He shoved his hands back into the front pockets of his black hoody, the cool air crisp against his skin. Glancing around the train station he knew there wasn’t going to be anyone there to bother him, it was too early for most people to be up anyway. Continuing his path to the fourth platform, he glanced at a few of the other people that were there so early. A mother saying goodbye to her son, a man reading a newspaper on a lone bench, a hat perched upon his head, and a young couple, the girl in tears. Pulling his hand out of his pocket he looked at the time on his phone before moving his hand back into the warmth confines of his clothing.
4:37 the digital clock on his nokia read. Only two minutes until the train was scheduled to arrive. It was a good thing he had decided to leave early, his eagerness overriding his need for sleep, he had encountered a minor traffic problem along the way, panic convincing him he would have been late. A thing she hated.
just say hi the nervous words repeated over and over in his head. It had been just over three years, three long years since they had seen each other face to face. He hadn’t seen her since a few days before his audition, sure there had been the odd long emails and the even rarer late night phone calls, but she had traveled the world, while he was back becoming a superstar, and while their relationship had managed to stay intact, somehow, just somehow, he knew things would be awkward.
The train had arrived with a screech of the brakes and he had spotted her instantly as the passengers began to leave the small train. She was trying to button up her grey coat with one hand, while put a book in her bright green bag with the other, all the while managing to drag her luggage along with her. He watched as she gave up on the buttons on the coat, but managed to get the book in her bag, before she looked around the small station, apprehension filling her eyes.
Finally their eyes met, before both parties made their way towards the other. No words escaped as he wrapped his arms around her, hers going around his neck as he buried his face into her neck.
To an outsider they could have been lovers, a man picking his girlfriend up from a trip back to her parents that lasted too long. But they weren’t, no, the young couple were much more than that. Once inseparable, they were childhood best friends.
Chapter One
“ ,”
“Uhuh,” he mumbled in response to her voice.
“We’ve been standing here for ten minutes now,” he heard her try to keep the laugher out of her voice as he finally let go of her.
“Oh. Uh, sorry, your probably tired,” he glanced at his hands, “and cold,”
“Tired. Yes,” She smiled, “cold, not so much, I had this big guy that was keeping me warm,”
“I’m not big,” he protested.
Smirking she looked him up and down, “Your right, your not. You can take my luggage right?”
“Oi,” he shouted as he grabbed her suitcase and turned to see her walking away, “your going to pay for that,”
“Took you long enough to work out,” she giggled poking her tongue out at him.
great fifteen minutes after three years and she’s already insulting me, sighed slightly to himself, at least that hasn’t changed
“, I can’t find your car by myself,” her voice broke his thoughts before he fell into step next to her, “so if your England’s superstar , how come there’s no paparazzi?”
“Well I told them that this weird girl would have been scared off if they came,” he answered.
“I wouldn’t have been scared,” She said, believing him.
“I was joking, ,” He laughed wrapping an arm around her, pulling her closer, as she rested her head on his shoulder, as was their little ritual.
Five minutes later they were in his small car, waiting at the traffic lights. As soon as they had got to the car, silence had taken over. But it was a comfortable silence, one that had been used over and over again years before, where words hadn’t needed to be spoken.
“Tell me about the world,” finally broke the silence, “Was it ready for my ?”
He watched as she shrugged uninterestedly, leaving him to wonder if something had happened, but putting her quietness down to the trip.
“The guys are excited to finally meet you,”
He received a weak smile in response, “I googled ya’s the other day, the one with hairs a bit cute,”
“,” answered slowly, “is off limits,”
“Okay, what about the one that plays the ?” she asked cheekily.
“He has a girlfriend,” groaned, “your not dating one of my band members,”
“But what if we fall madly in love, ?” she giggled, knowing he was getting frustrated.
“I’ve already told them you’re off limits too,” he answered, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Your no fun,” she mumbled, looking out of the window, “Meh, there’d have to be something wrong with them if their your friends anyway,”
“Hey,” laughed, “’s a bit weird, and ’s over the top sometimes, but I think ’s pretty normal,”
“Normal is weird ,” she stated as they stopped at another set of lights.
Not responding, he took a chance to look at his best friend. He knew he had changed in three years, and he hadn’t had a chance to look at her properly at the train station. Her hair was the most noticeable change at a first glance, it being shorter, going from half way down her back to just touching past her shoulders, the color was now , and she had a fringe, which flopped over one eye. The freckles which crossed her nose were still there, but had faded slightly, but it was her eyes that had changed the most. Still the same , he found that there was something missing, leaving them slightly vacant.
“You know it’s rude to stare,” she told him without even glancing in his direction, “Maybe I could meet the band tomorrow?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, blushing slightly from being caught, “Erm, tomorrow. Well, uh, we kinda have this signing. At Milton Keys, so yeah, you can stay back at my place if you want, or come with us. It’s up to you,”
“-” she began as he pulled into the car driveway of his house.
“Okay, I haven’t actually unpacked anything in my house yet, so I’m telling you your coming with us,” he paused, “plus ’s real excited to meet you, so she can go shopping or whatever while were doing the signing,”
“I was going to say yes,” She grinned, “Who’s ?”
“’s girlfriend,” he answered as he parked the car, “But great, all my favourite people together,”
“Guess what though,”
“What?” asked confused as he followed her around to the back of the car.
“We’re unpacking your house today,” she answered with a cheeky grin.
“Joy!” he exclaimed, sarcasm filling his voice, before changing tones, “I’m really glad your back ,”
“Oh I’m sure you are, but don’t think this ‘ helping out thing’ is going to last, I’m only living with you until I find my own place,” she smirked, not realising he actually meant it.
“I was being serious,”
“Oh,” her grin faded slightly, before she laughed softly, “Well, me too,”
Chapter 2:
“What are you doing?”
“Getting dressed, what does it look like?” came the sarcastic reply.
“Why?”
“Because we have to be at ’s in,” she paused the movement of pulling her jeans on and glanced at her watch, “twenty minutes , it takes us five to get there. Get up,”
“Fifteen minutes is heaps long,” He smirked from the bed.
“, I’m dressed,” She pointed out, before walking out of the bedroom.
“But we’re not leaving for the signing for another hour,” He shouted through the wall, not really annoyed at his girlfriend.
“Yeah but wants us there early,” She yelled back.
“I can’t see why we just can’t bloody meet her when we get there,” he mumbled climbing out of the bed.
“Because , it’s important to that his two best friends get along with each other,” His girlfriend spoke from the door way as she watched him in the middle of the bed room, “so get dressed already,”
just stood there staring at her. He had been with for almost a year now, and he was still amazed by everything about her. Her eyes glared at him again, waiting for him to move.
“Well I don’t see what the big deal is,” as soon as he spoke he knew he had said the wrong thing.
“Do you remember how nervous you were when I first met ?” She questioned him, “you’ve got ten minutes by the way,”
“Yeah but it’s not like she’s his girlfriend,” He protested as she threw a t-shirt at him, before pulling it over his head.
“Exactly, she’s not someone he can dump because you three don’t give your approval,” She pointed out, “You’re jealous aren’t you?”
“No,” he replied a little too quickly as he hopped on one foot trying to pull his pants on.
“Then why don’t you want to meet her?”
“What if she doesn’t like me? What if she thinks I’m too much of a loser to be hanging out with , I mean her family is just like ’s,” he finally gave in, losing his balance, falling to the ground.
Kneeling next to him, smiled, her hair falling across her face slightly, “And do the ’s think you’re a loser?”
“Well no,” He began to explain.
“Plus he did say was the complete opposite of him,” She continued, passing him a pair of socks, “and the complete opposite of is…”
“Me?” he guessed pulling the socks on.
She just smiled encouragingly at him, kissing him softly on the lips, “so you ready?”
Chapter 3:
Looking in the mirror, brushed out the imaginary creases she saw in her skirt, sighing to herself as the doorbell went off in ’s house.
“and are here,” spoke as he entered the spare room, “ and should be here soon,”
“Okay, I’ll be down in a sec,” she gave him a small smile, hiding her nerves.
Taking the stairs one at a time, she was suddenly overcome by a bout of shyness, nerves screaming at her. These were the main people in ’s life now, his closest friends, his support network, what if they didn’t get along?
Waiting at the bottom of the stairs, slipped his hand into hers, squeezing it tightly as he lead her to the living room, two boys his own age sitting lazily on the couch they had set up the day before.
“Guys, this is ,” spoke and let her eyes wander over the two boys, “, this is ,” he pointed to the boy wearing a woollen beanie, tendrils of hair sticking out from beneath it, “And Tom,” the other boy looked slightly more mature.
“nice to finally meet you,” he spoke warmly, shaking her hand, “’s told us a lot about you,”
“All good things I hope,” she managed to get out, as shook her hand as well.
“well he did have us believing you were his girlfriend for a few months,” he laughed, “but then we figured who would be stupid enough to date him?”
“Ew, you told them I was your girlfriend,” she slapped on the arm, as let go of her hand.
“No, they just assumed,” rolled his eyes at , who was smirking slightly at him as the door bell went off again, before screams and laughter filled the house.
“, put me down!” grinned as the girl’s voice could be heard from the entrance hall.
“Nuhuh, you said we’d be late, you walk too slow,” a boys voice responded, “?”
“that’s and ,” Tom looked at ’s face which had gone from calm to puzzled and apprehensive.
“Yeah, you learn to ignore them,” offered as slipped out of the room.
“So said you went to Australia when you were traveling?” asked her.
“oh yeah, I was there for five months, I went all across Europe too and the US, plus I had a week in Japan, and a few months in Canada,”
“Awesome, I’d love to see pictures and stuff,” the continued, images of the places she listed forming in his mind already.
“Well there actually all back at my parents house,” she glanced around the room as she spoke, “but yeah, I could get one of my sisters to bring them down when they come,”
“Did you go to Greenland?” asked suddenly, “I don’t get that, how come it’s greenland if it’s all snow,”
didn’t know whether or not he was being serious with her or not, but was luckily saved from answering when entered the room, a girl and boy both slightly younger than the other three following close behind.
“And this ,” he smiled as he approached her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “is , and his girlfriend ,”
She smiled in response to the boy’s smile, this was ’s new best friend, her replacement, “You too, you’d probably kill though after some of the stories he’s told me about you,” she laughed as they shook hands tightly, almost as if giving the other the once over.
“You, I haven’t heard so much about. Seem’s forgot to mention a girl had joined the gang,” grinned at , and like with the others, sticking her hand out.
“Ah you cut me deep,” the girl giggled, ignoring her hand and embracing her in a hug, “Nah I don’t really spend that much time with them,”
“Yeah you stay in your home what like twice a week?” snorted, but a grin across his face.
Chapter 4
looked restlessly out of the window, his boredom of the trip back to London growing, and they weren’t even halfway back. The signing had gone well, with the band seeing over 700 fans in one sitting, the two girls disappearing until Fletch had to ring them to tell them they were ready to leave. As soon as he had met , all his fears of them not getting along had gone out of the window. She really was the complete opposite of , though, her shyness had been it’s major contributor to that. had fallen asleep, her head resting in his lap, while had taken to listening to his ipod in their row of seats.
Turning around to face the three in the back, let his curiosity get the better of him as he watched the drummer whisper something in the girls ear, his arm snaked around her waist, their hands clasped around each others, both oblivious to who was sitting next to , looking out the window. Catching the boy’s eye, nodded slightly towards the other two, receiving just a shrug and grin from the boy, he cleared his throat.
“So, , how come you finally decided to come back to England?”
Looking slightly startled that she was being spoken to, she bit her lip as if thinking for the answer she hadn’t even really been bothered to explain to .
“My older sister, Natasha’s getting married,” she answered, simply.
“Not till March,” stated, “How come you did come back so early?”
“I just got sick of traveling, decided that maybe it was time for me to get a proper job, you know, settle down,” it wasn’t a complete lie.
“But your only twenty-two,” pointed out their age, never letting her forget he was older than her by ten months, ‘almost a year’ as he liked to put it.
“I gotta grow up sometime,” she shrugged, “Plus I thought you’d be happy I was back,”
“I’m happy with whatever decisions you make,” He answered, “Just as long as they make you happy,”
“not everyone can be happy ,” she responded, the van falling into silence, the only noise coming from ’s ipod.
“So… never told me how popular you guys actually are,” the three boys just shrugged, they knew their fame was a once in a life time chance, something which could be taken away like that.
“I don’t know how you do, get up in front of all those people,” she continued, “I’d die if that was me,”
smiled to himself, remembering the way he used to feel when they first performed, it had taken him a few months and words of encouragement from the other three for his nerves to settle down, never mind disappear, “You get used to it,” he finally stated, knowing the other two never really had major issues with their nerves. had always been the smooth sophisticated one, while had been the pulled together musician, it was his job to fall apart a bit.
“What kind of job are you looking for?” he turned the topic back to her, shifting slightly in his seat as moved.
“Probably just something in a café or a pub, I dunno, that’s what I did when I was overseas though,” she finally gave a proper answer, “But I mean I’ll work wherever I can, I don’t want to be living with for too long, cramp his style and what not,”
“Cramp his style?” repeated, “If anything, you give some too it,”
“You know I don’t care how long you stay with me, it’s not like my house isn’t big enough anyway,” looked at as he spoke and couldn’t help but notice as he stroked the girls hand with his thumb.
