Maeve and Chris were collected mere moment after they landed from their 1 hour 45 minute flight and whisked off in a taxi, that George had pre-emptively booked for them, to where they would be staying.
Maeve grinned out the window, their journey there was mainly dark, illuminated by the occasional street lamp or shop when they were in the more populated areas. However at most times she could barely see anything outside the confines of their car and only the trundle of tires along with the crunch of snow as they moved could be heard.
Chris was excited too, clinging onto her arm as he giddily checked google maps to see how far it would be until they'd arrive.
For the whole plane ride there, Maeve had wished she'd never decided to sit beside him and she was now positive she'd do anything within her power to stop the same from happening on the way back.
She loved Chris, but he was insufferable when it came to how frequently he'd shake her awake or simply bother her in general in order to ask a stupid question that neither of them would have the answer to. Before they'd even set off he'd asked if she knew what the power of the engines on the airplane were and been confused when she couldn't tell him, from that moment she'd realised it was going to be a very long flight.
Yet she couldn't help but smile back at him now as they pulled into the ski-resort and he practically squealed with overwhelming joy. Bright lights flooded into their car from all the individual chalets, hotels and bars and lit up their excited faces as they impatiently waited for their stop.
After what felt like an eternity of driving, they finally pulled up outside the chateau in which they were staying. The van stopped and the pair fumbled around in the backseats to collect their belongings, Chris hastily jumping out the door and holding it open whilst she followed behind.
Suddenly snowballs came raining down from above, hitting them both across their heads as they tried to cover themselves with whatever possible. Maeve shrieked as one hit her shoulder and exploded into a flurry of snow in her hair, the cold ice melting at the touch of her warm cheeks. Chris took the lead, grabbing her arm and using his coat to shelter the two of them from the never ending bombing of snow whilst they rushed up the driveway and into porch.
"Oh my God!" She giggled, wiping the pieces of hair that had become stuck to her face as Chris glanced over at her with a shake of his head and a grin.
"I shouldn't have told them we were pulling up." He sighed causing Maeve to let out a snort.
"You don't say."
Just then as Chris locked up behind them, the boys came thumping down the stairs, pushing one another out the way. Realising Chris wasn't finishing any time soon as he fumbled with the endless keys to find which one locked the door, Maeve left his side and bound over to them with open arms.
George met her halfway as he mimicked her actions by leaping across the room towards her, jumping into her arms with a cackle as she tried to spin him around. Harry gave her an awkward smile which Maeve reciprocated before pulling him in for a hug as well, his laughter shaking them as she squeezed his body tightly.
Will welcomed her in for one too whilst messing up her hair with a grin as she looked up at him after pulling away from his arms.
"Missed you." He nudged her side making her pout.
"Aw Will, I missed you too mate." She chuckled and threw him a quick glance before turning to the man she'd been dreading seeing.
"Hey Maeve." Arthur smiled and nodded down at her, "You alright?"
"Yeah, how have you been?" She asked, nerves bubbling in her chest at the mere sight of him as she struggled to get her words out.
"Alright, not done much really. You?" He questioned, his hand scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably as he spoke.
"Nothing, just out with Chris occasionally." She replied, spinning around to gesture to him only to be met with the man himself striding over towards them and waving his hands frantically, cutting their conversation to an abrupt but thankful end.
"Fuck sake." He groaned, sliding his hands down his face as everyone watched in confusion and waited for him to explain further.
"Come on we haven't got all day." Will laughed causing Chris to give him a frustrated glare before letting out a deep sigh.
"I just realised, there's not a room spare for you." He complained and Maeve's expression turned from one of amusement to one of horror.
"Chris! You should've said something, I could've booked a hotel down the road!" She dragged on her words as she spoke, annoyed with the situation but knowing there was nothing that any of the men could do.
"Well I'm not sharing!" Harry stated matter-of-factly.
"Neith-"
"Take my bed, honestly it's fine." Arthur cut in, giving her shoulder a reassuring pat.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll just stay with one of the lads." He grinned and George gave him a nod of approval, signalling that he was fine to stay with him if he wished.
"He'd probably be sleeping with me anyway, would be unfair not to offer up his room." He laughed making Arthur roll his eyes.
"My hero." Maeve grinned, bringing him in softly for their first hug in weeks. She wanted to stay there forever, in his grasp as his finger tips dragged delicately up and down her spine.
"I'll go grab my pyjamas from the room first though, I was about to go to bed anyway." He smiled and she gave him a thumbs up before the whole group followed behind and made their way back up to their individual rooms.
Maeve felt shattered, the flight there had tired her out so much that if she were to collapse to the floor of the hallway as they stood there she probably would've been asleep in a matter of seconds.
