A/N Im dedicating this to FallingForYMAS because she has been brilliant in helping me to get my motivation and confidence back to continue writing this. If your reading this chapter it is in part because of her that I even managed to write/upload it. So maybe you can do her a favour and go read some of her work too? Her YMAS fanfiction is some of my all time favourite fanfiction and her new story Terrible Things is already brilliant!!
Anyway!! Enjoy this chapter!! and please please vote and comment!!
:) xx
It was 4pm on the Sunday and just two hours left until I was expected at Josh’s house. I stood in front of Lex’s mirror in my pyjama top and shorts, painting my face with my make up brush trying to hide the eye bags that did turn up despite my 7 hours of sleep last night.
I applied a slightly gold eye shadow to my top lids and then a really fine line of black eyeliner on the top and bottom lash lines, a bit of mascara and then finished with a red lipstick. I have never liked wearing too much makeup. When my makeup was done, I went to the bed and slipped the dress on over my head, fastening the gold belt under the bust.
Lex knocked on the door so I opened it for her and smiled as she faked her jaw dropping to the floor. “Babe you look stunning!” I blushed, and stared at the floor but with all my hair in pins none of it fell to hide my face making me blush even more. “Whoa, there Ally. Your gonna be as red as your dress!” she took my shoulders and steered me towards the window, opening it for me to try and cool me down and began releasing the curls from my head.
“You sure this looks alright Lex. Be serious please.”
“Allyyy” Lex whined, “How many times do I need to say this? You look stunning! Now get your ass outa my flat and into your car.” she laughed. I rolled my eyes at her, and grabbed my glittery gold clutch bag from the bed, putting my phone and keys inside.
It took me 25 minutes to find Josh’s street, and then I had to drive slowly to find the correct house too. Finally I found it and pressed the buzzer on the electric gate to let me in, as I waited for the gates to open wide enough I could see my hands shaking slightly as I reached forwards to turn the radio down. I focused on the house instead trying to keep my mind distracted. It was a habit picked up from my English lessons and creative writing classes and I sometimes did it when I was really nervous; I would just choose an object in front of me, and try to describe it.
From what I could see the house had two floors, there were four windows facing to the front of the house upstairs and a bay window downstairs. The window, front door and double garage doors were all white set in a redbrick, it was all pristinely clean which gave me the impression this house wasn’t really too old. It was a very pretty house, you could tell it was expensive but somehow at the same time it had a slightly modest feel to it too, maybe in my head I was expecting some mansion perhaps? I hadn’t heard much about Weybridge in particular but I knew enough that Surrey had some really expensive houses and was home to many celebrities, the You Me At Six boys of course but also the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie!!
Just as my thinking got way off track, I heard a tap at my window which made me jump a mile in my seat. Josh stood bending slightly to see through my car window, he wore black jeans with a white shirt and black skinny tie, and his long hair was ruffled up and sticking out here and there in a styled messy way of course! I felt my heart beat quicken and a wide smile spread across my face, I will never get used to seeing that face, and wound down the window to talk to him.
Josh leaned his head through the window and gave me a very quick kiss and then opened the garage door and pointed to an empty space where I could park my car. Even though my corsa was the newest shape available it still looked like a tin can in this garage, Josh wasn’t joking about in his text last night! There was the Supercharged Range Rover Sport, Ferrari F430, Bentley Continental and a C class Mercedes and then my Vauxhall Corsa. I got out of my car, careful not to scratch any of the cars around me and smoothed down my dress, “damn girl look at you” Josh said and then wolf whistled from where he was standing and made a point of looking me up and down making me blush a similar red to the dress I was wearing. I walked up to Josh and gave him a hug from behind, wrapping my arms around his waist as he closed the garage doors again.
Smiling Josh turned around in my arms and pulled me even closer to him, thanks to the extra height my heels were giving me my head reached just under Josh’s chin. His prickly beard tickled the top of my head a little bit but I didn’t care, he looked handsome with a bit of beard and I hadn’t seen him for nearly a week! We stood like that just wrapped in each other’s arms for a little bit, just enjoying each other’s company “I missed you so much” he whispered. I moved my head up slightly to kiss his neck “I missed you too, how are you?” I asked.
“Im okay gorgeous, how is everything at home?” I could hear the caution in his voice and I smiled as I thought about how concerned he was for my family. So thoughtful. It’s nice knowing that someone cares.
“they are all fine, I phoned mum this morning, she is back to her teenager self teasing me and winding me up, even dad is feeling well again, he asked about you too and wants to meet you properly next time you’re in Nottingham.”