Yawning he turned around in his seat, leaving the other three to the conversation, allowing himself to get lost in his own thoughts, making his own conclusions about the best friends. <
Chapter 5:
“You look gorgeous Tash,” said excitedly, “Doesn’t she look gorgeous ?”
“Yeah, you look gorgeous Tash,” the girl agreed with him, skimming her eyes over her older sister.
She had been back in England for three weeks, allowing her life to take on it’s old routine, she had finally given in and allowed herself to be talked into getting her bridesmaid dress fitted, the girls convincing that it was a family affair and that he needed to give brotherly advice.
“Wait until you see the bridesmaid dresses,” The blonde girl grinned as she ran her hands over the white material, “I really hope you like them, Sam wasn’t much help in picking them out,”
“It’s not my wedding,” the younger girl answered, rolling her eyes slightly, but smiled at .
“And thank god it isn’t, your much too young to be getting married,”
couldn’t help but laugh at the boys comment, “you sounded so much like my Mum then,”
“Well she is,” pointed out, “what are you now Sam, seventeen?”
“Nineteen,” the three girls corrected him all at once.
“Although sometimes she still acts like she’s twelve,” nudged her slightly.
“I do not,” the other girl whined.
“Do too,”
“I do not. What would you know, you haven’t been around for three years anyway,” Sam glared at her.
“Sam,” Tash spoke warningly.
“I’m going to try the dress on,” answered.
“Sam, why’d you have to upset her like that?” the blonde glared at her slightly, “This day was supposed to be fun,”
“It’s fun,” reassured her, “ will be fine, she doesn’t take things to heart, you know that. Plus she’s been a bit quiet since she’s been back, I think she’s still adjusting,”
“Maybe she just needs to get laid,” Sam spoke again, only to be glared at by the older girl again.
“Go get your dress on too,”
just laughed as the youngest girl disappeared. The three of them couldn’t have been more different as sisters, in both looks and personality. Natasha, or Tash, was the eldest, but only barely, by thirteen months, although to look at no one would have ever guessed she was a sister to the other two. She had long blonde hair and deep brown eyes, while both the younger girls weren’t tall, she was still the shortest. But what she lacked there she made up for in personality, never being the one who was sitting down or not talking, she always managed to put a smile on his face. , being the middle child, managed to ignore her sisters antics, but he knew her well enough to know that the hate she pretended to have for them was in fact pretend and that they were probably closer than what he and her were. And then there was Samantha, she often reminded him of , but much more outgoing. Three years younger than , her hair was long and naturally brown, but not as dark as her elder sisters. Their eyes were almost the mirror image color of blue, and when she smiled he knew that she could hold the attention of most of the male population, plus she had the confidence to do so.
Taking a deep breathe she gently slipped the dress on. She had to admit Tash had chosen some beautiful dresses, but she didn’t want to be there. Part of her knew Sam was right, she hadn’t been around for the past few years, so she didn’t know things she should have about them, she didn’t fit in with them anymore. The rest of her just didn’t want to be there point blank. It was too hard, especially when she had to hide it. It hurt a bit seeing them like that, happy, perfect, and getting on with their lives, but she wouldn’t bring them down. They didn’t need to know, because soon it would all be over.
Chapter 6:
“So, when do we get to see you again?” Natasha asked from the drivers seat of her parked car.
just shrugged as she leant through the window, “I’m not going anywhere if that’s what you mean,”
“I know, I just miss hanging out with you. You know doing stuff we used to do before you went away,” the blonde sighed.
“Well I have a job interview this week, so if I don’t get the job I suppose I can come up and visit ya’s,” the younger girl answered, “other wise, I guess Christmas time?”
“Christmas is ages away,” Sam spoke, “Oh yeah, there’s a box of your stuff in the boot,”
“Your photos,” Tash filled in the blank, “and don’t worry if you can’t come up soon. I’m sure a few weeks without seeing you wont kill me,”
“Thanks,” smiled as she came back to the front of the car.
“You went to some nice places,” Sam stated as she mucked around with the radio.
“You guys looked at them?”
“Yeah, Japan looks nice,”
“no way, New York looked the best,” Sam interrupted, “Shouldn’t we be going,”
“Yeah,” Tash glanced at the clock of the car, “Call me. And look after that boy,”
“I’ll try,” laughed slightly as she leant through the window and kissed each of her sisters on the cheek, “I had fun today. Drive safe.”
“We will. Good luck tomorrow,” Sam called out the window as they pulled out.
Waiting until the car had turned off ’s street, carried the box inside before sitting on the first step and taking the lid off. Searching through it’s contents, she didn’t hear as Harry approached the hallway.
“They gone?”
“Huh? What?” she quickly grabbed the lid and put it back on top, “Oh, yeah, the girls are gone,”
“What’s in the box?” He tried to lift the lid up.
“Just photo’s,” she answered, keeping her hands firmly placed on top, “Wanna watch a movie?”
“Not really,” raised his eyebrows at her, “Can I look?”
“Their not that interesting,”
“So, I want to see the places where you went,”
“But- ” he effortlessly pulled the box from her tight grasp before carrying it into the lounge.
“Harry, I don’t want to look at pictures. Let’s go out,”
“Half an hour ago you were complaining about a headache,” he frowned at her, before turning his attention back to the filled box, “wow, is that Australia?”
Ignoring him, she sat on the floor opposite the lounge he was sitting on. Fifteen minutes later he gave into her sulking and sat across from her.
“There’s a letter in here,” he passed her a sealed white envelope, as the phone rang.
She knew exactly what it was. Inwardly sighing a sigh of relief that neither her sisters or parents had opened it. Ripping it open she ran her thumb over the edge of it’s contents, not taking them out just incase Harry saw, but ensuring they were still all in there.
“okay……yeah, I’ll ask her….alright hang on,” she glanced up at as he spoke on the phone.
“ wants to know if we want to go watch some movies at his place,” he looked directly at her.
“sure. Does he want us there now?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there,” he spoke into the phone for a few more moments before hanging it up.
Taking another pile of photos out of the box, he began to flip through them, “Who’s the letter from,”
“My friend Madeline,” , lied, “Are we going?”
“we don’t have to leave straight away,” He answered, not giving her answer a second thought.
“Yes, we do,” she pulled the box away form him and shoved everything, including the white envelope back into it and putting the lid on.
“Fine,” frowned, “I don’t know why your acting this way, and I’m not sure I want to know, but whatever,”
“Let’s go,” she jumped to her feet and gave him a smile as he climbed to his feet. Waiting for him to leave the room, she gently pushed the box under the arm chair she had been resting against, the hope that would have forgotten about it by the time they got back.
“Look at him,” whispered, afraid the would hear them.
“I know,” answered, “I’ve never seen him like this before,”
“I don’t get it,” answered watching the dark haired boy, “What’s so different?”
watched as the three of them stared across the table at the , who in turn was trying to make it look like he wasn’t watching ,. She had got the job as a waitress at a restaurant not too far from ’s house, and had been working there for two weeks now. In the month that they had known , – , and himself had watched , and confirmed their thoughts about him. He was sure had noticed too, just not yet realized what was happening.
“You know you don’t have to wait until I finish my shift,” , grinned at them slightly as she approached their table, before beginning to clear away the empty glasses.
“It’s only half an hour,” answered, giving her his own smile.
“fine, but don’t blame me if our bored,”
“So ,” watched his best friend as he watched the girl walk away from the table with the dirty dishes, “Tell us, exactly, how long have you been in love with ?”
“Your in love with ,?” looked at the quizzically.
“, shut up,” hissed and elbowed him in the ribs, waiting for ’s response.
“I’m not in love with her,” finally said, never taking his eyes off the brunette, “She’s like one of you,”
“Bull,” stated, “that’d be like saying was like one of us,”
“come off it, I’ve known , since we were in diapers,” He finally looked at his friends, “It’d be weird if I liked her like that. She’s like my sister,”
“A hot sister, who you could shag and not get into trouble for because your not blood related,” finally said something slightly helpful.
“besides you cant lie to us. Well me anyway, I know you too well.” grinned, “so stop denying it. We’ve all seen the way you look at her,”
“Guys. Just stop it. She’s my best friend,” he put his head into his hands, before looking at and frowning slightly, “you’ve been awfully quiet.”
She just shrugged slightly before responding, “You know her inside and out, would it be so surprising if you were in love with her?”
“Well it doesn’t matter anyway,”
“what Doesn’t matter?” the five looked up at , who had a jug of water and clean glasses in her hand, “Okay…….do I have something on my face?”
“No, we were just talking about how is -”
“Can we just talk about something else?” glared at the boy who shut up immediately.
“You guys are seriously weird, but here’s some water,” she laughed as she placed it on the table, not noticing the other three glare at too.
“What?”
“Your such a tool,” finally said, “but you never answered my question. How long have you been in love with her?”
“I’m not,” simply said, and turned back to scanning the restaurant, only this time his eyes didn’t fall on his best friend, instead they swept past her, only to stop on a man who had just entered the restaurant, a baseball cap covering most of his face, a man who had his attention on ,.
Chapter 8:
“Your finished already?” stood up as approached the table again, glancing at the man who was now sitting on the other side of the restaurant, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in for a hug.
“Yes, I am,” She smiled up at him, “What was that for?”
“I need a reason to hug my best friend?” He ignored who had snorted as he spoke.
“Well, yes,” answered, waiting for a reasonable explanation.
“Fine, there’s a creepy guy watching you over there,”
“Compared to the creepy guy watching her from over here?” laughed as he stood up.
“There’s been guys watching me? Which ones, they could be hot?” began to glance around the restaurant quickly.
“Er, I don’t know who ’s talking about,” answered glaring at him, “But that guy with the baseball cap keeps looking at you,”
He watched as she glanced across the restaurant, the smile on her face faded slightly, as her eyes came into contact with the guys.
“Not my type,” she turned back to , “Can we go now?”
“Wanna know why that guy’s not her type ?” spoke into his ear from behind him as the girls and began to head towards the exit, “Because you’re her type,”
“Just stop it ,” answered as he too walked away.
***
“! Help me!” a squeal came from the floor, and the smirked as he watched and wrestling. He was glad they were getting along so well, but he couldn’t help but feel a little left out. was in his kitchen and and were arguing over what they wanted to watch on the tv. “This isn’t fair, I’m a girl,”
“Prove it,” laughed, tickling her and heard her gasp, “Hey what’s that?”
Glancing away from the couple who were fighting, he watched as squirmed as pinned her hands down with one hand, and reached for something that was under the armchair.
“What’s what?” asked.
“This box,” answered and pulled it out.
“That’s mine, it’s private,” gasped, breaking free from his gasp.
“, someone’s at the door,” yelled loudly.
“Their ’s overseas pictures,” stated as he got up.
“Oh cool!” grinned, ignoring ’s protests as he took the lid off the box.
“Tom, don’t” panicked.
“But you said you’d show them to me,” He didn’t look up.
“Yeah, but,” she fell short as she watched him pick up the photos that were half sticking out of the envelope.
“anyone want a sandwich?” spoke with his mouth half full as he entered the room.
felt herself cringe as looked at the pictures before looking back up at her, and then past her. Turning around she found herself face to face with , an unrecognizable look across his face.
“Whats happened?” she got to her feet and took a step towards him, “ , Who was at the door,”
“It’s for you,” He answered, his voice toneless, his eyes on the floor, “It’s your husband,”
Chapter 9
“What are you doing here Kevin?” stood on the front porch, her arms folded across her chest.
“I came to see you,” He answered confused, placing his hand on her shoulder and taking a step toward her, as he pulled the cap off his head with his free hand, “I missed you,”
Shrugging him off, took a few steps in the other direction, “Why are you really here?”
“See you know me too well , this is why we are supposed to be together,” he ignored her frown.
“Don’t call me , only my friends can call me that,” she snapped, moving away again as he approached her, she sat on the step.
“And we’re much more than that arn’t we,” he sat next to her, his fingers running up her arm to her neck, ignoring her flinching, “You have to come back to California with me, just until the job comes through,”
“You honestly think i would go anywhere with you?” she mumbled, hugging her knees to her chest.
“, please, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need you,” he whispered, moving to his knees in front of her. Gently he lifted her chin with his fingers, “I love you,”
Looking away, shut her eyes, refusing to picture his face as he said it. Taking a deep breath she finally opened them, “Is that what you told Katie just before she divorced you too?”
“What?” he looked taken back, his brown eyes sparking with something she had never seen before.
“You really thought I wasn’t going to find out,” she scrambled to her feet, her voice raising by each word, “That you used her, and that fell through so you found me.”
“She was a liar,” he yelled back.
“You must have learnt a bit from her than,” snarled, “ I believed everything you told me, every single time you said I love you I believed it. i believed you when you said we would get married for real, but even that was a joke wasn’t it. that night, that stupid night i let you take me and Maddy to Vegas, that is the only thing I ever regret in my life. I hate you more than words could ever describe. I lost Madeline because of you. I lost everything because of you. i was nothing to you wasn’t i?”
She didn’t wait for a response, “No I was something, I was the thing you used to get into here wasn’t i? That’s what you wanted, my money and a free pass to England. Well guess what your not going to get it,”
“Oh yeah? You can’t divorce me. You told me that yourself, you and your stupid bloody religion, so it looks like you have no choice but to come back with me,” he grabbed her by the arms and pushed her against the wall, feeling her whimper underneath his body, “And then you’ll regret leaving me in the first place,” he finally snarled into her ear.
Suddenly he was off of her.
