Here's a new chapter. It's not super long but it's cute and very important for their relationship, so I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to vote and comment.
Also don't forget the competition from the last chapter. You can get your own character in the book. Be creative and make something up. You can read more about it in the of chapter 17, so go back and re-read that if you are interested.
---
Rosie's POV
" You are being boring as fuck," George whined, throwing a Twizzler across the room, which hit my chest before it landed on top of the phycology book that rested in my lap. My nose had been dug into one book after another, more or less every waking minute the last month or so.
The band had started touring and I had tagged along whenever I could squeeze in a bus or train ride to see them. Even if it was just for a single night before going back to London to go to classes. It wasn't optimal but since it had only been in the UK, for now, it had worked out somewhat ok, mainly because I tried to study whenever there was a quiet moment, which was very rare when you were around a group of guys that might as well be 12-year-olds.
"You are sounding like my brother," I replied with a straight face, not taking my eyes off of the book as I took a bite of the red sweet before throwing it back towards my cousin.
Judging from the slight squeal, I had hit my goal.
"My parents and my brother are coming in 10 minutes or so," Matty announced as he entered the room, making me lift my eyes from the book.
I observed him as he grabbed the twizzler, from where it had landed in George's lap, and took a bite from it as he put one foot up on the chair in front of him.
" That's nice of them, considering it will probably be the last show before going around the rest of Europe," I smiled, giving up on reading any further and closed my book. I knew Matty wouldn't allow my attention to be elsewhere now that he was here. Or so I told myself, even though it was probably more of a lie to trick myself into procrastinating the unpreventable studying.
" Yeah, although I didn't expect otherwise now that we are in Manchester," he replied, shoving the rest of the twizzler into his mouth.
As on queue, the door swung open to reveal a grinning Denise and Louis, followed by a bald kind-looking man I had never seen before. Although I could tell, judging from the picture Matty had of his parents in his bedroom, that it was his father, Tim.
Denise looked around, as if searching for somebody, and Matty rose his hand to signal to her where he was, but instead, her eyes connected with mine and she leapt forward, cupping my cheeks to study me properly before pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.
"Rosie, it's so good to see you," she said as she stepped back, allowing me to greet Louis with a hug as well.
Matty chuckled and shook his head. " It's good to see you too, mum," he said sarcastically, referring to her lack of interest in greeting him, resulting in Denise squeezing him, if possible, even tighter than she had done to me seconds earlier.
The man I assumed was his father stood a couple of steps behind, greeting his son, before smiling at me politely. It was clear that he was more down to earth than his ex-wife.
" This is my girlfriend, Rosie Daniel," Matty explained, pulling me into his side, placing a quick peck to my cheek. He looked immensely proud, which made the heat rise to my cheeks.
I reached my hand out to shake his.
"I'm Tim, Matthew's father. You are called Daniel, as in..?" he asked, looking around the room before pointing towards George who was still sat on the couch from before.
" Yes, she's my cousin even though you wouldn't be able to tell," he mocked with a wink.
" No, cause she's much brighter," Matty teased back, making George lift his hand to his chest with a gasp, pretending to be offended. " Ouch."
Denise chuckled before resting her hand on top of Matty's shoulder. " I'm proud of you. There's quite a lot of people gathering out there, and you are going around Europe soon. It's gonna be so exciting," she said with a proud smile.
" And you are graduating soon," she added, turning her attention to me. " Congratulations Darling."
" Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited about not having to study anymore after the next two months. I'm tired now," I said, looking between Denise and Matty with a smile. " And then I'll join your son on tour when I'm done," I added, squeezing Matty's hand.
He smiled at me before looking back at his family. " Yeah, Thanks for coming. It's nice to see you one last time before crossing the seas," he said with a smile.
Denise nodded and looked at the time, letting out a little " ah" before looking back up at Matty.
" I think we'll go and find our seats now," she explained. " How do we get back out to the venue from here?" she asked, making me let go of Matty's hand.
" I'll show you," I said, leading them through the maze of hallways before opening the door that led to the back of the venue.
" Thanks, Darling," Denise said with a smile, squeezing my arm before walking out into the sea of teenagers and young adults, with Tim and Louis following closely behind her.
I waved at them, following them with my eyes to make sure that they had found their seats, but someone in the crowd unexpectedly caught my eye.
No, that couldn't be.
What would they possibly be doing here?
There, amongst the many people, stood my dad in a suit with my brother and my mother, who was clutching onto her handbag for dear life.
I took a deep breath before closing the door behind me and pushed my way through the sea of people.
"Mum, Dad, what are you doing here?" I asked reluctantly, giving them both a light squeeze before taking a step back, as if that would allow me to read them better. I quickly realised that I might as well have tried to read the mind of two roman marble statues. My father was expressionless and my mother almost looked a little worried and reluctant with her lips in a thin line.
Not that it surprised me. If anybody had asked me if I could get my mum to go to a rock concert for a million pounds, I would have shaken my head no and told them they were crazy.
