A/N: Here's One Shot #2 for a very patient and TOTES SHAMAZEBALLS girl I know as @kylee00!!! I hope you enjoy it as I've done everything I can to make it as good as I can, tailored to your requests xx
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Prologue
Kylee's POV
Holding in my scream, I hurried downstairs to my mum, my whole body trembling in excitement.
"Mum! Mum, guess what!" I squealed.
"What?" she answered flatly, obviously not in quite the same mood as me.
"No, you have to guess!" I protested stubbornly.
"OK, fine. Colin Firth has knocked on the front door asking to marry me?"
I shook my head, slightly irritated at her sarcasm. "C'mon, like that's ever gonna happen."
"OK, your precious Nathan boy has knocked on the door asking to marry you?"
I sighed ruefully. "If only..."
"Am I getting close?" she asked.
"Kinda... I guess."
"Is it about your favourite band?"
I nodded, my excitement returning. "Yeah!"
"What about them...?" she asked after a moment of watching me try and contain my excitement.
"OK, then, I'll tell you. I just won a VIP pass to a meet-and-greet with The Wanted!" I squealed.
"Ugh, are the mice back?" my older brother, Toby, asked as he sauntered into the kitchen shirtless where I was talking to our mum.
"No," I growled at him, more than fed up with how he always had to ruin my mood. "Neither are your shirts. Cover the belly flab, bro, I'm going blind!"
Toby was actually very thin with an excellent muscley figure, but it was my proud profession to drive him into weight-watching paranoia.
He glared at me. "Oh, it's just you. I was hoping you'd moved out by now."
"Said the 25-year-old failure without a job, girlfriend, qualifications or a place of his own," I shot back.
"Touché," Toby complimented with a smirk. He turned to mum. "What's for breakfast?"
"Breakfast?!" she exclaimed. "It's well past midday, Toby! I'm making lunch, here!"
He grunted. "Fine, what's for lunch, mum?" he asked with faux enthusiasm.
"What do you want?" she asked as she busied herself in making a foul-smelling diet soup.
"What do we have?" he asked, picking his belly button.
I grimaced and sighed in exasperation before muttering, "The same as every day," and exiting the kitchen.
I had better, more important things to think about than my idiot brother.
... Things like what to wear when I met Nathan James Sykes!
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I hit my alarm, furious at it for having to wake me up yet again. Rubbing my eyes, I stretched my arms and looked at the radio clock, noticing the date along the bottom which read the exact date of the meet-and-greet! I'd not forgotten, no, but it was early enough in the morning for me to forget my own name.
I sprung out of bed, ignoring the temporary dizziness and vision impairment that came with standing too quickly and hurried to the bathroom. It was 07:30 - way too early to awake during the holiday, but a price I was willing to pay in order to meet The Wanted - so I had allowed myself just enough time to get ready. I hopped into the shower, shuddering in pleasure at the relieving warmth of the water, and went through the stages of lathering, rinsing and repeating. I usually had relatively long showers, but never washed until the water went cold.
As I climbed out, I heard Toby banging down the locked (thank God) door, screaming, "COME ON, SHIT-FACE, SOME OF US HAVE LIVES TO PREPARE FOR!"
I ignored his childish shouts and went to the sink to brush my teeth until all the toothpaste turned completely soft and useless. All bathroom duties done, I casually opened the door, causing Toby to stumble slightly towards me, and strode past him, holding onto the towel wrapped around me.
"Jesus, did you shake yourself dry or something?"
I rolled my eyes. 'Or something,' I thought, locking my bedroom door. I picked up the outfit I laid out the previous night - a dark pair of tight-fitting jeans and my favourite top, a blood red short-sleeved T-shirt with a black print across it saying, "RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN", my red converses and, of course, the obligatory set of underwear - and put it all on, stepping coyly in front of the mirror when I finished.
'Make-up,' I thought, hurrying to my make-shift dressing table. It was my desk when I was in school, but after uni I found I didn't really need it anymore and turned it into the home of my girlie objects. I applied a subtle layer of natural-looking products, including strawberry-flavoured glossy lip balm, to the right extent so I didn't look like I was trying too hard or not hard enough. Just as I picked up my hair drier, a loud cry of pain sounded from the bathroom. I dropped it on my wooden floor, hearing it fall apart but not caring, and ran straight for the source of the sound.
"Tobias? Toby, are you OK?" I asked, my voice thick with concern.
"I'm FINE," he replied emphatically.
"What happened, Toby? I'm not buying it."
"Nothing happened, shit-face, alright? Bog off already," he said, though his words were followed by a sharp "Ow!"
"Open this door, Tobias," I ordered. "Open this door or I'll knock it down."
"You sound like Dad," he commented lightly.
"Mum!" I shouted down the stairs. "Mum, hurry!"
Mum came sprinting up the stairs as soon as I called her. "What's wrong? Where's Toby?"
"He's in there." I pointed at the bathroom door.
She looked at me plainly. "And that's a problem because...?"
"I think he slipped or something."
