LUCIFER » SIMON MINTER

Chapter 27

Two days before Christmas, I invited Will round mine. Sarah and Freya were visiting Callux and Josh for the day, so I had the whole flat to myself. I was sitting in the living room watching ads on the TV – the ads are always much longer than the actual episodes – when I heard the front door open.

'Wahey, there she is! Long time no see!' He stopped at the door and held his arms wide open. I smiled and got up, walking into his embrace happily. I let myself be engulfed in his arms, his scent washing over me.

'It's only been a week, calm down.' I laughed and felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled, too.

'I think we both know that's far too long.' He said and hung up his jacket on the back of a chair in the kitchen. He then wondered down the hallway. I immediately felt bad for not showing him around the flat the last time he came over. He casually peaked into Freya and Sarah's bedroom, recognising that it wasn't mine. 

'You live at the bottom of the hall, that's spooky.' He said as he turned into my room. 'Aha, I found it!' He said as he walked further into it. The first thing he saw was probably my now tidier photography stand thing, that held stacks of school books underneath all the camera bits. He then turned around to face the other side of the room, and looked out the window at the falling snow. Then he sat down on the end of my bed and flopped down. 

'So now I know where you hide every day of your life.' He laughed. 

'I go out sometimes.' I defended myself.

'Yeah, like last Christmas to visit your family.' I watched as he rolled his eyes. I went to my desk and sat down behind my computer. The screen showed a couple of tabs that were still open from last night, most of them being photos I may want to edit. I heard Will sit back up. 'Right, show me some of your photos, then.'

I showed him a couple of the pictures I took of Toddy the other day, and watched as his small green eyes grew wider in shock when I told him they might be featured in The Modern. And that I was to do a photoshoot with the magazine company, but I tried to steer away from that. It all still felt way too unreal. 

'Have you seen that Ed guy since I last saw you?' He suddenly asked. I smiled at him and shook my head. 'You totally just ran away from him, you little badass.' He laughed and I bent over as I laughed till I cried. 'That was the kind of thing you'd see in a movie.' He said in between laughs. 

I shut down my computer and went over to my bed, collapsing amongst the sheets. From the corner of my eye I could see his tall figure leaning down to look more closely at all my camera equipment. He picked up my polaroid camera. 'This is what all those girls trying to be Tumblr take photos with, right? And it comes out at the top?' He asked.

'Mad sentence.' I giggled. He rolled his eyes and collapsed onto the bed next to me, camera in hand. 

'Let's take a selfie!' He held the camera up and pulled the goofiest face. I laughed at him and right as he did, I saw the flash go off.

'Will! I wasn't ready! Now the photo is gonna be shite.'I complained. 

'No photo is shite with you in it.' He reassured and I smiled the most genuine smile. I watched his jaw drop as the photo slowly came out the top of the camera. 'That was so cool! Hang on, it's white?' He turned to look at me with his brows knitted together. 

I giggled and sat up, snatching the picture from him. 'It needs to process, you nob.'

Will gasped. 'Like in one of those dark rooms?'

'No! Just give it a few minutes and it'll appear.' 

'Wait a second,' He said, getting up and looking around my desk. Finally he picked up a sharpie and scribbled something on the bottom of the picture. He then grabbed a small blob of blue tac, sticking it to the back of the picture, and stuck it up on my wall. 

Will 🖤 23/12/16

I stood up next to him, waiting for the picture to come to life. 'Why the heart?' I smirked up at him. 

''Cause you love me.' He replied simply and I rolled my eyes. 'That's cute, but why do you still have it?' He asked, pointing at the picture of Simon and I walking down a road hand in hand on our second anniversary. I pressed my lips together in a fine line, not sure what to say.

'It's a good picture.' I said. 

'That's not the reason,' He said straight away. This boy knew me too well. I stared at the photo for a while longer, now knowing what to say. Before I knew it, a tear slipped down my face and I was wrapped in Will's arms within seconds. 'Oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I'm a dickhead.' He said, rocking me back and forth gently. 

'I'm sorry, I'm pathetic.' I whispered. 

'Oh no don't say that! It's totally normal to cry. It's okay. I apologise.' He sat me back down on my bed. 

'And you know what sucks? I still have to face seeing him because we're a huge group of friends. And because I still have to see him it's just so much harder to get over it and forget it.' He stayed quiet as I rambled on. He rubbed my back up and down, his cheek pressed to the side of my head as he listened to what I had to say.

'I was going to spend Christmas with Sarah and Freya, but we all kind of agreed to spend it with the Sidemen and friends because that's become tradition now, I guess.' I sobbed. 'I just don't know if I can handle it anymore. I don't understand how he can act so normal around me, as if nothing ever happened.'

I felt bad for Will, seeing as his shirt was now stained with tears and crumpled up from me holding on to him. 

'Well, do you know what he did?' He asked in a calm, smooth voice. 

'He cheated on me!' The thought of it made my stomach churn. 

'And how do you know that?' He asked. I hated how he was suddenly acting so clueless. He knew as much as Freya and Sarah did, which was basically every detail. But then I thought back to what happened. 

'I got home and he wasn't there, but his phone kept beeping from some Samantha girl calling him 'babe.'' I explained for the millionth time. What was he trying to get at?

'And what did Simon say in return?'

'I didn't dare look because it made me feel sick and I was too angry.' I sighed. 

'Have you guys talked about what happened since?' 

'No.'

And then I realised. 

'I don't think you know enough to claim that he's cheated on you.' Will finally stated. 'Just a few texts from a name you don't recognise doesn't really mean anything. Remember when my phone number was leaked a while ago? I still get calls from people I don't know. That doesn't mean I'm seeing them, though.'

'But Simon's phone number never got leaked.' I tilted my head to the side as I listened to him. 

'I know. But don't you think you assumed he cheated a bit too quickly? Maybe he has Callux named Samantha in his phone to take the piss from when he filmed that video with Freezy.' Will suggested. 'You haven't even seen him around another girl. Not even the fans have, and they're the true paparazzi that find out about everything.' He joked and I couldn't help but smile. 

It was a lot to get my head around, but what Will said made sense. He leaned back from hugging me and wiped my last tear from my face. 

'If you ask me, I honestly don't think Simon would've cheated on you. He's a very loyal guy. Trust me, him and the other boys were seemed very happy in their videos at the fact he finally got a girlfriend. I don't think he'd dare treating you like that. He wouldn't dare risk losing you. And that's probably why you still hang out together and why he acts so normal around you.'

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plot twist? 😂

Mel xx