Not one of them

Chapter 13

I open my eyes to Connor poking me.

"Stop it," I yell and push him away. When I look up I find that the town has disappeared and we are now in a small neighbourhood, with very big brick houses, lit up from head to toe. Connor gets out and helps me out when he comes round.

"You live here?"

"No," he says and turns me around to face an exact copy of the other house across the road except this one has a swing hanging from an old oak tree and there are pretty red flowers along the pathway to the wooden door.

"Mom, dad I'm home."

"Connor!" A woman about my mother's age runs down the stairs, a duster in one hand and a phone in the other and hugs Connor tightly. Then she sees me and hugs me.

"Ooo she's so small. Is this a lucky lady? Our Connor here has never looked into the eyes of a woman before, you must be pretty important. And look at those chubby cheeks," she chuckles and starts looking at me up and down. "I'm Mrs Gregory, but call me Alice. I understand why you're late now. I won't keep you, but if you need any cookies or lemonade I'm in the kitchen. Your father is out Connor, won't be back till next week." I finally breathe, she was a lot to take it.

"She takes some time to get used to." I laugh and follow him upstairs.

"She's lovely. A great mother," I sigh, but stop myself from thinking about mom. Connor's room is huge, a massive king sized bed, plasma TV, large wardrobe. I have never seen anything like it apart from Damien's room...

"Amazing," I gasp and jump on the bed, finding out it's a water bed. "Woah," I giggle. He sits down next to me making me bump up. "This is so cool," I squeal. Connor starts laughing and pulls me closer to him. "Connor," I whisper.

"If you do this, I will never forgive you." I want to tell Mo to shut up but I can't, I'm too hypnotized by Connor's eyes. Before I can even think, my lips are on Connor's. And I don't stop him, but my heart aches for some reason. Connor stands up quickly and leaves the room swiftly without a word leaving me hanging.

"What did you just do?" I kissed him, he kissed me... It was perfect and simple and easy. No baggage, no wolves, no marking, just simple kissing. He walks back in with a trap of cookies and glasses of lemonade.

"Thought you might be hungry before bed." He sets it down on the desk in the corner and sits back on the bed. I lie down and shift up the bed till my head is on the pillow.

"Pass me a cookie," I ask. And he does and gets one for himself. "Am I sleeping in here tonight?"

"Do you mind?"

"No." I finish the cookie and lie down. "I just thought, my phone is at home, I have to go back there." Connor turns off the light and lies next to me.

"I'll get it for you tomorrow."

I wake early, the sound of the birds outside make me think it's about six. But then I find that Connor isn't in the bed so maybe I have slept later than I should have. I get out of bed and walk out the room. The smell of bacon and eggs distracts me from finding the bathroom so when I walk into the kitchen I don't realise that I look like such a mess until I look into the window and see my bed head.

Connor walks over and ropes his arm round my waist. "Don't worry, you look gorgeous. Now down to business... bacon, eggs or pancakes? You're choice. What do you want?"

"Pancakes," I say quickly. Connor leads me to the counter then walks up to the oven. He cooks?

"Want the radio on?"

"Sure. Capital." He turns the radio on and I sit in silence, bobbing along to the tunes. Then his mother walks in wearing a long pink dressing gown. And instead of shouting about the music like my mother would, she starts dancing.

"Pancakes for me too dear," she says when she passes Connor, then she bobs over to the fridge and pulls out a carton of orange juice and two glasses from the cupboard above. Sitting down, she pours one for herself and one for me which she pushes over. "Connor wants to be a chef someday. Just be careful in case he poisons you though, men in the kitchen dangerous. My husband... well he can't cook to save his life, even burns toast," she laughs. "What do you want to be dear? When you grow up?"

"Haven't really thought about that. I would like to be someone who helps with kids who have problems like cancer. I'm getting A's in my sciences."

"That's wonderful, it's lovely to know that there's some good left in this world." I'm about to ask her what she meant when Connor turns around with two stacked high plates of pancakes with maple syrup pouring over.

"I might have went a little overboard with the syrup, but it should still taste nice." And it does taste nice, it tastes wonderful but then my mind replays my first meal at Damien's, pancakes and I'm suddenly off it completely. When Connor sees, he sits next to me and holds my hand. He must have thought it was something to do with my mother and in some ways it is, maple syrup. But at the same time, my heart is pinning for Damien and it has to stop. I kiss Connor on the cheek with my sticky lips and start laughing.

"Aw you kids. I wish I was your age again. Parties ever night, swinging from the rooftops. Well... I'm off for a shower, you two, keep it PG," Alice laughs as she walks out the room leaving an empty plate. For an older woman, she sure did eat quickly.

"She's great," I say finally.

"Yeah, she is. I don't know what I'd do without her, especially with dad... with him being away and that." There seems to always be hesitation when the dad thing is brought up but I don't feel the need to pry, he doesn't pry about my mother. I squeeze his hand and hopefully that tells him I'm there for him.

"What are you having for breakfast?" I ask.

"Already had it. I go out for a morning jog, get home and make my breakfast then wait till mom rises to make her food too. Except this time I had someone else to make food for too."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, you look so beautiful when you sleep you know." I blush and hide my face by eating again. "I see you hiding."

"I'm not hiding, I'm just eating this delectable breakfast. Mmm so good," I say. When I have finished I look at him, knowing my red cheeks have faded. "What's the plan today?"

"Hmmm, I think it might be a secret. I can't decide," he says as he stands up and puts the plate to the side. I stand up too and brush the crumbs down off my t-shirt.

"I don't like secrets." He walks closer to me and kisses me.

"Then come with me," he says then picks me up and holds me over his shoulder. I scream and kick but Connor is not phased. Just when his shoulder starts digging into my stomach he sets me down on a couch. "Cinema time." The room is full of DVD's stacked high against on shelves and on cabinets and even on the floor. The large red sofa I'm sitting on has two slots with popcorn bags and then the large plasma TV in front of us has large speakers. It's like a personal cinema. Even the dark red curtains make the room just light enough to see where things were like a cinema. Except this time there are no children kicking your back and no small cramped places. "What do you want to watch?"

"Surprise me," I say and start eating the popcorn. Sweet, my favourite.