"I'm fine, shit-face," Toby shouted.
"Language, Tobias!" she shouted back. "What happened in there? Why aren't you coming out?"
"Nothing happened."
"Toby, it doesn't take a quarter of a century to know when you lie," she said, her voice getting softer. "Just tell me what happened. Help me help you and I'll make it better, I promise," she whispered, a tear trickling down her cheek.
Toby sighed, only just loud enough for us to hear. Well, I heard it but Mum mightn't have. "Give me a minute."
"Of course," my mum said softly.
A minute later, the door slowly opened, revealing Toby on the floor, dripping wet with just a towel round his waist. I gasped as I saw his leg. It was visibly broken, with a bone poking out, penetrating the skin.
"H- How did...? How did you...?" I said.
"Your bloody puddles you left all over the floor! I fucking slipped on 'em!" he shouted. But Mum didn't criticise his potty-mouth this time.
"I'll get you some trackies and take you to A&E!" Mum said, panicking. "Just hold on, alright?"
Toby nodded and watched her go.
"Toby, I'm so sor-"
He flashed his palm and my words instantly stopped. "It's fine. I'm fine."
"You're not fine! You broke your leg!" I said, pointing at the vomit-inducing, bloody mess that was his leg.
"Accidents happen, Kylee. Don't lose sleep over it."
And despite the countless times he'd called me 'shit-face' and I'd called him 'bro' to wind him up, I still couldn't help myself but think, 'My brother is absolutely incredible'.
Mum came back in and tossed him some boxers and track suit bottoms, leading me out the room so that he could get dressed. She got out her mobile and called 999 (aka 911), requesting an ambulance in London.
She finally turned to face me. "Don't worry, Kylee. He'll be alright," she assured me, stroking my arm.
"But it's my fault!" I said.
"What did I teach you when you were growing up? I taught both you and your brother that no matter what, an accident is nobody's fault and anyone to feel guilty over an accident is wasting their tears. You can be worried for Toby all that you'd like, but don't hate yourself."
"Thanks, Mum." I sniffed. I had the best family.
"But you know this means I can't take you to your meeting thing today?" she reminded me.
My whole body froze and my heart went cold - like, dead cold. "What?"
"I'll be with Toby in the hospital, so I can't drive you to the thing with your band." She noticed my sombre expression and added, "I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise!"
I shook my head. Without a word, I turned on my heel and stormed off into my room, where I collapsed onto my bed and cried every tear of disappointment in my body.
Just a few minutes later, my mum came back in and stood at the foot of my bed. I turned into my side.
"Kylee, you know I didn't plan this," she said.
"Of course you didn't."
She paused. The silence lasted what felt like a lifetime. I didn't look at her and she didn't look at me until the doorbell rang and a voice shouted loudly through the letter box, "AMBULANCE!"
I got off my bed and ran downstairs at lightening speed, getting to the door before my mum could even reach the stairs. I swung it open. "Hi, I'm Kylee. I'm Toby's sister. Follow me," I said quickly, ushering them to follow me up the stairs and into the bathroom where Toby lay, his face and bare chest covered in beads of sweat from the pain. I stepped aside as they worked together to hoist him up and strap him onto a stretcher, putting his leg in a temporary plastic and Velcro brace. All the while, Toby didn't make a sound, just winced when they pained him and batted their hands away when they applied pressure to different parts of his leg. As they hauled the stretcher into the ambulance, I held Toby's hand, saying, once again, "I'm so sorry, Toby. I'm so, so sorry. Good luck in there."
"Jeez, I'm not going to war, Kylee! It's just a break - I'll be home in a few days!" he said.
I laughed a little at his reassurance. "Just... Don't take any shit."
"I never do," he said back, and I smiled. "See ya soon, shit-face. Have a good one."
"You, too, bro."
My mum walked past me and stopped right before she got in with him. "I'm sorry again about today," she apologised. "But you have to understand that I can't let your brother go off in this state without me."
I scoffed. He was twenty-five, for God's sake! He didn't need his mummy holding his hand every bloody minute!
But I didn't say that.
"Yeah, I get it. I'll see you when you get back," I said.
"You can visit him," she continued.
But I just nodded and grabbed her shoulders to turn her around. She climbed into the vehicle and sat down next to Toby, waving at me before the paramedics shut the doors.
I turned back to the house, trying to think of anything and everything aside from what I was supposed to be doing that day. But as I entered the house, I noticed that Mum's car keys were lying casually in the key dish by the door. I looked out a front window onto the drive way, where her silver Mercedes was parked, ready for its next use. I quirked my brow and smiled a crooked smile, an evil albeit outright genius thought forever planted in my head. I grabbed my phone and the keys and ran towards my mother's beaten-down Merc, climbing into the drivers' seat and driving away.
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A/N: There you go! Chapter 1!! I know you said you didn't want a particularly long fanfic, and I'll try and keep to that order, but you never know... Once I start writing, I can't stop!
A good September day to all, and to all a good health. :D
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