I sit on the bed, tired out. Moving is no easy feat. I look at Nathan and he smiles. "Tired?" he asks me. I merely nod in reply and flop on the bed. "It's not that hard." he says. I sit up and study his face.
"For you Mr Athletic."
"I'm not athletic!" he denies. I just roll my eyes at this.
"Whatever." I reply.
"This space is for you." he says, pointing at one of the two dressing rooms. I laugh at this. "What?" he asks me.
"That's probably as big as my room at home!" I explain, smiling.
"Well this is what you get when you get engaged to a rich guy, you are such a gold digger." he replies, shrugging and winking at me. I get up and shove him playfully.
"Don't be stupid." I mutter. "I also kind of like your hair." I say, grinning as he pouts.
"I'm not stupid. And there is plenty to love about me besides my money and hair." he replies
"I dunno about that..."
"Not fair!" he whines
"You have really good comebacks today." I taunt himm grabbing my suitcase and dragging it into the dressing room. I've seen it before but i've never really noticed it. There's a massive dressing table; not to mention the walk in wardrobe. I gulp. There's no way that my stuff will even fill half of this space. Gingerly I open my suitcase and start hanging stuff up. My tesco's clothes look a little out of place here. I sigh at this. Ah well, maybe the future really does hold some really nice rich guy who'll buy me everything I want... yeah right. I force a smile on my face as I put my abysmal make-up stuff on the dressing table. One perfume bottle, two nail varnishes, a few shades of eyeshadow and some lipgloss, that's about it. i turn to see Gemma smiling at me. I smile back, not sure why she's here. "Gemma? Are you ok? If you needed something you should have just called me, we would have come." I tell her. She shakes her head.
"Always thinking of others, aren't you Ivy? I came here to see how you were getting on."
"Oh, I'm fine thanks." I reply as she looks around.
"You really should spend a little more on yourself. You could look even more gorgeous then you do now." she comments. I laugh sarcastically.
"Wouldn't every under priveleged girl? Nah, this much is fine for me."
"But you are going to be my daughter-in-law. You have a right to our money now and there's no refusing it." says gemma sternly.
"Refusing what?" I hear Nathan asking, appearing in the dressing room with his jeans on. Six pack on show, so much for not being mr athletic. I raise my eyebrows and he gets the message. Laughing he steps in properly and asks Gemma again.
"Refusing to pamper herself, or buy some new clothes!"
"Well yeah, you should treat yourself Ivy."
"With what? Monopoly money?" I ask him sarcastically.
"I could give you some money if that's the issue." he says nonchalantly.
"No! That's stupid!" I reply, blushing fiercely. This is ridiculous.
"Right that is it. Me, you and Charlotte are going shopping tomorrow."
"Charlotte's in town?" Nathan and I both ask at the same time. I love Charlotte, she's Nathan's older sister, she's pretty much my older sister too. But this whole thing could get complicated if she's here. I mean would we tell her the truth or not? She knows all about John and I. And she knows that Nathan and I would never be together.
"Yes, she's coming down tomorrow. And we are all going shopping." says Gemma.
"Well, except me, right mum?" Nathan asks hopefully.
"Well I was thinking that you should come but I think I have changed my plans." she says, smiling. Uh-oh. Nathan both glance at each other and I shrug.
"I'll leave you two to talk then. And cover up Nathan, it's not that warm." says Gemma raising her eyebrows at me as if to say he's-so-childish. I laugh and nod at this and Nathan frowns.
"What does that look mean?" he asks, pouting, causing me to laugh harder.
"What look?" I ask, as Gemma walks off.
"The look that you and mum just shared." he whines.
"I don't know what you're on about."
"You do!" he says, realising that I'm messing with him. "You better tell me."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll..."
"You'll...?" I taunt. He smirks at this and then starts to tickle me. "No!" I moan, as he tickles me relentlessly.
"What was the look?" he asks me.
"I can't say, girl talk." I say between deep breaths.
"You weren't even talking!" he protests.
"Girl talk." I manage to say between breaths.
"Oh well that's too bad, looks like you'll be tickled to death." he says, continuing his tickling attack.
"You really should wear a shirt you know." I remind him and suddenly he stops and laughs.
