Stupid First Impressions

Stupid First Impressions - Part 23

Chapter 23

The next morning, I rolled out of bed – the sleeping bag Louise had lent me – and tried to remember why I was feeling so apathetic. And then I saw my phone, lying open from where I set it down when I was writing a text last night. The others had all fallen asleep at around 2 o’clock but I had stayed up, writing a text I was never going to send. Or, more like, a couple of texts I was never going to send. I was so confused. But at some point I must have fallen asleep because it was – 12 o’clock? In the afternoon?

I rolled to my feet and thundered downstairs, skidding into the kitchen. Alex and Louise were sat at the table, discussing what to do with the day since Christmas holidays were officially on.

“I just think that footie probably isn’t the best idea, you know? I know the boys will want to, but they’re insane! Morning Amy,” Louise said cheerfully, texting furiously. “We were just talking about meeting up with the guys this afternoon. You up for it?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, strolling over to the fridge and grabbing some milk and eggs. “Do you have any flour? I’m thinking I need pancakes.”

And that was how the guys found us, half an hour later, giggling as we made rude shapes out of the pancake mix, practicing our flipping. I had flour smudged all over my face and pancake batter stuck in my hair. It took me longer than the rest of them to realise that Geoffrey was in the group, watching me. Louise grabbed hold of Stefan and dragged him away to shout at him, I presumed. Not that he could have known what was going on.

“Nice look babe,” Geoffrey grinned, pulling some mix that had solidified from my hair. So he was going to play it normal. I could deal with that. “I think the batter is meant to go in the pan though.”

“Well you should try flipping pancakes sometime,” I huffed, tipping the squished pancake onto a plate.

“Gladly,” he said, shoving me aside gently. Alex and the other guys were all laughing at our failed attempts from earlier so it was just us, standing at the stove. When he flipped his first one, however, I was in awe. It was perfect!

“Ok, show me how to do that,” I demanded, grabbing hold of the pan’s handle. I don’t know what I was expecting, but not for him to put his arms around me and take hold of the handle too. But then he started tensing his muscles and my mind went blank. He was murmuring in my ear, telling me when to flip them and he helped guide my arms into the right motion.

“So the main thing is to have some conviction,” he whispered, his breath tickling my neck. “Think you’ve got it yet?” I shook my head and he chuckled, completely ruining my concentration. When he had decided I could do it, he let me flip it on my own while he grabbed a plate. Mid flip, he put the plate in the way and caught it. He grinned down at me, flicking a piece of my hair behind my ear and touching my cheek. Ok, maybe he wasn’t quite playing it normal.

“Oh, get a room you two,” Jessie said, nabbing the pancake from Geoffrey. He grinned cheekily and pulled away to talk to the other guys.

“So, anyway, did you hear about the party tonight? Sabrina’s big Christmas bash. Everyone’s going and it might not totally suck,” Tyler said, watching Louise’s reaction. “What do you guys think? Want to make an appearance?”

“Sounds fab – except for the fact that if everyone is going to be there, Marigold and Gemma most certainly will,” Alex butt in, throwing a furtive glance my way. “And you know how much we all hate them.”

“Yeah, but it could be fun,” I broke in with. “I mean, I’ve never been to one of Sabrina’s parties before…”

That seemed to settle it fairly quickly. Louise insisted that I borrow some of her clothes and Alex offered to do my make-up. The boys all talked about getting a keg and Geoffrey smiled at me all the time. His hair was falling into his eyes again and his clothes seemed even more ripped and worn than usual – which was a little extremely hot. I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate his outfit when he came in earlier. He quirked an eyebrow and he lost it in his fringe, which made me giggle.