Tonight was probably one of the most tedious nights of my whole life, there was so many people here who we used to go to school with and hated me who are now being nice to me -or at least pretending to- and acting like they were my best friend all those years ago but I can't say anything because I don't want to hurt Marjorie's feelings.
I wish I hadn't agreed to this stupid thing with Mark about not getting drunk because I could do with this right now but at the same time last time Gary's mum saw me I was drunk and I didn't need her being added to the list of people who think I have a problem with drinking.
"How are you doing?" Gary asked when I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of lemonade.
"I don't know how much of this tedious talk I can be doing with, like it's the same bullshit with every person and it's not even like they've grown you can still see the fake in their words and their eyes." I sighed leaning against the table.
"I know, I know. Think about it, I've had this for so many years now at least this is only your first." He laughed.
"Then why do they keep coming to whatever party or gathering that happens?" I asked curious as to why he puts up with it.
"Because my mum can't see their crap and I don't want to taint my mums opinion of anyone just because I think they're fake people." He explained to me.
"I guess that makes sense, at least there's not long of it all left." I said realising it was getting to a time where hopefully most people would be thinking about leaving.
"Do you want me to be with you when you go back out?" He asked. "And think about it, at least this party has been drama free." He said obviously referring to the incident with Chloe at Halloween.
"Yes please and you see the reason for that is because - like the source of most of our problems - there's no crazy ex's here." I laughed and wrapped my arm around his waist.
"I mean there's still time but up to know it's all going fine."
"And now you jinxed it." I laughed, playfully hitting his stomach.
"I've been wanting to ask you this for quite a while now, I was just wondering why have you suddenly stopped drinking? Was it because of what happened at the restaurant? Because that was me just being an ass and I know now I shouldn't of said anything." He asked.
"No it's nothing to do with that, it's nothing really to be honest, it's just me and Mark have this silly bet going on and basically neither of us can drink." I said pulling away from him slightly so I could look at his face.
"Why exactl- actually I don't want to get involved in any little bet you two have because you're both super competitive and that is definitely not something I want to be a part of." He laughed and then picked up his own drink.
"I am not competitive!" I defended myself.
"Yeah, okay." He scoffed. "Are you sure you don't want a drink though, I mean just smell this wine," he said putting the wine right under my nose. "doesn't it just smell amazing?" He smirked at me.
"What happened to 'I'm not going to get involved.'" I mocked him. "Wait," I said pulling away from him fully, "did he put you up to this? Is he trying to see if I would crack because he knows I have no self control when it comes to you? That little bastard, I swear next time I see him I'm gonna kick his tiny littl-"
"No, no, chill. This is just me teasing you." He laughed. "I think you not drinking is great, I would never try to do anything that would jeopardise that." He said putting the wine back down and then pulling me towards him.
"You'd tell me if he got drunk and didn't tell me wouldn't you?" I asked him more or less pouting.
"Yes," he rolled his eyes at me, "I promise if I see a drop of alcohol even come close to touching his lips I'll be on the phone to you like a flash." He said presumably mocking me again.
"Okay well we're allowed to have like a couple of drinks, we're just not allowed to get anywhere near drunk, that's just the rules we came up with." I told him.
"Then why haven't you had like even one drink tonight?" He asked.
"Because like when it comes to you, the amount of self control I have when it comes to drinking is more or less nothing and I know what if I start it won't just be 'one' and everything will get out of control and I've been doing so well I wouldn't want to ruin that." I told him honestly.
"I promise I won't let you have more than one, like seriously this wine is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever tasted." He smirked at me and I knew that the next thing to come out of his mouth would be inappropriate, and I was right. "You being the most gorgeous obviously." He continued smirked at me.
"You're so dirty minded." I said trying to hide my grin but failing miserably.
"You love it really." He laughed and leaned down to kiss my nose. "We really should go back in there you know." He whispered to me.
"I know." I sighed pulling away from him. "It's nearly over, come on you can get through this." I said jokingly giving myself a pep talk.
"You're seriously one strange woman." He laughed and then pulled on my hand to walk back through the door with him.
