The Flaw in your Heart

9. "Feels like Home to me"

Chapter 9

Tessa's POV

I opened my eyes to see the back of Dan's messy hair on the other side of the bed. He was snoring gently and I wondered what time it was. I could see light peeping through the curtains and guessed it was early morning. I closed my eyes again, feeling too tired to attempt to stay awake and drifted back into the appealing pull of sleep.

It felt like a few minutes later when I woke up next, although I think it was a couple of hours later. I heard the clink of a plate and opened my eyes slowly to see Dan's Mum putting a plate of toast on the bedside table. She smiled down at me.

"Morning", she whispered.

"Good morning", I croaked back.

"Sorry I woke you! Thought you might be hungry so I made you some toast, don't let sleeping beauty over there have any though!" she chuckled, pointing to behind me.

"Wha- is he still asleep?" I asked, turning round to be faced with the mass of snoring dark hair again. I sat up and yawned, looking back at the plate of toast. "Thank you, by the way!" I said.

"No problem, would you like to come downstairs and eat it in the living room? I've got some things I thought you might want to see", Dan's Mum said.

"Sure", I smiled, easing myself out of bed. I'd slept in my clothes and so had Dan, and my jeans had dug into me a bit. I stretched to make them a bit more comfortable and then picked up my plate and followed Dan's Mum downstairs.

We sat down in the living room where Dan's Dad was watching TV.

"Hello Tessa!" he greeted warmly. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, brilliantly thanks!" I replied. I was glad nobody was mentioning the incident, I didn't really want to explain about it all.

Dan's Mum disappeared from the room for a second then returned with a big book in her hands. A photo album to be precise. She sat down beside me as I nibbled some of my toast.

"I was looking through this the other day, ah, so many memories!" she smiled.

She opened the album and flicked a couple of pages until I recognised some photos. Wow, hadn't seen those for a good while! There was a photo of Dan, his sister and I all sat on a bench in the park with a huge remote controlled aeroplane. I looked about 4, so Dan must have been 17 - he looked younger though with his dorky glasses and short hair. Haha, I'd have to torment him about this later on. It'd embarrass him loads.

We looked through quite a few more photos until I heard the squeak of the living room door as it opened. I turned round to see Dan, looking like he'd just come out of a hedge backwards - hair sticking out at all angles.

"Finally you've woken up!" I said, grinning.

Dan's Dad laughed. "Yeah, we've been sat down here hours waiting for you!" he winked at me and I laughed and tutted at Dan.

"Shu'up no you haven't! I saw you wink, Dad", he laughed. "So, what are you guys looking at?"

"Old photos!" his Mum replied excitedly. Dan sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh dear", he muttered. "They're so embarrassing"

I pointed at one of Dan and me, where he had me on his shoulders and we were both laughing. We both looked like we didn't have a care in the world, and I liked that. "I love this one", I said. Dan came over and inspected it and then smiled. "Yeah, me too", he said, patting my shoulder.

After Dan had had some breakfast and we'd looked at some more photos we decided we need to go back to the apartment - or should I say home.

"Thanks so much for letting us stay over!" I said, giving Dan's Mum a hug. She squeezed me gently back and smiled. "No problem at all darling", then she pointed at Dan, "And let me know if this guy isn't looking after you properly!"