He took my hand in his and we started slowly walking to a door that I assumed would take us inside the house, “well I’ll have to arrange a trip very soon then, don’t want to keep the man waiting do we?” he joked causing me to laugh lightly “and how’s Joey?” he asked in a low voice.
“Joey is doing okay apparently, we are not supposed to visit him but the nurses will ring mum and tell her how he is getting on. So far, he is doing okay, I mean he hasn’t put himself back in the hospital or anything so that’s good I guess but he is going to be there for at least 8 weeks. So who knows?” Josh gave me a sympathetic smile and squeezed my hand.
“He’ll be fine, don’t you worry about it. He’s in the best place right now to get the help he needs. You’ll have your Joey back soon enough, don’t you worry.”
“Thanks” I mumbled
“Come on, let’s go meet my family!” Josh said as he dragged me through the door.
The door from the garage led into a large kitchen, it was really nice and you could tell it was expensive; it looked like a designer kitchen actually. You know like the ones you see on TV? Well the theme colours were red, black and white, so the walls were white, all the table surfaces were black and shiny and the cupboards were red. There was a large dining area in the middle with bar stools that all tucked completely under the table.
We walked through the kitchen and into the living room. The living room had white walls with white wood floors, there was a large black corner sofa that could probably seat about 8 people lining one wall, and then there was a glass coffee table and the shiny TV on a TV stand in the opposite corner. On the stand I could see Josh’s prized possession shining on the second shelf, his Xbox 360 elite with a stack of games sitting just next to it.
A woman walked down the stairs, she had a lovely welcoming smile, twinkly blue eyes and light brown hair in a chin length bob with a side fringe, she walked over to me smiling and shook my hand giving it a small squeeze “Hello dear, you must be Ally, im Anne, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, I’ve already heard so much about you” she said.
I smiled, and glanced at Josh “all good things I hope” I said as Josh gave me a half smile “it’s very nice to meet you Mrs.Franceschi”. Thank god I pronounced it right!
“Aw hunny, Thank you but please call me Anne” I smiled and nodded shyly at her.
“Okay, Anne.”
“ Ah Ally, this is my husband Alex” Anne led me further into the living room just as Josh’s dad walked in, he came over and extended his hand so I shook it “Hello, you must be Ally. It’s a pleasure to meet you”
“Thank you, it really nice to finally meet you too Mr. Franceschi” I replied. “This house, it’s really beautiful! I love the kitchen!”
“Thank you Ally, all the designing is Anne and Elissa departments. Me and Josh just have to go along with whatever it is!” he laughed and Josh did the same, nodding in agreement, Anne gave her husband and son a fake glare but rolled her eyes up at me. “And you can just call me Alex”.
Anne beamed at me and leaned forwards in her seat and told me about how she was the one who chose the kitchen and worked with the designers to get it perfect. We then started discussing cooking and kitchens, apparently Josh had mentioned that my culinary skills were ‘outstanding’, and then I heard another set of footsteps on the stairs.
I stood up ready to greet the last person, and I saw that it was Josh’s sister Elissa; she was really pretty with long Red hair and blue eyes. She came down the stairs and crossed the living room, “Hello, im Elissa! Cute dress!” she gave me a nice easy smile and instantly I felt my butterflies relax, she seemed to like me too. Josh was right nothing to worry about! I thanked her for complimenting my dress and I told her I liked her hair, I have always loved red hair but I was too scared to try it myself, in case I looked terrible.
We all stood up as Anne announced that they had booked a table for us at a restaurant, Josh slipped his arm around my waist and cuddled me to his side, I felt his lips at my ear and he whispered “see nothing to worry about. You’re amazing and they love you already” I laughed lightly and we followed everyone into the garage. I was surprised when Josh pulled me towards the Ferrari as his family were all in the Mercedes, and I gave him a confused look.
“I thought it’d be nicer if we took the Ferrari instead” he replied, he flashed me his dazzling smile and I rolled my eyes, knowing that I loved the Ferrari way too much to refuse an opportunity to ride in it.
We pulled up to the restaurant and I was secretly grateful to Lex for pushing me to go for this dress, the one I chose would have been far too casual for this kind of place. Josh came to my side of the car and extended his arm out for me to take, then tossed the keys to the valet parking guy “look after her” he warned and the valet guy grinned at him and saluted him.