"Why?"
"Nobody wants to see that gruesomeness!"
"Hey I'm not gruesome." he says to me.
"It's debatable." I reply, taking a deep breath in and pretending to inspect him. I shake my head, "You just aren't as good looking as you think you are." I reply. He's virtually lying on top of me now.
"You are cruel Ivy, absolutely cruel."
"How am I? I told you, I'm only with you for the money and the hair, and we both know male pattern baldness will set in soon..." I reply.
"Oi! I am in my youth I'll have you know." he replies, sounding rattled.
"That's true, you really are a baby."
"So?"
"Get up and i'll find a shirt. That way all you need to do is wear it then, is that ok?" I ask him. He nods like a puppy and gets off me. "Finally." I mumble, dusting myself off as I stand up.
"What did you say?" he asks me as I stand up.
"Nothing." I reply.
"You said finally!" he says, his fingers wiggling again.
"No... I didn't." I say as I hear his footsteps behind me.
"You did so!" he retorts, tackling me again.
"Nathan someone's coming." I whisper. He just laughs and carries on tickling me. The door swings open and I hear a short cough.
"Sorry to interrupt you love birds." I hear a familiar voice. I grin, shoving Nathan off me and heading towards where the voice is issuing from.
"Charlotte!" I say, running to her to give her a hug.
"Hey there Ivy. I heard the good news, didn't I always say that you'd end up with Nathy boy?" she says, ruffling my hair. I laugh.
"Yeah right." I say sarcastically.
"Ivy..." Nathan says in a warning voice. I turn to look at him and shake my head.
"Do you really think that we can keep this a secret from Charlotte?" i ask him skeptically.
"Yeah I think we could have, but not obviously we can't now." he says looking at me accusingly. Charlotte steps in and closes the door behind her.
"Ooh. This sounds interesting."
"It's really not as interesting as it sounds."
"Isn't it?" she asks me, her eyes flickering from me to Nathan.
"Yeah, it isn't." Nathan says, huffing.
"I don't see what your problem is mister." I say to him, looking at him.
"You're not telling her!" he says, crossing his arms over his chest. I sigh.
"Sorry, he's being stubborn." I say, shrugging.
"Eh, you can tell me tomorrow." she whispers. I laugh at this.
"And you're not telling her later Ivy or else."
"Or else what?" Charl and I ask at the same time. I turn to face him, my hand on my hip. He sighs and widens his eyes.
"Ohmygod! You're pregnant, aren't you?" she asks me. me and Nathan glance at each other and burst out laughing.
"No." I reply when I regain my breath.
"Yes! I get it... oh that's so sweet." she says, smiling like a crazy woman, clasping her hands together.
"No! You've got the wrong end of the stick here! It's kinda the opposite."
"Opposite? Ohmygosh! Nathan can't have children, can he?" she asks. Nathan blushesm shaking his head profusely.
"That is not what the problem is!" he exclaims.
"Then ... what?" says Charl.
"Then nothing." Nathan replies, looking angry.
"This was all very soon though, like I thought you were with that Jenny chick?" Charl questions, looking at us suspiciously. My stomach drops a litte as I glance at Nathan who is shrugging his shoulders. "I broke it off with her a while back."
"And got with Ivy without letting any of us know?"
"We didn't want to jinx it or have it end and make things weird for everyone. We just wanted to be sure before we made the commitment." I step in, smiling as Charl nods.
"I see, so you guys just got together and engaged in a few months?" she asks, eyebrow arched.
"When you know, you know. Ivy and I've been friends since forever." Nath whispers, grinning at me like a kid who found out there's two Christmasses. "Well that's true." Charl says, seeming convinced. "So you can't be a dad? I thought you wanted children Ivy? Are you guys going to have IVF when you get married or will you adopt?" she asks, serious all of a sudden. I can't help but smile at this.
"Yeah nath? What are we going to do?" I ask him. He frowns and mutters something about getting a shirt and walks off.
"His reaction is so priceless." I say, grinning.
"So can he really not be a father then?"
"Well-" I start, but Nathan reappears with a grumbly face.
"Ivy, we need to talk." he says, virtually dragging me out of the room. Yikes.