“I don’t give a f*cwho you are, but no one treats her like that in my house,” had him up against the wall next to her, “so, now get off my property, before i do something i regret, you can see her somewhere else,”
Pushing him off the front step glared at him until he reached his car, before turning around and disappearing back inside, leaving on the now darkened porch alone. Wiping the tears away, she followed him inside, only to watch as he walked up the stairs, at the bottom of the staircase, calling out to him.
“Are you alright?” the script>document.write(" " + blonde) turned to the girl.
She glanced towards the living room, , Dougie and each watching the hall.
“You want an honest answer?” she answered weakly.
“I’ll take what ever you want to tell me,” told her softly, watching as she glanced back up the stairs, “He’ll be fine,”
“?” she spoke quietly as he guided her into the lounge.
“Yeah?”
“Can I, uh, have those pictures back?”
Lighting the match, held the first photo over the sink. The image of herself looking back at her with a smile plastered across her face made her feel sick, the fact that Kevin had his hands on her waist made it worse. She held the match to the corner of the picture, watching as the paper began to curl as the flame caught onto it. Dropping it into the sink, she glanced at the pile of photos she still had to go through, before picking up the envelope that was underneath them. Carefully she shook the rings on to her palm. The metal cool against her skin. They were expensive rings, she knew that from a fact that she bought them herself. But they weren’t her, they were flashy and over the top, she had tried to convince Kevin to go for the simple ones, that their love wasn’t symbolized by how many diamonds were in the ring, but he had insisted that these were the ‘ones’.
Placing them back on the counter, she didn’t notice standing in the doorway, watching as she picked up the next photo, lighting a match to that too.
“Your not going to burn them all are you?” He watched as she jumped slightly at his voice.
“You might regret it when you get back with him,” He stated simply as she turned around and faced him. Avoiding her gaze, he moved to the fridge, burying his head inside.
“, i…Kevin…we’re not together,” stumbled over her words, stepping closer to where he was.
“Your married, I think that qualifies you as being together,” he answered, waiting for her to move so he could reach the cabinet above her head for a glass.
“okay, so your pissed off I never told and now he’s upset,” she finally said not moving out of his way, “I don’t even know why I didn’t - ”
“It’s alright , so what, you got married, no biggie,” he answered simply.
“I just, everything got so screwed up,” She walked towards the table, busying herself with tidying up the papers on there, not noticing as he picked the top photo up, “It was never meant to be like this,”
“Sometimes life doesn’t work to plan,” he answered simply before leaving the kitchen.
***
“What?” giggled from the driver’s seat, “Would you stop staring at me?”
“I can’t help it,” answered.
“Well help it,” giggled again, “It’s weird and creepy,”
“so?”
“, just stop it, I’m trying to drive,”
“I spoke to this morning,” he continued to watch her as she drove, “I took this,” he held up the wedding picture he had taken.
“Your going to die,” answered glancing at him quickly, “You can’t just take her stuff,”
“She was burning them,” used it as a reasonable answer, “Besides I thought she might like it, you know once she’s calmed down, or might like it, it’s just of her, not with that wanker,”
“, we don’t know if he’s a wanker,” paused, “Have they talked yet?”
“Not that I’m aware of, didn’t say much, just jumped straight on his drums, and was back in his room before we even left,”
“It’s been three days,”
“I know ,”
“Don’t you think we should do something,” She spoke as she turned the corner, driving past the restaurant worked at.
“Like what? ’s denying that he’s in love with her and she’s can’t even divorce her wanker husband,”
Sighing pulled the car to a stop as they waited for the lights to change, “Don’t worry about it, ’s much better at those sorts of plans anyway,”
“You’re just looking for trouble ,” mumbled as they watched the people cross the street in front of them.
“Cos taking her photos she obviously doesn’t want isn’t is it?” answered, changing the car into drive, neither noticing the man in the baseball hat stumble into the restaurant.
Chapter 11
“What do you want ?” he was greeted with a frown and a rough tone.
“I think I left my plectrum here,” He answered, walking past into the house.
“Cos you don’t have five thousand others you can use do you?”
“But this one’s my favourite,” glanced at the drummer, before sitting on the couch in the lounge.
“Sitting in here won’t help you find it, we didn’t even practice in here,” pointed out, knowing he wasn’t there for a lost plectrum.
“So,” finally began as the sat across from him, running his hands through his hair, “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” answered, avoiding eye contact.
“No, how are you really?” prodded him.
“I don’t know,” he finally answered after taking a deep breath, “I honestly don’t. I just, I thought when she’d be back things would go back to how they were. I know it’s selfish, but that’s what I wanted, and now I’m just losing her again. I love her , I love her so much, I always have, but I’ve never been able to tell her cos I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my best mate. Deep down I knew that one day I would lose her, I just never thought it’s be to some guy who lived halfway across the world. And I never thought I’d be the last person to find out.”
“Are you really as thick as ?” questioned, “You honestly think you’ve lost her?”
“Well…yeah, she’s married,” answered, looking at as if he was stupid.
“, you idiot,” stood up, “Your scared of losing her, where have you been the last few weeks since she’s been back. she’s here living in your house, with you, not in bloody California with her husband. if you had taken the time to actually talk to her like she wanted you to, then you’d know she doesn’t love Kevin, she doesn’t want to be married to him. It’s killing her that you reacted this way, she doesn’t understand why you wont talk to her and she said she doesn’t know why she never told you. but you know what I think ?”
“What?” looked at him, unsure if it was a question or statement.
“I think she never told you because she didn’t want to hurt you, or because maybe you’ve both been out of each other lives for so long she didn’t want to drag you into her mess,”
“That’s ridiculous. Her messes are my messes,” interrupted him, “I’m the one she used to turn to, I’m the one who used hold her when she cried, and beat up her wanker boyfriends,”
“But maybe she doesn’t need someone to beat him up,” sighed, “Maybe she just needs you to hold her hand and tell her it will all be okay. You know she’s really scared that the annulment won’t be granted, because Kevin won’t get into touch with his lawyer,”
“Annulment?”
“You honestly think she’s staying married to him?” looked at him, unsure if he really was stupid.
“So, she doesn’t love him?” asked slowly.
“Have you been listening to me at all?” whacked him on the back of the head, “No she doesn’t love him,”
Before had the chance to say anything else they were interrupted by the ringing of ’s mobile. Feeling a slight wave of relief wash over him, glanced around the room as the blonde spoke onto his phone, before snapping his attention back to him as he heard ’s name.
“Right, I’ll be ten minutes,” he turned around to see facing him as he snapped the cover on his phone shut, “I gotta go.” He avoided his gaze.
“What’s happened?” the tone of his voice made it clear wasn’t leaving until he told him what the phone call was about.
“ had an accident at work, she’s at the hospital,” mumbled, “But she said not to tell you, so you stay here and I’ll go get her,”
“I’m driving,” told him, walking out of the room, “Hurry up ,”
“So,” broke the awkward silence that filled his car as they stopped at the lights, “the other day at the restaurant we were all right?”
“about what?” asked not taking his eyes off the lights, as if he was willing them to change to green.
“About how you feel about . You love her,”
“You tell anyone about that and I’ll make sure any girl you try to pull from now on will be severely disappointed. can never find out,”
“Why?”
“Because,” answered, not putting up an argument as he pulled into the hospital carpark.
Chapter 12
“I told not to tell you,” huffed as soon as she saw , “Your supposed to be angry at me,”
“Your in hospital and you want me to be angry at you?” glared slightly at her, before noticing how pale she was, “Just shut up alright, I’m here now,”
“and yeah I didn’t tell him, he was there when you rang,” explained, taking a seat next to her and the girl that was with her, “what happened?”
“I slipped in the kitchen and cut my arm,” mumbled quietly, and for the first time the bloodied towel was noticed being held on to her arm.
“, don’t lie to your friends, you need to call the police,” the girl next to her sighed, “she won’t listen to me.”
“Jesus Christ,” knelt in front of her and carefully took the towel away from her arm, not hearing what the other girl had said, “this doesn’t look like something you’d do from a fall. Why haven’t you seen a doctor yet?”
There was a large gash on the inside of her lower arm, about ten centimeters above her wrist.
“Police?” queried, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” answered, letting hold the towel back over it, “I just slipped on some water and fe-”
“It was some guy called Kevin,” the girl answered matter-of-factly, “He was drunk and shouting, and then all of a sudden there was glass everywhere,”
“Thanks Natalie,” glared at her.
“Kevin did this?”
“It was an accident,” answered, looking into her lap.
“Why are you sticking up for him?” Natalie frowned at her, “He could have hurt you a lot more,”
“Look, I didn’t ask you to stay, so you can go now,” snapped at the girl, before placing her head in her free hand.
“Natalie was it?” spoke as the girls face fell, “You look like you could use a coffee. I’m by the way,”
“I know,” The girls voice became distant as the blonde pulled her down the corridor.
moved to the seat left empty, still holding the towel to her skin gently.
“Did they say how long they were gonna be? I think this’ll need at least four stitches,”
“It’ll be fine ,” she mumbled back.
“Dude, you have a gaping hole in your arm that’s bleeding, I think it’s fair to say it’s not fine, just this once,”
“Firstly, it’s not gaping, and secondly don’t call me Dude, I’m not a or answered, “Everything will get sorted, I promise. Infact as soon as we’ve left here I’ll ring your lawyer,”
“You don’t need to do that,” gave him a weak smile, “I’ve got an appointment with him tomorrow, Tash is coming down,”
“So you told your family?”
“I told Tash last night, she seemed pretty calm,”
“So your scared to see her then?”
“As hell,” laughed slightly, “Thanks for coming ,”
“No problem,” He squeezed her hand gently as a nurse approached them.
Chapter 13
carefully stepped out of his bedroom as he heard the front door slam shut, foot steps pounding up the stairs. Two girls voices getting louder.
“I still don’t know what you were thinking,” Natasha’s voice snapped, she had been silent that morning when she arrived, but now she was obviously furious.
“Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking,” snapped back, “Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten myself in this mess in the first place,”
“What did the lawyer say?” stepped between the two sisters and asked the question weakly before Natasha could respond.
“that is could possibly be pushed forward with what happened yesterday,” answered.
“What’s Mum and Dad gonna say? Did you think about that? Did you think about the fact that we missed your wedding?” the blonde ignored
“I don’t know,” shrugged, “does it matter? I made a mistake Tash, I know I made a mistake. One that I regret big time, so can you just please drop it?”
“Drop it? Your married to a fcuking lunatic ,” the blonde pushed past as they entered the room.
“She’s got a point,” Harry said quietly as he followed the two girls into the tidy room.
“Would you just shut up?” glared at him.
“Don’t speak to him like that,” Tash glared at her sister.
“Well neither of you are fcuking helping. I know I made a mistake, I don’t need you to keep reminding me,”
“This isn’t just a little mistake , he could have seriously hurt you,” Tash continued and walked towards the wardrobe, “And you left to call the police,”
“SHUT UP,” screamed, “JUST SHUT UP AND GET OUT. BOTH OF YOU.” she pushed the two of them out of her bedroom.
“When did she get like that ?” the blonde turned to the and he watched as tears filled her eyes, “When did she not need my help anymore? Sam never needed it, but always let me help,”
“She’s still adjusting,” shrugged, “I think she believed that Kevin really did love her. Come on, I’ll put the kettle on,”
“I think it would be best if she came home with me,” Tash finally stated as they sat at the kitchen table, “I mean waitress wages are hardly enough to pay rent and she’s jobless after that stunt that bastard pulled yesterday. Why she told them to screw the job I’ll never know,”
“They told her that the behavior wasn’t acceptable, while she had blood pouring out of her arm,” explained, “So I think that was a fair answer from her. She doesn’t have to leave. She’s fine here. She’ll find a job eventually, just let all this crap blow over,”
“And what if that wanker keeps hanging around?” She looked into her coffee cup, “I just think it would be best if she came home. Got into a normal routine,”
“Don’t you think that should be up to her though?”
“, I know you love her. I mean I really do know,” She squeezed his hand gently, “But she just got married without telling anyone, I think it would be best if we give her space and time and get her life back on track. She can’t really get that here with you because your all over the place with Mcfly. And you have your own life now, it’s up to her to stand on her own two feet. She managed to do it fine while she was away, let her keep her independence,”
Chapter 14
Natasha looked across to the passengers seat at her sister. She had her ipod on and Westlife could be heard blaring out of it. They had been like this in the car for two hours straight and had made no effort of sign that she was going to talk to her.
Ensuring there were no cars behind her, she slowly pulled over to the side of the road, her sister looking up from her lap unsure of what was happening.
“If your going to listen to Westlife, I’d rather i be allowed to listen to,” She said with a gentle smile as she watched the girl turn the music off, “Specially if it happens to be When your looking like that,”
“The sooner we get home, the better Tash,” answered, ignoring the Westlife comment.
“Look, I know your angry at me for making you come home,” The blonde sighed, “But I, we, me and , think it would be best, at least just until the annulment comes through,”
didn’t say anything and suddenly Natasha remembered the look of hurt that showed in her eyes when Harry had agreed with her.
“If you stay with at least until new years, I promise I’ll take you to the next Westlife concert,” Tash sighed lightly, knowing that it still probably wouldn’t work.
“Your right though. If I stay in London, I’ll just screw ’s life up. He doesn’t need me around,” finally answered.