"Pfft, tell me something I don't know."
---
"Thank you for having us Marjorie, honestly I had such a great time, it was so fun seeing all those old places again and catching up with so many people." I said to her as me and Gary were about ready to leave.
"Oh don't be silly, it was my privilege." She said pulling me in for a hug. "Now you need to promise me that you won't leave it as long till you see me next time." She said releasing me from her grip but still holding my arms.
"I promise, I'll force him to let me come up and see you more." I smiled at her.
"Good." She smiled and hugged me again. "That does apply to you as well you know, I expect to see you more regularly." She said squeezing Gary's cheeks.
"Yes mum, I will definitely try and see you before Christmas but it not you're still coming down for boxing day yes?" He asked her.
"Of course. What are you doing for Christmas dear?" She asked me.
"Me and Lauren are going to be spending it with Mark and Gary." I told her.
"Ahh that's nice, will I see you on boxing day as well?" She asked, I looked at Gary unsure what to say.
"I mean as long as that's okay with you and Gary of course." I smiled, hoping Gary wouldn't mind.
"Of course that's okay dear, don't be silly."
"Alright mum, me and Katie have really got to get going now, we'll see you soon I promise." He said leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek. "I love you." He said to her.
"I love you too son." She smiled at him. "Bye Katie, like I said, make sure you get him to come visit with you more." She smiled at me as we stood at the door.
"I will, I promise." I reassured her before following Gary out of the door. "Bye!" I called to her as I saw her waving goodbye to us.
"Bye!" She smiled back as she watched us walk down the path to the car.
"I do love your mum." I said to him as I handed him a bag to put in the car.
"She's always been very fond of you, like she's never really been a fan of any of my ex's but she genuinely really does like you, she always has." He said as he put everything in the boot.
"Well maybe that's the reason she didn't like any of the others." I said then walked to the front of the car and got in.
"I never thought of it like that." He said actually thinking about it.
"I mean she's told me quite a few times, in the small amount of time I've known her again, how much her and your dad wanted us to be together. It's possible she's been playing mind games with you all these years Barlow, she knows her opinions are valued by you, she's been messing with you babe." I laughed as we pulled away from the house and started our journey back home.
"Shit, I've honestly never thought about it like that before." He said clearly trying to focus on that and on the road.
"Well it worked didn't it?" I laughed and smiled at him.
"It did." He smiled back to me. "I still can't believe she played me like that." He slightly laughed. "But I guess I can't be too hard on her." He held my hand and smiled at me once more.
"You might not be able to but I can." I joked causing him to act hurt.
"Well then." He pouted and took his hand away from mine.
"Aw, you know I'm joking." I mocked him and squeezed one of his cheeks.
"I know you are."
"I'm really not looking forward to this journey back, let's hope it's not as bad as coming up." I scoffed and he rolled his eyes.
---
"How was it?" Lauren asked more or less as soon as I walked in the door.
"It was good, it all went well and that's because there were no crazy ex's turning up anyway." I laughed.
"You know, parties are always better when there's no ex's there." She laughed agreeing with me.
"I went back to my old house, like I actually went in it, it had changed completely but it still weirdly felt like home to me like I could still feel all the memories in there, good and bad." I told her throwing my bags down and being to lazy to do anything with them right now.
"You went inside the house?" She asked me slightly confused.
"Yeah, there's a proper family living there now, the women saw us stood outside and I explained to her why I was there and she let us in and let us have a look around, I mean she was a Gary fan so was probably loving life having him inside her house." I laughed.
"Well that sounds, erm, fun." She laughed with me. "Do anything else fun?" She asked.
"Well we went to Colin's grave and I know it's not the same but I feel like I've finally said a proper goodbye to him and that guilt and regret I'd been carrying around had slowly disappeared." I told her but hoped she'd change the subject quickly because I didn't want it to get all morbid.
"That's good then." She smiled sort of sympathetically at me.
"So what did you do? Do anything fun without me?" I laughed reaching over to the plug socket to put my phone on charge.
"Me and Mark properly went into the city for a change, we spent a day actually in the city, then we went out for dinner and then went to watch a musical and then after we just walked around for a bit, it was nice and romantic." She smiled all warmly at me.
"I dinner and a musical? I bet you were in your element weren't you?" I asked knowing how much she loves them.
"I really was and it'd been so long since I'd been to one, let alone spent a proper day in the city, it was nice, I think I'm going to have to start doing it more." She continued smiling. "Oh my god, we should double date!" She nearly screamed and hit my arm.
"Yeah maybe." I said not being entirely convinced by her.
"I'm not satisfied by your enthusiasm there but I'm gonna let it slide because I need to talk to you about something." She said getting slightly more serious.
"Should I be worried?" I asked her.
"No, no absolutely not. I just need to ask you something." She said not making me feel anymore relaxed. "So halfway through the little walk we were having yesterday we stopped at the side of the Thames and we were looking and how nice the reflections of all the lights were in the water because they looked pretty and all that and he told me that he loved me." She said and then waited for me to react.
"Wow, so he finally said it." I joked with her.
"Wait! You knew!? He told you!?" She basically screeched at me.
"Yeah, we spoke about it at my leaving party." I told her.
"And you didn't tell me?" She asked obviously slightly hurt.
"Well no because I didn't really think that was my place to say anything, I knew he'd do it in his own time, and he did." I said backing up my point.
"Would you want me to tell you if Gary told me he loved you?" She asked me and automatically made my life so much more awkward.
"Probably not." I quickly answered wanting her to move on.
"Anyway," she said hopefully being able to sense my uncomfortableness. "After that we went back to his and we were talking and we somehow managed to get onto the topic of children and marriage and I guess it felt like we were talking about it all so quickly but at the same time it didn't feel wrong so I was just wondering if that's something you and Gary have discussed or if it's just us being weird?"
"I think within about like literally a few hours of officially being together we were talking about it, I mean it wasn't in a let's do this right now or even any time in the near future sort of thing it was just a one day I guess it'd be an amazing thing to do." I told her honestly.
"Wow, you two do not wait around." She laughed. "I guess ours wasn't really like that serious, it was sort of like making sure we both want the same things and I guess we went into a bit of detail but honestly not a lot." She said taking a sip from the drink I didn't even know she had.
"And do you?" I asked.
"Huh? Do we what?" She said confused.
"Want the same things."
"Yeah." She beamed, probably without even realising.
"And they are?" I asked wishing she wouldn't make my life so difficult.
"Well we both want to get married one day, and have a few kids, I want two girls and a boy and he wants two boys and a girl but as we agreed it's not actually us who gets to decide that." She laughed.
"So you have actually put some thought into it? Yeah me and Gary didn't you see, I honestly didn't feel like getting in that deep at that point." I told her.
"And how about now?" She asked. "If you were to have the conversation again, would you be as scared about it getting deep?" She made sure I knew exactly what she meant.
"I don't know, I mean I guess not but then again I don't really know what I want, like I can't tell you ideally how many children I want and especially not what sort." I shrugged. "You know I'm more of a go with the flow sort of person." I laughed.
"Oh I'm very aware of that." She laughed with me. "But I assumed with something a bit more serious you'd think about it a bit more."
"Hey, you only get one life, why spend it being hung up on things that happened in the past or planning every step of you're future, somethings just can't be planned, now you know I'm not exactly religious but I honestly believe that whatever god like thing there is, they have a plan for us and there's nothing we can do or should do to try and change those plans." I said not really expecting myself to get that emotionally deep.
"I guess you're right, but there's no harm in trying to make some sort of plan for yourself."
"Different people, follow different things." I smiled at her.
"That is true." She nodded her head. "How are you feeling about tomorrow?" She asked referring to my first day working for Olly.
"I am honestly bricking it, like I was sat there thinking about it on the way home, like this is literally me starting my career all over again, I have no prior experience in this field, all I've done my whole life is work in retail and done some bar and waitressing work and I honestly feel so much pressure because I know he's taken a big risk on me." I shared with her some of my fears I was to worried to talk to Gary about.
"Aw, bless you. I know it's daunting starting a new job, in a completely different area that you're used to but him and the team obviously saw some potential in you when you went for that trial day or else they wouldn't for picked you." She wrapped her arm around my shoulder in a reassuring way.
"Yeah but the only reason I got this opportunity in the first place was because of Gary and I've seen other people saying it as well, what if that's purely the only reason why I got this, because of Gary and Olly not wanting to let him down after more or less promising me this job?" I asked her.
"Look, Olly may not want to want to let you or Gary down but I truly believe that no matter what, the rest of the team wouldn't let it happen unless they actually believed that you have what it takes." She tried to reassure me. "And remember, it's completely normal to feel nervous about starting any new job, let alone something you've never really done before, you'll be fine I promise!"
"I guess you're right." I smiled. "Oh god, I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." I hugged her.
"You'd be a lot crazier than you already are." She laughed.
"That is probably true." I laughed along with her.
---
"How'd it go?" Gary asked me as I drove home.
"It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be." I told him over the bluetooth system in the car.
"What did you have to do?" He asked.
"I was basically getting reacquainted with everyone, you know going over everything I got told on that trial day thing, I have my own office which is so crazy and on Wednesday Olly's going over to Germany and he's going to be appearing on a show there and I've been put in charge of running his social media accounts and doing promoting on it and stuff like that, you know starting me off on the slightly easier stuff." I explained to him.
"Does that mean you've actually got to proofread what you write?" He laughed at me.
"Yes." I rolled my eyes, totally aware that he couldn't see me. "Shit - I swear all the lunatics are out of the road today, jesus fucking christ." I cursed nearly being cutoff by someone.
"Don't die on the way home, that would be an inconvenience to quite a few people." He joked.
"I'll try not to." I laughed with him. "Where are you anyway?" I asked him.
"I'm at home, why?"
"Well I was gonna say if you were at my house I'm gonna stop and get a takeaway on the way home and wondered if you wanted anything." I explained to him.
"Well I'm not at yours, but you could get a takeaway anyway and just come round mine if you want?" He asked rather hopingly.
"I can do, what do you want then?" I asked him not being too bothered about what we eat.
"You?" He asked, I knew exactly what he wanted just from his tone of voice.
"To eat." I rolled my eyes at him. "And I swear if you say me again I am not coming round." I said before he could saying anything else because I know exactly what he's like.
"Well, just spoil my fun then why don't you." He tutted. "Anyway, I'm feeling a good old fish and chips, how about you?" He asked.
"I'm down with a chippy, do you want me to get it from the one near you or somewhere else?"
"The one down the road from me is fine." He said.
"Okay, do you just want the usual?" I asked him while mentally cursing every single person driving on the roads.
"Could I have mushy peas as well? And, I think I'll push the boat out and have a large, I mean you never know, I may get a workout after." I knew if I was with him right now he'd have that stupid smirk on his face.
"Right, got it and can I say how disgusting you are." I joked.
"You love it really."
"Whatever." I just rolled my eyes at him. "Well I'll see you in about half an hour." I told him.
"Okay, bye baby." He said, I knew exactly what he was doing when he said baby like that, he knows I can't resist it.
"Bye, disgusting person." I said and just before I hung up the phone I heard him laugh.
I continued driving to the fish and chip show, quickly realising what a bitch this journey to and from home would be more or less everyday and I really hoped it would all be worth it. I parked in the car park and in the spot I usually park in - coming here was starting to become a bad habit of mine and Gary's but our new years resolution was going to be to properly get back into working our -and got out of the car.
As I walked towards the small chippy which always seemed to be busy, I saw someone sat down who I really didn't want to see again, especially any time soon. I sighed before walking into the takeaway and tried to completely ignore her.
"You alright Katie?" Emily - the woman behind the counter - asked me.
"Yeah, I'm good thanks Em, how about yourself?" I asked. I could literally feel a pair of eyes burning into the back of my head.
"I'm good as always thank you, the usual?" She smiled while wrapping up another customers food.
"Yup, but could the fish be a large please? Oh and Gary also wants a pot of peas with it." I smiled at her.