Luckily, all the rooms in the house were all on the same floor as each other and so she and Chris were soon following behind the rest of the boys towards where their rooms were. Arthur's was right at the end of the corridor and beside Harry, directly opposite his was Georges, next to him was Will and next to Will was Chris.
She followed tentatively behind Chris to see his room first, leaving Arthur to collect his things whilst she waited. It wasn't the most spacious however all rooms managed to fit a bed, a bathroom with a shower and they even had a little balcony each.
"This will do." He huffed, falling back onto his bed and allowing his suitcase to clatter to the floor.
"I think it's cute." Maeve countered, copying his actions and joining him on the end of the soft mattress.
"You're right. You know what you also are?"
"Sexy and hot."
"Debatable."
"You would never debate the truth Chris, cmon." She teased.
"That's a conversation for another time, what I was going to say is that you're tired. And as lovely as you are I can't bear to spend another minute of the day with you, so please get off my bed before you claim it as your own." He replied, catching her off guard as she stared back at him in bewilderment.
"You? You're the one that can't bear to spend another minute with me?" She laughed, sitting up and collecting her suitcase from the door before swinging it open and leaving him calling out behind her his apologies.
Arthur had already left his room, which she was hoping wasn't the case as she'd wanted to speak to him. But there was nothing she could do now since she'd expect him to have most likely got into bed with George by this time and so Maeve quickly changed into her fluffy Christmas pyjamas.
As she brushed her teeth, she wandered around the room and took in her surroundings. Arthurs things had all been placed neatly just where he wanted them and he'd even been kind enough to leave her his book on Natural Selection, that sat alongside a glass of water and a lamp on the bedside table.
Quickly spitting out her toothpaste in the sink, she hopped under the covers, taking a sip from the glass and picking up the book to start where he had left off. It didn't take long before she felt her eyelids growing heavy and beginning to flutter shut, but there was something on her mind, something making her restless.
No matter how hard she squeezed her eyes closed, there was something keeping her awake. A nagging thought in the back of her mind driving her mad. She needed to talk to him, to hear where his head was at and see where it was they would go from here.
She knew she had to do something about it and so she got up to her feet, smoothing down her t-shirt before tiptoeing towards the door. She opened it with a creak that to her sounded as if it would wake the whole house up though it was probably actually very quiet, and wandered into the empty hallway.
Well, now what?
She'd made it all this way with no plan in her head at all. What was she expecting to happen? She hadn't even considered the fact that getting him out of his room would mean she actually had to enter it, God no that was too much for even her to do.
So she stood like a lemon in front of the closed door in the cold for a moment before turning on her heels and heading back to bed. Yet just as her own door was about to click shut, his opened and he came pacing straight out, ready to knock on. Noticing she was already stood there, her scared face peeking around the doorframe, he sighed.
"I think we need to talk."
"Okay." Was all that she could managed to say, moving out of the way to let him into the dimly lit room.
"I'm sorry." He began, holding his hand over hers as they sat perched on her bed.
"It's okay." She replied meekly.
"It's not. The least I could've done was explain and I couldn't even bring myself to do that." Arthur sighed deeply, hanging his head in shame.
"I know, but it's scary Arthur and I don't blame you for anything. If you don't want to kiss me then that's your choice and it's selfish of me to expect anything else from you."
"It's not that I didn't want to, far from it." He chuckled, meeting her understanding gaze and the lines of frustration and fear on his face slowly melting away. It was as if all the tension in his body had left, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and his muscles went lax as her thumb rubbed circles into his palm.
"Good, I was worried you'd gone off me." Maeve replied making him shake his head vigorously in disagreement.
"No. I was just, fuck, I don't really know."
"It was stupid not to explain, but the decision you made was probably the right one."
"You were drunk Maeve, drunker than I was and I didn't want anything to happen that you might regret." He admitted, stumbling on his words as the confession came tumbling from his lips.
"I would never regret anything with you." She reassured the worried man, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Me either." He affirmed, taking her body in his hands as they lay there in silence, slowly drifting to sleep.
-
"You sleep well?" George asked with a grin as Maeve came wandering into the kitchen with a yawn.
"Not bad." She shrugged in the most casual way possible.
"I'm sure." He smiled smugly, raising his eyebrows at her in a teasing manor as she put the kettle on and leant onto the counter between them.
"Hello." Will announced wearily, stretching his arms up in the air with closed eyes as he came trudging into the room.
"Alreet William?" She asked, desperate to shy away from Georges knowing stare and shift the conversation to anything else.
"Decent." He replied, grabbing three mugs from the cupboard and handing them to her.
"What?" She asked, taking them from his hands and looking up into his pleading eyes.
"Make us a cuppa will you?"
