I’d dreamt what happened last night but it was all too real I know it really did happen… where are you? I miss you already I know it’s stupid…” Karen sounded distraught on the other end of the phone and she didn’t know how Chris felt at all, she was almost scared to find out. “Chris say something please! Just tell me where you are?” “I’m at home…” “Is Jayne there?” “Do you seriously think I would be here if she was… I mean really” Chris said very sarcastically, relaxing a little bit as slowly he realised Karen wasn’t mad at him for running off. “No I suppose not… not thinking straight I guess” she sighed “Please come back? Chris we can’t just leave things like that… we need to talk” she said sensibly. “Yeah sure I’ll be right over I don’t even know why I left you I guess… I… I just got scared I don’t know why… see you in a minute” and with that Chris picked himself up and got back in the car and drove back to Karen’s.
She answered the door in her silky nightdress and beckoned Chris in. “I missed you so much it’s stupid… I only realised you were gone 10 minutes ago when I woke up, I kind of sensed you get up to go but was too tired to wake up…” she said pulling Chris in the house and kissing his lips without thinking as if it was just an automatic thing. “Karen what are you doing?” he said pulling a way a little. “I thought you wanted to talk about this… us?” he said taking her hand and leading her toward the living room to sit down and talk. “No don’t go in there!” she said quickly stopping him before he opened the door. “Why?” “Because the girls are both in there, I don’t know if they were here last night or what, but I don’t want them to find out about this… okay? We’ll have to go upstairs in the bedroom or they might see you” “Well they already know I’m staying here I don’t see the problem?” he said, but did as he was told and followed Karen upstairs, perching on the end of her bed next to her. “Well yes but they’re not to hear us talking about it! They can’t find out Chris, you don’t understand” Karen said he could hear the panic in her innocent voice. “shhh baby shh… you’re working yourself up way too much about this, just calm down a bit… breathe…” he said taking hold of her hand and squeezing it lightly.
“Sorry I’m just overreacting you know me…” she said taking a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second and then opening in them taking in another breath while she went over in her head what she was going to say. “Chris I… I.. I don’t know if this is a good idea… not at the moment anyway, I mean… it’s just so soon for you?” she started off, finding it very hard to look at him. “But I think I love you Karen…” he replied. “Chris are you sure though? I just don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship right now and I don’t think you are eith-” she was cut off by Chris’s lips touching her own, and at first reluctantly she began to kiss him back, but then got into the rhythm of things and enjoyed it more, they fell backwards onto the bed giggling, wondering each other’s bodies with their hands feeling everything.
They continued to pleasure each other through the morning completely loosing track of time, and it wasn’t long before both of them were lying totally naked on the bed covers, still kissing passionately. “Chris I…” Karen said once their romance had died down a bit, trying to start the conversation again, about to find out it was useless even trying. “Karen I don’t want this conversation…not now… so can we please just enjoy each other’s company and charms and talk about this some other time? Please?” at first Karen seemed absolutely fine with the idea and went back to kissing Chris’s surprisingly soft lips, but a thought came into her mind and she stopped in her tracks. “Chris….are you using me?” she said in a hurt voice, moving her body a way from him as a rather disgusted look came across her face. “Karen! No, why would I be using you? I can’t believe you would even think that! Maybe this isn’t the best time for this?!” Chris said, his voice was raised and the expression on his face was not a happy one. “I’m sorry I just thought… I don’t know I guess I’m just not ready for this” she said. “Well forget it then, forget it! I can’t believe you would think something like that Karen!! How long have I known you?! This is not the time to messing each other about!” he shouted at her, then picked up his small holdall bag, stormed out the room, ran down the stairs and out the house, slamming the front door behind him. He got in his car and sped off down the road much faster than he normally would and got home as quickly as could, guessing Jayne wouldn’t be back there any time soon, or hoped. When he pulled up on the drive he felt a twang of guilt about the way he’d snapped so suddenly at Karen, he let his head fall down to rest against the steering wheel where he’d stayed for a while.
He had never been any good with relationships, not ever. When he was a kid in his teens he always thought it was something he would get better at as the years went on, but it turned out he hadn’t. Jayne had been his only lover, and when he fell in love with her all those years ago he never expected their relationship to last that long, who knows why it had taken them so long to get married, just time, he guessed. All this time with Jayne meant he had no idea how to handle a new budding relationship, he had no idea what to do, and now he’d lost Jayne out of no fault of his own, he’d certainly been thrown in the deep end with this new relationship with Karen. He’d only backed out of the awkward ‘talk’ with Karen because he knew it would be just that, awkward. He just wanted a relationship, to feel loved, but not have to act upon it outside of the house, he’d already messed that plan up big time.
