The Unknown Road

15 - Archie

WHEN THE DOOR SLAMS behind me, I hear some more laughter and it makes a ball of rage grow in my belly.

If I didn't have Matt on my back, I'd go back in there and confront them, but I knew it was time to go home. I didn't want to be holding Matt for too long; I've carried him before but that doesn't mean he's getting any lighter.

"Can't believe you always do this, Matt," I punch him lightly on his leg but he doesn't stir.

Pushing him up onto one shoulder, I try to manoeuvre my jumper and jacket on. It's cold, and despite my veins flowing with beer, trying their best to keep me warm, I'm starting to shiver under the cool November wind.

I carefully put him down on the pavement before shrugging on my hoodie and jacket. As I pull on my jacket, I feel my phone in my pocket and realise I hadn't checked it all night.

I pull it out and click it open, and I have about six texts and ten missed calls. They're all from Millie though and looks like they're all from before she came to find me. Then, when I click my photo library, I see Mum's left it on the last photo she took.

I sit down and I take a closer look at the photos from before we left, and I can see she's taken a couple of the group. But she's also taken three of just Tessa and me. She must have zoomed in and focussed in on just us two, and I can't believe she's done that.

I click on the first photo and a smile slowly widens across my face.

I hadn't noticed earlier, but Tessa is looking up at me. She must have only done it for a second, but as I peer closer at the photo, I see she's looking at me with the same expression I've worn before, when looking at her.

And it all hits me like a pile of bricks, making me gasp and smile.

She does like me.

She may not like me as much as I like her, but she does like me. That look says it all.

My heart starts hammering in my chest, harder than it ever has before, making me grin wider, my smile practically cutting my face in two as I zoom into the photo more. Even though it wouldn't be obvious to anyone looking at the photo, it is obvious to me.

Scrolling through the photos I have on my phone. I try to find photos that have any evidence of whether she'd felt differently before tonight. I could feel a smile stretching across my face as I found a couple of examples, stretching back to nearly four years ago. She can't have liked me since then? Can she?

The first one I found, which was probably my favourite, was from three years ago.

It's of the four of us. We're all grinning at a camera after just jumping in and out of the pool all day after Millie's birthday party. She's the only one of us with a summer birthday, so it must have been hers. The photo is just of the four of us hanging out, being stupid.

Tessa's wearing a blue and red bikini, her hair slightly shorter than it is now. My arm is tight around her shoulders and she has a hand on my stomach to keep her steady. But she's looking up at me with the same smile I can see in the photo from tonight. I'm grinning, completely unaware, and I shake my head at myself for being such an idiot.

"She feels the same," I whisper to myself excitedly, not caring I was starting to lose the feeling in my fingers.

"Who feels the same?" I hear Matt's voice groan behind me.

I turn around, quickly locking my phone before he sees what I'm looking at, and look at him. He's still sprawled on the pavement, but he's at least starting to look a bit less dead than he had five minutes ago.