| 9 | N I N E |
At the Sidemen house, I stand behind you, and Olive behind me. I'm rubbing my hands together. It's later now, the sun glimpsing the horizon in a sliver of yellow like runny egg slipping off onto the earth. You glance back at me as you unlock the door, giving me a small smile.
I fold it into me as the door opens.
Inside is mostly empty. The others are all in their rooms, probably - there is one at the breakfast bar on his phone, his head shaved clean.
'JJ,' you say, and he glances up. His eyes find me, and then Olive. He stands, giving us a smile, and holds out a hand for us each to shake.
'I'm JJ,' he says, and his hand is warm, big. It reminds me of yours. Olive gives his hand a tentative shake. 'Which one of you is Simon's girl?'
You roll your eyes, knocking him in the shoulder with your fist. I think you're almost embarrassed, like we're ten years old again and we hold hands on the playground. It's possibly the most adorable thing I've ever seen.
'I think that would be me,' I say, introducing myself. Olive gives him a blunt introduction and then looks down at the floor. She's never great with new people - she often comes across as stiff, unwelcoming. She's quite the maniac when you get to know her, but she always finds new people and new situations hard. I reach across and give her hand a tiny squeeze, and she glances up at me, almost-smiling - the kind of smile you can't really see, but is just there, glimpsing her cheeks.
'Oi, you lot, come on we're going,' you call out up the stairs, your voice catching in the stairwell. A boy with a dopey smile comes down first - he stops at the end of the staircase, looking between us all, giving us that big, dopey grin.
'Oh, hello,' he says, and he wipes his hands on his pants before holding one out to us. 'I'm Harry.'
'Hello,' I say, introducing myself. I feel as if I am going to be doing a lot of introducing. Olive shyly reaches out and gives his hand a shake, and a little mumbled lovely to meet you.
The others trundle down the stairs and we all exchange the appropriate hellos and introductions, shaking more hands and nodding and smiling. Simon offers to drive me and Olive, which I'm glad for. I wasn't sure Olive would be up for a stiff twenty minute car ride wedged in a car of strangers.
'I hope the others don't mind us coming,' I tell you, getting in the front. I offered to sit in the back with Olive, but she shook her head, obviously appreciating the gesture.
'Nah, they won't care,' you tell me, turning the engine on. You pull on your driving glasses and pull out onto the street, the car humming beneath us. 'Especially because it's a big group thing.'
We drive in silence for the moment, the car sliding along the road like the tyres are made of butter. I forgot how nice your car was. I don't have one, but when I've been in anything, it's always been clunky, jerky movements and rattling across roads clinging onto the shitty fabric seats for dear life. I glance over at you as we drive. You look cute with the glasses.
'So, Harry was pretty cute,' Olive says out of nowhere. You and I both laugh, and I swear she's blushing. I look back at her over the seat.
'That was fast.'
Olive shrugs. 'Hey, there's nothing wrong with being forward. He is cute.'
I turn back to the front, tipping my head from side to side. 'True, true. He's very cute.'
'Hey!' You say, lifting your eyes from the road for a moment. I laugh, letting my head fall back against the seat.
'Okay, we'll set you up with Harry,' I promise, nudging you with my arm. 'Won't we?'
'One-hundred-percent. He needs a girlfriend ASAP. Team matchmaker for the win!' And you pump one fist in the air again, making me laugh. I think even Olive is smiling behind us.
'Thanks,' she says softly, mostly to me, and I reach back and give her knee a little squeeze. Her hand fumbles out, reaching for my own, and she returns the squeeze. We settle back as the car turns onto the highway, and you turn the radio on, a pop song I've never heard drifting out between our words. You talk to Olive a bit. She's calmed down a lot, now, and I can tell she's warming to you, even if she doesn't want to admit it. I glance over at you as you drive - you're smiling, if only a little.
We hop out at the trampoline park, the car doors closing loudly behind us. I shudder, rubbing my hands against my arms.
'You alright?' You ask me, wrapping a casual arm around my shoulder, looking down at me with concern.
'Yeah, just a tad cold,' I say, and then I shudder. 'It'll be better inside.'
But you walk with your arm around me anyway, pressing a very quick and gentle kiss to the top of my head as we head off to the entrance of the building. The others are already inside, and I glance over at Olive, who is doing a very bad job of hiding the fact she's staring at Harry. Your arm drops from my shoulder, your hand resting on my hip. My skin tingles beneath my leggings.
'Okay, I've absolutely got to nail the wall-flip this time,' Harry says, passing his camera over to the one I remember being called Vik. 'Vik, mate, can you film me?'
And I'm not used to this whole YouTube life, where everyone has cameras and everything is filmed. People start filing off, and everyone has their cameras out, talking to the lens, making big, over-exaggerated hand movements.
'This is weird,' I say quietly, and you chuckle. You're still close to me, so I feel it rumble throughout one side of my own body, thick and heavy like a moment of thunder down my side.
'Welcome to the world of YouTube,' you tell me, and you gesture grandly at everyone with their cameras. 'It's usually not this many people at once, but Harry's video did so well last time, so everyone wants to jump on that bandwagon. There's usually a kind of etiquette.'
