A/N: Side picture is of Immy/Ozzy/Leon. External link will take you to pictures of other cast members. I will fill in the cast list to the best of my ability if I know their names. Also, big thanks to people who helped me out with driving and also the funny stories :) this helped in this chapter! So I'm just going to dedicate this to them :P
Blake and I begin to make a start on dinner, with both of us knowing that we need to keep busy to stop ourselves from talking about the inevitable regarding Ozzy and me. Sam still hasn’t come down and nor has Ozzy, which doesn’t spell the best news.
‘Pass the onion please,’ Blake instructs, going about making her sauce for the spaghetti bolognese. As she chops away, her eyes streaming with tears, I begin to lay out the table, hoping that all four place sets will be filled. I’m already stressing about where I will be sitting and who I will be sitting next to, hoping I’m not next to Ozzy.
As Blake leaves the sauce to simmer and enrich the mince, we sit down on the sofa and watch some evening television of a documentary, when we hear footsteps behind us. We both look back at the same time and see Sam coming down the stairs.
‘Is he-?’ Blake begins.
‘He’ll be down for dinner. But I just imagine this going down like an episode of Friends with Ross and Rachel.’
Blake sends me a sympathetic look and sighs. Maybe I’ll just get drunk instead to make the meal more bearable bearable. ‘It’ll be fine,’ she reassures. ‘I just wish Gino was here too. The boy could fill any awkward silence.’
An hour later and Sam has gone upstairs to drag down Ozzy for dinner. I’ve insisted on sitting next to Blake and opposite Sam, the furthest position away from Ozzy. I watch as he plods down the stairs from the table and watch him take a seat, opposite me. My eyes widen and Sam rolls his eyes, taking Ozzy’s seat. As Blake serves up, we sit in silence, none of us knowing what to say.
Once we’ve all got our bowls filled with delicious spaghetti bolognese, we descend into eating in silence and almost feel bad for Blake and Sam, but I’m not going to be the one breaking it.
Clearly, Blake can’t stand no talking, so she breaks it by saying, ‘Well, I’m pregnant.’
Immediately, Sam splutters the beer from his mouth, Ozzy drops his cutlery and I’ve gasped, murmuring noooo, when Blake smirks, relief flooding over her face. ‘No, I’m not, but come on guys, don’t make me sit in silence. This is like a lecture room.’
‘Bloody hell you did not just give a pregnancy scare,’ Sam scolds. ‘What the hell, Blake? Not cool.’
‘What? I can’t sit in silence! Please, I can’t do it! Just, talk. About anything! Lets talk about this pretend pregnancy.’
‘No, let’s not,’ Sam cuts in, still traumatised by the admission. ‘We are not even imagining that you are pregnant. That’s what condoms are for.’
‘Well lets talk about something else then,’ she exclaims, almost desperately. ‘Please! Anything!’
‘What about your holiday?’ I suggest, glancing across at the boys. I’ve still not heard anything about it. They share a look but Ozzy still says nothing and Sam sighs.
‘Anything else but that?’ He asks.
Blake slaps her hand to her head and pretends to cry, ‘Come on! ANYTHING!’
‘Why not talk about how unhappy I made Immy,’ Ozzy chips in bitterly and Blake looks like she’s about to cry.
She places her cutlery down into her bowl and shakes her head. ‘Oscar Hawthrope, don’t you dare ruin this dinner. I am trying so hard here and you are not making this any easier. Grow some fucking balls and move on. You can’t keep battling her, she’s not going to get back with you, especially if you are like that. She needs time to just be her. Why won’t you let her have that?’
‘Because Blake, she is the love of my life and I’m not willing to let this memory thing defeat us. I know you have never been in love like we have, but it’s something I am not going to give up on,’ he says emphatically, his voice breaking midway through.
‘If you love someone, you should set them free,’ she says, having the final word as Ozzy stares her out, before dropping his cutlery into his bowl and walking away from the table and up the stairs.
I look across at Sam, who is shaking his head in disbelief and Blake who looks like she’s going to scream. And then me, stuck in the middle and the cause of it all. Saying I’m sorry won’t even begin to cover it.
I reach for Blake’s hand and she gratefully squeezes it, before saying, ‘Sorry.’
‘No, it’s my fault all of this is happening.’