"Oooo, mixing it up a little bit are we?" She laughed while putting our order into the till.
"Well it would appear so." I laughed with her.
"Would you like your usual can of coke while you wait as well?" She asked.
"Ooooo, well you've tempted me." I laughed as I leaned on the counter. She went over to the fridge and got the can out for me.
"Here you go." She said passing me the can. I thanked her and paid her the money before bracing myself to turn around.
"Katie." She said as soon as I turned around.
"Chloe." I glared at her. "A bit sad isn't it? Getting a takeaway for one." I raised my eyebrows at her, making sure I got the first sarcastic comment in.
"Oh, no, I have company." She smirked at me as I rolled my eyes and opened my coke.
"You know hostages don't count right?" I sharply said to her, fully aware some people in here were probably listening into the conversation.
"Ha, ha, you're hilarious." She rolled her eyes at me. "What are you doing here anyway?" She asked.
"Oh, well, you know, me and Gary fancied a Chinese." I sarcastically told her, making sure to mention Gary's name for no reason other than letting her know we were still very much together.
"Again, you're hilarious. Anyway," She said putting her hand to her mouth as if to whisper something. "I heard you and Gary were having some problems." She said pulling a weird face. "Something about an ex fiance you had." She smirked thinking she'd obviously got me.
"No, me and G are doing perfectly fine, in fact we just spent the weekend at his mums, you know, reliving all the fun times and memories we had together as children and even making some new memories, if you know what I mean." I winked at her, a bit over the top I must admit. "But yeah, there was a bit of a problem with an ex of mine, but we realised how irrelevant both the situation and the person was, like we did with one of his ex's." I said obviously referring to her. "How did you find out anyway?" I asked being pretty sure no one other than me, Gary, Lauren, Mark and Howard knew.
"Oh I have my ways, just remember that in the future Katie, I find out everything." She said, I'm not sure if it was meant to be in a threatening way or not, but I knew I definitely didn't feel threatened.
"You didn't sneak into his house again did you?" I asked referring to the halloween party.
"Nope, like I said, I have my ways." She said standing up as her order was called out. "How is the old stomach? Still bruised?" She laughed while walking past me and in the process slightly tapping my stomach to reinforce her question.
"It's fine, thank you for the concern. Can't even tell there was anything there, sorry to disappoint." I sarcastically smiled at her.
"Oh well, I'll have to make sure I get you better next time."
"That wouldn't be a threat would it? It sure sounded like one to me." I innocently said.
"No it wasn't, I didn't mean it like that, ugh, I've got to go before this gets cold." She said, realising she'd gone to far in this war of words.
"Don't forget to let it cool before you feed it to your hostages, you know, so they don't burn their mouth." I said to her quietly as she walked out the door.
"Shut up!" She called back, frustrated. I laughed knowing that I'd got to her for once.
Not long after Emily called me up to get my order, I thanked her and apologised about me and Chloe and told her I'd see her again soon.
As I got to Gary's I cursed at myself and realised that the car was now probably going to smell like chips for the next couple of days and hoped that no one else other than me or Lauren would have to be in it. I carried the bag from the car and walked up the path while getting my keys out of my pocket and shuffled them around until I got the right one and made a note to self to sort them all out.
"Hello, I'm here and I come baring food!" I called as I closed the door behind me.
"In the kitchen!" Gary called back to me. "Hey baby." He smiled at me as I walked into the room.
"I told you not to call me that, you know it makes me go all weak and stuff." I blushed and handed him the bag with the food in.
"You said it makes you want to do whatever I want, so that's what I'm using it for." He smirked at me and tried to kiss me.
"Oh no, no." I said pushing him away. "You do not get anything right now." I told him with my hand still on his chest.
"Why? What did I do?" He pouted at me.
"It's not you, well I guess it does stem from you slightly. So I've had a really good day, you know, first day of my new job went well, I call my boyfriend up, we plan on getting a takeaway and eating it at his, I'm excited to spend time with him, you know, the usual. Then I go to the chippy and that's when my day gets slightly less good as I run into his crazy ex, who is still obviously in love with him and who understandably hates me with every part of her being." I told him.