Meanwhile he’d left Karen in not a good state at all, she was curled up in a ball at the top of the bed with all the pillows piled up surrounding her, she was in tears that flowed heavily. She had realised that it had reached the point where the possibility of having more than just a close friendship with Chris had vanished. She cried herself to sleep thinking about it all, waking up a little while later wondering what had happened. Remembering, she reached for her Blackberry to ring Jayne and see how she was doing, probably better than she currently was. “Jayne?” “Hi Karen, good timing honey I was just about to call you!” Jayne said, full of happiness. “You sound so happy…” Karen said, and Jayne immediately spotted the sadness in her best friend. “I wish I could say the same to you!? What’s happened?” “I can’t… I can’t really tell you. I wish I could but I really can’t, one day you’ll find out though, I can promise you that much” Karen said leaving Jayne incredibly confused and even more curious. “Okay well… I have something to tell you… can I come round? It’s better to say in person and we need a catch up, I haven’t seen you in agesss!” Jayne said as if she’d just been away and nothing had happened. “Yeah sure! Give me half an hour and you come round, that’ll give me time to get dressed and ready” Karen said without thinking. “What have you been up to until now that means you’re not dressed?? It’s nearly 3pm Karen! Ooooh, is there a man involved?” Jayne said the last bit in a cheeky voice. “Maybe…” Karen said. “Okay see you in a bit then I’ll leave you to get ready!”
Soon Karen was ready, she quickly text Jayne to tell her and she was knocking on the door within the next 10 minutes. “This Phil then… he doesn’t live far no?” Karen said laughing in response to Jayne’s quick travelling over there. “Nope…” Jayne said tapping her nose. “Take a seat I’ll get the kettle on,” Karen said smiling broadly, so happy to finally put a face to the happy friend she’d been talking to on the phone which just wasn’t the same. “Karen… has Chris been here?” Jayne asked as she came through with the coffees, just as a general question, but Karen got all jumpy. “No! why would he have been here?” “He has hasn’t he… I can tell in your voice Karen you can’t lie to me! Why would you lie about seeing him…?” Jayne said thinking through all the possibilities in her mind. “Uhh!” she suddenly gasped as she realised what could have happened. “You didn’t?!!” “I’m so sorry Jayne…” Karen said trying not to cry again. “he’s been staying here since the wedding because he couldn’t bare staying in that house by himself, I was just being a good friend you know?” “so he was here when I was talking to you? He knows everything doesn’t he!” “yeah he does… listen I’m so sorry Jayne I couldn’t just not tell him though! Please forgive me…! For everything?” Karen begged. “Okay well listen as long as it doesn’t happen again, I can’t believe you slept with him! Anyway where is he now, is that why you sounded so upset earlier?” “Yeah we just had a little…thing… I’m sure we’ll both get over it, I don’t think a relationship was the best thing for either of us… anyway can we stop talking about me now! I want to know about you honey, I have so many questions…” “okay well before you start asking I have one more thing to tell you, just take a deep breath okay…I'm pregnant... with twins!"
“Twins? When Jayne? How far? Oh godddd….” Karen said it all quickly, she didn’t know whether to be happy, emotional or confused at her friend’s news. “I don’t know…. I‘m a little over 3 months… I went for the scan it was the day before the wedding, when I went into the hospital that was the only time they had otherwise I‘d have had to wait much longer… god knows what possessed me to agree to it, why couldn’t I just get married and then sort everything out, make Chris think the twins were his and put all these weird feelings behind me…?” “Jayne I don’t even know how you managed to get ready for that wedding knowing that you were pregnant with someone else’s kids? I don’t even know what to say to you other that I’m sorry…they are Phil’s then?” Karen said realising she wasn’t being stopped. “I don’t know… Karen what am I going to do if they’re Chris’s?” Jayne was almost in tears now she was acting so innocent but what she’d done really wasn’t innocent at all. “Well you’re going to have to get all sorts of tests to find out… how are you going to tell Chris you might be pregnant with his children?” “I don’t know… Karen I just don’t know what to do!”
“Come here…” Karen said in a comforting voice bringing Jayne into her arms in a tight hug, she just let Jayne rest her head on her shoulder and let all her emotions out as much as she needed to. “I’m so sorry I’ve lumped all this on you…” Jayne said sniffling a bit and lifting her head up, wiping her eyes. “My life is such a mess and I’ve got no idea what I’m doing anymore! I had the man of my dreams, Chris, and we had a perfect lovely relationship and engaged, it was wonderful…and then Phil came along and everything went to pot!” Jayne said her voice becoming more raised as she continued talking as she got more and more annoyed with herself. “Jayne no shhhh…. Sit down honey… we’ll sort you out I promise, it will just take a little time for everything to settle down but everything will be okay in the end okay? You hear me?” Jayne calmed down a little bit while Karen was talking but every time Karen hugged her more tears spilled over, she was just so clueless.