She frowns at me. ‘No, it’s not. I get where you are coming from now which I initially didn’t. I’m going to drag him down here whether he likes it or not. We can’t live like this.’
‘Maybe I should move out,’ I mutter sadly.
‘No! That is not happening.’
Within seconds, she is heading for the stairs and jumping up them in steps of two and going after Ozzy and then it’s just Sam and me at the table. He still looks shocked about the pretend pregnancy scare and what’s just gone down. His messy
‘Why didn’t you want to talk about your holiday?’ I question, spooning some spaghetti onto my fork.
‘What happens on a boys holiday, stays on a boys holiday,’ he tells me, and immediately I feel some sort of protectiveness overcome me.
‘Why? What happened?’ I ask curiously, not even sure what he means about what happens on a boys holiday. I’m guessing it’s not the sort of holiday I would want to go on.
‘I just said-’
‘Sam, what happened?’ I persist.
He sighs, spooning some food into his mouth as he responds. ‘Immy, it’s not what you are thinking.’
‘And what am I thinking?’
‘That he got with someone else.’
‘Sam.’ I challenge him to continue, but I am stopped when Ozzy comes back down with Blake. We go into silence as they resume their seats. Blake exhales a deep breath and smiles at us all.
‘Now, lets not be naive and say this is going to be easy, but lets try, okay?’ I can’t help but feel sorry for her when she pours a full glass of wine for each of us, seeing that is the only way we can be around one another.
To give Blake credit, she carries the conversation throughout the meal, with Ozzy and I barely taking part in the conversation and Sam unfortunately having to engage in banal conversation that he rather wouldn’t take part in, such as who should win Glamour Magazines sexiest male. Reluctantly, Sam agreed that it should be Max Irons or Jeremy Irvine, probably more to keep his woman placid. Once we’ve all finished, I begin to clear the table and Ozzy helps. I can’t say no, and so accept his help. I’m still getting to know where all the bowls and plates go in the kitchen, but he shows me, with as little words as possible, before saying, ‘I won’t say anything more after this, but I’m going to set you free and not bug you about us anymore. I just hope you come back to me.’
And with that, he walks out of the kitchen and goes upstairs and its only then that I recline back against the counter and gently bang my head against the cabinet. While he’s said exactly what I wanted him to say, I can’t help but feel the heaviness in my heart, knowing that this is just the beginning of our journey of us not being together. Blake walks in with the empty wine glasses and pouts at me. ‘Come on, the first time is always going to be hard, but having dinner together it a big step. We’ll keep doing more things and soon it’ll be so natural between you.’
‘You know that’s not true. Ozzy isn’t going to give up on me. We both know that.’
Sighing in defeat, she shrugs. ‘He might.’ She pauses for a few moments, placing the glasses by the side of the sink and comments, ‘Does he know about, you know, Leon?’
I shake my head. ‘No. And please don’t tell him anything. I’ll keep Leon away from the house and maybe it’ll get easier. Maybe Ozzy might find someone else soon? Maybe his feelings will change.’
She gives me a deadpan expression. ‘Unlikely and lying to him won’t help.’
‘I’m just having fun with Leon, nothing more. It’s not serious.’
‘Mm, and I think that will probably hurt Ozzy more knowing that.’
I sigh at that. I really can’t win. ‘Let’s keep it quiet for now, okay? And tell Sam too. Maybe in a week or so he’ll feel more okay around me so I’ll tell him.’
And with that, I head upstairs up to my room to shut the door, hoping to keep the tension out of what is supposed to be my sanctuary and not my hideout.
+++
After going back home for five days, I’m back at uni again, with my mum driving my car down for me to practice with Leon this week. I am anticipating remaining down here for a solid week to really integrate myself into the house and continuing to patch things up with Ozzy. For the remaining two days I was at uni for last week, we barely crossed paths, but for the sake of everyone, we need to feel comfortable around one another. Sam looks like he is about to crack when Blake forces him to make conversation with her, just so Ozzy and I don’t have to speak.
During the drive back to uni, I’m avidly watching what my mum is doing as she drives my car. She’s taken me out for a couple of drives a day over the week and I’m feeling more confident about it, however I definitely need to keep practicing with Leon. I’m not as confident as I need to be and I want to be confident enough to drive on my own too.