“I never said that, he never said that. Of course he needs you around. We just both think that until you get your life sorted out the way you want it to be, you shouldn’t be subjected to ’s life, he’s hardly in London anymore, he doesn’t want you to be alone when your going through such a hard time,” Natasha squeezed her sisters hand, “he didn’t want you to leave, but he said he wants you to have all the support he can’t give you while he’s not around, support everyone at home can give you,”
nodded slightly, “And their in Manchester in March,”
“I know, I already bought us tickets. It’s the weekend before the wedding,” Natasha smiled as she put the car into drive, “their cd’s are in the glove box,”
***
“You just let her leave?” spoke, clearly annoyed.
“Yes,” sighed and sat back on the couch, “Whats the big deal. Besides Tash thought it would be best if she was around people who would be around her all the time, just til everything blows over,”
“and what did you think?” Tom asked, his eye brows raised.
The four of them, , , and were gathered in the bassist’s lounge, had a date, but promised to drop by later, none of the four actually expecting him to.
“I think Tash is right,” answered quietly.
“But -”
“But nothing, her family is in . I’m hardly home. She needs people around her,” explained.
just glared at him one more time before walking out of the room.
“What?” asked as the other two boys just stared at him.
“ would have been around,” said carefully, “You know she doesn’t have that many girl friends, just girls who want to get close to us,”
“I know that . And you guys honestly think I would have left her alone. We just need a plausible excuse for her to go home,” sighed, running his hands through his hair.
“So you wanted her to stay?” grinned slightly, but ignored his question as came back into the room.
“Can we just drop it, she’s left now so,”
“ took this from her, I told him to give it back,” shoved the picture into his hand.
Studying it carefully, he took in her image.
“Still think it was the best move?” broke the silence of the room.
“She didn’t put up a fight,” answered, never taking his gaze off the picture, “Besides, it’s not like we’re never going to see her. it’s Christmas and New Years next week, I’ll ask Tash is she can come back for that,”
“plus it’s your birthday,” reminded him.
“We’ll be in Australia,” pointed out, “And didn’t you tell your Mum you’d go home for Christmas this year?”
“I might have,” answered, “, you want to come to the party we always went to when we were teenagers for New Years?”
“The fancy dress one you always go one about?” nodded eagerly in response, “Yeah, I’ll come, I don’t have any other plans I don’t think.”
“Great!” smiled broadly, “Think ’ll want to come too?”
“, we’re missing out on the fancy dress party,” whined jokingly and slapped him on the chest lightly.
“But it’s Australia,” answered, “We can have our own fancy dress party,”
Chapter 15
“Happy Birthday Babe,” couldn’t help but smile as he answered his phone.
“You realize it’s like,” he glanced at the clock next to his bed as he pretended to be annoyed, “six in the morning,”
“Yeah, but I wanted to be the first person to say it to you,” he could just picture her grinning on the other end of the phone, “Plus your working all day today,”
“I suppose you do have a point,”
“Of course I have a point, I always a have point ,”
“Hey, no way to speak to your elders like that,”
“Dude, are you proud of getting older? Anyway,” she didn’t even give him a chance to reply, “Because I’m lazy and couldn’t be bothered thinking of two presents, I combined it with your Christmas one, so don’t expect anything in the post from me today,”
“It better be worth two presents,” joked as she finally took a breath.
“I’m not rich you Bastard,” she squealed back.
“Calm down,” laughed slightly, “So, what you wearing on new years?”
“I thought only gay best friends where supposed to ask about clothes,” He heard giggle, “but I believe I will be wearing a tracksuit though, why?”
“Oh, your going as sporty spice?”
“Going where? I’m staying home with the parents,” her voice now held a tone of confusion.
“But we always go to the Alma for New Years,” he answered shocked.
“Hold up, what do you mean we? I thought you and were going to some nightclub, and there’s the fact we haven’t been there since…” she trailed off.
“Since you left,” continued, “and I swear I told you, Mum and Dad are going away for two weeks, I said I’d look after the house for them, said he’d come and stay, said he might even make it, I thought we could go and catch up with the gang like all old times?”
“the gang? , sorry to break this to you, but the people we grew up with were jerks,”
“But there was Jake, Nicky and the others,” pointed out, “I thought you said you were going to catch up with them,”
“I have,” answered quietly, “Well I saw Jake at Starbuck’s didn’t talk for long.”
“So yeah, we’ll see them, come on, it will be fun. Plus we get to wear costume’s,”
“I’m not going to get out of this am i?”
“Nope, plus your sisters will be there,” he continued, “And if you want you and tom can go looking for costume’s next week,”
“What about you…this is your idea,” she sighed.
“I already have my costume,” he answered cheerfully, “anyway babe, I gotta go, another call coming through. Thanks for the birthday wishes, I’ll see ya tomorrow?”
“Yeah, yeah. Say hi to your Mum. See ya tomorrow,” she paused, “And ?”
“Yeah?”
“Have a nice rest of the day, I love you,”
“Love ya too ,” he closed his eyes as he spoke, before ending the call.
Chapter 16
shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable. They still had fourteen more hours on the plane. was buried in a magazine next to him and he wondered how she managed to look so comfortable when they were confined to such small areas.
A small smile crept upon his face as he continued to watch her, as his thoughts traveled to where had told him to take her. their entire holiday was planned, and for once he knew it was going to be special. He, the band, were unknown in Australia for the time being, so for once he knew he could have a quiet, uninterrupted holiday with his girlfriend.
“Sir, Madam, would you like any refreshments?” a polite airhostess approached them and looked up from her magazine, finally catching his eye.
“I’ll just have an orange juice,” she smiled politely.
“And I’ll have a coke please,” finished, not taking his eyes away from the girl that was in front of him as the airhostess walked off.
“You excited ?” grinned at him, her eyes shining as he nodded in reply.
“I can’t wait,” He squeezed her hand tightly, “Just me and you, without anyone to bother us,”
nodded in reply this time, kissing his cheek gently.
***
“So what’s ’s costume?” prodded for information as they walked down the street. It was three days after Christmas and had arrived the day after Boxing Day.
shrugged in reply, he honestly had no idea with was planning to wear, “We have to get a costume though. Apparently he won’t have time to get one himself,”
“ said he’d been seeing some girl,” grinned slightly.
“Yeah, only replace the word girl with girl’s,” joked lightly, “He’s never gonna learn that boy,”
“He will one day,” answered as she pushed the door to the costume shop open, “So what are we looking for?”
They both glanced around the shop, a variety of colors and different styles immediately hitting their eyes.
“How about something sexy?” grinned, his eyebrows raised slightly, keeping the rest of his thought in his mind.
just giggled in reply, “I didn’t know you were that kind of guy ,”
“I’m good at hiding secrets,” He just grinned back.
***
Sam glanced at her older sister, it was generally a rare occurrence that she was at home now, usually off with her fiancé Mike in their own house, but since had been back they had seen more of her. Not that Sam was complaining, she loved both her sisters, but she had gotten used to not having them around.
“Where’s Mike?” Sam barged into the kitchen, interrupting the conversation her eldest sister was having with Harry. She’d seen more of him since Christmas day too, the boy and awaking her up that morning like little kids.
“At work,” Tash frowned at her, “Why?”
“Just wondering,” Sam smiled sweetly at her sister as she plonked herself down at the table, “Think you guys could give me a lift to Stacey’s on Sunday?”
“That’s new year eve’s, and Mum said you weren’t allowed to go to Stacey Hendersan’s,” Tash continued, trying to close the conversation so she could keep talking to Harry.
“Stacey Hendersan’s? That’s not George’s brother is it?” He suddenly spoke up, “You hang out with a Hendersan?”
“Yeah,” Sam answered slowly, not sure why it was a problem, “Come on Tash, Mum won’t know, besides I’m 18 now, an adult,”
“I don’t care, I’m not taking you there,” Tash said finally.
“Why don’t you come to the Alma with us?” suggested.
“To the fancy dress party?” Sam looked at him in disbelief, “Your kidding right?”
“No,” looked back at the younger girl confused, “We’re all going, even ’s coming up for it. and are out looking for costumes now,”
“Leave her , Sam’s too cool to go to a party like that. Her other friends have already asked her,”
“I am not,” Sam snapped, slumping back in her seat, not wanting to look superficial in front of the boy, “Just Stacey asked me to go to her place first,”
***
“Are you sure will like this one,” held the outfit in front of them again as they lifted their costumes out of the boot of ’s car.
“Well he can’t complain cos he’s not here himself,” grinned evilly, “Besides I look better if he looks like crap,”
“Such a caring friend,” winked at him, “you think my costume’s okay?”
“Perfect,” couldn’t help himself, “ will love it,”
“Huh?” just frowned at him, but didn’t say anything as they crossed ’s drive way to get to her own house, each knowing that the would probably be there.
“Let’s see them then,” opened her front door before they even reached it.
“No way, you won’t tell us what your wearing,” answered, holding their costumes behind his back, “We’ve sworn each other to secrecy,”
“?” looked at his best friend, knowing she’d tell him, but only received a cheeky grin.
“All I’m gonna tell you, is that here, looked very sexy,” She laughed before pushing her way past him and sprinting up the stairs.
“Don’t worry , I wasn’t the only one,” Tom laughed and patted him on the back, before following the girl up the stairs.
Chapter 17:
“You seen my wig?”
“Dude, you still haven’t even told us what your going as, how could we even know if we saw your wig?” stifled his laughter as he helped into his costume. The boyhaving no problem yet with the joke outfit they had chosen.
“Man, I’m gonna look good,” He laughed pulling the inflatable vinyl up his leg.
“Maybe we should have inflated it after you put it on,” grinned as they continued to struggle to pull it up his body.
“Too late now isn’t it,” smirked, “So you guys haven’t seen a wig, it’s attached to hat, a pirate’s hat,”
“Your going as a pirate?” stopped helping , “Awesome, glad talked me out of that costume then,”
“what is going as?” questioned the , “And don’t you need to get changed soon,”
“Won’t take me long,” winked, “And I’m sure you can wait another hour til we leave to see your girlfriend’s outfit,”
“she’s not my girlfriend,” frowned, “And , should have waited, he’s going to be sweating like mad in that all night,”
“Shit, he’s right,” looked up, “ why couldn’t you have got me a normal costume,”
***
Grabbing another bobby pin, clipped the last stray piece of hair behind her hair, before reaching for the short red wig. Red? It’s bloody bright orange, she sighed quietly to herself as she carefully covered her hair with it, silently cursing for talking her into this particular outfit. Standing in front of the mirror, she took a few deep breath’s before she opened her eyes. If she was somebody else she would have thought she looked hot, but she wasn’t somebody else, she was a married twenty-one year old, and she knew she should have gone for the classier outfit.
“We look awesome,” Sam grinned as she stood next to her sister, once the younger girl had decided to go to the party had taken her back to the shop and they had got the matching costume to hers.
“This dress is too short,” mumbled, “We should swap,”
“No way, I hate purple,” Sam grinned, “plus this blonde wig looks awesome on me. And who knows maybe with a dress that short you could get a lay tonight,”
“Samantha, I’ll pretend I never heard you say that,” the two girls spun around to find their father standing in the doorway.
“Oh hi Daddy,” the younger girl smiled.
“Your Mum and I are leaving now, we won’t wait up for you girls. Have a nice night,” he kissed each of his daughters on the cheek, “Oh, and you both look lovely. I remember the Jetsons,”
***
“Wait, we’re walking to the night club?” put the beer down had given him while they waited for the two girls to get to ’s, “Swap costumes with me please, it’s totally not fair you two get to go as a pirate and a ghostbuster and I have to wear this,”
“But you look cute as a sumo,” the three boys spun around to find and her sister standing in the doorway, “And the Alma is only fifteen minutes away,”
“Guys, Sam, my little sister,” nodded at the girl who had spoken, “Sam, and , I’m sure you know which is which,”
felt his chest tighten as he took her appearance in. the short wig had made her barely recognizable, and he felt his cheeks heat up as his eye’s wandered over her body. A short metallic purple halter neck dress clung to her curves and matching purple boots hugged her legs to just above her knees. Feeling nudge him roughly he tore his gaze away from his best friend who was now blushing.
“They’re the Jetson’s, get it?” said loudly, and realized Sam’s costume was of the same theme. He just nodded in reply.
“So, can we go now?” Sam looked around, carefully stepping back as moved towards them.
“Sure, I just gotta get my weapon,” grinned and pushed again who still hadn’t spoken, “Meet ya’s out the front,”
***
“At least you won’t get all random’s rubbing up against you,” Sam smiled sweetly at as they approached the line to the nightclub as complained about his outfit again.
“,” attempted to slap him, the material of the costume preventing him from lifting his arm up that high, “you should have let me come as a ghostbuster too!”
“No way, there’s only one ghostbuster in this group,” pointed his inflatable weapon at him.
“But I wont even be able to pull with this on,” hopped on one foot to try and turn and see the people around them.
“Not my proble-”
“Can you speak yet?” Sam poked the drummer in the chest.
“Sam, leave him alone,” pushed her sisters hand away, turning to look at the crowd as well.
“When I said you could get laid tonight, I didn’t mean by your best friend,”
“SAM!” groaned, not daring to look back at , “Do you want to hang out with us tonight?” glancing around her again, she couldn’t help but smile as she watched the boy, standing with his mouth agape, “, your catching flies,”
“Er, what?” he blinked a few times and turned back to the group.
“Someone catch your attention?” smirked.
“This is completely unfair, I should put you guys up for cruelty, or something,” attempted to turn back towards the group, “I mean, especially if pulls and I don’t, that never happens,”
“Who said I’m gonna pull,” poked him in the back.