'Etiquette?'
You nod. 'Yeah. Like with surfing, how there's etiquette about who takes the wave and who doesn't. It's all about turns. Same with vlogging.'
'Fascinating,' I say, and it really is. Olive is beside us, watching it unfold with as much confusion and wonder as me. You retract yourself from me a little, taking both my hands and stepping back onto the nearest trampoline. You give a slight bounce, and then you tug me forward. I shyly reach a foot down, unsure of myself, feeling very much like a baby gazelle taking its first steps, only with significantly less elegance.
'Haven't you trampolined before?' You ask, noticing my weariness. I give an experimental bounce, and I can't stop myself from grinning.
'Not in a very long time,' I tell you and then we get this rhythm up, the two of us working together. I glance over my shoulder, where Olive is waiting awkwardly, holding her elbow. I wave her on.
'Come on, Liv! It's honestly so fun.'
Olive shifts from foot to foot nervously. She rubs one arm with her hand. 'I don't know,' she says cautiously, watching Simon and I bounce. 'I haven't been in, like, fifteen years,' she says. 'I think I'll stuff it up. Last time I was on a trampoline, I broke my ankle.'
'It's fine, I promise,' I tell her, my hair flying up around me. Simon does a particularly large bounce and I squeal, flying into the air. He laughs as I land, grabbing my wrists to stop me falling. I giggle uncontrollably, feeling as if I'm ten years old again. 'Oh, Olive, it's so fun!'
Harry's behind her then, hands on hips, camera in one hand. 'You coming then?' He says, and she jumps a little glancing back at him. He's giving her that dopey smile.
'Oh, um, sure,' she squeaks. 'I'm not very good, and I'll probably break something, but-'
'Don't worry about it,' Harry encourages, taking her wrist. He's standing tall, and it's almost as if he's puffed his chest out a little. I try not to laugh. 'I'll show you. I've been doing this for a while now. I'm pretty good.'
'Okay.'
Olive glances back at me as Harry leads her off, and I grin, giving her a big thumbs up. I watch them go, and then I turn back to Simon. He's watching me, amused.
'What?' I ask as we start bouncing again. He takes my hands, and they swing between us as we jump.
'Nothing,' he says. 'It's just cute. They're cute. I hope we can get them together.'
'Mn, me too,' I say absentmindedly, watching them over Simon's shoulder. Harry's helping Olive jump, help she probably doesn't really need but is very willing to take, one hand on her upper arm, guiding her. I let my eyes flick back to Simon. He's staring at me, those big, beautiful blue eyes watching silently. 'She needs it.'
'Yeah?'
I nod. 'Yeah. She hasn't had great relationships in the past. I mean, I don't really know Harry, but you seem to think he's a good enough guy. So I'll take your word for it.'
'He is a good guy. Really. He hasn't had great girlfriends in the past either, not really. Olive seems better, now she's warming up to me.'
'She's like that with most people,' I insist. 'It takes her a while to get comfortable. But she's great when you really get to know her.'
You smile at me, this small, lopsided thing. A slight stubble bristles your chin. 'I hope I can get to that stage with her.'
I return your smile. 'Me too.'
We bounce like this for a while, just chatting, talking about life and everything that comes with it. You tell me about your dog, back home, and you promise to let me meet him one day. I'm thinking about that, and how that means I'd have to meet your family. Nerves flush through me, but you don't seem to notice. You nod your head over to the foam pit.
'You want to jump in the foam pit?'
I pull a face. 'Is that even a question?'
You break into a grin, and so we hop over, bouncing between trampolines. A few of the others are already over there. Most have stopped filming now, which I'm glad for. I was worried I may inadvertently end up in some YouTube video, at some horrifically unattractive angle. Simon and I watch as Harry takes a run-up and then catapults into the foam pit, where an feminine squeal echoes up from below. I glance over the edge, and Olive is neck-deep in foam, laughing her head off.
'You're a piece of shit,' she tells Harry, throwing a block of foam at his head. He grins sheepishly at her, wading through the foam to get to her. He helps pick her up and lift her back to the edge.
'She's a bit of a romantic, isn't she,' Simon teases me. 'You're a piece of shit. Affectionate.'
I laugh. 'It is, actually, for Olive.' My laugh fades to a smile, and I watch her fondly as her eyes follow Harry's somersault into the foam. 'She really likes him.'
'How can you tell?'
I spread my hands, giving him the it's a mystery to me gesture. 'Seven years of friendship, my friend,' I tell him and then I say very quickly, 'last one to the foam owes the other dinner!'
You let out a yelped hey! at my back as I sprint down the run-up to the foam, letting out a squeal as I jump into the pit. You follow, landing nearly on top of me, and my squeal funnels out into a deep laugh as you push foam into me, and I find a piece and chuck it at your head. There's a loud hollering war cry from above, and both Harry and Olive jump in, and then JJ and Vik and all the others, and I lie back in this foam pit and think man, this is what I've been missing out on.
You find my hand in the foam, and so I lie on my back, watching the ceiling, listening to the sounds around me.
a/n
ay ay woot woot update
#Holive for the win
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