"Mhmmm Pancakes." I say as I head downstairs to where Marcus is making Matteo and Bella some pancakes before they go to Kinder. (well Matteo anyway).
"Zia Tahlia." Matteo says getting up and running over to me, pulling me into a hug and I chuckle.
"Good morning." I say giving him a big hug before walking over to Bella and placing a kiss on her cheek.
God I love them so much.
"Is Daddy making you both pancakes?" I ask them both and they nod.
"Yes! Did you know pancakes are my favourite?" Matteo says and I gasp.
"They're my favourite too!" I say and Matteo smiles.
"What about you Bella? Do you like your Daddy's pancakes?"
"Yeah." She says, before focusing her attention on her Dad.
God she is such a daddy's girl it's not even funny.
"Where's Zio James?" Matteo asks just as he walks down the stairs and both of them squeal, getting off of their chairs and running up to James, giving them a big hug.
Oh this is adorable...
"I'm right here!" He says with a chuckle and I smile as both Matteo and Bella will not leave him alone from this moment on.
"Alright that's enough cuddles kiddo's, come and eat your breakfast, we have a big day today." Marcus says and I smile as I watch Matteo and Bella run over to their allocated chairs, taking a seat and digging into some pancakes.
"Where's mine?" I joke at Marcus and he smiles.
"Don't worry, I made you some." He says as he goes to join his kids, sitting at the table.
James walks over to me, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me into the study which I am confused by.
"What are we doing in here?" I ask and he smiles, leaning in and placing a kiss on my lips.
"Just didn't wanna do that in front of the kids."
"It's just a kiss, but I get what you mean they don't need to see it from us." I say and he nods.
"Exactly."
"Did you have a good sleep?" I ask and he nods.
"I sure did." He says and I smile.
"Good, cause I know I did." I say as we walk back out of the study just as the kids both finish their breakfast, they then head on upstairs to their mum so that they can continue getting ready.
"Family event taking Matteo to kinder?" I ask and Marcus nods.
"Yeah, once we drop him off we're going to take Bella to the park."
"Aw that's cute." I say and Marcus smiles.
"Yeah, gotta do what you gotta do to keep them entertained." He says as he starts to clean up Matteo and Bella's plates.
"Very true." I say and he smiles, walking over to the kitchen and putting the plates and cups in the dishwasher as James and I take a seat at the table and begin to finish off the rest of the pancakes Marcus made.
"These taste awesome Bont." James says and Marcus laughs.
"Glad you liked em."
"Yeah, stole that recipe off one of your best mates." I say and Marcus shrugs.
"Who?" James asks and I smile.
"Oh Josh, you know how he has a cooking hobby." I say and James nods.
"I didn't know that but oh yeah." He says and I nod.
"I had a chat with him the other day, we're all good now." I say and James nods then smiles.
"I'm glad, just as long as I know you still don't have feelings for him." He smirks and I slap him lightly on the arm.
"I definitely don't." I say and he smiles.
"Good." He says just as Em and the kids walk down the stairs.
"Morning guys." She says.
"Morning." James and I say.
"Marcs you ready to go?" She asks and he nods.
"Yep, I'll grab the keys."
"Would you two be able to do some grocery shopping for me?" Em asks and I nod.
"Of course, as long as you've got a list, cause I am rarely home so I got no idea what we need." I say and Em laughs.
"There's a long list on the bench, and some money left alongside it."
"You know I can pay. I do live in this house for free."
"We don't want you paying." Marcus says and I sigh.
"You have to, it's the least I could do."
"Tahlia, half of the things on that list are not even for you."
"I know, and I don't care."
"So is this where the inner Italian comes out and you guys start arguing over who's gonna pay?" James jokes and we laugh.
"Yep." I say and James shakes his head.
"I know you feel bad or whatever Tahls, but Em is right."
"Thank you James."
"Alright fine." I sigh.
"Thank you, love you both, have a good day." She says and I smile.
"Bye Matteo, have fun at Kinder. And you Bella, behave yourself." I say as she gives me that adorable grin of her's that has trouble written all over it.
They say their goodbyes, before they head out the door and I look at James.
"So, should we tackle the supermarket first? Or is there something else you'd like to do?" I ask and James shrugs.
"I really don't have anything else to do." He says and I nod.
"Well, the earlier we go the better." I say and James nods as we both head upstairs to get ready.
I chuck on a jumper and some leggings, before sliding into my nike slides and walking downstairs where James is waiting for me.
"Grab the list." I say pointing to the list that's left on the bench and he chuckles, grabbing it.
"Em will kill us if we forgot it."
"She so would." I say as we head out the front door and jump into the car, making the short drive to the local Coles.
We park in an empty carpark spot, before jumping out and walking into the supermarket.
"Alright, what should we do first?" I say as we grab a trolly.
"Hmm, I usually do fruit and veg first, just get it out of the way."
"Alright, let's do that first." I say as we walk over to the fruit and veg section.
"Em's written a lot of things anyway." I say and he chuckles.
"Of course she has."
"Alright, so what do we need first?"
