A/N: Okeys so I’ve been desperate to post this chapter and couldn’t wait any longer, so please enjoy and do let me know your thoughts :D Thanks so much for your kind words on the prologue too, means bunches <3
‘London calling, all aboard, London calling,’ my boyfriend, Oscar, who I fondly call Ozzy, calls out sarcastically to the other passengers as we board the train back to my hometown.
I nudge him and roll my eyes as we find two seats with a table to lay out all of our crap on for the couple of hours we’ll be spending cooped up on this train. Ozzy and I do long distance between Leeds, where his Mum lives, Cambridge, where his Dad lives and London, where I live and have done it successfully for over a year now ever since we came back from travelling around fifteen months ago in Australia, before ending up going to the same university in the September after we met, which definitely helped our relationship.
We spent three months solidly together travelling around Australia and Asia after our first induction day together, which turned out to be the best three months of my life; exploring the world and meeting the love of my life. Of course, most couples get to know each other before going on holiday together; but we did it all backwards by getting together and travelling with one another, all at the same time. I’m pretty sure I found out a lot more that way than I would have if I had just met him back home due to spending every waking moment together.
‘Shut up, Northerner, don’t embarrass me,’ I quip and take my seat next to the window, knowing Ozzy will moan about that for the first twenty minutes of the train journey.
‘Oh but you always have the window seat,’ he moans back at me, his Northern accent becoming a bit stronger after spending a week back in his hometown. It’s not as strong, due to his Mum only moving to Leeds when Ozzy started secondary school after his parents split up, but its strong enough to notice the difference in the way he speaks.
He runs his hand through his over tousled thick brown hair and unwillingly sits in the aisle seat beside me. ‘Good job I kind of love you,’ he mutters.
I turn my head to look at him and raise one eyebrow. ‘Excuse me? Kind of?’
He smirks, knowing he’s winding me up. He looks down at me and begins, ‘Yeah, you’re alright, I guess. Pretty standard bird.’ I flip him the bird, before he laughs and continues, ‘I couldn’t get rid of you even if I tried.’
‘Do you want to be single?’ I ask him with a laugh.
‘Depends,’ he smirks, before getting me to look at him and adding, honestly. ‘Nah, you’re all I want. Whatever happens, I’m always going to stick with you. Forever and always, yeah?’
‘Better get your shit together then,’ I tease him. ‘Forever’s a long time.’
He shakes his head adamantly, ‘Forever isn’t long enough for us.’
Smiling at his sweetness, I get my phone out of my pocket and begin opening the bag full of food that Ozzy’s mum gave us for the trip back to my house. The relationship I have with Ozzy is based on teasing, flirting and joking around and I wouldn’t want it any other way. My mum worries sometimes that it’s not the best foundation for a relationship, but it works for us right now and that’s all that matters. I know Ozzy loves and cares for me, even if he isn’t as forth coming with romance in front of people.
Once the train begins its journey south, I unpack a few items of food for us to eat. With Oscar being over 6ft and growing man, he insists he needs two portions to my every one, so he takes two chocolate bars and I am left with one.
‘You know, we could spend five days at yours and then head back to uni for the weekend and just mull about?’ He suggests, looking up from his phone. ‘It’ll be just us then.’
I nod, not bothered about where we spend the time, just as long as we get some quality time together. During term time, it’s rare that we both just have time completely to ourselves where we’re not interrupted; we’re either usually with friends or studying to get work done on time before meeting up and staying over at each other’s flats. Next year, we’ve boldly decided we are going to move in together, which panicked my parents, but if I wanted to live with anyone, it was Ozzy, so we’ve got a nice house for five with three of our mutual best friends.
Ozzy and I fiddle on our phones for a while before he puts his iPhone down on the table and turns my chin to face him. I glance up from my phone and see his brightly coloured eyes sparkling at me and my heart flips a little bit. He’s so beautiful, inside and out. I know how lucky I am that this boy is mine, but there is so much more to him than his gorgeous looks, a sensitive side he just shares with me.
‘Love you,’ he tells me, capturing his lips with mine briefly. I smile against his lips as I kiss him back, before nuzzling into the crook of his neck.
