I walk out to the back garden after grabbing a drink and get hit in the face with the smell of the BBQ. I make my way over to the table that the girls are sat at and connect my phone to a speaker and put on a playlist I made earlier. I hit shuffle and Smash Mouth – All Star starts to play.
"Really Lexi?" Lyla eyes me up and down with a judgemental look on her face knowing full well that I know it's one of her secret pleasures. I grin happily at here before mouthing the words to her. I hear a few chuckles from the guys' table.
The food goes down quickly, a little too quickly for my liking, and before I knew it we were all enjoying the random music I have on my phone. A familiar tune starts to play through the speakers before I hear Taylor cheer, the girls laughing and the guys groaning.
"Oh come on! I never get the moves right, can we just skip this please?" Josh pleads with me.
"Nope, come on. We'll teach you."
Lyla and Mel get out of their seats and Taylor grabs me out of mine. We all start to do the moves and the boys try to keep up. Daniel stands next to me before trying to join in halfway through the song.
"How does it go again?" he whispers in my ear. I face him before grabbing his left arm, then right arm, then I turn his left hand over, then his right hand. I let go and stand so that I'm facing the same way as him before continuing to show him the rest of the moves.
"There we go, you're getting there now. Can finally do the Macarena ayy? Only taken 18 years." I say rolling my eyes before laughing a little.
"Alright alright, no need for that now is there Lex? You know the last move before you jump to face another way....what was it again?"
"Oh you just put your hands on your hips like this and then sway them from side to side." I demonstrate the move for him before he flashes a cheeky grin.
"Carry on, by all means." He raises his eyebrows as I roll my eyes. I move towards the girls in the garden and carry on dancing with them before the song comes to an end.
It was starting to get late and was time to put the kids to bed. I excused myself from the table and took Taylor up to bed. She was smiling sweetly and I realise how used to this I had become. Am I too attached? The thought went away as quickly as it came.
"Lexi..." she drags out my name as I wonder what she's going to say next, "thank you for today." She yawns as she speaks. "Can you sing for me again? Pleaaaaase?" I nod and tuck her into bed before sitting down next to her.
"Pray silence, I'm begging. Too tired to tell you I ain't coming home. Stop for a second. Guess I got caught in leading you on, and I ain't responsible for the lump in your throat."
"Haven't you had enough of all of this? Haven't you had enough of loneliness?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to stay too long. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to tell you whatever you want. But haven't you had enough of loneliness, haven't we had enough of second best? So don't get me wrong."
"Innocent then, way back before we knew how to pretend. Picking up where we left, it ain't meant to be easy, shouldn't be hard as this, and I ain't responsible for letting this go."
"Haven't you had enough of all of this? Haven't you had enough of loneliness?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to stay too long. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to tell you whatever yo want. But haven't you had enough of loneliness, haven't we had enough of second best? So don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong"
"I just don't want to be the devil, you know? It hurts the most when you come too close."
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to stay too long. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to tell you whatever you want. But haven't you had enough of loneliness, haven't we had enough of second best? Don't get me wrong."
I saw Taylor's eyes drooping before I got up and switched her light off. As I turn around from closing the door as quietly as possible I bump into a familiar hard surface.
"Hey, sorry, I didn't know you were there."
"I was wondering where you ran off to. Guessing Taylor wanted you to sing for her again?" I nod shyly, feeling as though I'd intruded on his thing with his siblings.
"I don't blame her. She's lucky that's for sure." I stare at him blankly trying to figure out whether that was a passive aggressive comment or an actual compliment. "I also wanted to ask you about your questionable taste in music. You do realise that leaving your phone on shuffle has meant that we've had to ensure a bit of everything from S Club 7 to Oasis." He teases me. I blush knowing how embarrassing my playlists can get when it comes to guilty pleasures. "OH, and don't get me started on Aqua! Why would you have Aqua's Doctor Jones on your phone?" I start to chuckle at his mini outburst before shushing both of us and lead us down the stairs away from Taylor and Aidan.
"It's a great song. I don't know why you'd have anything against it in all honesty Daniel." He shakes his head at me before carrying on walking towards the garden.
I head towards the table where Lyla and Mel are sat before the guys decide it's time for them to finally join us.
"Did the kids get to sleep ok?" Lyla questions.
"Yeah Taylor got to sleep pretty quickly. Not sure about Aidan though, was he ok?" I turn my attention towards Daniel.
"He was fine, we could faintly hear you singing to Taylor so he just told me to leave him be." Lyla and Mel's eyes whip towards me.
"You do that? You sing her to sleep?" Mel says in disbelief.
"Yeah, turns out Taylor loves Lexi's singing so has asked her to sing her to sleep a couple of times now." Daniel jumps in.
My playlist carries on playing in the background while we chat casually. I hear the piano tune from Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me and start to sway, smiling to myself at hearing one of my favourite songs.
"Dance with me." My attention is drawn away from Sam Cooke's singing to Daniel offering me his hand.
"What? Now? Seriously?" He nods firmly as he gestures his hand towards me a second time.