“Hey , that’s not Jake in the Austin Powers outfit is it?” pointed towards a group of people further down the line to them.
“I dunno,” the girl shrugged, not even turning around.
“Look,” he forced her to turn around as they slowly shuffled up the line, “Yeah, I think it is. I wonder where Colin is, and oh my god, is that ?”
“I don’t know ,” snapped, turning back towards , Sam and .
“Colin’s on a business trip,” Sam informed the durmmer, “and that is , she’s back for the holidays,”
“How do you know that?” glared at her sister, clearly annoyed that she knew about her high school friends than she did.
“I have my ways,” Sam smirked slightly.
Chapter 18
“Some people never change do they?”
couldn’t help but smile as he turned to greet the owner of the voice.
“She’s changed in ways no one would ever understand,” answered, glancing at the girls on the dancefloor, knowing who she was talking about, “How have you been ?”
“I’ve been great,” He was greeted with a smile, “No, need for me to ask you, I probably know more about you than you know about you. and how did you know I was talking about ?”
just shrugged, “I heard your working for Allure now,”
“yeah, it’s alright,” they were interrupted by a loud cough.
“Oh right, , this is and , guys this is , we went to school together,”
“Nice to meet you,” the girl smiled warmly, not noticing the way blushed as she glanced at him.
“!”
“!” the answered before glancing at , “How much has she had to drink already?”
“You look so pretttty,” giggled pouncing on the girl with a hug, “How come we never talked after school? Is Jake still gay? You know I really liked you in school, you were my only girl friend. I mean girl that I had as a friend, not a girlfriend girlfriend. You and , but you cant talk to about anything but music and boy stuff,”
“Wow, she’s still as pathetic as she was back in the day, only I suppose she proved us wrong finding an idiot that would marry her,” a harsh voice spat towards them, “If I had of known this was going to be a school reunion I would have went else where,”
“Melissa,” smiled at the blonde girl that was now standing with them, “Is Derek here too? Or wait, let me guess, he’s at a party with his secretary,”
Smiling to herself, she watched as the girl who made their life hell at school dressed as a mermaid turn bright red, before she managed to squeak out the words excuse me.
“Is Derek really cheating on her?” questioned.
“Yeah, Jake keeps me up on the towns gossip,” She winked, before realising had disappeared, “You might want to go find ,”
“Er, right,” glanced around, realising that she wasn’t there, “Catch up later,”
“Sure,” nodded as he left her with the other two boys, “So,”
***
swallowed hard as the gorgeous sat next to them. She was the girl he had spotted earlier, unaware she was friends with and .
“So,” she smiled gently at him and and he felt his mouth go dry, “You’re a ghostbuster right? I love those films. And I have to say, your sumo costume is really original,”
“Thanks,” grinned widely, “I don’t get what you are though,”
“A princess,” spoke without thinking, watching the girl smile, he felt his cheeks colour.
“Oh, right, from like the robin hood era?”
just rolled his eyes as continued to speak, instead turning his attention back to the girl beside him. He had never seen anyone look so perfectly stunning before. Her dress was a burnt orange color, layered over gold fabric, the bodice of the dress fitting her curves perfectly. Allowing his eyes travel up to her face, he watched as she grinned, while continuing to listen to , her eyes shining as she briefly glanced around the busy club, her hair flicking slightly as she moved. Suddenly she caught his eye and felt himself blush again, this time for being caught.
“Anyone want a drink?” he quickly stood up and headed towards the bar before receiving a reply, confused about his sudden attraction to someone he had just met.
“, you seen ,” grabbed his shoulder, “It’s almost midnight, I can’t find her. you alright?”
“Fine, thirsty. Getting us drinks,” blushed again, shaking his head, “No I haven’t seen her since before,”
“Don’t worry, found her,” followed the s gaze to a boy dressed as Austin Powers, who had his arm around the girl.
“Erm, it’s probably not what you think,” suggested.
“Dude, that’s Jake,” laughed, unaware hadn’t listened to the earlier conversation, leaving him at the bar and headed towards them.
The stayed at the bar, and glanced back at the table, watching as the boy in the red suit left with and approached the who was still sitting with . Forcing himself to look away, felt a pang in his chest as he watched the boy wrap his arms around her.
“Sam, what you drinking?” he spotted ’s younger sister, who looked back up at him in shock.
“Er,” she paused.
“Two double vodkas please,” nodded towards the barman.
“I don’t drink vodka,” Sam answered politely, before wandering off with her own friends.
Shrugging, drank the first, before grabbing the second and wandered off towards the dance floor, refusing to look back at the table.
Chapter 19:
“Go away,” Two of the boys ignored the annoyed groan that came from under ’s quilt as slumped onto the bed, next to the half asleep girl.
“See, if you didn’t refuse to go back to your own house last night, we wouldn’t be annoying you right now,” smirked.
“Leave me alone,” she pulled the quilt further over her head to block the noise and light out.
“Can you just hurry up and ring already so I can go pass out,” moaned, grabbing a pillow and covering his face with it.
“You two got slaughtered,” laughed, “I swear if and Jake hadn’t have been with us, we wouldn’t have got you two home,”
“Yeah, that was a first, me taking a half sober home,” agreed, “I’m not ringing them until you are both awake,”
‘I’m awake,” threw a pillow at him.
“Don’t blame me for your self-inflicted problems,” laughed, “?”
“It’s night time in Australia ,” her voice answered from beneath the blankets, “If they had any sense, they’d be asleep. Besides would have rang by now,”
“Well maybe we should ring and see why she hasn’t,” pointed out.
“I thought you wanted to sleep,” pulled the covers down and glared at him.
“Come on, we can at least wish them Happy New Years,” pointed out, “Not like we can do it later, invited ya friends around,”
“You didn’t?” it was that gasped, as disappeared back beneath the quilt, muttering incoherent things.
“Hello?” the groggy voice of ’s filled the bedroom that fallen silent.
“Happy New Years ,” was the first to answer.
“Guys, I was asleep,” the answered.
“I tried to tell them,” script>document.write(" " + Emma) sat up and glared at the two boys not suffering from hangovers.
“Have a nice night?” continued.
“It was alright,” yawned, “You guys?”
“ and got plastered and I pulled,” answered proudly.
“You did?” looked at the boy with disbelief.
“Yeah, gonna catch up with her this afternoon. Name was Suzie, dark hair,” grinned.
“Where’s ?” ignored the boys conversation and grabbed the phone off as he sat on the end of the bed, turning it off loudspeaker.
“Oi,” tried to grab it back off of her, but she held her hand up to him.
“Yeah….uhuh….no, don’t be stupid….ring me….okay….haha, night ,” she flipped the mobile phone shut and handed it back to , “He’s ringing back later, now can I go to sleep for awhile,”
Rolling his eyes, he ushered and out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“Your so under the thumb,” laughed as disappeared back into the guest room.
***
“Hey, who was that?”
sighed to himself, he had hoped he hadn’t woke her up.
“Just, and the guys, wishing us a Happy New Year,” answered quietly as he climbed back into their bed, pulling her body closer to his.
“That’s nice,” he felt smile against his neck, before he sat up in the bad and turned the bedside light on.
“, what’s wrong,” He immediately felt guilty as he heard her sigh as she sat up with him.
“Nothing,” He ran his hand along her arm, “I love you, you know that,”
“I love you too,” she smiled.
He couldn’t help but smile in response, “Good. otherwise you’d be breaking my heart,”
“I’d never do that,” she kissed him, wrapping herself in his embrace.
“,” he pulled away from the kiss, “There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell, ask even, you,”
“What?” she bit her lip slightly as she frowned.
“It’s nothing bad,” He laughed slightly and brushed her hair away from her face, “At least I hope not. That’s why the guys rang, to see if I’d done it yet,”
“, just tell me, I’m getting worried,”
“Okay,” he climbed out of the bed, pulling her with him, “I wanted to do this the other night, but there was so many people around us. I just wanted it to be me and you,”
Taking her hand, he took a step back and pulled open the draw that was beside the bed, before kneeling on the floor, “Marry me? I’m not good with words, but know that I will love you for the rest of our lives, hopefully which will be together, so yeah, Marry Me ,”
He watched as her green eyes widened, her free hand covering her mouth, “I wasn’t expecting this,”
“That’s all you have to say?” he forced a laugh, disappointed she hadn’t given an immediate answer.
“Are you sure? Cos, you know , once I let you put that ring on my finger, there’s no turning back,”
“Never been more sure about anything in my life,” his grip tightened and he stood so they were eye level, “is that a yes then?”
She gave him a small nod, a smile across her face, before capturing his lips with hers, pulling him back towards the bed.
Chapter 20
“So is living in London too?” smiled at as they watched and fight over the music.
“She’s staying with her parents for a bit up here,” said absentmindly, “What about you? Last I heard you were shacked up in Paris,”
She shrugged, her eyes scanning her high school friend’s face, “I’ve been moved back to London. Didn’t like Paris anyway, I couldn’t speak it,” She grinned.
“, Westlife are legends,” they watched as she pulled his arm away from the cd player.
“They sing covers,” he whined in pain.
“And Mcfly haven’t?”
“They don’t write their own music,” he tried again.
“So,” she twisted his arm harder.
“Okay, okay, leave it on,” he pulled away from her, backing away as she continued to glare at him.
“And that’s what you get for badmouthing Westlife in her company,” laughed.
“I wish Jake was here,” sighed flopping on the couch, resting her head on ’s shoulder, “He likes Westlife,”
“That’s because he’s gay,” pointed out, the three of them being startled as dropped a photo frame he had been looking at.
“He is?” his voice was squeakier than normal and his eyes darted towards the blonde, “I mean. Is he? I couldn’t tell,”
“Well it’s not like he wears a fluorescent sign that says ‘Hi I’m Jake and I like men’,” snorted.
“Although he’s the type who would,” agreed laughing.
“Well I thought you and him were together,” watched as spoke slowly his cheeks going red.
“Their best friends, like me and ,” interrupted him and managed to catch ’s eye.
“I think that’s the pizza, I heard a car,” The mumbled and stood up before anything else was said.
“I’ll go get the money,” followed him out of the room, unaware of what he was trying to avoid.
“So…” picked the photo frame up and placed it back on the shelf.
“Yes,” laughed slightly.
“Your best friends?” said slowly, reprocessing the information as he sat on the couch next to her.
“Yup, just not like and though. We’re definitely not in love with each other,” laughed again.
“Well that’s a relief,” blurted out, “I mean…well it would be awkward if you were if he was gay,”
“Yeah,” agreed, her blue eyes smiling at him.
“I think ’s getting old and starting to hear things,” joked as she sat between the two of them, the two blondes sharing a knowing glance, “There was no car,”
***
“either tell her, or put it in the past and find some girl you can love that isn’t your best friend,” spoke carefully as she found leaning over the kitchen sink.
“What?” he played dumb.
“ , it was obvious in high school, it’s obvious now. We can all see the way you two look at each other. Tell her or move on,” she placed her hand on his arm, “Give yourself a break,”
“I was going to,” He answered truthfully, “but then she moved back here and I didn’t want to stress her out even more and just, what if she gets weirded out?”
“What if she doesn’t?” she smiled.
***
“So you’re a journalist?” repeated slowly.
“No, I’m the fashion director, I get to go to fashion shows and shoots and look at clothes for a living,” giggled, “and what about you? told me what happened when you were waitressing, your not gong go back to that are you?”
“I don’t have experience for anything else,” shrugged touching the scar on her wrist unconsciously, “Your job is so cool. I’d kill for a job like that,”
“It’s not that great,” smiled, “Those boys are taking agggesss,”
“I know,” agreed, “I can’t believe the pizza company is making us pick it up, we should write a letter,” she stopped laughing for a second, “Their probably gossiping about us…I think little has a crush on my ,”
“We only just met,” closed her eyes, a smile still on her face.
“So,” poked her in the arm, “once glance is all true love can take,”
“Oh sure,” rolled her eyes, “What about ? Still have the hot’s for your little best friend?”
“I did not have the hot’s for him,” turned bright pink.
“So the phone calls going ‘why does my best friend have to be so god-damn doable’ were all part of my imagination then? So it wont matter if I tell about them,”
“Don’t you dare,” threw a pillow at her, “Okay so maybe I thought he was-”
“Is,” She interrupted.
“Hot, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just the girl next door, life’s not like it is in the movies, the boy best friend isn’t always into the girl best mate,”
“How do you know he’s not thinking your totally doable aswell,” picked the pillow up that didn’t even hit her, “I mean you could both be sitting her thinking that the other is doable, when really you just be doing each other,”
“Can we stop saying doable?” laughed slightly, avoiding the whole topic, “Although when they get back, I’ll ask if he thinks your doable,”
The pillow made it’s way back across the room.
Chapter 21:
To Miss ,
It is of our great pleasure to inform you that your annulment has been granted for your wedding with Mr. Kevin Slish. The legal documents and forms have been attached. We recommended you take them to your local birth, deaths and marriages office so the appropriate changes can be made. These documents have also been forwarded to Mr. Slish.
If you have any further problems or queries, please have no hesitations in contacting our offices.
Regards,
Richard Dettany
She took a deep breathe as she placed the white piece of paper on her bed, the edges crisp as they fell through her fingers. It was over. Faster than what she had thought it would be. Unconsciously she rubbed her thumb along the inside of her ring finger on her left hand. He was out of her life forever. Why wasn’t she happy?