"Oh we definitely need cucumbers." I say and James nods, as we walk over to the cucumbers, grabbing a plastic bag and chucking a couple of them in.
"I'll grab the tomatoes, but we also need some onions." I say and James nods.
I walk over to where the tomatoes are, grabbing a plastic bag and putting some in, hoping it'll be enough.
I chuck it in the trolley, before walking over to grab a bag of grapes, placing that in the trolley.
It takes us around 10 minutes to grab all the fruits and vegetables that were on the list, so then we walk around the aisles grabbing stuff we find that is on the list, and also things we want.
"Steelo soap pads..." I say and James smiles. "Wonder who wrote that."
"Maybe Bont, he's the one who would use them."
"Very true." I say grabbing some of the soap pads and chucking them in the trolley.
"White King.. I swear Em is making us buy rubbish." I say and James laughs.
"I don't think so, maybe they ran out of white king."
"Maybe." I say and he smiles as we continue walking through the aisle.
"Alright lets go into the next one, I think we need some stuff from here." I say, just as we turn the corner we bump into Jack Steele.
"Oh my god Jack, I am so sorry." I say and he laughs.
"Got a bit of deja vu then."
"Don't remind me." I say and he smiles, pulling me into a hug.
"It's nice to see you Tahls."
"Yeah, you too Jack." I say just as I notice a girl standing next to him, probably around about our age, maybe older, maybe younger, who knows.
"Oh Maddy, this is Tahlia, Tahlia this is Maddy, my girlfriend."
"It's Madelyn, but nice to meet you." She says correcting Jack but sticking her hand out so I can shake it.
"Nice to meet you Madelyn."
"Please call me Mads." She says and I smile at her.
"Girlfriend huh?" I say and Jack nods, blush forming on his cheek and I chuckle.
"Aw look at him he's blushing." I say looking at Mads who smirks.
"It's alright Steelo." She says and I smile.
"Oh yeah, James you obviously know Jack." I say and James nods.
"Yeah, I've come across him a couple of times." James says with a smile, sticking his hand out so that Jack can shake it.
"How you going mate?"
"Not bad mate, not bad."
"What in the my little pony?" Mads says and I laugh looking at James who smiles.
"What about my little pony?" James asks and Mads laughs.
"Your hair, looks like a pony." She says and I laugh.
"I can sorta see it." I say and James smiles, shaking his head with a little laugh.
It's so cute how he gets so embarrassed.
"Are you two together?" Mads asks and we both laugh.
"Nah, just mates." I say and Mads looks at us with her eyebrows raised.
"Sure, sure." She says and I smile.
"So how do you two know each other then?" Mads asks and I sigh.
"We dated for a bit." I say looking at Jack who nods.
"Yeah." He says and both James and Mads nod.
"Clearly didn't work out." James says and I nod.
"Yeah, I stupidly cheated on her." Jack says and I nod.
"Wow Steelo, that's pretty low." Mads says and Jack shrugs.
"Yeah it was... wasn't my brightest moment that's for sure."
"We all make mistakes mate, just as long as you learn from them." James says and Jack smiles.
"Anyway, how have you guys been?" I ask and they both smile.
"Yeah good, just enjoying the time we spend together you know how it is." Mads says.
"I really don't know how it is, but sure." I say and she smiles.
"You don't have to lie to me Tahlia, I can see love from a mile a way." She whispers to me and I chuckle.
"Alright fine, I just don't want everyone knowing... yet."
"So should I be honoured that I am one of the first people to know?"
"Nah." I say. "I'm basically a nobody so."
"Oh you're not a nobody, your big noses little sister." Mads says and I laugh.
"True." I say as I look over at Jack and James who are deep in conversation.
"But as long as you're happy that's the main thing." She says and I nod.
"Yeah, I definitely am happy."
"Good." She says before looking at something in our trolley and smirking.
"Oh look Steelo, you're in their trolley." Mads says nudging Jack and pointing to the Steelo soap pads that are in our trolley.
"Very funny." Jack says looking totally unimpressed, but then he laughs.
"Hey look Maddy, it's you there as well." Jack adds, pointing to the bottle of White King we also have in our trolley.
James and I look at each other extremely confused, wondering what the hell they're going on about.
"Is there a joke we're missing out on here?" I ask and James nods, both of us completely confused.
"Oh there is." Mads says rubbing her hands together and I smile.
"Go on..." I say.
"Well, Steelo's is pretty obvious, it's just Steelo soap pads, cause of his name, Steele, it's close."
"Alright fair enough." I say letting out a laugh and so does James.
"And her's is White King cause her last name is king and she is white." Jack says and both James and I laugh.
"You guys are hilarious." I say and they both chuckle.
"Well, they're not that creative." I tease and Mads laughs.
"Hey the ones that are not creative turn out to be the funniest."
"True." I say and I smile at them just as I look down the aisle and see Josh and Tippah walking down.
Oh what a lovely reunion...
"Hey Tahlia." Tippah says pulling me into a hug and I smile.
"Tippah! It's lovely to see you! Down here for the weekend?"