" We wouldn't miss the first headline tour of George's band. Where's George?" She continued, tiptoeing to get a better look at the backstage area, where I had exited from before.
George's band.
She could have at least mentioned Matty. Her own daughter's boyfriend. Even if she didn't like him, she could at a minimum pretend for my sake. God, she could even have said she came to see me, her daughter, but that wasn't going to happen.
" He's backstage. You can come with me, I guess," I replied reluctantly, rubbing my upper arm uncomfortably before turning around.
Pearls of sweat were forming on the palm of my hands as I pushed open the doors to the backstage area, leading my family closer to the dressing room where I had left the boys earlier. The fear of how Matty would react to the sudden visit from my sceptical parents were making me anxious, and I was absolutely dreading every possible outcome of how this was going to turn out. I was debating whether or not I was going to change my mind and turn around on my heel and lead them back out, but my conscience was still clinging on to the slight possibility that my parents had grown just the slightest bit more tolerant and understanding, even though that was most likely not the case.
"Pass it over mate," Matty said just as I pushed the door open.
"So this is where..." I started, but my voice slowly trailed off into nothingness by the sight of the thick white cloud of smoke that exited Matty's lips.
How could I be so stupid? I knew this was a pre-show ritual and I had led my conservative and already sceptical parents right into the Lion's den.
I quickly turned to look at my parents, hoping I could still manage to divert their attention, but it was too late. My mother had grabbed onto my father's arm as if she needed support not to faint right then and there. My father just stood with a raised eyebrow and a frozen expression. Joseph, of course, had a slight smirk on his face, and if he hadn't been family, I would have slapped the grin off of his face.
Matty had been caught like a deer in the headlights and was frantically trying to come up with something to say that would justify the spliff that still rested between his index and middle finger.
I looked back and forth between the many faces in the room. Adam, George and Ross were more or less pretending not to be present in the room. Matty looked like he had given up on coming up with a valid excuse, and he just stood there looking ashamed, which was a look, I had never before seen on him. I had to save him somehow.
" Matty, " I said, reaching my hand out towards his hand that was holding the blunt.
His eyes momentarily flickered from the judging faces of my parents to look at me with a slightly confused expression plastered across his perfect face.
"Matty babe, " I repeated, now taking it from his hand and placing it between my lips, resulting in my mum taking a step towards me with a hand stretched out towards my face, " Rosie," she started but it was too late. I took a long drag from the blunt without breaking eye contact, before blowing out the smoke with a calm expression.
They were not in their right to be the judge of my life, and If I had to demonstrate it in the rudest and most provoking way possible, then so be it.
" I think it's about time we go and find our seats, Darling. Wouldn't wanna miss the start of the show now, would we?" My father said with a disapproving look, grabbing a hold of my mother's arm, tugging at her sleeve to get her out of her frozen disbelieving state of mind. For a second, I thought she was glued to the floor but after blinking a couple of times, she finally turned around and left with her husband right behind her.
Joseph stayed behind with a smug smile before turning around and following the others.
As soon as the door closed, George erupted into laughter, clutching one hand to his stomach and pointing the other towards Matty.
" You should have seen your face," he managed to say through laughter, but I wasn't having it. There was absolutely nothing funny about the scenario that had just played out.
" Read the fucking room, George. You haven't lost anything. My parents have lost all faith in me now, and you don't have to worry about anything, do you? Cause no matter what, you'll always be ' perfect little nephew George'," I yelled at him, making him shut his mouth immediately.
Adam looked between everyone for a short amount of time before coughing and standing from his spot on the couch in the back of the room, " I think it's time to head towards the stage."
He, Ross and George quickly exited the room, while Matty stayed behind.
He looked uncomfortable at first, but just as I was about to tell him everything would be alright, he chuckled halfheartedly and shook his head.
"Are you fucking stupid?" he asked with a relieved laugh, cupping my cheeks between his hands before pulling me to his chest.
"I did what was right," I assured.
"I don't want them to hate you because of me."
"You and me, we are together. They got to understand that the two of us are a package deal ok? They can take it or leave it," I said sincerely, leaning back to look into his eyes with a confident expression.
" You actually think they stayed?" He asked, pecking my nose.
" Yeah." I rolled my eyes, " They wouldn't miss seeing George for the world."
He stood silently, thinking for a while, before expressing his thought process, " I guess I'll just tone it down and.. behave on stage tonight then."
"No." I shook my head, running a hand through his curly mohawk with a grin. " Give them a show they won't forget. I don't care for whatever reason," I grinned with a wink.
" Roger that," he chuckled, saluting, before turning on his heel, heading for the stage.
And oh boy, he did not disappoint.
--
DON'T FORGET THE CHANCE OF HAVING YOUR OWN CHARACTER IN THE SECOND BOOK! MAKE YOUR OWN CHARACTER AND READ HOW TO APPLY IN THE THE BUTTOM OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN!