You, Me & 'Charlie'

You, Me & 'Charlie' - chapter 11

“So? I’m sure they’ll be well happy to come along and see us all again. We haven’t really changed that much, give or take some braces and added height.”

“True.” Bree said. She was being so quiet; I forgot she was sitting right next to us.

“See, Bree agrees with me. It’ll go fine. And anyway what’s the date today, huh Tabby?”

I frowned at her, confused. “It’s the twenty. Ninth. Oh Crap.” I said.

“Exactly, your birthday is a week away, and you haven’t thought about it at all have you?”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind okay?” I said.

“Yeah I know, that’s why Jake and I took the liberty in calling your mum the other week and starting to plan it.” Paloma grinned.

I had to be honest, I was shocked. “So was it supposed to be a surprise?!” I asked “’Cos you sorta just ruined it!”

“Well, no. I wanted to plan with you, but as you said, you had a lot on your mind, so me and Jake went ahead without you and planned on adding you in to do the final touches.”

“You are crazily amazing, do you know that?” I smiled at her widely.

“Ha, I know.” she grinned back.

***

“Hey Tabby, Paloma’s upstairs waiting for you.” her sister Kayleigh smiled as she opened the door.

“Thanks.” I smiled back.

You never saw Kayleigh much. She was eighteen, but still lived at home. She preferred to sit in her room and listen to music, or draw. She was an amazing artist, she wanted to go to Art College but couldn’t get in, she told me once.

“Do you want a drink?” She called from the kitchen.

“No, I’m good thanks.” I replied.

“Ok then. Just help yourself if you want anything.” She said.

She headed for the stairs. I followed her up to Paloma’s room.

Paloma’s family may have only been her, her sister and parents but her house was big enough for about eight people. There were three spare rooms each used for different functions; one for games, one for the study, and one for what Paloma liked to call ‘random junk’, where there was a giant pile of boxes that hadn’t been opened since she moved here thirteen years ago.

The hallway leading to the end room was painted a sky blue, Mrs Hall’s choice. It always reminded me of summer. Lots of pictures hung there, quite a few of me actually, now I came to think of it. I smiled at them in turn as I passed.

I reached the end of the hall and knocked on the door. The sign tacked to the middle said ‘Enter at own Risk’. I knew exactly why.

“Come in!” Paloma called brightly.

“Hey!” I said I squeezed through the door.

She’d blocked the doorway with a pile of folders; presumably coursework she’d not got round to doing yet.

“Woops, sorry Tab, I’ll move those.” She said, seeing my struggle and shoving the folders on her already cluttered desk.

“S’okay. I see you haven’t tidied since I’ve last been here then?” I joked, scanning the room.

Paloma grinned sheepishly. “Heheh, not really.”

I laughed. Paloma’s room closely resembled a bomb site. It was in this state permanently. I looked down; I didn’t think I’d seen her carpet properly for about three years. Clothes were pretty much covering every possible corner; Paloma didn’t know how to use a wardrobe. Homework was lying next to her bedside table, obviously waiting to be done late at night just before bed. The table itself was covered in CDs, half of them mine I think, and empty glasses collecting dust. Her desk was close to collapse, piles of coursework stacked precariously on top of each other.