***
“Wow, I can’t believe my two best friends are getting married! This is great! Isn’t this great ?”
“Yeah, it’s great,” rolled his eyes at as finally let go of her, “ I thought it was the girlfriends who were supposed to get excited. Congratulations,”
“’s a good substitute,” winked.
“So, when’s the big day?” looked at , who looked at , a bit of fear across his face at the way the drummer was acting.
“We haven’t set one,” laughed slightly, as pulled her onto his lap.
“You haven’t?” she laughed as looked at them in shock and shook her head.
“We know when the time will be right,” grinned from behind her, “Who knows, we might elope,”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Calm down ,” rolled his eyes, “Like would have time to elope anyway. Plus they still need witness,”
“What? I saw it on TV,” he grinned when no one said anything, “But, Dude, your so tanned…any fit girls in Australia that should be taken into account for our next tour?”
“Not one,” answered, “What’s been happening here?”
“Not much,” the three boys shrugged together.
***
“Where’s ?”
Sam tore her gaze from the TV as Tash stormed into the house, “In her room, I think,” she got up and followed her back into the hallway, “Why? What’s happened?”
“I’ve been waiting for her in town for two hours,”
“Oh….she hasn’t been out of her room,” Sam answered following her up the stairs to ’s room. Once they reached the room the blonde opened the door before knocking, and the two girls found it in darkness.
“, get the hell up,” the older girl stormed towards the windows, yanking open the curtains, revealing curled in a ball on her bed.
Sam sat on the edge of the bed, ignoring Tash as she moved around the room, watching as sat up on the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, before she saw the letter and other pieces of paper that surrounded her.
“I’m sorry, I was going to call…. I forgot,” trailed off gently as Tash turned to face them, neither noticing as the youngest girl plucked the piece of paper off the bed.
“Seriously, you’re not a teenager anymore; you’ve got to snap out of it. Get yourself a job and get out of your room for once in a while, that was the whole point of you moving back here, so you could get a life,”
just nodded as she spoke, putting her head in her hands.
“,” Sam put the letter down and looked at her sister, “This is great news,”
“What’s good news?” Tash stopped in her ranting when didn’t even move and Sam passed her the letter.
“But…you should be happy,” the older girl finally said, sitting on the bed too.
“I know,” came the whispered response.
Chapter 22:
“Are you going to answer it?” Sam sighed as the tone of Westlife’s ‘amazing’ filled the room as ’s phone rang again.
“It’s , and I don’t want to talk to him today,” answered, ignoring the noise.
“Why not?” Tash asked as the younger girl rested her head on her shoulder.
“Because he’ll tell me I’m being stupid,” she answered, “Which I am. I don’t even love Kevin. I don’t know why I’m not happy,”
“I turned your phone off,” Sam smiled brightly, dropping it on the floor as she crawled next to her sisters on the bed, “Remember when we used to lie together when there was a storm, and Tash would get scared of the lightening,”
“I did not,” the oldest girl nudged her slightly, “but then would turn up to see if we were okay,”
“He only came here cos he was scared,” laughed slightly, jumping as the house phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Sam rolled off the bed, falling to the floor before laughing, “It’s probably just though, checking up on you,”
“If it is, tell him ’s in the shower,” Tash instructed her as she stumbled out of the room.
“Hey ,” Sam could be heard giggling in the hallway as the ringing stopped, before she appeared back in the door way.
“He’s so predictable,” Natasha laughed, poking in the arm.
“He’s ,” she replied quietly.
“Well you see you can’t talk to , she’s in the shower…. I don’t know why she isn’t answering her mobile, maybe it’s because she’s been trying to get ready to go out….um, on a date. With Greg,” Sam paused and grinned at her sisters, “I’ll get her to ring you when she gets home, that is if she even gets home, Greg is quite the man…. You alright ? …..yep, okay, I’ll tell her, bye,”
“He said he hopes you have a good time tonight,” Sam grinned cheekily as she sat back on the bed.
“I can just picture his face,” Tash laughed, “Remember when she went out with Jarred, he had a hissy fit,”
“I don’t remember that,” sat up, “And oh god, that was one of the worst dates I’d ever been on,”
“You don’t remember, because you weren’t the one who had to sit through the family dinner with him sulking next you,” Sam laughed.
“Even Dad was teasing him,” Tash continued, “And then Melissa turned up, claiming you stole Greg from her. I swear that was one of the funniest nights I’d ever lived through,”
“Do you think Melissa is right?” Emma suddenly asked.
“What, that you stole Greg from her, , he was a player. He still is, Sam sees him all the time,” Tash laughed as the youngest girl nodded in disgust.
“No,” smiled slightly, shaking her head, “I meant when she said that I was still the same pathetic loser I was at school….and that Kevin was the only idiot I could find dumb enough to marry me, and she is right anyway, because we’re not even married anymore,”
“Is this what this is about?” Tash picked up the letter from the lawyer, “Your upset because your single, because some bitch from high school said that you’d never find a decent enough guy to spend your life with?”
“I just don’t want to be alone,” She admitted quietly.
“But your not,” Sam wrapped her in a hug, “You have us, and there’s , he lo-, he’ll always be around.…and I dunno…but don’t you think that if Tash can find someone who wants to marry her, then we defiantly have a chance,”
“Hey,” Tash poked her, “But I suppose she is right, you will always have us,”
“It’s not quite the same though is it, I mean, we’re sisters, and you have Mike,”
“And you have ,” Sam smiled gently.
“but he’s just like you two,” She paused as her sister screwed their faces up at her words, “Okay so not just like you two, but you know what I mean. I just can’t tag along with him for the rest of our lives,” she brushed her hair out of her face, “But, okay, I’m gonna go shower, because I bet he’ll ring back here in ten minutes, and then, can the three of us go out, since I missed lunch? I’ll even pay,”
“okay,” Tash sighed, as she disappeared from her room, before she looked at Sam, “What?”
“What if we just told her that would love it if she tagged along with him for the rest of their lives,” She smiled slightly.
“Well then, you probably wouldn’t live to see their wedding,” Tash smiled back, “But it’s a nice thought isn’t it? I still don’t get why they just don’t admit everything to each other,”
“Maybe they just need some help,” Sam shrugged.
Chapter 23
“Tell me again why we’re listening to Westlife?”
“Because their the only cd’s has in the car,” rolled his eyes, “and apparently he’s never heard of the radio,”
“And why do you have Westlife cd’s in the car?” continued, reaching over the front to try and adjust the radio.
“ pushed him back in to the back seat, groaning herself as turned the radio up.
“Their ’s,” he answered simply as he turned the corner.
“oh, hey, yeah, . That’s great about her annulment isn’t it?” tuned into the conversation, “Your totally in now,”
“What?” he turned the volume down now as they pulled up to the studio.
“Nothing,” responded as glared at him.
“You told ,”
“Me too,” raised his hand, “although he did say not to mention it til ’d had spoke to her,”
“”
“Tell me what, and spoke to who?” interrupted them.
“,” stated lamely as he realized what he had done, “Sorry ,”
“What about to her, I spoke to her this morning,” shrugged as he climbed out the car.
“So, you know?” asked before he closed the door, quickly climbing out on her own side.
“Know what? About her date the other night, Sam told me before she went on it,”
“Erm, no.” shuffled on the spot, “That her annulment’s been granted,”
They watched as ’s eyes lit up briefly, before his face formed a frown, “She didn’t mention it,”
***
“I thought you didn’t want me to live in London,” raised her eyebrows at her older sister and Sam sniggered as they sat in the small café.
“I told you she’d say that,” Sam rolled her eyes, flicking her long hair back.
“You did, you said it would be best if I stayed up here, away from the busyness of London so I wasn’t screwing up ’s life and so I could get my own back on track,” Emma continued, ignoring the younger girl.
“I never said you were screwing ’s life up,” Tash protested, swirling her straw around in her drink, “Plus I also said that once the annulment was granted you could go back…and it’s been granted,”
“So, just like that,” looked at her suspiciously, “It hasn’t even been a week yet,”
“Well I’m not saying move back there tonight,” the blonde rolled her eyes as Sam laughed, “but we have a dress fitting next week, and Sam’s staying up there for a while,”
“I am?” the younger girl raised her eye brows this time.
“Yeah, with , you organized it at new years,” Tash continued, not glancing at .
“She’s staying at ’s?” interrupted her, “Besides I haven’t even told him about it yet,”
“You still haven’t told him,” the blonde raised her eyebrows now, “Why not?”
“He’s busy with interviews and recoding and tour stuff,” she shrugged in response.
“Ah okay,” Tash winked at Sam, “Well I just thought we could take your stuff back to his place when I take Sam’s stuff for the dress fittings,”
“Um, Tash, it’s ’s house. I don’t live there, ever thought he might not want me to move back?”
Sam snorted, burying her head in the menu as stopped and glared at her.
“Whatever , speak to first then, but the dress fitting is Wednesday,”
Chapter 24
“Where’s your stuff?
“What stuff?”
“Your clothes and stuff,” Sam replied, not realising knew what she was talking about, “Tash will be here soon,”
“And?”
“and she’s taking us to ’s after the dress fittings…” she trailed off, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” looked at her blankly, “Why would there be anything wrong?”
“Well, gee, I dunno, how about the fact that you refuse to tell your not married anymore and that you don’t want to move back with him, even though Tash had to drag you home,”
“He doesn’t need two of us there, does he?” smiled sweetly at her younger sister as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, “Besides knows I’m not married to Kevin anymore, told him, and I’m fairly sure you haven’t seen him ring here asking me to come back,”
“Would you just stop being an idiot and open your eyes,” Sam snapped, “Because if you don’t, your gonna lose him,”
“What?” grabbed her, turning her around so they were facing.
“Look,” Sam sighed, glancing at the front door as if Natasha was going to walk through at any moment, “He love’s you , and not in a brother-sister way like I know your thinking right now, in the way Tash loves Mike, and I can tell that you love him back just as much. And I know you’re my sister, but if you keep screwing around like this, well then he deserves better than you,”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” let go of her arm, “ doesn’t love me. He can’t…”
***
“What’s she doing?”
“Sitting in the car, I honestly didn’t think you were that stupid ,” Tash smiled sweetly at him.
“I get that….why is she sitting the car?” he frowned.
“Because she’s waiting,” Tash paused as she watched the look of confusement grow on the boys face.
“For what?”
“No idea,” the blonde shrugged, “Now is Sam having ’s old room, or your guest room,”
“Wouldn’t be having her old room,” He asked as the confusion grew deeper.
“Er, I suppose she would if she was staying, but she’s decided to come home with me,” Tash broke the news.
***
Leaning her head against the cool glass, played with the hem of her t-shirt as she avoided looking at the house, knowing he was standing in the doorway with Tash.
“What are you doing?”
She sprung from the door as it was opened, standing in front of her with his hands on his hips. If she hadn’t been so adamant at avoiding him she would have found his pose hilarious.
“Sitting,” she finally answered, “Is that a problem?”
“I, uh, didn’t mean that,” She watched as he paused, running a hand through his hair, “Why are you going back with Tash? I thought you like living with me,”
“I do, but it’s complicated,” She mumbled, playing with the seatbelt that was still holding her to the seat.
“Well uncomplicate it,” answered, pushing her legs over so he could sit on the edge of the seat.
“I can’t, that’s why it’s complicated,” frowned at him, suddenly aware of how close he was.
“When did we get like this? We used to tell each other everything,” he sighed as he reached for her hand. Carefully she pulled it away, brushing her hair behind her ears as she spotted Sam at one of the windows, the younger girl winking at her.
“You’re the reason why I can’t come back and live with you,” She whispered as he looked up, “because you lied to me just then, we’ve, you’ve never told me everything,”
Chapter 25:
“Ah, the girl’s back,” looked up as he heard another car door close, ’s voice filling his ears.
“I don’t understand,” looked at the girl, ignoring the new arrivals.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” mumbled, pushing him out of the car before she climbed out.
“Well i want to,” grabbed her arm as his frustration grew.
“Let go of me,” tried to shrug him off as approached them, but the s grip only grew tighter.
“Not til you tell me what’s going on,” answered, “What haven’t I supposedly told you,”
“What’s going on?” asked, eyeing the pair as he finally noticed the awkwardness of the situation.
“Let go,” answered more aggressively pulling away.
“ , mate, maybe you should let go,” spoke nervously.
“So she can walk away like she usually does and ignore the problems she always manages to bring up,”
“Excuse me??” looked at him darkly, “I don’t ignore anything, you’re the one who can’t seem to face up to things,”
“You don’t ignore anything hey? Well how about that time you broke that vase of your mums and just left it on the bench and pretended not to know what happened to it,”
“that was your fault! And we were ten!”
“Or there’s the time you wanted to break up with Scott, so you didn’t speak to him for three weeks,” continued, “Or, I dunno, maybe the fact you got married, came back and decided not to do anything about it until me and Tash found out. Have some freaking control of your life ,”
“ ,” tried to pull him away.
