Life Is What You Bake It // A Harry Styles AU

Chapter 5 - Term 3, Week 4

Wednesday

"Is this Bella?" Gwen asks from her place by the kitchen sink, craning her head over to peer out the window.

Adele moves to stand beside her, looking at the car that's just pulled up behind her Lupo on the pavement. "I think so... That's not Bella's car, though."

"Oh," Gwen hums with a gentle frown.

The two watch for a moment, seeing Bella get out of the passenger seat with her handbag and an overnight bag. Whoever is in the driver's seat gets out too, but it's not Ravi. This man is a stranger, at least to Adele, and a tall one at that. And also big, in a physically fit kind of way. He's not ugly, either.

"I think it might be her brother." Adele mumbles, heading out of the kitchen to the open front door.

Gwen abandons the flowers she's trimming to follow her daughter onto the front path. The garage door is wide open, with Baz hidden somewhere inside out of sight. It's another warm day, and Adele had suffered through her shift at work under the heat. She'd never been so glad to change and shower the second she got home.

"Hi!" Adele calls with a smile, lightly waving to them.

Bella looks up a little sheepishly, forcing a smile as her brother heads up the path first.

"Hiya," he returns on Bella's behalf in a low, bass-like voice. "Are you Adele?"

The way in which he approaches Adele, his question almost accusative and his speed urgent yet also reluctant at the same time, startles her. He carries himself in a way that makes it look as if he's never going to stop walking, arms swinging with long great strides, but his pace is slow. Everything so far about the man's manner contradicts itself.

She finds herself taking a step back, stumbling into her mother. "Yeah, I'm Adele."

"And I'm her mum, Gwen." Her mother smiles sweetly, resting one hand on Adele's back and the other on her arm. "You must be Bella's..."

"Brother." He says flatly, never looking at Gwen.

"Adrian," Bella hisses from behind him, the sound agitated.

"What?" He practically growls as he swings his torso around to look at her.

"Stop it."

He ignores her plea, looking back to Adele and Gwen. "She's staying here tonight?"

Alarm bells start sounding in Adele and Gwen's heads, not because it wasn't the plan for Bella to stay with them, but because even if it was, Adrian's behaviour is immensely unusual, and something about him makes the two women ill at ease.

Gwen is quicker to understand what's happening than Adele is. "Yes, Bella is staying here tonight. Is that an issue?"

Adrian takes a deep breath, looking to Gwen with a stern expression. His jaw sets. "No."

"Are we having a party?" Baz appears from the garage, a waxing cloth in his hands and an easygoing look on his face.

"Baz, this is Adrian, Bella's brother. He's being chivalrous." Gwen says, her tone somehow less friendly than before.

"Chivalrous, aye?" Baz laughs, and holds his hand out to the twenty-something lad. "Don't suppose you've got any tips for an old git like me?"

In that instance, purely at the introduction of Adele's father, Adrian's entire demeanour changes. A smile flashes across his face, and he immediately sticks his hand out to shake hands with Baz. And he laughs.

"I don't, I'm sure there's probably much more to be learnt from yourself. Your lovely wife was just being kind."

"Alright, well," Barry releases the younger man's hand again, "I think Bella and Adele have things to be getting on with."