Survivor's Guilt (A Jay McGuiness fanfiction)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Ebony knew something strange was going on when she woke up to find all five of the boys already awake, sitting around the table, grumbling over cooling coffee mugs. In the months she’d been living with them, Ebony was sure that had never happened.

“What’s going on?” She asked cautiously as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Nothing. Why?” Max answered innocently, just about managing to hide his mischievous grin from her.

“Because it’s seven o’clock in the morning, and you’re all awake.” She deadpanned back, putting her hand on Nathan’s forehead “Are you ill or something?”

Nathan playfully swatted her away “We’re just excited for the video to come out.”

 It had been a few weeks since they had filmed the music video, and that afternoon it was due to premiere on the internet and music channels. Ebony couldn’t deny that she was nervous about it; especially since she hadn’t been allowed to see any of it while it was being edited- though she didn’t know whether that was the producer’s professional decision, or her friends’ to mess with her.

“You do know that it’s not going to be on for hours, don’t you?” Ebony asked sceptically. She didn’t doubt that they were excited, but she’d long since come to the conclusion that the boys could sleep through hurricanes, so she was a little surprised by the idea that they might be kept awake by jitters. Having no reason not to believe them, Ebony shrugged dismissively, and moved to start cooking breakfast for them all when she felt Jay’s large, slightly rough, warm hands slip gently onto her face.

“Bird, what are you doing?” she asked, caught off guard.

“We have a surprise for you” Jay told her quietly, leaning close to her ear, hoping it would make him seem louder while Max got her surprise from his bedroom.

“What are you talking about?” she laughed, and when everything was in place, she felt what she guessed were Siva’s hands close around hers as the two of them guided her carefully across the kitchen.

“Well,” she heard Tom start to explain somewhere in front of her “You really helped us out with the video, so we wanted to do something to thank you properly.”

“Jay even asked your parents what they thought you’d like” Nathan added, and Ebony could hear the smile on his face “They only had one suggestion, but we thought it was a pretty good one.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” She assured them all “Honestly, I enjoyed myself.”

“Ebony,” Nathan sighed, faking irritation “In the nicest way possible: shut up.”

“Right-o” Ebony chuckled, and Jay could feel her eyelashes flickering slightly against the palm of his hand.

“Are you ready Makarov?” Max asked her, and Ebony nodded quickly, feeling like a child on Christmas morning.

“What’s the word for ‘surprise’ in Russian?” Jay questioned, and Ebony opened her mouth to answer. However, before she could get the word out, it was uttered by someone else; a deep, familiar voice that Ebony knew she would have recognised anywhere. She let out a little gasp and Jay moved his hands away so that she could see, confirming her suspicions.

 Towering above her just like he had since he was thirteen, standing with a lopsided grin on his face and his dark blue eyes glinting cheerfully at her, Ebony was faced with her younger brother, Nickolai, who she hadn’t seen for months because he was studying in Russia.

“Nick!” Ebony exclaimed excitedly, and all but dove on him, standing on her toes to get high enough to wrap her arms around his neck and plaster kisses on his cheeks. “God, I missed you so much.”

 She wasn’t sad by any stretch of the imagination, but tears streamed mercilessly down her face all the same. More than anything, she was relieved that she wouldn’t have to face the days to follow on her own, because she’d hadn’t told her friends any of it. She had planned to keep it to herself and try and fight out the day, but she’d known right from the beginning that it wouldn’t work, and now she had her little brother to share it with.

“I missed you too.” Nick told her, unravelling his arms from around her, and Ebony begrudgingly let go, though she stayed close to him.

“I thought you said you couldn’t afford to come home at the moment?” Ebony questioned incredulously.

“I couldn’t.” Nick replied casually “Your friends bought my ticket.”

Ebony blinked up at him for a few long seconds while her brain caught up with her. She’d been too pre-occupied over the fact that Nick was standing right in front of her to make the connection between the boys giving her a surprise and her brother turning up right in front of her, and it made her eyes well up even more, and every time she opened her mouth to say something to them, all that came out were muffled, chocked sobs.

“You love us, we know.” Max joked, playfully rolling his eyes at her.

“Now go on, have the day off, and we’ll see you later to watch the video.” Jay added, grinning at her, pleased with how happy she looked, and Nathan and Tom started to shoo her away. Ebony tried to compose herself, reducing her crying down to sniffs, and she wordlessly kissed all five on them delicately on the cheek. Her undiluted gratitude didn’t need any more elaborating than that- they all felt in emanating from her, and it filled the five boys with a warm sense of satisfaction knowing that they’d given it to her.

 He couldn’t help but find it amusing when she bounded excitedly to her room like a small child, and it let him know, more than anything else, that they’d done the right thing for her.

Ebony jumped out of her room a few minutes later, after throwing on a jacket and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, and dove straight into an excited babble of a conversation with her brother while they headed out the door, throwing a quick goodbye to her friends over her shoulder. Even dressed as casually as she was, Jay was certain that she was still the most stunning girl he’d even seen. He was pretty sure he’d still think that if she were dressed in the most ridiculous outfit imaginable.

Having that thought in his head just seemed to make it harder for Jay to deal with the fact that she was so close, but at the same time, agonisingly far from where he wanted, but couldn’t force, her to be.