“Don’t,” he shrugged the off, “but you know what I think, I think you didn’t tell anyone because maybe your so messed up that you actually wanted to stay with him. That’s probably why your all depressed about not being married now,” he snapped, not sure where all of this was coming from.
finally pulled her arm out of his grasp, “you don’t know anything about me , so maybe you should pull your head of your arse and stop acting like you do,”
“I don’t know anything about you?’ he laughed slightly, grabbing her shoulders as she took a step backwards, “I know your favorite colour is pink, I know that you want to dance to evergreen at your real wedding, I know that when you sleep, you keep the pillows around you so you stay warm. I know that you have a scar right here,” he traced a line over her shoulder, “from when you feel off your bike when we were nine. I know that you love to let Tash feel like she’s in charge by letting her help you and I know how proud you are of Sam. i know that you pretend not to care what other people think, but inside your head your constantly worrying about it. and I know I’m losing my best friend, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why,”
“ ,” he looked over his shoulder to see Tash and Sam standing with uncomfortably, the blonde girl giving him a reassuring nod.
“And I, I know that I love you,” said quietly as he turned back to the brunette, dropping his gaze so he wouldn’t have to face her reaction, loosening his grip on her shoulders, he felt her step back.
Chapter 26:
“Well?”
“Well what?” mumbled as she turned her back to her older sister, catching her gaze in the mirror as they both looked at the purple bridesmaid dresses.
“You haven’t said anything, since-”
“We left ’s,” Sam finished off as she cut the older girl off, “leave her alone Tash,”
“You really hurt him by not saying anything,” Tash ignored the youngest girl, “I thought you would have known better than that. I mean I know it’s a bit of a surprise and all but you can’t tell me that you don’t have feelings for him,”
The blonde watched as her two younger sisters glanced at each other in the mirror.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” said quietly, “and of course I have feelings for him, it’s ,” she paused, taking a deep breath, keeping the tears that had been threatening to spill over at bay, “I’m just confused okay? I need time to myself to think, because I can’t just go snap and then everything will be fine. Okay Tash?”
“Okay,” Tash answered quietly as the girl disappeared back into the dressing room.
“why don’t you get your dress on, let us see how beautiful you are,” Sam said gently as she placed her hand on her oldest sisters shoulder, “don’t worry, things will turn out how their meant to,”
“I just don’t like seeing either of them hurting,” Tash admitted.
“Just give time, will understand, he has to, he knows her better than we do,” Sam smiled, “it will work out,”
“when did you get so wise,” Tash laughed slightly before taking in her younger sisters appearance, “the dress looks good,”
“I know,” Sam twirled, “now go, I don’t want to be in this stuffy place for too much longer,”
Glancing in the mirror one more time, she watched as the blonde left through the other door to use the bigger change room, before going back to where her and had messily left their clothes. Carefully taking the silk dress off she hung it back on the coat hanger and covered it with the plastic before pulling her jeans and t-shirt back on, before she searched for her boots. Realising she must have kicked it into ’s side of the dressing room, she pulled back the curtain dividing the two, finding the girl on the floor, he knees pulled to her chest as she buried her face in her hands.
“What if he hates me Sam,”
Sighing as she next to her, “He won’t, no matter what he feels he would never hate you,” She paused as the girl looked up, wiping the slight tears that had fallen away, “You do…you do love him right?” she took a deep breathe as ’s face fell slightly.
“I don’t know,” she answered quietly.
**
“I’ve lost her haven’t i?” looked up from the floor, the first time he spoke since the three girls had left.
“No,’ patted him on the back slightly unsure of what to do in the situation, “She’s probably just shocked or something. I mean wouldn’t you be in shock if she turned around and said she loved you?”
Well she was pretty upset with him before he said anything,” began, only to be greeted with a glare from the as buried his face into his hands.
“Maybe could talk to her,” spoke, trying to give the boy a bit of hope.
He just shook his head, “I was losing her before I even said anything, it doesn’t matter . Don’t stress yourself out over nothing, I guess, it’s over,”
looked at the boy helplessly who just shrugged.
“Dude, seriously,” spoke for the first time since he had been there, “You give up now and you’re definitely going to lose her. do you really want to spend the rest of your life wishing she was with you and loving some girl who isn’t her because you settled for second best?”
“I wonder with you sometimes ,” looked up at him.
“I just don’t want you ending up like me,” He smiled sadly, as they all looked at him questioningly, “don’t make a stupid mistake by giving up ruin what can make you both happy,”
Chapter 27
Sighing, looked at her mobile. It has been just a week since she had been face to face with . A long confusing week that had been unable to clear her thoughts. She jumped as her phone beeped, the hopes that it was the drummer quickly fading as she read the name that crossed the screen. . She hadn’t heard from the girl in awhile.
‘Hey! When are you going to be in London again? We haven’t caught up in ages! .xx”
Quickly replying back to message, she sighed again as the main screen came back into view, a picture of her and pulling funny faces across the screen. She was supposed to be in London next week. For Tash’s last weekend of freedom as she had bluntly put it, but wasn’t even going to be there, being too busy with shows and the band. But he had told the three girls to stay at his place, with the theory that would already be there. She felt a little uncomfortable with the idea of being there without him.
Picking up the phone again as it beeped, she quickly replied to ’s message, before starting a new one.
‘Hey”
She stopped biting her lip as she suddenly lost all the thoughts in her head. She couldn’t just text him like nothing had happened could she? No. the idea was ridiculous. But she couldn’t stop her fingers from pressing the keys.
**
“that phone is driving me insane, can someone answer it,” moaned as the five of them sat on the tour bus. None of the boys made an attempt to move.
“ , I think it’s yours,” finally said as the boy jumped, coming out of the world he had been continuously drifting into.
“Er, right, sorry,” he picked his mobile up, the beeping instantly stopping as he pressed one of the buttons, before placing it back on he table.
“Who was it?” asked automatically as told him to shut up, the boys eyes glued to the TV screen hat was in front of them.
“No one,” said dully, picking the phone and slipping it into his pocket, “no one important,” he continued as raised her eyebrows at him.
“Now, why don’t I believe him?” she muttered so only could hear her.
“I know,” sighed, “But I don’t think she would just message him after what’s happened.”
“I’m gonna go lie down, then you can talk about me when I’m not here, instead of just pretending,” said loudly, ignoring ’s frustrated groans.
Pulling his phone back out, he sat on his bunk, rereading the message.
“Hey…I think we need to talk. When will you be back home? ’
He wasn’t supposed to be back in London til late Sunday afternoon, their last show for the week was Friday night, but they had an interview on Saturday. By the time he got back, she would be home with Tash and Sam this time as the blonde prepared for her wedding. His house would be empty.
“So, Saturday, you’ll have the flu,” ’s voice broke him from his thoughts and he realized the blonde had read the message over his shoulder.
“how do you know I even want to talk to her?”
“Your kidding aren’t you?” ’s voice spoke this time as she sat on the bunk across from him and looked at him puzzled.
“No, why would I be?”
“Because if you don’t talk to her, then you wont find out what she feels,” exclaimed dramatically.
“Exactly,” He muttered as tom took the phone from his hands, pressing the buttons, “What are you doing?”
“Your going home Saturday, we’ll tell Fletch you have the flu, we don’t need you at the interview anyway. Plus Lil needs someone to drive back with. And that’s final,” told him, “You’ll talk to her on Sunday before she goes home. Or else I’ll personally kick you out of the band,”
“You can’t do that,” he frowned, not sure if he was serious or not.
“Yeah, we can,” smirked as he stood in the cramped doorway, “and we will,”
Chapter 28
“Are you sure you guys don’t need me for the interview?”
“You know I reckon if we asked he’d leave son of dork for us,” stated simply, unable to hide his grin as looked at them in horror.
“Yeah, and I don’t think having two ’s would be confusing. Just less names the fans have to scream at us,” agreed.
“ , come on,” tapped her foot impatiently as she stood by the car that had organized for them to go back in.
“alright,” he muttered, climbing into the passengers side, “Couldn’t I have at least driven?”
“No,” laughed as kissed her on the cheek lightly, “Because you’d get us purposely lost. We’ll see you boys tomorrow,”
**
“I got it!” Sam screamed as the door bell rang. just sighed and looked around the now cluttered room she occupied while at ’s, her and Tash’s stuff scattered everywhere as she waited for the blonde to be finished in the bathroom so they could leave, “ , it’s ,” she rolled her eyes as she heard her sisters voice scream back up the stairs.
Dragging herself up from her bed, she brushed her hair behind her ears and straightened her dress, as she made her way out of the room to see her friend. Instantly freezing as she noticed the figure that was making his way up the stairs, his head bowed. She wasn’t supposed to see him til tomorrow.
“Er, Hey,” he said awkwardly as he reached the top of the stairs, finally noticing she was there. She didn’t say anything as she took in his appearance, he hadn’t shaved in days and had a slight growth covering his chin and his eyes look tired beneath the shadow that was cast over his face from his cap.
“Hi,” she finally said, struggling to keep herself from reaching out and hugging him, “How were the shows?”
“Yeah, good,” He answered vaguely, “ ’s downstairs, I’m, uh, gonna have a shower. We’ll talk tomorrow, yeah?”
She nodded quickly as he disappeared through his doorway, the thoughts of if she should follow and talk now running through her mind. Shaking them off, she quickly made her way down the stairs, finding the brunette and her sister in the lounge.
“Heyyy,” she smiled as jumped up, hugging her tightly, “We missed you!”
“Missed you too ,” laughed slightly, “How have you been? Made any wedding plans yet?”
“I’ve been good, and no, not yet. None I can tell you about anyway,” She laughed as she let go of the girl, “How have you been?”
“Better,” admitted as she sat on the couch next to the girl, “How are and the guys,”
“Same old,” laughed, as Natasha burst into the room.
“I can’t find my shoes!”
“Yeah, and?” Sam asked uninterestedly.
“And I need them because they are the only ones that match this dress,” she explained quickly.
“They were on the bed,” sighed, rolling her eyes at .
“No they weren’t, I looked everywhere in the room,”
“Well I only left it a minute ago, so you couldn’t have looked too long,”
“God, this is a sign isn’t it? I’m not supposed to get married,” Tash suddenly exclaimed.
“You’ve just misplaced them,” rolled her eyes again, “I’ll find them,”
“You won’t,” Tash moaned, “Oh god. Poor Mike! And I really love him too,”
just smiled o herself at her sisters over dramatic ness as she made her way back up to the room, finding the silver shoes instantly. Grabbing both the girls’ bags so she wouldn’t have to make a second trip up the stairs, she quickly exited the room, running into who had heard Tash’s hysterics from downstairs.
“ah, sorry, Tash lost her shoes,” she smiled slightly as she took a step back, “and it’s the end of the world,”
He just nodded thoughtfully before turning back to his own room.
“Oh...i, uh, said to Sam, if you guys want me to come pick you’s up I don’t mind, I’m not doing anything,” He said slowly turning around, “Well you know, unless it’s like four in the morning, I do like sleep,”
“okay, thanks, we’ll see how long Tash can stay awake for,” laughed and without thinking she leant up and kissed him the cheek, only realising what she had done as her lips brushed the corner of his mouth slightly.
“sorry,” she said shyly as she stepped away and he just shrugged, his cheeks flushed.
“Have fun tonight,”
Chapter 29
“And you, how could you be living in McFly’s pockets and not have jumped one of them already?”
smiled drunkly at Tash’s friend as she spoke to her, “Their my family, Bec,”
She frowned as the girl just laughed in response to her, “Right , their our family,”
“who are?”
“The boyss,”
“Oh yeah,” nodded, “Their family. Except for , he’s a bit weird,”
“Yeah, he is,” giggled as the girl just rolled her eyes at the two before she climbed into a taxi, “AH, all my sisters friends have pole’s up their arses,”
“Why does have to take so longggg,” Tash moaned as the taxi drove off, sitting on the curb of the street, “We could be home by now, do you think Mike is home? You don’t think they got a stripper do you?”
“And know if he didd you wouldn’t turn up nexy week?” Sam slurred, before turning her attention to the two brunettes, “What are you going to say to . That you love himmm?”
The three other girls looked at interestedly, who shrugged.
“He’s been miserable the past week…..even worse than ,” Lil giggled, “Oh we should ring them,”
“No, you shouldn’t,” took the phone from the girls hand startling her, “Because would be annoyed you lot got drunk without him,”
“Well he could have come too,” pouted.
“,” Tash smiled as she attempted to stand up, “You don’t think Mike would have got a stripper do you?”
“No, Tash, I don’t,” He answered as he helped her up, “You guy’s ready?” he looked at who just nodded as Sam linked arms with her, “Right, cars just over here,”
**
“, I think your gonna have to help Tash up the stairs, “Sam laughed as he let the four girls back into his house.
“Come on then,” He smiled slightly as the blonde leant on him slightly as they headed towards the stairs, Sam following them.
“Just give her time,” Tash told him enthusiastically, “See I didn’t know I loved Mike, and he gave me time…and we’re getting married, if you and got married then you’d really be my brother,”
“Tash, your scaring him,” Sam laughed, “I got it from here,” she winked at the boy, taking her older sisters hand and leading her towards the bedroom.
“Nightt ,” giggled as she passed him on the stairs, stopping him, “’s in the kitchennn, I think,”
“Night , the bed’s made up in the room you and stay in,” he told her, waiting til she reached the top of the stairs, before he moved, going to check that his best friend would be able to make it to bed alright.
“You okay?” he stopped in the door way, finding her sitting at the breakfast bar, a glass of water in front of her.
“I’m fine,” she answered, a soft smile gracing her lips as she looked up at him, “You get Tash up there alright?”
“Yeah.” He answered, before yawning.
“You should go to bed, it’s late,” told him, instead him sitting on the stool next to hers.
