As soon as Gemma steps off the train, she spots me within seconds and runs over to me as fast as she can whilst wheeling her small travel case behind her. She gets a few funny looks from people, especially with the loud, squeal-y noises coming from her mouth. When she reaches me, she lets go of the case and throws her arms around my body. I squeeze her back tightly.
"I missed you" she mumbles into my hair.
"I missed you too" I chuckle as she pulls away and grabs her case again, chatting animatedly to me about her train journey down here as we leave the station. When we reach Tristan's car, he gets out and gives her a quick hug before putting her case in the boot for her. The three of us then jump in the car and Tris begins to drive us back to the flat, whilst Gemma relays to me all of the gossip from our hometown that I've missed out on. Apparently, the chavvy girl from our English class is now pregnant with her second child and there is much dispute on Facebook over who the dad is.
Jeremy Kyle, eat your heart out.
"We're back" Tristan calls out as the three of us step into the flat half an hour later. Within moments, Brad appears in the doorway to the living room.
"Hi" Gemma beams, giving Brad a small wave. He raises his eyebrows, looking rather surprised. I think he was expecting her to be, well, like me.
"Hi, I'm Brad" he says, looking even more surprised as she bounds over to him and pulls him into a friendly hug. Gemma's just a friendly person in general. This is why we work so well together, because her constant cheerfulness makes up for the, er, slightly hostile vibes I have been known to give off. I don't always mean to; curse my resting bitch face.
"I know who you are" she tells him as she pulls away, "I'm Gemma" she states before adding, "and I won't stab you, by the way"
Brad and Tristan chuckle whilst I roll my eyes. Like Brad needs reminding about that.
"Well, that makes a lovely change in this flat" Brad replies, catching my eye for just a moment. I glare back at him as he turned to Tristan, "can we swap Gemma for your sister?"
I ignore that and grab Gemma's hand, pulling her away from Brad and towards my room.
"Gosh, I'm very popular today" she chuckles as I pull her into my room.
"I just don't want Brad stealing you off me" I mutter because I can imagine him befriending her mainly just to piss me off, "I wanna spend as much time with you as possible before you go home in a couple of days"
"So where are we off to tonight then?" She asks, flopping down onto my bed and lying back across it. I copy her actions and lie down next to her.
"I've bought a few bottles for pre-drinks whilst we get ready" I tell her, "and then there's a few decent bars and clubs we can go to in town, but we definitely need to go in Mint, that's the bar that Seb works in"
"Ooh, Seb" Gemma teases, rolling on her front to face me and poking me in the stomach with her finger, "I can't wait to meet this Seb"
I already told Gemma the rundown of Seb over Skype, in the hope that by telling her about the guy I'd been messaging for the past few days would stop her from pestering me about getting it on with one of my brothers band mates. It seemed to work, because she hadn't asked about mine and Brad's supposed 'sexual tension' since I'd first mentioned Seb.
"Well, he's working tonight so he said he would slip us a few drinks on the house if we go in"
She grins at they thought of free alcohol.
"I think I like this Seb already"
* * * * * * *
I wake up the next morning with a slight hangover and a Gemma snoring lightly in my ear. I pull my duvet further over my head and dwell over last night.
Gemma and I had a few drinks here in the flat whilst we got ready and then made our way into town. We visited a couple of bars before we went to Mint and found Seb working behind the bar, him somehow managing to look even better than I remembered. He managed to slip two free drinks and a cocktail each to myself and Gemma before we moved on to another club, but not before I stole a very brief kiss from Seb. I think Gemma and I got home around 3am, and probably woke up everyone in the flat in the process because I remember lots of giggling. Good. I hope Brad's sleep regime was completely disrupted.
I climb out of bed very slowly and quietly so as not to wake Gemma up, and make my way to the bathroom. The flat seems quiet so perhaps no one is up yet.
As I leave the bathroom a couple of minutes later whilst simultaneously rubbing the crust away from my tired eyes, my body hits someone else's and I stumble backwards. A pair of hands grab my waist and keep me steady. I drop my hands from my face and look up to see Brad's face far too close to mine for my liking.
Though it does a give me a good view of those adorable chocolate brown ey-
Ugly. Ugly brown eyes.
Who am I kidding? They are nice to look at. But remember Ella, he's an arsehole so that makes him ugly on the inside and out. Well, inside at the very least...
"What are you doing?" I ask flatly as I use my thumb and forefinger on each hand to carefully lift Brad's hands away from my waist like they are diseased. They probably are.
"Jesus Christ, you're so childish" he mutters, snatching his hands away from grip.
"Just don't touch me" I shoot back.
"I was stopping you from falling backwards after you walked into me"
"You walked into me!"
To be fair, I don't think it was anyone's fault but if he wants to start an argument, he can fucking have one.
"Why are you having a go?"
"You're having a go at me"
"You know, I can't take you seriously with last night's make up smeared across your face, you look like a raccoon"
Arsehole.
