A/N the comments on chapter 52 are going so crazy right now and my heart is bursting! As a thank you for reading, you get a third chapter tonight and that's it until tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be posting chapter 54 which is the Christmas Special. I can't wait for you all to read it. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter! Savour it! 24 hours seems so far away!
Capturing Them
Chapter Fifty Three
Sang
I spent an hour in the kitchen cooking us all dinner. Nathan and Brandon ended up going to Nathan's to get his grill, so that we could cook up the steaks. Otherwise we'd be waiting for me to get them all cooked and finished at the same time on the stove. In a way, I was thankful for their help. It took a lot of work to feed us all.
It was all worth it though, as I watch them all devour and savour every single piece of their plate. It felt good knowing that they were eating a good meal after having a lot of takeout over the last few days.
After dinner, we wash the dishes. The banter between the guys is light and fun, and I find myself grinning at their antics. I still haven't found out why I can't accept a fruit cup from Raven, and everyone is refusing to tell me.
Just as I place the last plate back in the cupboard, Gabriel says, "It's time. You can now see the attic and I'm so fucking excited to show you." He claps his hands together with his excitement and glee.
"You barely did any work," Raven grumbles, earning a light punch in the arm from Corey.
"Oy," Gabriel scoffs.
"We all did our fair share, now stop, Raven. Gabriel, go and show Sang the attic. We'll stay down here and finish tidying up," Axel says.
I look around the kitchen. It's clean. "There's nothing to tidy up," I point out.
Axel shrugs a shoulder but says nothing. Taking my hand in his, Gabriel leads me from the kitchen and up the stairs. When we reach my bedroom, he continue going to the door of the spare room. It's closed so I can't see in.
Gabriel turns to me. "So, we also did something else for you. Don't be mad," he adds quickly. He gives me a smile as he pushes the door open.
Stepping into the room, I gasp at what I'm seeing. Bookshelves have been built—three of them—and along one wall. One the cases has my photo albums—organised and neatly packed away on the shelves. My cameras are no longer in the boxes, but sit perfectly on the higher shelves on the unit.
My desk sits under the window, giving me the perfect view out onto the street. The desk has a lamp, my laptop, and a pot full of different markers and pens all set up in perfect order.
Stepping further into the room, I turn to look at the opposite wall from where the shelves are. One large canvas of me is perched onto the wall. It's the one Gabriel took of me the other day at school before Rocky interrupted us. I'm smiling, looking at the camera—Gabriel—with bright, happy, green eyes. "Oh, Gabriel."
"You look fucking gorgeous," he says.
"This whole room is amazing." I turn around and look at the back at the wall of the room, the one opposite the window. One large pin board is up on the wall. Nothing has been pinned to it yet, but I'm already having ideas of the photos I can print off and put up there. I don't think that one pin up board will be enough. "Thank you. I love it."
"That's not all, c'mon." He takes my hand and leads me back to my room. He doesn't pause this time, just pushes the door open and leads us both inside.
My room looks the same—my bed is back in it's usual spot, my closet and dresser set also back where they were before. The only change is that my desk is no longer in here. The empty space has been replaced with a shorter bookshelf with books lined on the shelves in alphabetical order by author.
The walls however have been painted in the lemonade pink that I chose. It looks lovely and smells fresh.
"I didn't want to over take this room too much. This is your personal space, your room—you make this room how you want it."
He goes over to the attic door and pulls it open. He reaches an arm inside and grins at me. "C'mon. This is the fucking best part, Trouble."
He crawls through the space and I'm quickly following him inside. When I expect wood to greet my palms just past the threshold, I'm surprised when I feel soft carpeting. A light above shows that the carpet is a dark blue and I look around as I crawl further inside.
What looks like a small closet is in the corner. I go over to it and pull open the doors. Inside, clothes have been crammed neatly inside on hangers, some even folded at the bottom. "Clothes?" I ask.
"They're ours—saves us always having to haul clothes over here," Gabriel calls back from further into the attic space.
I crawl deeper into the room, noticing that the air isn't as thick as I imagined it would be. I come to a stop when three steps lead me down to a lower portion of the attic. I twist my body, and walk down them, surprised when I can stand at full height.
"Right now we're directly above the laundry room," Gabriel says. "The ceiling isn't high in there, and the attic floor was all at the same level. We lowered the floor and put down some sound proof boards above the laundry room. Now we can all—even the fucking giants—stand up here. Cool, huh?"
"Yes," I reply, my eyes moving around. The walls have been painted a dark blue and the carpet is the same as the rest of the attic. At the far end, a low bed has been built, bigger than a normal king size bed. Pillows and quilts with blankets have been nicely placed onto it, not a wrinkle in sight.
Four bean bags are placed in the corner and a small coffee table with a laptop, tablet, and a remote control sits on the top. "What's the remote for?" I ask.
Gabriel picks it up, presses a few buttons, and I watch in amazement as the big light dims until it's off. A second later, tiny lights in the ceiling appear. They twinkle on and off like stars. "Wow," I murmur. "This is incredible—all of it. I have no words."
"The bed was something we all agreed on, so that we could have somewhere to sleep too. Fuck, you could even sleep in here if you wanted. The whole place is sound proof." Gabriel pauses to take a breath. "It's not finished yet, there's still a few others things I wanted to add, but it means a trip to the mall and that won't be happening just yet."
"Gabriel, it's fine. I love it." I reach out and take his hand in mine. His face lights up by the light right above his head before it dims out. "Thank you."
"Trouble, you don't need to thank us. Ever."
But the thing is, I do. They've done so much more for me than convert an attic and build some shelves. They've started to heal my heart.
xXx
"So, do you like it?" Dr Green asks as we walk back into the family room.
"I do. I love it. It's incredible." Before I can sit down on one of the spare seats, Silas is wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me down onto his lap.
"The plan for tonight is for Kota and Victor to stay with you," Silas says to me, his natural body heat soaking into me.
"Okay, that's cool," I say. "I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed after being on the sofa."
"How's your shoulder?" Dr Green asks.
Honestly, I'm so used to the ache now that I haven't noticed it much. Maybe it's something to do with the regular pain medicine I'm taking. It doesn't hurt, just aches. "It's good," I reply.
"We'll change your dressing again tomorrow," Dr Green says, and I nod my head in agreement.
"While we have everyone's attention, yesterday Miss Sorensen sent myself and Mr Toma a text message of concern. She noticed that you're all—" I clear my throat interrupting Mr. Blackbourne. He meets my eye and I silently challenge him. He pauses for a moment before continuing, "Rather, we're all looking tired and we both agree," Mr Blackbourne says. "I'm happy to say that Saturday morning we'll be leaving to go to the log cabin that the Anderson's own. They're happy for us to use it for the night."
"We'll be chilling out and recharging our batteries, with no worries of our current assignment," Axel adds.
I smile. "Good. It's what you all need."
"And you, Baby. You look exhausted," North adds.
It's then I realize that my eyes are closed. I blink them open, even though they're heavy and desperately want to close again. "I actually do feel tired all of sudden."
"We should get going then," Mr Blackbourne says. "Let you get ready for bed and then get some sleep."
"Before you all leave, can someone please tell me why I shouldn't take a fruit cup from Raven?" I ask with a grin.
"No," everyone but Raven shouts in unison, making me laugh. Corey even covers Raven's mouth with his hand so that he can't tell me.
It's fine, I'll just google it later tonight or tomorrow—not that I'll tell them that.