masked

#18

The sweet smell of pancakes caused me to throw off my crisp,white bed sheets and pad downstairs to the kitchen even though it was early.

"Willow!" I heard a shriek and then a tornado rushed into me, hugging my knees.

"Hannah! I've missed you darling." I swung my little sister up in my arms, cradling her gently. She giggled in delight and clutched on to my pyjama top desperately.

"Morning sweetie." My mum said coming into the kitchen and going over to the stove. "I made your favourite!" She smiled, bringing some honey out of the cupboard to glaze my pancakes. Everything felt so familiar and settling, I was home.

"Thank you mum." I kissed her on the cheek then tucked Hannah into her baby chair. I carefully cut up a pancake and fed it to her imitating an aeroplane noise. She squealed in glee and ate everything on her plate, which wasn't usually the case.

"Good girl!" I cooed, wiping away some dribble.

Then my phone buzzed.

Simon: Is it unusual that I miss you already?

I smiled stupidly at my phone, a surge of happiness and something else which brought a flush to my cheeks.

"Was that Simon by any chance?" My mum smirked, knowingly.

I blushed again. "Why do you say that?" I tried to sound nonchalant but my voice came out high and squeaky.

"He can come round if he likes."
Was all she said before returning to cleaning the dishes.

"Who's Simon?" Hannah sang, eyes wide with curiosity.

"He's just some boy." I said quickly.

Hannah clapped her hands. "Is he your boyfriend?" She squealed, her face lit up in excitement. I wasn't prepared for her to ask me that and even my mum had turned to see what I would say. I was thrown off for a minute.

"No of course not." I stammered, going a violent shade of red.

To: Simon

Wanna come round?

I got a reply quickly, like he'd been waiting for me to text him back.

Simon:

Are your parents home? ;)

I snorted and choked on my water, my mum shook her head at me and left the room.

To: Simon

Shut up and get your ass over here.

Then I ran upstairs to find something to wear. Looking around my room I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of shyness. Was my room too little girly?

I had a white furry rug, my bed had a pink design on it and loads of stuffed teddies. There were fairy lights strung up around the room and a large white piano in one corner.

I considered cramming the teddies into a cupboard somewhere but I didn't want to pretend to be something that I'm not. Simon will like me regardless.

I told myself this as I got changed into a denim pinafore dress and white knee high socks. I also loosely tied my hair up into a ponytail with a few curls framing my face.

Then my doorbell rang.

"Hello, Miss Evans. How are you?" I smiled hearing his voice, he still sounded nervous and I didnt blame him. My mum could be quite intimidating when she wanted to be.

"Please, call me Julie."

I took a deep breath and went downstairs. Simon's face lit up when he saw me. I shyly returned the smile. He was dressed more like himself today. A dark grey hoodie and black jeans, no leather jacket or showing tattoos though.