I push him forcefully out of my way, marching my way back to my room.
"Thought you didn't wanna touch me" he snickers from behind me.
"Go fuck yourself"
I slam the door shut loudly behind me, and then cringe when I see Gemma's body lied in my bed. If she wasn't woken up by me shouting at Brad then I'm sure that did it.
"Sorry" I whisper.
"Nah, I was awake well before you told Brad to go fuck himself" she mumbles tiredly.
"He touched me" I scowl as I go and sit down in my previous place on the bed, "I probably have a STD now"
"Unless he touched your vagina, I'm sure you're safe"
I sigh and glance down at Gemma. She looks as tired as I feel.
"Do I look like a raccoon?" I ask her.
"A little bit" she replies, reaching up and rubbing her thumb under my eye, "a really hot raccoon though"
"Well, I mean, I don't like to brag" I agree jokingly.
"I'm sure Seb likes the raccoon look" she adds, poking my arm playfully.
"You like Seb, don't you?" I smirk, thinking back to how well she seemed to be getting on with him last night.
"He gave me free vodka" she shrugs, "what's not to like?"
"You think he seems alright though?" I ask, chewing on my lip.
"Yeah, he seemed like a nice guy"
"So did Jamie"
"El, not every guy is like Jamie" she assures me, "just see how things go with Seb, it doesn't have to be anything serious, if he starts acting like a twat, just drop him"
"Yeah" I nod; Gemma always seems to know the right thing to say, "I just don't wanna get too attached too quickly and have it thrown back in my face"
"El, you've put your guard up with Seb like you do with every guy, I can tell" she tells me, "you've done it with Brad too"
"No, I haven't"
"You have"
"No, he's an arsehole and I'm not taking his shit, that's not me being guarded, that's me being me"
She just gives me a look that tells me she doesn't believe me but she can't be bothered going on about it. Maybe I am being guarded with Brad. Maybe that's why I won't let myself be nice to him.
I soon prise Gemma out of bed so we can go and get some breakfast. We are barely sat down in the kitchen before my brother starts interrogating her.
"So what do you think of Seb?"
I sigh and roll my eyes to visibly show my annoyance of Tristan butting his way into my relationships yet again.
"He seemed nice, and charming" she tells him, "and he gave us free booze so that always a tick in my book"
"Did he seem like the type of person who would have a criminal record?"
"Jesus" I mutter, whilst Gemma smiles and shakes her head.
"I mean, he seemed like a nice enough guy"
"Yeah, they always seem nice" Tris mutters
"Oh right, because you've had so many run-ins with dodgy criminals" I scoff sarcastically. Tris just narrows his eyes at me.
"He was way nicer than Jamie ever was anyway"
Tristan heads flies up at that statement.
Now, I know that she was just trying to make the situation better for me but mentioning my ex-sort-of-boyfriend who my brother is still completely unaware of the identify of was not exactly a genius move.
"Thanks Gem" I reply in a flat tone.
"Who's Jamie?"
"Shit" Gemma blurts, slapping a hand over her own mouth, "I forgot he doesn't know, I'm so sorry El"
"Who's Jamie?"
"S'okay" I sigh, ignoring Tris, knowing he would eventually just investigate and find out himself if I didn't tell him.
"Who is Jamie?"
Every time he repeats it, he seems to be getting more angry.
"No one" I shrug.
"Is he the guy who... You know..."
"Took her v-card" Gemma finishes. I turn my head to glare furiously at her.
"Sorry" she mumbles.
"Gem, can I ask you to please refrain from giving any more input to this conversation?"
"Jamie who?" Tris questions, before turning into full-on detective mode, "he went to our school, right? There were a few Jamie's at our school, it wasn't that kid in your year with the big Harry Potter glasses, was it? He was a bit odd, wasn't he? Jamie... erm, what was his name..."
"Jamie Norris" Gemma adds, so I glare at her again to shut her up.
"Yeah, that was his name, was it him?"
"Jesus, he smelled like ham! And he sometimes wore Crocs to school" I exclaim, "do you really think I would sleep with him?"
"No, maybe not" my brother hums, his face deep in thought, "I can't think of any other Jamie's in your year"
"No, he was in the year below you, Tris"
"Gem, shut the fuck up"
"He was in the year below me!" Tristan breathes, "that means he was two years older than you"
"Yes, I am aware of that" I deadpan.
"What is it with you and older men?"
I can't help but laugh, especially when Tristan is holding such a serious expression on his face. It's at this moment that Brad walks in, and the first thing I notice is that his torso is completely bare. Gemma subtly starts poking my hip and not-so-subtly staring at his chest, so I'm pretty sure she's noticed too.
"What are we talking about?" He asks as he sits down next to my brother.
"My sister's into older men"
I start to laugh again, "two years is not a big age difference at all"
"It is when you're sixteen"
"No, it isn't"
"And what about this Seb dude? Did you find out how old he is yet?"