‘Can I pop in and use your bathroom?’ My mum asks as she pulls up outside of my house.
‘Yeah, sure.’
I unlock the front door and lead her upstairs to the bathroom, but it’s engaged, so lead her to the smaller toilet down the hall. I walk back downstairs and head to the kitchen and make my mum a drink before I walk her to the station to catch the train home.
Five and then ten minutes pass, so much so I call out to her, only to see her at the top of the stairs talking to Ozzy. Seeing them talking together makes my heart hurt, as if I’ve broken up the perfect son-in-law for her. They look more comfortable together than I do with Ozzy right now. I walk up to join them, hoping my mum can diffuse the tension hanging between me and Ozzy. She gives me a soft smile and says, ‘Sorry honey, I was just talking.’
I shrug my shoulders and send Ozzy a little smile. He doesn’t smile back, but says instead, ‘Your mum was just saying you’ve brought your car back. How’s the driving going?’
‘I’m making progress, I guess. Still a lot to learn,’ I answer, slightly awkwardly, as if I can’t remember what Ozzy’s final words to me were last week.
‘I’ll take you out for a drive if you want?’ He suggests, completely out of the blue.
‘Oh that’s a brilliant idea!’ My mum enthuses, practically linking our hands together. ‘I’d much rather you drive with a safe driver and learn that way.’
On the one hand, that sounds like a brilliant idea to build up a friendship with Ozzy, being able to bond and learn to drive at the same time. On the other hand, it sounds like an absolute disaster waiting to happen. Ozzy smirks for some reason, before nodding.
After my mum has her drink and I’ve walked her back to the station, I head back home, hoping he wasn’t that serious about helping me learn to drive, especially as Leon is more than willing to teach me. However the moment I step through the door, he’s dressed and ready to go, with my car keys in his hand.
‘Let’s get going,’ he beams and it’s almost as if Ozzy has forgotten our previous argument last week. Not wanting to bring it up again, I follow him to my green Mini Cooper and get into the driver’s seat, with Ozzy taking up the passenger side. He has to adjust the seat as his long legs are too big to fit with the seat pushed so far forward. Once comfortable, he looks at me and watches as I put the key in.
‘Make sure you are comfortable and you need to check your mirrors,’ he says firstly, before going through the basics, not alluding to me or anything from our past. This is purely driving lesson talk. He makes sure I check my mirrors and gear stick and also all the different icons in the car. I run through what I already know, before he lets me begin to drive. Thankfully, the roads aren’t that busy today, but it is still just as terrifying, with Ozzy shouting BRAKE BRAKE just so I get the message.
‘Change lanes, Immy, change lanes,’ he instructs. ‘You’re clear for a mile off. Try it.’
‘I’m scared,’ I mumble, trugging along the road, quite happy in the lane I’m in now.
‘Put your car in the right gear and indicate.’ I do as he says and then he says, ‘Okay, gentle move into the next lane. Check your mirrors and both lanes.’ I continue and effortlessly change lanes and bounce up and down after I do.
‘I did it!’ I exclaim.
‘HANDS ON THE WHEEL,’ he cuts in as I lift my hands up excitedly, before freaking out and placing my hands back and continue to drive forward.
‘You did good, yeah, don’t crash us right now. You’re getting it much quicker than a beginner. It must be in you somewhere.’
I shrug and put all my concentration back on the road and listen for Ozzy’s instructions as we come towards some traffic lights. I slow the car down, gently pressing on the breaks, before indicating to turn into a road. I hold my breath as I cross the road and let it out as I move along the road at the designated speed limit.
After the hour long lesson, we both decide to call it an end to the lesson. I let Ozzy park the car as I’m not that confident at parallel parking yet, or to be more precise, I’ve yet to try that difficult move. We swap seats and I watch on, almost proudly, as he effortlessly parks the car, turning his wheel in the opposite direction and looking over the seats to see how he’s doing. When he turns off the engine, he looks over at me and says, ‘This was nice, huh?’
‘Yeah,’ I muse. ‘Thank you for this. You didn’t have to at all.’
He gives a half hearted shrug, before getting out of the car and coming around to open it for me. Stepping out of my car, I look up at him and smile. As we head back into the house, Blake is sitting there with Sam and when we walk in, they both exert shocked looks.