He grabs my hand lying between our bodies and interlocks his fingers with his and rubs his thumb across the back of my hand and asks if I had enjoyed last night. I nod, remembering what we got up to in the club and smirk. Let’s just say I doubt my family members would like to see images of Ozzy and I making out provocatively on the dance floor. We didn’t exactly go easy on the alcohol either, though a cheap kebab seems to have banished our hangovers.
‘I did, but I’m knackered now. What time is it?’ I ask, dragging his hand to me so I can see his watch I bought him for his birthday. Musing at the early morning time, I yawn and snuggle back into my boyfriend’s arms for the rest of the journey.
+++
Now, Ozzy doesn’t travel light.
Ever. Even back packing across Australia, he brought enough to clothe random people on his way.
Of course, usually it is the girl’s role to pack a million and one things, but Ozzy has brought everything as if he was going to move in with me; including his bulky guitar that is sticking out of one of his three bags.
‘Take the lightest one for me please, baby,’ he asks, pointing to his Aztec coloured bag. We do look like tourists in my own city seeing as I had to bring the stuff I took up to visit him and we’re coming back with more stuff this time.
‘You didn’t need to bring this much stuff with you. Half of your stuff is already at uni,’ I chide him, lugging the bag up my arm.
He ignores me, and instead searches on his phone for the nearest Nandos for us to grab some lunch in, before we get the next train back to my hometown. Nandos is our restaurant. We’ve had many dates there that it’s bordering on embarrassing. Whilst I wait for Ozzy to find where one is, I sway backwards and forwards on my heels as hundreds of tourists bustle in and out of London Bridge train station. A couple of minutes later and we’re on the move to Nandos, with Ozzy zigzagging us between the gormless tourists who stop mid walk to take a picture of a phone box. Do people even use phone boxes anymore?
Soon enough, we’re standing in line with our well rehearsed orders ready to slip off of the tips of our tongues. I rest my body against Ozzy’s front, with his arm awkwardly coming around to hug me due to the amount of bags we’re carrying, before we place our orders and go back to our table with bottomless drinks filled to the brim with ice.
Placing the jagged ice shards in my mouth, I swish them around a little, before nudging Ozzy with my arm to look at me. He raises his eyebrow as I beckon him to lean across the table and kiss me. Effortlessly, his lips mesh with mine, but not before I slip the ice into his mouth when his tongue slips in. He recoils immediately, spluttering the ice across the table which makes me cackle in laughter.
‘I knew you’d stick your tongue in,’ I tell him through giggles, sweeping the ice up with a napkin. ‘Did you not like my ice kiss, lover?’ I tease.
His cheeks are tinged red from the embarrassing reaction I’ve caused him. He’s so going to get me back for this at some point. I pout at his cuteness and stick my lips out to kiss him properly. ‘Come here, gorgeous,’ I insist and a few seconds later, he obliges my request for a soft, warm kiss this time.
‘We need to go to boots after this,’ I tell him as we wolf down our meals.
He looks up from his meal and shakes his head. ‘Nu uh, I’m not coming make up shopping with you,’ he tells me pointedly. ‘No way.’
‘You know, it takes a lot of effort to make me look this natural with this amount of make up on,’ I comment, sticking a chip into my mouth.
He rolls his eyes at me before saying, ‘But I love you without make up, you know that. I think we’re gonna have to do a back to nature day, no makeup, no phones, no over the top clothes or anything, just you and me without all this stuff.’
It’s one of the things I love most about Ozzy, his suggestions to change things up and make us appreciate what we really need in life, namely one another. I do enjoy our back to nature days; it lets me know Ozzy doesn’t mind me looking natural, if a little bit rough. Although I sometimes feel twitchy without my phone, a day with Ozzy with no distractions soon makes me forget everything but him.
After finishing our meals, I still drag my boy to Boots and he reluctantly tags behind but this will be the last stop before we’re back home and really, I just like spending time alone with him, but I do need to get some bits. We walk up and down the aisles, hand in hand before I begin to swatch some lip sticks. I try a bright red lip on, before grabbing a few more make up essentials.
As we walk back towards the train station, we pass a young band busking on the edge of a pavement corner. I always feel sorry that no one pays attention to their talent, because they have it in abundance. I pull Ozzy to stop so we can listen to the music, knowing Ozzy is just as skilful at playing the guitar, before he says, ‘Put the bags down, Immy. Let’s dance.’
I look up at him and see he’s grinning at me. ‘Come on, dare ya, baby. Dance with me. Though not as erotically as you did last night,’ he winks, tapping my bum lightly.