We walked to the door and met with Anne, Alex and Elissa, walking in Alex spoke to the front of the house telling him the reservation name and a waiter came to take us to our table. Alex pulled Anne’s chair out and then tucked her under the table and Josh was doing the same for me, it was clear to see that Josh was a lot like his dad in many ways. They both knew how to treat a lady right, and they both did the nose scrunches and half grins when they were up to something.
I had Josh sitting on my left with Elissa on the right then Alex next to her and finally Anne finished the circle on the other side of Josh. The waiter came around handing us each our menu and taking our drinks order, I just ordered some water as I would be driving back to Lex’s that night and Josh and Alex were driving us back to their house so they both ordered soft drinks whilst Anne and Elissa enjoyed a glass of wine each.
The waiter went away to get the drinks and I had my first real chance to take in my surroundings, the ceilings were really high with giant glass or crystal chandeliers, the walls were dark brown panels with torch style lights softly illuminating the walls. The tables were nicely spaced apart, the table in the middle were all circles but the ones near the wall were square and portioned into either tables for two’s or four’s. The table were dressed with white tablecloths, and red napkins, the chairs were soft white leather chairs with a full back. They were wonderfully comfortable too! Wow, this place was really incredible!
“Why thank you Ally, I do like this place myself. I found it a few years ago and the food is brilliant so we like to come back often.” Alex said grinning at me. I blushed as I realised I had said the last bit out loud by accident and Josh was giving me the signature nose scrunch- half grin he did because he found it hilarious when I was embarrassed.
Anne scolded Alex and Josh and told them to ‘behave’ and stop picking on me and Elissa turned around to me “how can you put up with him? Doesn’t he constantly tease and wind you up?” she asked. I looked at her with a smile, and shook my head.
“Not really, I tend to embarrass myself lots and -”
“Exactly, I don’t even need to try with Ally, she does it all herself. You on the other hand I have to tease and wind you up because it’s the way you react which is funny.” Josh interrupted, leaning over me and towards Elissa.
Elissa squinted her eyes at him “Just remember, I have photo albums and home videos AND I can get more baby brother” she said in a menacing voice. I laughed with her as Josh relaxed back in his seat quietly. Alex and Anne laughed at the three of us and already I felt that I had known the family for years.
As the evening progressed Anne, Alex and Elissa asked me questions about what I did in Nottingham, so I told them how I was studying English with Creative writing at Nottingham Trent University in the hope to go into Journalism and write novels one day. They asked me about some of the coursework that I had done for the course such as articles and portfolios and reviews and then a bit about my family. They didn’t ask too much about my family and I sensed Josh must have told them a bit about everything that had happened. Josh held my hand under the table when he could, giving it a little squeeze now and then to reassure me.
I talked to Elissa about fashion and shopping and then we got talking and she was telling me all about her music. She is lovely and it was easy to see that she had a really wise head on her shoulders, from what our conversation I could tell that she was like me in the ambitious department. She hated the feeling of doing nothing, she had to have a project or work or music to focus on. Alex seemed really impressed when Josh told him about how much I loved cars and then joked that Josh should let me drive his Ferrari while Josh glared at his father. “Dad, I don’t even let you drive it, and you have been driving 40 years” the whole table laughed and Alex nodded his head in agreement.
Finally the night came to an end and Alex paid the bill, he picked up Anne’s wrap and put it on for her before offering his arm to her and escorted her out of the restaurant with Elissa, me and Josh following behind.
Elissa smiled and waved as the valet guy brought the Mercedes round and she climbed into the back, then the Ferrari came round and I saw Josh grin from the corner of my eye. He held my door open for me and then got in the driver’s side, kissing the steering wheel, “you do know your love for this car is borderline creepy right?”
He looked at me, smirking with one eyebrow raised “you do know this is a Ferrari right?”
I grinned at him and rolled my eyes, after all you cant argue with that! It is a freaking Ferrari it deserves to be loved like a child. We drove home following the Mercedes, and then parked up in the garage. I laughed as the Mercedes was parked at the back leaving my corsa in front of the Bentley and next to the Ferrari. It was a funny sight trust me. We got out of the car and went into the house and I glanced at the clock it was 9pm already.
I stayed for coffee and Anne and Elissa brought down the photo albums, showing me pictures of Josh. Josh was cringing and blushing furiously which was rare for him, and as evil as it was I was actually feeling entertained and finally understood why he made it his mission to have me embarrassed as much as possible. I stole a glance at him from the corner of my eye as Elissa showed me a picture of Josh about 5 years old dressed as a little girl with blonde plaits from a school play, Josh was bright red and hiding his face behind a pillow groaning loudly.
We went through many pictures of Josh, on the beach in the time they spent living in Cyprus, and one that had me coo-ing was a picture of him about 4 years old with a string of pearls around his neck, standing in a pair of someone’s high heels.
Eventually after talking with everyone for a while I was beginning to get tired, a yawn slipped out and I felt my eyes widen as I apologised repeatedly but everyone just smiled. I lifted the sleeve of Josh’s shirt slightly and to see his watch and saw that it was reading 10.30pm. So I said my goodbye’s to everyone giving Elissa and Anne a hug and kiss and shaking Alex’s hand. They walked me through the living room and kitchen telling me that it was a pleasure to meet me, and they hoped to see me again soon.
Josh walked with me into the garage and shut the door behind me, waiting till he heard the kitchen door shut then gave me a kiss. His hands were playing with my hair whilst mine were scrunching his shirt up, holding him close to me. This was what I had been waiting all week for, to see my Josh and have him hold me close and kiss me in the way only he can, where fireworks are exploding in my head, all my thoughts disappear, the temperature of the blood in my body increases rapidly and my heart beats so fast its ready to burst out of my chest. When we finally broke apart, we grinned at each other, his cheeks were pink and lightly flushed, he had three buttons undone, and his stylishly messy hair was now a haystack. I didn’t even want to think about what I looked like right now.
“You were amazing, you know that right?” Josh asked. I smiled into his chest and I felt his lips kiss my forehead. “They absolutely love you already. Not surprising really, seeing as I already knew you were amazing.”
“You’re slightly biased though. You’re a man, I cooked you dinner. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” I said as I patted his stomach slightly. He laughed and I felt the rumble in his chest.
“Yes Ally, it’s your amazing culinary skills that make me love you. Not the way you’re able to care for every person in your life or the way you always trust that there is good in people. Or the way you manage to deal with every situation that life throws at you.” I pulled away from him slightly to stare at his eyes, and the piercing blue stared back at me intently
“What did I do to deserve such an angel in my life? You make me feel on top of the world whenever you’re around. I love you so much Josh. Thank you for always being there for me, for being a great listener, for being so sweet and being so loving and romantic and tender with me. For actually giving a damn about me. I love you with all my heart you know that right?” I asked. I could hear my voice break as I had tears in my eyes; this moment right here was just so perfect. I wish I could stop time to live in this moment forever.
“I know.” Kiss. “I love you too.” I yawned again and Josh gave me a sad smile as he held my car door open for me. I sat inside and put my seat belt on, “Please please text me as soon as you get home darling.” He said with a serious voice.
I nodded and help my pinkie finger out for him “I promise I will text you within a minute of stepping into Lex’s flat. How is that?” He laughed at me and linked his pinkie with mine and gave it a quick kiss.
“Sealed with a kiss” he smiled. I smirked playfully at him as he opened the garage door and then the gate and drove away from him. I could see him waving at me from my rear view mirror and I was smiling the whole way back to Lex’s.
When I got back to Lex’s I pulled my phone out for the first time that evening to see that Lex had text me telling she was going to bed, and I wasn’t allowed to leave the house tomorrow morning until she had spoken to me. I found the key in the special rock that had a false back to hide keys in and let myself in to the flat. I text Josh telling him I made it home safe, and then tied my hair in a bun, and changed it an old DBNO shirt that still smelled of Josh’s cologne. I walked into the kitchen and jumped back half a mile as Lex was standing by the sink drinking a glass of water.
“Holy shit! I thought you went to bed! You scared the life out of me!!” I cried, she looked at me and shook her head laughing at me.
“Im assuming you had a GOOD night then” she said, I wondered why she seemed to put emphasis on the good but I couldn’t think of any reason.
“Yeah it was brilliant Lex! They are so sweet, and of course I got to see Josh!” I gushed.
“I can see that” she replied coyly. I squinted my eyes at her, completely confused as to what she was implying until she pointed to a spot halfway up her cheek. “Your lipstick is all the way up here, and you have a little something here” she said pointing to her collarbone. I ducked my head down to hide the furious blush I could feel glowing on my cheek and she laughed at me, walking with me to the bathroom. “Don’t be embarrassed, it’s only me. Did you really think I would believe you kept it PG13 all night after not seeing each other for a week? Go wash your lipstick off, im going to bed. I’ll cya in the morning!” and with that she kissed my other cheek and gave me a hug before going into her room.