‘I thought you were going home,’ Sam says to Ozzy, but he merely shrugs. ‘I’ll head off now.’
‘What, you were meant to go home?’ I question. ‘You delayed going back to teach me to drive?’
He gives me a small smile before nodding. ‘It was worth it. But I should get going. Oak will be in Cambridge by now and if I don’t get there soon, he’ll be pissed.’ Jogging up the stairs, I watch him go up and I turn to look at my friends and grimace.
‘I feel bad now making him late,’ I say sadly, sitting on the sofa opposite them. I drop my keys down and sigh.
‘That’s Ozzy for you,’ she shrugs, before exhaling a little chuckle, ‘God, I remember my first driving lesson. I was awful. I crashed the car on the first drive as I accidentally reversed into a bench. Sam, didn’t you get pulled over for driving too slowly?’ she smirks at him as she says this and Sam blushes bright red.
‘It was my first time. I was scared,’ he refutes, puffing out his chest to appear more macho.
A few minutes later and Ozzy is running down the stairs, before saying, ‘She definitely wasn’t as slow as you mate.’
‘Hey, I am not slow now! I’m not slow at anything.’ He says angrily.
‘No, never,’ he teases. ‘Bit too fast in bed, aren’t you Sam?’ He gives us a wink before finishing off, ‘See you soon guys. Bye Immy.’
And just like that, he’s gone out of the door and us three are sat on the sofa together, the underlying question being asked how did we get on. To say brilliantly could be an understatement. It was effortless to just be with him without any questions and to just focus on something else entirely.
‘He seems perkier,’ Blake comments. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen him smile since, you know.’
‘Maybe he’s found someone?’ I question hopefully, but Sam shakes his head.
‘Unless he’s found you again, then nope, he’s not found anyone.’
I get my phone out of my bag and see two messages from Leon and pull my phone closer to my body as I read them, not wanting my peeping friends to see quite yet.
‘Have you got your car down here? Ready for a lesson? Xx (Sent 12.34pm)’
‘Imogen, bar tonight? I’m working for half the evening but then I’m yours? (Sent 1.55pm)Xx’
I grin at the last two words, before typing back quickly;
‘I better shower and get ready then :P and yeah, my mum drove my car down so anytime you are free for lessons, we can do. xx’
‘Imogen in a shower...nice image, thanks ;) gimme a text when you’re there. Xx’
I roll my eyes at his response, before spending the rest of the afternoon with Sam and Blake. After dinner, I make my excuses and head upstairs to have a quick shower and get ready for my night with Leon. After lathering myself up with strawberry flavoured shower gel and washing my hair, I wrap my pink towel around my body before leaving the bathroom to dry my hair. I quickly throw my dressing gown on as I blow dry my hair and then put my makeup on. I decide to go for a simple wash of colour over my eyelids, before applying a bright coral lip colour and a shimmery glow over my face.
I pick a simple black lace dress with a bright orange bra and heels before deeming myself ready to go.
‘Off out?’ Blake asks as I walk into the kitchen, noticing Sam’s arms were around her waist before she shoved him away.
‘Yeah, I’m going to see Leon tonight,’ I mention, almost cautiously.
Both of them share a look, before nodding, unsure of what to say, so I respond to their unanswered question. ‘I will tell him that I’m spending more time with Leon soon. I promise. We just need to be more comfortable around one another like today.’
They seem to nod understandingly, before Sam says, ‘Call us if you want rescuing.’
‘I won’t need rescuing, and anyway, I think you two might be a bit preoccupied,’ I say, looking down at Sam’s wandering hands. ‘Have a good night.’
I walk through the bar door after showing my ID and head straight to the bar to find the man himself, serving up a gaggle of girls cocktails and shots. I give him a small wave and he grins at me, signalling to give him a few minutes. He looks really smart tonight, his hair gelled back slightly and in his all black uniform. He seems to be a master of all trades.