Karen and Jayne just sat and talked for ages about everything that had happened discussing what Jayne could do, there were more tears and hugs but eventually Karen had managed to comfort her a bit more so she felt much more settled and in a more positive mood than when she’d first come over. It had also made Karen want Chris even more, remembering all the sweet sultry feelings of the previous night and earlier that day. As soon as Jayne had gone she went for her Blackberry typing in Chris’s name and his number came up on the screen at the top, she clicked on it and waited for him to pick up, while the phone was ringing tension built up as she wondered whether she was doing the right thing. Should she be going after her best friends ex? Would Jayne ever forgive her if they ended up together, or even if it was just a short fling? But before she could change her mind Chris had answered the phone, he was having doubts too but his automatic reaction was to accept the call. “Karen?” “Chris?” their voices echoed one after the other. “Chris I’m so sorry… I’ve been talking to Jayne and she’s made me realise I don’t want to loose you, she lost you and I don’t want that to happen to me, I’ve been waiting for so long for a relationship… maybe Jayne leaving you is a sign that we should be together! So what do you say…. Please come back? I promise I won’t make you have any talks until you’re ready…” she went on, not giving him a chance to speak at all just talking away hoping that his answer in the end would be ‘yes’. “Karen… I… I think I’m falling in love with you” he stuttered when Karen had finally stopped talking. “At first I, I thought…. I thought I was just using you after what you said… I realised I didn’t know what I was doing! But I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day, honest to god I haven’t. I want to be with you.”
Okay the layout I’ve done this fic in is annoying me now so I’m changing it so its easier for me and probably easier for you to read too! Oh and congratulations to Sophie (TeamKarenBarber) who noticed that I never mentioned Chris getting dressed before he left Karen’s, he just grabbed his bag and ran… let’s just pretend he did actually get dressed okay!? X
After that Chris hung up the phone, leaving Karen shocked at his words but absolutely ecstatic that the feelings were back, he left her a text ‘I’m on my way!! “I missed you sooooo much…. Is that ridiculous!?” Chris said practically running up to Karen who was waiting in the doorway when Chris’s car pulled up.
“I missed you too baby… I can’t believe we’re doing this! Just… just never run away from me again okay? Come… come in” Karen said ushering Chris over, kissing him passionately on the doorstep.
“Okay how about we go inside eh?” Chris suggested, slightly taken aback by Karen’s quick actions. Karen took his hand, opened it so the grip he had on his little holdall was lost and it dropped to the floor, then took his hand pulling him up to the bedroom, pushing him back onto the bed and telling him to wait right where he was. She then sneaked out of the room closing the door behind her, leaving Chris stranded lying on the bed, leaving no clues as to where she was going. She walked across the hallway and knocked on both her daughter’s doors. Neither of them were home, so with that she crept back across the hallway this time with no reason for doing so, and then opened the door really quickly, bursting in, giving Chris a heart attack.
“What the hell was that about?!” he said sitting bolt upright on the bed, soon to be pushed over onto his back again as Karen climbed on top of him, straddling over his body.
“Just had to check we were alone that’s all… no one can find out about us okay?” Karen said seductively, running her fingers along the section of Chris’s chest that was visible, smoothly popping open a couple of buttons in the process. She then lowered herself down on top of his body, kissing him intensely.
“wow….” was all the words Chris could let escape from between his lips, as Karen continued to entertain and pleasure him, teasing him greatly in between. “I love you… Karen I’m seriously I love you…” he had to say it over and over as if to make himself believe it was true, and it was really happening, not just a dream. He’d never even fantasised being with another woman other than Jayne so this was a great surprise and treat for him, he was loving every second, not having to think about anything else in the world except who he was with at that moment.
“Okay okay I love you too now ssshhh….” Karen said seducing him successfully, pressing her finger to his lips, using her sexy skills and experience to entertain him, causing him to release groans of pleasure. He felt safe with Karen, where as before he’d been so insecure.
Okay this has been a bit of a short update tonight but I’m going to start a new fanfic :)
you'll just have to wait & see...;) here's one i just did as a short valentine's one - http://karenbarberfanfic.activeboard.com/t47827928/valentines-day/ - and i'm also planning to start another new one tomorrow at some point :)