"Oh I'm sorry, you not able to do that yourself." She joked but swatted away his hand with a smile when he tried to take them back from her.
"Cheers."
"You up for skiing today then Maeve?" George asked, "Or you a bit tired from last night?"
"What?" She laughed uncomfortably. Of course nothing had happened, they weren't animals and could easily refrain themselves from doing anything like what George seemed to be implying had taken place. Yet she still felt her cheeks growing red at the mere suggestion that she and Arthur had had sex and so she found herself swiftly moving towards the fridge to hide her face from the men as they spoke.
"Just wondering if you're tired, you got in late last night from the airport that's all. What else would I be talking about?" He sneered at Will who paid the pair no mind, engrossed in whatever he was watching on his phone.
"No, I'm fine." She glared at the man as she poured the boiling water into each mug, submerging the tea bags and leaving them to sit for a minute whilst she grabbed the milk and sugar. Will took two sugars, she took one and George took none. Apparently he was 'sweet enough already', whatever that means.
Will thanked her as she placed his cup beside him before leaving them to return up to her room in order to get ready for the day ahead. Opening the door quietly to not disturb the sleeping man inside, Maeve walked in and made her way back into bed to scroll through her phone for a moment.
Upon feeling the space next to him sink down Arthur rolled over, stirring in his sleep, and tugged her body closer to his. His face pressed up against her side, his hand reaching under her shirt and resting on the warm skin of her stomach as she sipped silently.
"You okay?" She asked as he mumbled something into her body, the vibrations of his lips against her skin sending shivers up her spine.
"Tea?" He questioned with a sniff before sitting up beside her and taking the mug that she was offering in both hands like a child. He gulped down a few mouthfuls, letting out a contempt sigh once he'd had enough and handing it back to her to place down on the bedside table.
"We're going skiing in a little bit, I'm going to knock on and wake up Harry and Chris since they're still asleep and whilst I'm gone you can get changed." She announced and he nodded up at her lovingly, everything she was saying going in one ear and out the other as he studied her face rather than listening to her plan.
She paid him no mind no matter how much his eyes bore into the side of her face as she attempted to keep her attention directed solely at her phone. His fingers traced patterns on her arms as he tried to distract her, slinking down the length of her body and lingering on her thigh.
"Arthur." She warned him, having ignored her request on beginning to get ready.
"Okay." He smiled sweetly, innocently, it drove her mad.
He left her side, heaving himself up with a sigh and taking his clothes along with a towel into the bathroom to have a shower. After hearing the lock click shut she made sure to give herself the all clear in the mirror before heading over to Harrys room.
"Are you decent?" She asked, opening the door slightly after her previous knock had gained no response.
"Yeah." He chuckled as the girl moved from around the corner and into his room with a grin.
"You only just woke up?"
"Yes, why? What's the time?"
"Quarter to 10."
"Oh shit, we're booked in for half ten are we not?" Harry asked, visibly panicked.
"Yeah." Maeve laughed, watching as his eyes grew impossibly wide and he leapt out of bed.
"Alright thank you!" He quickly replied whilst throwing articles of clothing across the room hectically, Maeve swiftly making her escape before he asked her to join him in his search for whatever it was that he was looking for.
Next she walked over to Chris's room but just as she was about to knock, the door swung open to reveal him already stood there fully dressed.
"I'm prepared." He simply stated making her giggle.
"I can tell." She teased, giving him a look up and down as he stood there in a full ski suit with his goggles already on.
"You're still in your pyjamas, worry about yourself." He joked.
"This is what I'm wearing Chris!"
"Whoops!" He replied before charging back into his room, profusely apologising as she attacked him with all her might.
-
So far the day had gone exactly as she had imagined it would. Maeve wouldn't say she was great at skiing and some may even go as far as to claim she was shit at it, and if they were to then they would be telling the truth.
It didn't take longer than twenty minutes for her to feel like giving up. Her fingertips had become numb, her knuckled ached and her feet were killing her.
Luckily, Harry had graciously offered to accompany her as she made her way towards the bar and left the rest of the group to endure an hour longer of the torture. She'd also somehow managed to rope him into buying all the drinks which is always a win.
They'd mainly sat in silence, one of them making the occasional comment as they drank their pints. She loved spending time with Harry as this was how it always was. It never felt awkward despite the lack of conversation, and whilst they were both sober they would often spend their time together as an opportunity to recharge their social batteries.
They got along so well in fact that Maeve felt as if she could go to him with any problem and receive genuine advice, something she couldn't say about many of her friends.
Despite their budding relationship, she couldn't help but miss her girls. Flo had made the promise to send her pictures of the cat everyday, Darcey was keeping her updated on the search for the perfect new apartment and Sabina had already made her jealous with a snap of her new recipe that she'd made for Josh. Spoiler alert; he'd loved it.