"Yeah, he's thirty-seven"
I look up to see a deadpan bed expression on my brothers face, making me smirk.
"I don't know" I say honestly.
"And what about his criminal record? Did you ask him if he has one of those yet?"
"Yes Tris, it's my go-to chat-up line" I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
"Aw Tris, leave her alone" Gemma pipes up, "if she wants to go out with this guy, then she will do, no matter how much you pester her"
Finally, she says something worthwhile. I turn to her with a smile.
"Thanks Gem" I smile genuinely.
"Its okay, babe" she replies before turning back to Tris, "you know how stubborn she is, you know that if you tell her not to date someone she's gonna do it anyway purely to wind you up"
That is a very good point and Tristan doesn't seem to have anything to say in defense, probably because he knows it's true.
"Anyway, you keep saying you're going to treat me like an adult" I retorted, "adults don't need to be interrogated about a guy they're seeing"
"I also said I would like be aware of your relationships"
"You also said you didn't need to know every detail of my relationships"
"I just want to know his age" he scoffs, "I'm not asking for much"
"Look, I'll do some digging and find out for you, Tris" Gemma adds, and by that, I assume she means stalk his Facebook. My suspicions are correct when I watch her get her phone out and click on the Facebook app,
"Thanks Gem" Tris says, his nosiness seemingly satiated by Gemma's response.
"Why do you listen to Gemma and not me?" I tut.
"Because she's nicer than you"
"Fair point" I shrug as I stand up and make my way to the fridge. I need some food otherwise I might collapse. My eyes scan the shelves but none of the contents seem to catch my eye. I sigh and shut the fridge door, spinning around and coming eye-to-nose with someone.
"Jesus Christ, get out of my face" I mutter, pushing Brad out of the way for the second time this morning, "it's like you can't keep away from me"
"Yeah, in your dreams" he scoffs.
"Fucking nightmares, more like" I mutter, making my way to the cupboard where we keep the bread. Ironically enough, the cupboard is very close to where the knives are kept, but I refrain myself from picking one up and jamming it in Brad's chest.
"Hey, I found him" Gemma announces, staring intently at her phone screen and taking my attention from Brad.
"And?" My brother asks.
"Ella was close, Seb is actually thirty-eight, not thirty-seven"
She looks up at Tristan with a smirk, who glares back at her.
"You need to stop hanging around with my sister" he mutters, "you're turning into her"
And he says that like it's a bad thing.
"It's says on his Facebook that's he's twenty-three"
Five years is nothing to me. Tristan's wearing a frown though and I can tell he's going to let his feelings be known.
"Go on then" I sigh, "let it out"
"Five years, El" he huffs, "that's a big age gap"
"It really isn't"
"It's half a decade" he says matter-of-factly.
"Dad was like, nine years older than mum" I argue.
"Yeah, and look where that ended up" he retorts, "they got divorced"
"That had nothing to do with their age gap though, did it?" I snort, because he's clearly just clutching at straws here, "anyway, it's not like I'm gonna marry him, we're not even dating or anything yet"
"He's older than me!" He exclaims.
"And clearly more mature" I quip. He sighs loudly.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"I will" I assure him, "and if he's a dick to me, I'll just use my favourite weapon of choice" I grin as I pull out the largest knife from the wooden knife block.
"I'm going to start hiding our knives" he sighs, to which Brad quickly shows his support for, "anyway, I have a surprise for my favourite sister from another mister" he stands up and disappears out of the room for a moment, whilst Gemma squirms around restlessly in her seat as she waits for her surprise. Tristan appears again a few moments later holding two lanyards and drops them into Gemma's palms. A big smile spreads across her face as she reads the words AAA - The Vamps Backstage Pass written across the laminated cards attached to the bottom of the lanyard. She gets a little over excited and jumps up, throwing her arms around my brother.
"Thank you, Tris" she squeals, squeezing him tightly, "thank you, thank you"
"No worries, it was Ella who suggested it" he shrugged, before Gemma lets go of him and bounds over to give me a hug.
"Thanks El"
"They're for this afternoon by the way" Tris says, "so you both need to be ready to leave by half twelve"
"I better start now then" Gemma chirps before leaving the kitchen with a spring in her step.
"Thank you for doing that" I smile, sliding my arms around his lanky frame.
"Anything for you, sis" he coos over-dramatically.
"In that case, could you kick Brad out of the flat?" I ask, smiling sweetly up at my brother.
"Not unless you're willing to pay his half of the rent" he replies in the same sweet tone. I flash him a sarcastic smile.
"I'll tolerate him"
First chapter of the new year, hope you liked it! Bit of drama in the next chapter so I hope your ready for it.
Please don't be a silent reader - if you like the story or have any constructive feedback, then please leave a comment, I always try and reply and I honestly appreciate every comment and vote that you guys leave me :)