Not one to be beaten, I put our bags down and begin to dance in the middle of the street with Ozzy. His right hand clasps my right hand as his left rests tightly on my lower back. Dancing in unison, we giggle as the band continues to play, appreciating our impromptu dance. I’d never do this other than with Ozzy, but he brings out this side in me, a side to just not care and do it anyway. As the band finish their song, we pull apart to applause and I blush, curtseying before fishing for change in my purse and placing it in the band’s guitar.
‘Great music, guys. Keep it up and pursue your dream,’ I tell the three guys honestly, before looking back at Ozzy who has lumbered all of our bags in his eyes, ready to go. Smiling, I take a few bags, before he says, ‘You’re a good sport.’
‘I try,’ I tease, grabbing out trains tickets out of my purse to get us back to my home.
After arriving back home and spending the rest of the day unpacking, we mull about and spend some time with my sister, Eleanor. She’s in year 11 and is really the best sister I could have wished for. She’s funny, bright and one of my best friends, despite our occasional heated arguments.
‘Lover, come here,’ I hear Ozzy call out when I’m fish plaiting Eleanor’s hair.
Eleanor looks up at me and smiles, that dreamy smile she always has when she sees me and Ozzy together. She’s a big fan of him, she knows how happy he makes me and her approval was significant in the longevity of our relationship when we came back to England.
Ozzy must have realised I wasn’t coming, as he’s now stood at Elle’s door, dressed in some lounge wear, with his hair all dewy and wet from his quick shower. I couldn’t exactly join him seeing as my family are moving about the house still, but our joint showers are always fun.
‘What did you want?’ I ask him with a smile.
He gives me a wink to let me know that it’s me he wants, but instead sits behind me as I plait the rest of Eleanor’s hair. I feel his fingers rhythmically rubbing at my lower back that is sends shivers all over my body. He has magic fingers and he sure knows how to use them.
It doesn’t take me that much longer to finish plaiting her hair, but I’m so comfy in Ozzy’s embrace I don’t actually want to move. Reluctantly, he picks me up and I balance myself on his waist. I’m tiny in comparison to the big hulk. He strides back to my room and I kick the door closed, happy to have him to myself, as he lays us back on my double bed.
We lay side by side, our hands interlocking, before Ozzy eagerly strips me, taking his sweet old time before handing me his clothes, because I need to sleep in something of his. It’s become an awful habit that I don’t sleep well unless I’m wearing a t-shirt of hoodie of his with his scent wafting over me. It makes me feel a whole lot safer and happier by just wearing some of his stuff to bed.
Ozzy puts on his sleep wear as I pull his top down on me and pull on some long socks to keep my legs warm. I get into my side of the bed and Ozzy snuggles in behind me, spooning me.
‘You look so sexy in those long socks.’ He pauses for a few seconds before adding with a smirk, ‘Saves me from your hairy legs.’
‘Oi!’ I laugh at his comment. ‘Don’t be a dick, you know I waxed them last night!’
He gives me a wink as I add, ‘Anyway, you find socks sexy. You have a sock fetish. That’s weirder.’ I smirk and press my lips to his cheek, as my other hand cups his face whilst I wrap one of my legs around his coarse hairy ones. Ozzy mms in appreciation and lets his hands span my back as he rubs it softly.
Soon it’s just us awake in the house, so we put on our favourite TV series the Big Bang Theory and continue to talk until the early hours of the morning, when a 2am food emergency strikes.
‘Shhhh, Oscar. Don’t wake my parents up,’ I chide, watching as his broad body reaches up to grab the utensils, clattering the pots and pans together as he goes. That boy is about as subtle and as graceful as an elephant. After grabbing the right bowl from the top of the cupboard, he forages around my fridge for the ingredients. Brownie emergencies have become a thing for us. It’s rare we go to bed before midnight really and usually if we’re up later, we tend to make food together, which pisses off our flat mates but it satisfies our hunger.
I smirk as I watch his peachy bum strain against his joggers, as his topless torso learns into the fridge. I shiver, snuggling his t-shirt closer around my body.
Spinning around, Ozzy throws a wad off butter in my direction and I quickly grab it from hitting my face.
‘You dick! You could have hit me,’ I tell him in shock, as he smirks and walks over to me carrying the eggs, one in each hand.