“I know we said we’d talk tomorrow, but I just want you to know I missed you,” he spoke quietly, daring to reach out and take her hand, running his thumb over the top of it when she didn’t pull away.
“I missed you too,” She giggled slightly as she answered, looking up from the glass, allowing him to tuck her hair behind her ears, “So much,”
He didn’t move as she slowly leaned her face towards his, brushing his lips slightly with her own, feeling a surge of electricity pass through his body, he hungrily kissed her back as her hands began to wrap themselves through his hair, as he pulled her off the stool until they were both standing. He knew he should have stopped it, knowing she was drunk, but now he knew what it felt like to have her like this, how perfect and complete it made him feel he couldn’t even contemplate stopping her.
“I love you,” she said the words in barely a whisper as the kiss finally ended, resting her forehead against his.
Chapter 30
woke to the sounds of the TV the next morning, as he shifted on the lounge, the place where he and had made it to last night. It was then he realized she was no longer beside him, shifting slightly so he was sitting up, he coughed, catching Sam and ’s attention as they laid sprawled out on the floor.
“She’s gone to meet for lunch, said she’d be back in an hour,” Sam answered before he could even ask, not even looking away from the TV.
“er, right,” scratched his head before standing up and moving towards the kitchen, rolling his eyes as he heard follow him in there.
“So, you and looked very cozy this morning when I got up,” she grinned as he opened the fridge.
“did we?” he just shrugged, pouring some milk into a bowl before getting some cereal out.
“Yup,” she answered, “Any gossip I can pass onto ?” and she laughed as he frowned on her, “It’s okay already told me what happened,”
“yeah, nothing,” he answered.
“Damn, that’s what she said,” laughed, “ I was hoping you’d tell me more, although you ‘s were both clothed when I came down…which I am extremely thankful for, so obviously nothing that extreme happened. But you’s weren’t even talking yesterday and then I come down here to find you both asleep in each others arms, something must have happened after I went to bed last night, did you’s have your talk? I’m assuming it went well,”
shook his head as he ate a mouthful of cereal.
“Well what then?”
“Nothing,” He shrugged.
“No, not nothing. Nothing doesn’t happen when your not even talking and then you both end up asleep together, something happened,” she poked him in the shoulder, “and I want to know,”
“Your getting as bad as ,” laughed, “We kissed. That was it,” he smiled as he thought back to the previous nights events.
“Awww, that’s so cute,” squealed slightly.
“We haven’t talked yet,” said slowly, “It doesn’t mean anything,”
“Of course it does,” rolled her eyes, “It’s the start of the next step in your relationship, stop being an idiot..”
**
tried to hide her smile as she sat in the small café, waiting for to arrive, but failed as the feelings and events from the night and morning replayed in her mind. She laughed slightly at herself as she realized she was acting like a love struck teenager back in high school, but, she reminded herself, that was how being with had made her feel.
“What’s so funny?” ’s voice broke her from her thoughts.
“,” She smiled brightly as she stood and hugged the girl she hadn’t seen in months, kissing her on the cheek, “how are you?”
“I’m good,” She smiled, “But judging by that grin on your face, you’re better,”
“it’s a long story,” laughed slightly, “But first you have to tell me what this big question is, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all week,”
“Well, it’s big, really big news,” smiled, “and exciting I think, so maybe we should order first,”
“Oh yeah,” laughed again, indicating towards the waiter, waiting eagerly for the girls announcement.
“So?” looked at her innocently once their drinks were bought over, “Can I know now? It’s not is it, he’s finally worked up the guts to ask you out?”
“No, it’s not that,” laughed at the girl, “it’s about work. I’ve been offered a job in New York, it’s only for six months, but it’s the best opportunity I’ve been given,”
“oh wow,” interrupted her, not exactly sure what it had to do with her.
“And I was wondering if you’d like to come with me,” finally explained, “See my assistant just quit, but I didn’t like her anyway, and they said I can bring who ever I need. And I just thought, that if you wanted it, it would be a great opportunity for a career, no more waiteressing…”
“Are you serious?” asked and the girl nodded her head.
“That’s if you want it,”
“Wow. That’s amazing, I don’t know what to say,”
“Well hopefully you’ll say yes,” laughed, “I’d love to have you over there with me. And I know it’s a big decision, but i kinda need an answer by Wednesday,”
nodded, “When do you leave?”
“Tuesday week. I know it’s not much time, but I only found out last week and I wanted to ask you in person,” smiled brightly
Chapter 31
“So where is she?” asked as he sat on the couch, winking at Sam.
“Out with ,” answered, yawning, noticing as looked up interestedly.
“so you’s haven’t talked yet?” asked.
“Nope, they’ve done no talking,” laughed as hit her playfully, as Tash entered the room.
“You don’t know how long said she’d be, we have to leave soon,”
“She said an hour…but that was up about and hour and a half ago,” answered, realising the time, “But she hasn’t spoke to yet,”
“Well maybe it would be best if she came home with on Friday, I mean it’s not like you actually need me and her to help, I’m only coming home cos I can’t stand this place any longer,” Sam spoke before Tash could say anything.
“but she doesn’t have any stuff here,” said confused.
“she could always borrow ’s stuff,” spoke, catching on to Sam’s hidden meaning.
“But their boys clothes,” pointed out, only to get a cushion thrown into his face.
“I really hope your talk goes well,” Tash smiled as who was blushing slightly.
“I think it will,’ laughed slightly.
“Alright, will you just tell us what you know that the rest of us don’t,” began to tickle her.
“No,” answered poking her tongue out at him and hiding behind , “You weren’t here,”
“You guys are crazy,” Tash shook her head, “Ohh she’s back,” she continued as she noticed a car pull up the boy’s drive way.
stood instantly, moving towards the front door, ignoring the calls from his band mates and ’s sister.
“Your back,” smiled at her as he opened the door, noticing her smile fade slightly as she made eye contact with him.
“Yeah, sorry I was so long,” She paused, stopping in front of him since he was blocking the door way, “we, ah, have to talk,”
“Oh right, I thought you might have forgotten-”
“I didn’t,” she interrupted him, waiting for him to move so she could get inside.
paused for a moment, wondering if he should follow his instincts and kiss her, but stopped himself, instead moving aside so she could get in the house, placing his hand on her lower back and he guided her into the lounge, “The guys are here,”
nodded, smiling at the three boys and , before turning to , “I was wondering if I could speak to you and Tash and Sam in the kitchen for a minute,”
He nodded, confused as to why she wanted her sisters there, but followed the three girls into his kitchen.
“So?” he asked as she placed her bag on the counter, the other three looking at each other anxiously.
“’s offered me a job,” said slowly, “As her personal assistant, just like helping out with stuff,”
“That’s great,” Tash was the first to speak, “you can move back to London after the wedding, no more shitty waiteressing,”
“Yeah that’s what she said,” knew there was more to the story as she dropped her gaze, unable to look him in the eye, “But she’s being transferred to New York,”
“and she wants you to go with her,” Sam sighed, “Are you going to take it?”
“I don’t know, I need time to think, she needs an answer by Wednesday,”
“That soon?” interrupted her.
“When will you leave?” Tash asked.
“Tuesday week,” She paused, biting her lip as she waited for a reaction, “But it’s only for six months,”
“Come on,” Sam grabbed her oldest sister’s hand, pulling her out of the kitchen quietly, giving a supportive smile.
Chapter 32
“Are, are you going to take it?” finally spoke.
“I don’t know,” answered quietly, looking down at her hands, ‘You’re the one who said I should take control over my life,”
“I know…just…ah this is hard…what about me, us?” he took a step forward, hoping she wouldn’t say what he thought he would.
“it’s only six months ,” she said answered, not looking up.
“A lot can happen in six months, especially when we’re in different countries,”
“Stop making this harder,” She begged as he took her hand.
“I don’t want you to go, I want you to stay here with me,” he said gently, kissing the tops of her fingers, “What about last night, you told me you loved me,”
“I was drunk …you knew that,” She finally looked up, knowing she wasn’t as drunk as what she wanted him to think she was, “I was drunk and you didn’t stop me, you should have known better,”
“I don’t care, you wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t mean it,”
“I was caught in the moment,” she whispered, turning her head so he wouldn’t see the tears as she pulled her hand from his grasp., “This is an opportunity I might never get again,”
“Sounds like you’ve made your mind up then,” He took a step back.
“If I don’t accept it, I’m going to be stuck in stupid waiteressing jobs for the rest of my life , this job, it’s not much, but at least it’s a step up from what I’m doing now,”
“You wouldn’t be stuck in some shit job! And even if you were, at least we’d have each other,”
“Yes, , I would.” She shook her head slightly, “and come off it. we can’t even have a proper friendship with out me screwing it up, do you really think I want to take the risk and screw everything up with you,”
“We wouldn’t screw it up, I know we wouldn’t,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her into him, holding back his own tears, “Love, it takes big risks and chances, but I know, we, me and you, we could make it,”
“I need time to think this through, ,” she gently ran her hand down his cheek, “but I think…I think I need to do this and stop running away and find out what I want in life, it’s six months,”
“I can’t wait,” He shook his head slightly, allowing the tears to fall, “So I guess you need to do this without me,”
Chapter 33
“You made the right choice,” Sam sighed as put the phone down, her tears finally falling, “’s an idiot, if you mean as much to him as he said, he’d wait, six months is nothing,” she told her soothingly as she pulled her into a hug.
“Maybe I should ring back, tell her I changed my mind,” sobbed.
“Do you really want to give this up, especially when you don’t know how you feel about him?” She asked.
“I don’t know,” answered, pulling away as she wiped her tears, “What do you think?”
“Honestly?” she asked and her sister nodded, “I think that this might be a little bit stupid because you have a boy who loves you with all his heart who’s just being a dick because he thinks he’ll lose you, but I also think you need to do this, to work out what you want, and what you need. If you and are meant to be, you will be, if not, you’ll both move on. I promise it will stop hurting,”
“Thank you Sam,” sniffed as she hugged her youngest sister, “you know was right when he said I was proud of you. you just need to look at you to be able to see what an amazing women you’ve become,”
“Aw shucks,” Sam laughed, asking her hand and pulling her up, “come on, I have a plan that will get Tash to talk to you again,”
**
“You can’t just not go to the wedding,” snapped as he tried to pull the out of the bed, ‘Tash wants you there. This time it has nothing to do with , so stop being a dick and get up and dressed and on your way back to your parents.”
“I’m not going,” shrugged him off, “Tash will understand,”
“But won’t,” hissed, “she said yes to , now get over it. this could be the last time you see her, and if you don’t go, she’s going to leave thinking her best friend hates her,”
“I do hate her,” shouted, making whimper, “Sorry…I just, I can’t go,” he continued in a lower vice as he sat up in bed, “What would you do?” he looked at who was silently watching on.
“I went out, got drunk and slept with as many girls as I could, and I haven’t stopped,” sighed, “Go, , go, and I dunno, just try to convince her to stay. One last time, one last chance. And if she says no, well I’ll make sure and don’t come near you and you can spend as long as you want in that bed,”
He looked at his friends who each nodded reassuringly.
Chapter 34
“You look like a princess,” a voice told her from behind.
“, i-"
“I don’t wan to argue,”
“Isn’t it Tash who’s supposed to look like the princess,” she answered, unable to hide her smile as slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her body back against his.
“Maybe it runs in the family,” he paused, taking her hand in his, “Come on, you haven’t danced with me yet,”
“So, you’re not mad at me anymore?” she asked quietly as he turned her around, placing one hand around her waist, holding the other in his firm grip.
“Nothings going to be the same anymore, lets just forget about it right now,” He sighed, unable to find the courage to tell her again that he wanted her to stay, “Just dance,”
“Then dance with me properly, and not as if I’m your sister,” she whispered, letting go of his hand, evaporating the little space between their bodies as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Inhaling deeply as she leant her head against his shoulder, shivering inside as he moved his hand along her waist. She knew he was right, no matter what, they couldn’t go back to being friends, that this was their last moment. Tears filled her eyes as she realized that this could be the last time she would be in his arms, and she tightened her grip afraid of letting go, unaware he was thinking the same thing.
“The songs finished,” she spoke quietly, lifting her head from his shoulder, but kept her gaze fixed to the floor so he wouldn’t see the tears.
“I know,” he whispered into her ear, “but I don’t want to let you go yet,” he kissed her forehead.
“You have to let go sometime,” she spoke, closing her ayes as she felt his breathe against her cheek, realising they were no long dancing, just standing in the middle of the dance floor in each others arms.
“Just not yet,”
His breath failed him as he felt her pull back and he looked at her, her eyes again brimming with tears.
“I’m sorry,” he fell silent as she placed her hand against his lips, running her other one up the back of his neck, stopping at his hair.
“Told my heart I didn’t want you, but I lied,” she whispered the words along with the song, tracing her fingers along his jaw.
“I’ll wait for you, I don’t care if you go to New York, I’ll wait. I just need you Em, I’m nothing without you,” he hesitated slightly when she didn’t respond, before cupping her face as she closed her eyes, “I love you,”
“I don’t want you to wait Harry,” she breathed, stepping back just before their lips met, letting go of him, averting her gaze to the floor, “I – I spoke to Rochelle this morning, well i spoke to her voice mail, I changed my mind – I’m not going,” She glanced up as she said the final word, biting her lip as she waited for his reaction.
His hands slowly and gently moved up her arms, as his body inched closer, embracing her in a hug, his lips pressing into her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him, “I love you too ,”
Chapter 10