I take up a seat on a leather barstool, overlooking the glass, glowing bar and the neon lights illuminating the room. As said, Leon comes over after serving the girls and leans across the bar to kiss my cheek; beaming, I touch his hair as he does to greet him. He makes me a virgin mojito, not wanting to drink anything quite yet this evening. We talk whilst Leon serves other customers at the bar, and then within an hour, Leon’s shift has finished and he’s all mine. He goes to change out of his work gear out the back and asks one of the bartenders to watch over me as the bar gets a little rowdier and more crowded, which makes me smile at his thoughtfulness.
Within five minutes, I feel Leon’s familiar arms wrap around my waist and his head nuzzle into my neck. Grinning, I turn around and loop my arms around his neck. ‘Do you want another drink?’
I shake my head. ‘I’m fine, thanks. Are you drinking?’
He shakes his head. ‘Not anymore. I’ve already had a beer and that’s good enough for me. To the dance floor?’
I follow him, hand in hand, to the dance floor in a separate section of the bar and begin to dance. I lean forward on my heels to reach Leon’s ear and say loudly over the music, ‘This is nearly as good as us dancing under the stars.’
He grins at that. ‘That was a pretty good night.’
‘Hopefully this night goes as well, if not better,’ I tease, before swaying my hips a little more to the music.
After a solid hour of dancing and near moment kisses, we decide to call it a night at 11pm, which is when most of the revellers start their evening. Leon lends me his jacket as we make our way back to my house. We talk about driving within the next couple of days and Leon is impressed when he sees my Mini.
‘You definitely don’t want to scratch that beauty,’ he runs his finger along the paint work which causes me to laugh.
‘You’ve touched that car more sensually than you’ve touched me!’
He can’t help himself but laugh too, so pulls me to him as he rests against my car. Slotting between his legs, I rest my arms around his neck as I play with his hair. ‘I guess I should change that then...right now...’
I nod excitedly and lean up, letting our lips touch and the excitement rushes through me again. I freaking love kissing. As our kisses get a little deeper, Leon’s hands move across my bum before resting just below the hem of my dress. His lips move from my mouth to my neck and I can’t help but giggle as it’s so ticklish. There’s something about kissing outside of my house at night which makes me feel so cheeky and thrilled.
‘You,’ he murmurs between kisses, ‘are so lovely.’ He presses more kisses a bit lower, before nibbling on my collar bone and continuing. ‘You are just the cutest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.’
‘You’ve clearly never met my dog Pansy, she’s very cute,’ I tease, pressing my lips back onto his. ‘But thank you. I guess being called cute isn’t a bad thing.’
‘It’s a great compliment. One I wouldn’t hand out easily. In fact, you are the first person I’ve ever called cute.’
‘What else would you call me?’
‘Delightful.’
And that makes me blush. He is so utterly charming, it makes me beam.
‘And?’
‘Persistent.’ He winks at me, before pressing his lips to my forehead. ‘Cute, delightful, incredibly beautiful and funny.’
I look up at him through my eyelashes as he says that and grin. ‘You’re too sweet.’ I lean up and give him one last kiss, before pulling away. ‘I really should head in now or else I’ll probably hear Sam pleasuring my best friend and I’d rather not scold my ears.’
He wrinkles his nose in disapproval. ‘Awkward. There’s always room at mine.’
‘And I am sure you would love that, but my bed is calling me and me alone,’ I tease, giving him a wink before pressing one last kiss to his mouth. ‘It was great catching up with you. I’ll give you a call to arrange the driving lessons.’
‘Unless Oscar gets there first,’ he taunts playfully and I roll my eyes.
‘Don’t worry. You can teach me too.’
‘Is he okay with us, you know, doing what we’re doing?’
I purse my lips and shrug. ‘He doesn’t know yet. It’s not really any of his business, but I just need him to be okay with me first. I care about him and want him to be okay with it, you know?’
He nods, understandingly. ‘Of course. If you need more time, just tell me.’
I touch his cheek and smile. ‘I will. Thank you.’
After one final kiss, I head back inside and am relieved to see just Sam and Blake making out on the sofa instead of anything us. I shield my eyes and tell them I’m here, but they both laugh and pull apart after I open my eyes.
‘Good night?’ Blake asks.
‘Very. I’m heading off to bed, so you can continue your making out.’
‘We might be doing something more than that, pretty lady,’ Sam winks at me, before I scurry upstairs, sneering at their admission. The quicker I get to sleep, the less likely I am to be woken by moaning and panting from the room next door.