"What did Chloe do this time?" He asked me, rolling his eyes at even the mention of her name.
"She knows we had a little issue last week and I just don't understand how because as far as I'm aware, the only people who knew about that was me, you, Lauren, Mark and Howard, like there's literally not even any mention of it on the internet so how did she find out? I know I didn't tell her." I said as Gary put the food down on the table. "Did you?" I asked him, already knowing the answer would be no.
"Of course not." He said, sitting down. "Katie, I haven't spoke to her since I went to shout at her after the party, and there's literally no reason in the whole world why I would want to tell her about us having an argument." He told me.
"I didn't think it would be you, you don't think Mark or Howard told her do you?"
"Why would they? And why are you so sure it wasn't Lauren?" He asked.
"What reason would she have to tell her? And plus, she's my best friend she would never do anything like that to me." I told him, stating the obvious.
"And Mark and Howard are two of my best friends, and what reason would either of those two have for telling her?" He said, asking me the exact same question.
"Well I mean Mark did have that thing with her, maybe that's not over." I shrugged, honestly trying to convince myself more than anyone.
"Do you really think he'd do that behind Laurens back?" He asked me, obviously already knowing the answer.
"No," I frowned then took a bite of my burger. "I just want to know how the hell she knows. What if she's got cameras or microphones or something hidden in our house? Or what if she's got someone following us around everywhere and they're telling her everything that happens?" I asked starting to freak myself out.
"Babe chill," he said putting one of his hands on top of mine. "How would she even be able to get into your house to do that?" He asked, obviously being the one doing the sensible thinking right now.
"I don't know," I told him. "But she did say 'oh I have my ways, I find out everything.' Like what does that even mean? Maybe she is crazy enough to sneak into my house and do that."
"Look," he said standing up and coming to knell down in front of me. "I know she's crazy, but not even she would go through all that just to knowing what you're doing and plus she knows that you're not there a lot. I promise you, she's all talk, you're fine. Now baby, can we just forget about her and get back to having our dinner so we can then have a long night of having sex?" He said with his hands on either side of my face.
"Okay," I smiled at him, I mentally cursed him for calling me baby. "Wait, I was kind of hoping we could just chill in the hot tub for a bit because I've had a long and stressful first day and I want to relax." I told him.
"Oh, I can help you relax." He said as he started kissing my neck.
"Eat your food Gary and when I say food, I mean your fish and chips." I told him, knowing exactly what he had in mind.
"Fine." He pouted and went back to his seat.
"Also, I can't stay tonight because I've got no clothes suitable for going to work in tomorrow." I told him, knowing that I was spoiling his fun even more.
"But you have so many clothes here already." He moaned like a small child.
"I know, but I had to go out and buy a load of new stuff because the clothes that I wore to the store weren't exactly what I needed to wear for his." I told him.
"Fine." He repeated himself and pouted again which cause me to laugh and roll my eyes.
Authors Note
Okay so my new years resolution isn't working out that well and I know it may be difficult to believe me but I honestly do try, like I'll have 3/4 nights and I'll write about 1000 words each time and then I'll just not have time for ages to finish the last thousand or so words and I am so, so, so sorry.
I hate how hard it is for me to find time to write now, like two years ago I used to have so much time and I used to post about two or three times a week and used to love it and I for sure felt like I'd be done by now and it's not and it's stressing me out because I just want to write for this all the time but I physically cannot find the time to and it sucks so damn much.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to where I'm going with this because it's getting to the parts that I've had in my mind since I started writing it and I'm so excited to actually write them down rather than just thinking them through in my head constantly!!
I hope you're all doing well and this year is treating you well and that you had a good christmas and what not.
As always, if you want to see what I'm doing with my life follow me on twitter (I've changed my username) it's now takethatmurs and please dm me and we can talk and you can remind me to keep writing this!! And remember to like and comment on this chapter and past chapters if you wish haha!!
I love you all so much as always and I am so thankful for your continued support I honestly appreciate it so, so, so much, thank you!! I love you and goodbye my lovelies mwah:**