"Yeah, we got a bye this week so down here I am." She says and I nod.
"Oh that's awesome." I say as I look at Josh who smiles.
"Hey Tahls, Worps." He says and James smiles, holding out his hand to shake it.
"Hey Dunks." James says and I smile looking over at Mads who raises an eyebrow.
"I am getting an awkward vibe, why am I getting that vibe hmm?"
"Oh they're both my exes." I say and she laughs.
"Wow. What a small world."
"Could say that." Josh says and James chuckles.
"It doesn't have to be awkward, we're all mates here yeah? What happened in the past stays in the past."
"I'm with Worps on this one." Jack says and I smile.
"Oh Tippah this is Madelyn, Jack's girlfriend, and Mads this is Tippah, Josh's girlfriend." I say introducing the two of them.
"Nice to meet you." They say to each other and I smile.
"Doing a big shop huh?" I hear Josh say to James and I try not to laugh.
"Yeah well Em's orders." He shrugs and Josh laughs.
"You've gotta love her." Josh says and I turn back to the conversation that Tippah and Mads are having.
"I'm tryna come up with a nickname for you and James.. it's tough."
"What like how you two have White King and Steelo?"
"Yup." She says and I laugh.
"Yeah, it's a tough one."
"I mean, James' hair is the colour of a golden retriever, but looks like a pony." She says thinking. "Nah I reckon Pony suits best, and for you Tahls... Big Beak Junior, or maybe Filly which is a young female horse, which matches your brother's nickname which is the stallion." She adds and I laugh.
"Oh my god, my nose is not as bad as his, but I would probably prefer Filly." I say and she laughs.
"Or I could just call you Lia."
"Whatever you want Mads." I say and we both laugh.
We decide to finish our conversation with both Jack and Mads, as well as Josh and Tippah, before we part ways and continue our shopping....
----------------------------
"Why didn't you tell me that you dated Jack Steele?" James says as we jump into the car and drive home.
"Oh, well I've kind of forgotten about him since I never ever see him, so that's probably why. And also because I've never asked about any of your exes."
"Yeah cause I don't have any exes."
"Oh that's right."
"Yeah, you're my first ever girlfriend."
"Aw. I'm honoured." I say and he smiles.
"How long did you date him for?"
"Not long, probably a month and a bit, then he cheated."
"How did you find out?"
"My best friend at the time, who isn't my best friend now, she caught him."
"Oh shit."
"Yeah, wasn't fun." I say. "But how the hell have you never been in a relationship?"
"I dunno, I guess all the girls I liked didn't like me back." He shrugs and I shake my head.
"Well they missed out big time. And once you post me on instagram, officially as your girlfriend, they will be kicking themselves seeing who you're with."
"Oh they so will be. But I wouldn't change it for the world." He says as he pulls up into the driveway, putting the car in park.
He then leans over and places a kiss on my cheek before getting out and starting to unload the groceries.
It takes a couple of trips from the both of us to finally unpack the groceries from the car, then takes around 10 minutes to put all the food away.
By the time we finish, we're both exhausted, taking a seat on the couch.
"We bought so much food." I say and James laughs.
"We did, half of it we probably didn't need to buy."
"Agreed. But half of the stuff we bought was on the list, we just added a couple extras."
"A couple? Babe we added a lot extra."
"It's fine, we paid for the extra." I say and he nods, then smiles.
"Well, we've got the rest of the afternoon to relax."
"I like that idea." I say as I place my head on his shoulder, leaning on him as he wraps an arm around me, before placing a kiss on the top of my head.
The love I have for him is out of this world. I never thought it would be possible to love someone as much as I love him. Every time I see him, my heart skips a beat, a smile appears on my face and most of all, I get that feeling in my stomach, that nice warm feeling that tells me how deeply in love I am with him.
I never thought I'd be able to love someone again. I didn't know what love feels like, I thought I did with Josh, but in fact I don't think I ever loved him like I thought I did.
This love with James is so different, completely different. It's like my whole world is just consumed by him. Every single time I look at him I am filled with admiration. I could look at him for hours upon hours, and never get bored of him. I could talk to him for hours upon hours and we would never run out of things to talk about.
The affection he shows me is also out of this world. He is a very affectionate person and loves touch to communicate how much he loves me. Instead of saying that he loves me, he'll kiss me, or pull me into a hug and just hold me. Obviously he does say it, but I think the affection he shows towards me is adorable, and something I never thought I needed.
Words are just words at the end of the day, so for him to be able to show me how much he loves me, using affection, makes it more believable.
James Worpel is like no other guy I've ever met. And I really hope we are together for the rest of our lives...
***
My heart writing the end of this chapter was exploding 🥺
I just love their relationship so much!
Totally wasn't awkward bumping into Josh and Tippah 😳
But worps to the rescue to make sure it's all goods!
How funny is Mads though? - if you haven't read @AllAboutFooty's story Fortuitous, please go give it a read! It definitely won't disappoint and is one of my favourite stories!
Anyways remember to vote and comment!
Next update out Friday!!