Not Very Stereotypical.

Chapter Twenty Five

"Oh my gosh!" Milly shouted as she lifted opened the lid to the large gift blue box her mum had just given her. Unexpected, up popped a golden dog, with a bright ribbon wrapped loosely around its collar into a bow. The glossy eyed puppy bounced out of its box and onto Milly's lap. The noises in the room were full of excitement and admiration of the new puppy.

"We thought you'd appreciate a study buddy. So we found him for you." Alexander said from his throne across the room, with a proud grin over his spread.

"He's beautiful Milly." Leighton coos rubbing the ears of the blonde puppy who's sat wagging his tail patiently on Milly's lap. She was quietly sobbing, but no tears were present/ she was so happy.

Recognising the little puppy and forgetting my audience I said, "He looks like an Andrex puppy!" Feeling my face drop at the realisation no one understood my reference I waited for someone to ask what sort of British slang I was speaking now.

"I don't know who or what an Andrex is but I love the name." Milly said with a very confused face. She turns towards the small Labrador-retriever on her lap and scrunched her nose up. "What do you think? Andy? Rex? Andrex? What do you think."

The dog jumped up and down on the sofa, almost crashing into Mitchell's new laptop as he went. I decided not to inform her of the origin of the name of her new puppy but to instead follow everyone outside to the fire by the pool.

"Maybe we can take Rex to the beach one weekend soon?" Leighton suggested after seeing the puppy sniffing at the water and Milly taking yet another photo of her new dog before sitting down on the blanket she had just placed in the floor and ready to take the bow off. A round of nods and agreements filled the air from the plans in debate.

"We can show Bethany how to surf! Because I'm sure she'd much rather be doing something other than just lying down and tanning." Ginger Sam said with a grimace on his face at the thought of not being active at the beach.

I laughed lightly to myself looking at everyone else's reactions, my eyes obviously resting on Noah's hair as it bounced when he laughed along with the group. His blue eyes peeked through the hair and caught mine before I pulled mine away quickly. "I'm not entirely sure how good I'd be but I could give it ago." I smiled sheepishly as my cheeks blush from being caught staring.

"I'm sure you'll be great." Leighton said through a yawn, lying down beneath the setting sun.

Sitting in a close silence the echo of distant waves whistles themselves through the breeze as we as a group sat and relaxed, closing our eyes to settle into the rough concrete further.

"It's going to get quite chilly tonight. I might go and get some blankets for us to chill with." Mitchell stood up and made his way towards the grand patio doors to head upstairs. Milly bought out a card game and laid it out in front of everyone to play a few rounds before her brother returned.

Winning a few cards for my comedic talent, it wasn't long before Gracie stood up and demanded she needed a drink. Trotting herself through the same doors Mitchell passed through minutes earlier, Milly rolled her eyes as Sam laughed when Gracie was no longer in sight.

"Them two I swear." Turning confused I look at Milly who was shuffling her set of cards.

"What about them?" I asked as I felt I was clearly missing out on a story. With no answer given to me, the people around me laughed at my lack of attention and changed the subject.

Ginger Sam checked his phone and then got up quickly. "Right I'm having to go home now, Grandma needs help with her wheelchair again." He waved at us politely before brushing off his bum from any dust that he gained from sitting on the floor. "Tell Mitchell I'm sorry for leaving early but hope you have a fab birthday Mill Mill." He smiled goofily and said goodbye one last time before running around the edge of the building to his car parked out the front.

"When's first game of the season limp boy." I asked as Noah winced as he moved to lay on his to stomach. He bit his lip and looked up  through the fringe that had fell in front of his face.

"Well Bethany," he said stretching out the added syllable further to irritate me, "It's planned to go ahead next Friday but whether I'll be in it is a different story." He sighed, clearly frustrated at his slight injury.

"And does your coach or whoever think you could play by then?" Leighton asked, clearly intrigued by the conversation.

Noah shuffled slightly so he had his arm to rest his chin on, which meant his head was propped up and his eyes started straight back towards me for a short second. "He thinks I'll be fine by then but I just need to keep off it."

Leighton and Milly both nodded in agreement but then subtly shared a look for a moment before Milly stood up. "I'm going to go get some left over cake." I scrunched my brows at the randomness of the act but still proceeded to listen. "Leighton why dont you come and help me?"  She asked, although it was more of a demand than anything but she still followed in suit- leaving me with the loo roll dog sniffing on my lap.

Realising that Noah and I were the only remaining people sat by the fire a silence fell between us,  but I took this time to my advantage as to give Andy cuddles and look as the flickering flames from the fire scratched across Noah's quiet face. However without moving his eyes from off the floor where he was dragging his finger along, he spoke up, shocking me.

"Will you come and watch the game next Friday?" He asked slightly slower than usual. My mouth didn't open for a second in the shock I was feeling from such a simple question but I had so many things rubbing through my head, clearly overthinking the situation.

"I mean probably, I assume Milly will be there for Mitchell and I head Friday night games are a big thing round here." I chuckled lightly to myself as Andy started to swirl around before plonking down in my lap.

"Would you like to go somewhere with me after?"

My mind paused it's thoughts and emotions and listened to the sensitivity in his voice as his ashes the question, his blue eyes darting to me for a second to analyse my face before flicking back to the floor.

"I mean yeah, of course." I smiled genuinely, watching as the features on Noah's face lift as I gave my answer. Thankfully he didn't question it otherwise I was scared I'd wimp out over the thought of saying yes again.

"Great, okay." He mumbled with a smirk on his face before looking back up at me. He didn't let an awkward silence veil the conversation but instead he spoke up again, clearly gaining confidence from my previous answer. "I think we're going to go to the beach that Saturday too, to celebrate the game. So make sure you come to that too." He smiled, winking gently which was so smooth and subtle you would barely notice if you weren't paying enough attention.

"Sure I'm always up for the beach." I smiled, feeling myself blush lightly at the smooth way he talks.