Three Years On

Chapter Nine

Okay so this chapter feels awful to me... so I really need to know what you think. I'm sorry it's on the short side. It's leading somewhere, I promise :) It means so much to me that you guys are reading this, I really appreciate it :D

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

     The house they stopped in front of was big. Michael didn’t even know this girl. Claire Ellis, that was her name. She was someone in Beth’s year. As he climbed out of the car he spotted people everywhere around the building, one of them called out to Beth as they walked past. Inside was even more crowded, the sitting room had been turned into a dance floor with some impressive speakers playing music that vibrated through his body.

     They moved into the kitchen where Beth disappeared within seconds and he was left alone with Debby. ‘Want a drink?’ he offered.

     ‘One,’ Debby told him. ‘That’s my limit.’

     When he got back to her, and waved a can of beer in her face, she was talking to some girls. ‘Here you go babe,’ he said, kissing her on the cheek.

     The girl right in front of Debby with the flaming red hair laughed. ‘All getting along? Is that by any chance an understatement?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows.

     ‘Okay, I’ll start this again,’ Debby sighed. ‘Kaz, this is my boyfriend Michael.’

     ‘Nice to meet you Michael,’ Kaz greeted him. ‘I’m Kaz, this is Lauren and this is Tina.’ She pointed in turn to the two girls standing with her.

     ‘Hi, Kaz, Lauren and Tina,’ Michael said. ‘I take it you’re Beth’s friends, right?’

     ‘In school at least,’ Tina told him, her eyes glistening at him. ‘She lives out in the middle of nowhere, and spends all her time with Debby. But then you know that, because you’re spending the summer there, right?’

     ‘It’s actually a city,’ Debby told her politely. ‘But it practically counts as nowhere.’

     Lauren moved a little closer to him and smiled. ‘You must be dying of boredom out there,’ she supposed, her voice straining to be understanding. ‘You live in a proper city, don’t you?’

     He nodded sharply. ‘Manchester.’

    ‘God, you must feel so out of place in Wales!’ Kaz exclaimed. The atmosphere was getting uncomfortable for Michael, he could tell the girls were a little too interested in him.

     ‘It’s not that bad,’ he told her, sliding his arm around Debby and pulling her close to him. ‘I did live in St. David’s until I was almost eleven.’

           ‘I guess,’ Kaz muttered, hope fading fast from her eyes. ‘But all your mature life you’ve lived in Manchester. That must be your real home.’

     ‘I don’t know, I don’t feel mature yet,’ he told her. ‘Want to go dance?’ he asked Debby.

     ‘Please,’ she replied, leading him away from the girls as fast as possible. They didn’t actually go to the sitting room to dance, but made their way into the empty hallway.

     ‘You’re so cute when you’re jealous,’ Michael told her, pushing her up against the wall and kissing her urgently.

     ‘I didn’t do anything!’ she defended herself, her face close to his, breathing in the same air.

     ‘Yes, but I could feel the jealousy radiating off you,’ he teased her.

     ‘They were throwing themselves at you!’

     ‘Not really, they only said about two sentences, but you could still tell what they were getting at.’ They kissed again, then he said ‘I missed you this afternoon.’

     ‘Are you serious?’ she asked him, raising her eyebrows. ‘You were gone for less than a day!’

     Michael smiled. ‘I’m joking! I love to get you worried. I’m not that clingy.’

     Debby let out a breath, relieved. ‘Thank god, I know it’s cute and stuff in the movies, but if you were actually like that after four days of going out, I would be a bit worried,’ she explained.

     ‘I don’t think you realise how much I like you though,’ he told her, lightly touching his lips to hers.

     ‘Probably as much as I like you,’ she retorted.

     ‘I highly doubt that,’ he said, making her laugh, before they kissed again, deeper this time.

     ‘How’s it going Michael?’ Debby asked, plopping herself down on the sofa next to him. ‘Beth abandon you?’

     He shrugged. ‘Yeah, looks like it, doesn’t it?’ he agreed. ‘I think she went to go say hi to someone she recognised. I was just thinking about that other party we came to last time I was here. It was quite similar to this one.’

     ‘Yeah, things don’t change so much around here,’ she told him.

     ‘Well they kind of do,’ he said. ‘Only thing that was different about that party is that we were together then.’

     ‘Oh, yeah…’ she trailed off.

      ‘Look, Debby, I’m sorry about treating Alfie so badly earlier,’ Michael said light heartedly. ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

     Debby laughed even though it wasn’t funny. ‘It’s no problem, I shouldn’t have been so rude to you when I got back to the house either,’ she told him. She started pulling her hair up, slipping an elastic from her wrist to get her locks into a ponytail. ‘It’s probably also good for someone to treat him badly for once.’

     ‘I just hate seeing you with him,’ he admitted. ‘I guess I’m not exactly over you and can’t deal with you being with someone else.’

     She turned to him and placed a friendly hand on his knee. ‘You’re going to have to accept it Michael,’ she told him. ‘This is my life now. You’re not a part of it. You could have been, but you didn’t talk to me once in three years.’

     ‘You told me not to contact you!’ he cried defensively, half laughing at the same time. They were both too drunk to take this conversation completely seriously. ‘Anyway, we need to stop thinking about then. I mean, you and Alfie seem pretty serious.’

     ‘Yeah, I guess we are,’ she said, nodding. ‘We’re a bit… ah, on and off, you know? But it’s serious for me at least.’ She giggled, her voice loud and resonant, even in the noisy room.

     ‘He just seems like the kind of guy who would force himself on you or something,’ he told her. ‘He hasn’t forced anything?’

     ‘Michael, stop worrying.’ It was very final, she said it firmly, but without sounding too angry. She clamped her hand down on his as she said it and pulled him up unsteadily. ‘Let’s go find Beth.’