‘Careful, or I’ll crack them on your head,’ he teases, dangling two large eggs above my head.
‘You wouldn’t,’ I test him, looking up at his tall frame.
‘You so know I would, Immy,’ he responds, waiting for my next move.
‘Don’t you dare, Oscar,’ I warn seriously, watching as he throws the eggs up and down in his hands.
‘Eggs are meant to be good for your hair though,’ he tells, walking back over to the recipe book and placing the eggs down. ‘Eggs and lemon.’
Relieved that he’s not given me eggy or lemony hair, I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist, letting my fingers ripple up his defined abs and brush against his coarse happy trail. He tenses briefly, before turning around in my arms and pressing a kiss to my forehead. I shiver in response, causing him to smile widely.
‘Come on, the quicker we make your food, the quicker we can actually get some sleep.’
Grinning, I turn the oven on to preheat it and we skim through the instructions at the same time.
‘Do you have vanilla extract?’ He asks, as he begins to whisk the food, clearly knowing my pathetic muscles aren’t going to last long whisking.
I shrug, wandering over to the cupboard where it should be. Standing up on my tip toes, I feel his hands tickle at my sides. He knows my weak spots so well he uses it to his advantage.
After tickling me to the point of tears, Ozzy lifts me up on the kitchen counter and stands between my legs, smirking as he comments, ‘Spread ‘em, sugar.’
I roll my eyes, nudging his shoulders, before linking my arms around his neck and telling him, ‘You’re so crude and filthy.’
‘You love it really,’ he tells me, wrinkling his nose, before leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine. His hands wrap around my waist and fall lower to my bum, pulling me even closer to him. Smiling, I kiss him back, allowing my fingers to tousle at the nape of his neck the gorgeous brown locks that hang there. Kissing Ozzy makes everything okay; I can never imagine getting bored of those plump bee stung lips.
As his hands skim underneath my, well his top, I feel his fingers ping the back of my knickers, before pulling me onto his hips and carrying me to the nearby sofa.
‘Noooo, I want brownies, Ozzy,’ I pout, his lips kissing at my neck as he nibbles sensually.
‘But I want you,’ he responds, equally as pouty.
‘Of course you do, but I need brownies first and I’m not having sex in the kitchen.’ I scramble off his hips and walk back over to the scales to continue measuring the ingredients out. Ozzy lines the baking tray as I haphazardly begin to beat everything together. For good measure, he chucks in chocolate buttons to add extra chocolaty goodness to our food. Watching Ozzy in full concentration, with his bottom lip between his teeth makes my heart melt. He really is the best boyfriend in the world. Sure, I may be a little bias seeing as he is my one and only boyfriend, but he’s beyond special.
‘I luh you,’ I tell him randomly, in the childish manner we sometimes tell one another.
He looks over his shoulder and leans down to kiss my lips. ‘I luh you too.’
As we wait for the brownies to bake, we sit on the sofa in the living room part of the kitchen, snuggled up watching crappy morning television. I can feel my eyes become heavy, when Ozzy nudges me forcefully.
‘No way, jose, you wanted these brownies, you can stay awake for them.’
I close my eyes, hoping to convince him to finish off alone. ‘You should be a good boyfriend and just do them for me.’
‘You wish,’ he laughs, before shoving me off his lap and pulling me like an excited child to get the brownies out. ‘Get up, lazy.’
‘Wait, we need a cooling rack,’ I say, as I switch the oven off, already smelling the delicious chocolate smell wafting through the air. ‘It’s just up in that cupboard.’ I point up to the cupboard on the far side on the counter, a little out of reach. I go to hoist myself up onto the counter to get it, but Ozzy grabs my waist and stops me.
‘Don’t be stupid, you could trip.’
Sighing at his protectiveness, I insist, ‘It’s just up here, I can get it. I do it all the time.’
Stubbornly, I pull myself up so I am standing on top of the counter to open the cupboard. The lights are dim, so it takes a little while for me to find it. Stupid wire rack. Foraging my hands around the cupboard to try and find it, it takes me a few seconds before I clasp my fingers around it.
‘Ta da!’ I exclaim proudly, showing him the cooling rack, but as I go to get off the counter, I feel myself slipping, my feet losing their balance on the marble counter as I fall face first off of the counter, slamming my head right down onto the slate flooring...