The time difference between France and England was not extensive and so she was able to keep in contact with them easily and had spoken to them all about her situation with Arthur at any given moment. She felt guilty though, he'd seemed to be the only thing they'd talked about recently and it was nobody's fault but her own.
They promised not to mind, claiming they loved to be updated on the gossip, yet part of her still felt bad that she'd completely glossed over the fact that she'd ignored them for like a week before returning as if nothing had happened. And when she had returned it had been to go on and on about the very person that was the reason they hadn't spoke in the first place.
Sure, she'd briefly mentioned what had happened that night in less mortifyingly embarrassing detail than there had been, but not all their questions had been answered. She wanted to talk to them in real life, that was until fate had intervened and before she knew it she'd been whisked off on a bloody skiing trip.
"You okay?" Harry asked, looking up at her with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yeah." She sighed, closing her phone and relaxing her face after having not realised how scrunched up it had been.
"I've been looking at booking a time slot for us to all have snowboarding lessons?" He suggested with hopeful eyes.
"Is that because you can already snowboard and want to flex?"
"Maybe."
"That's great cause so can I! Book it and we can laugh at everyone else looking like idiots." She laughed and his face lit up immediately, quickly scrolling down his screen and presumably paying for the group.
Speaking of the group, Maeve glanced up to see them bombing down the hill towards their direction. Will moving considerably slower than everyone else, giving up half way and just deciding to sit down in defeat.
The bar that they'd chose was right next to the slopes and so every so often one of the boys would come sliding along to get a drink and take a break.
"Will's left binder has broke." Chris laughed once he had caught his breath and he, George and Arthur had taken their seats around the table.
"Oh no!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet to watch the upset boy shuffling along the tracks at a snails pace.
"That's so funny." Harry chuckled whilst batting away Georges hand as he tried to sneakily take Maeve's beer while her back was turned.
"Why didn't you guys help him?" She asked with a pout making Chris roll his eyes in response.
"He's a full grown man he can help himself."
"Have a bit compassion little man." She replied, shaking her head and causing Arthur to let out a quiet laugh.
"What's so funny mate?" Chris glared.
"little man."
"Good one." He groaned, "You find it funny being so fucking annoying?"
"Chill Chris, you're not even pissed yet and already throwing out insults." George teased.
"Calm down guys." Harry interjected in an attempt to mediate the situation.
"Shut up." The all replied in unison.
Maeve decided to ignore their antics, instead giving Will a helping hand as he stepped over the barrier and almost fell flat onto his face. Pulling up a chair beside her own he instantly fell into it with closed eyes and a tired expression.
"Will-" Arthur began before being cut off by the man as he held up his hand in response.
"We're going back out now."
"You're fucking joking me."
maeverobber ; some may call me a professional skier, they'd be correct
16,572 likes | 494 comments
tagged ; arthurtv, wroetoshaw, chrismd10, georgeclarkeey, willne
@ willne : i dont like skiing
↳ @ maeverobber : why??? ur a natural at it...
@ chrismd10 : hurry up or we r leaving to go to the resturant without you
↳ @ maeverobber : restaurant** and ill be there in a sec!!! 🥰
↳ @ chrismd10 : why tf did i bring you
@ georgeclarkeey : how comfortable would you say your bed is on a scale of one to ten?
↳ @ maeverobber : 7/10
↳ @ arthurtv : Harsh, I'd say at least a nine
↳ @ georgeclarkeey : how would you know @ arthurtv ???🧐
↳ @ arthurtv : 🤫🤫
@ sabinablair__ : missing u already
↳ @ darceyangel : dont have too much fun without us!!!
↳ @ florencerobertson : ignore darce and have loads of fun 💗💗
↳ @ maeverobber : miss u lot more than anything, the boys all smell and r mean
@ arthurnfhill : hey its me arthur! not sure if you remember me but im actually your friend too!!
↳ @ maeverobber : ermmm i dont think weve met yet, dm me if u want to collab xx
ive recently had loads of votes, reads and people adding this to their reading list so thank u sm. sorry for no update in a while but im afraid it may be that way for a little while... loads of school and work to do, will try update whenever possible but for the next three months or so i cant really give any specifics. ive had to take loads of extra shifts to start earning more since im chipping in for the family holiday this year upon my sisters special request that i join them. hopefully itll be fun since i havent gone with them in like two years, since i started uni.
posting today just to honour the man himself turning 28!!!! he may be old but i love him anyway💗
picture he posted w his sister is the cutest thing ive ever seen like omfg i need him
love u all, remember to like vote and comment as ever