"Come on, up you get." I do as he says and stand up before taking his hand. He starts to sway back and forth with me in his arms before stepping back and pulling me into him with a spin. He hand feels amazing on my lower back.
The moment is short lived as I hear a smash before an alarm starts ringing. My confused look is matched by everyone else. I rush inside the house and see Taylor and Aidan waiting on the stairs wondering what just happened.
"Hey, you both ok?" I ask, worry etched onto my face.
"What's going on?" Aidan mumbles from being groggy after waking up. I notice Daniel, Josh and Tyler making their way out to the front of the house.
"Not sure at the moment. We're going to check ok? Stay here," I turn my attention towards Lyla and Mel, "Girls, do you mind looking after the kids a sec? I'm going to see what's going on." They both nod and make their way upstairs to the kids.
I walk outside and see the hazard lights on Daniel's car flashing. It must've been his car alarm going off. The guys are huddled around the back-left passenger side door.
"Hey guys, what's going on? Everything ok?" Daniel's head whips around, a look of worry in his eyes.
"Go back inside, please?" he's pleading with me.
"What is it? Tell me." I walk over to the car and push my way in between Josh and Tyler. I see the window has been smashed and there is a brick on the seat. I reach my hand into the window to grab the brick.
"Lexi, watch out please. Be careful for god's sake." Daniel stands behind me watching carefully as I grab the brick. I turn it over and see a note attached to the brick with my name on it. I turn the note over and see "You are mine. I'll see you soon. X". After I read it, I feel my body start to shake and my eyes start to blur. Daniel snatches the brick out of my hands and reads the note for himself. The colour from his face disappears as he looks at me, eyeing me up and down to check for any sort of reaction. My mind goes blank and all I hear is muffled voices around me.
"What is it Dan?" I hear Josh ask. I notice Daniel pass the brick to Tyler before his arms wrap around me.
"Shit. Who would do this?" Tyler asks bluntly.
"Don't ask." Daniel's voice is low and stern. "Come on, you're shaking. Let's get you inside." Daniel leads me back into the house where he sits me down on the sofa and grabs a blanket for me. I sit there, mind blank.
"Hey guys, can you go and get the others from upstairs? I'll explain to the kids but can you make sure the girls get home safe for me?"
"Yeah, sure. Before we leave we'll go clear up as much as we can from outside alright?"
The conversations carry on around me and before I know it, Taylor has come to sit next to me. I try my best to act as if nothing has happened and wrap the blanket around her as she rests against my side.
"Sorry about all the noise, it was a false alarm on my car ok? It shouldn't happen again so time for bed, come on." Daniel follows the kids upstairs, I smile as they say goodnight again. It isn't long before Daniel's back downstairs by my side. He sits next to me and places his arm around my back, pulling me in for a cuddle.
"Can I ask something?" he asks sheepishly. I nod, no words managing to escape my mouth.
"I know it may be weird but I don't want you sleeping down here on this sofa bed tonight. You can have my room and I'll stay down here. I know I said I wanted to ask something but really I'm kinda just telling you what to do. I know I probably shouldn't giving the situation but I'm serious, you shouldn't stay downstairs."
"Are you sure?" He squeezes me into his side softly as he whispers a 'yes'. I make my way off the sofa and upstairs, Daniel following me closely making sure me and my Bambi-like legs make it upstairs without falling. He opens the door to his bedroom and places my duffel bag next to the bed. I climb into the bed, glance at my phone and see two notifications, one off Lyla and one off Mel. Daniel starts to look at me again before smiling weakly and turning around to leave.
"Daniel, wait." He turns around quickly.
"What's up?" I motion him towards me and pat the space in the bed next to me. He sits down next to me.
"Stay. Please?" I whisper, wrapping my arm around his waist.
"Ok. Let me go and turn the light off first though." I move my arm to allow him to get out of the bed. He walks to the door and closes it quietly, turns the light off and uses the flashlight on his phone to find his way around the room. I sit up in the bed a bit more as I notice that he's getting changed. I try to avert my eyes but they are drawn to his body like moths to a flame. There's no doubt that he is gorgeous. He sits down in the bed next to me and pulls me closer to him so my head is resting on his shoulder.
"You make me feel safe." I whisper. When I realise my thought was spoken aloud my eyes widen and I pull back from his shoulder. His hand reaches up to cup my chin before he starts to close the gap between us. My eyes instinctively close as he draws closer. I feel his lips on mine. I start to feel butterflies in my stomach before the kiss starts to get more heated, I can feel that he wants me by the way he's kissing me. I get swept up in the kiss and before I know it he pulls away leaving me breathless.
"I've been wanting to do that all day thanks to Taylor's timing earlier." I giggle at his comment before getting comfy in the bed. I lay down and feel Daniel moving next to me so that he wasn't sat up anymore. I turn on my side and feel him drape his arm over my side, pulling me close to him so that we were spooning. I left my head up and feel his other arm move underneath my neck. The rhythmic breathing on the back of neck starts to make me feel relaxed as I start to feel myself drift off to sleep.