Thank you all for reading, commenting and voting! I'm so pleased that you all are liking it as much as the last one! Hopefully, you'll like this chapter too:D
One of my fave songs on the side, TW feature in it! >>>
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And I'll tell her we'll always be this way
Every day that she's the one that makes me wanna say
I could see the blurry shape of Nathan lying next to me in the darkness. His hair stuck up everywhere and face squished against the pillow. I grabbed my glasses and suddenly realised something had woken me up. Was that singing? Crawling mindlessly forwards, I hunted for the source of my awakening.
Whoo-uuh-uuh you're taking over me
“FOR THE LOVE OF FRICK!”
I lay on the ground my heart fibrillating whilst Briony and Ceallach loomed over me, doubled up in fits of laughter. Briony was holding her mobile which was paused in the middle of Lawson’s song ‘Taking Over Me’. Nathan had stumbled out of bed to rip open the curtains. I had fallen off the end of my bed in my fright.
I tried to keep a straight face as I leapt to my feet and shouted at Briony and Ceallach. Instinctively each of them backed away, laughing.
“You are going to die and I’m going to do it!” I yelled at them, losing my battle against the giggles.
I turned to Nathan torn between being worried I was hurt and amused by my graceful exit of the bed. “I need to put a lock on my door!” I laughed, hands on hips.
“That wouldn’t be very clever, Evanna as it would compromise your safety should there be a fire. Not very responsible.” Ceallach interjected crossing his arms and clicking his tongue in exasperation at me.
“Get out!” I laughed, shoving him out the door and slamming it closed. I heard him and Briony’s hysterical giggles through the wood.
“Do they still do that?” Nathan asked incredulously. Over the years we had been going out, Briony and Ceallach would always stay at my flat. Mainly because Cel wanted away from his parents’s house and Briony wanted the excitement of being independent. However, they were no longer 14 and 17 years old. They were 17 and 20, both living in their own place.
“Oh, yeah.” I snorted, fumbling for my clothes for the day. “I threw out my alarm clock weeks ago and am just using them instead. Although, I wasn’t quite expecting that.” I laughed.
Nathan collapsed face first back onto the bed so I quickly changed myself and nipped to the bathroom. When I returned he was fast asleep. I patted his hair and pulled the covers over him before going down to the kitchen.
“Nu – uh,” Briony was sitting curled up on the sofa eating the last bowlful of my favourite cereal. “4Music is showing Christmas hits, so I’m sorry but we’re watching that!”
“Boring!” Ceallach sprayed a mouthful of toast over us all as he tried to talk. I edged past them both, giving Ceallach a wide birth of about 2 metres. I clicked on the kettle and tried to fashion myself some sort of breakfast that hadn’t already been claimed by Briony or Cel. So far it looked like I was having lemons and a Nature Valley bar.
“Hey, Ev, you working this morning?” Charlie appeared in the doorway, holding an empty mug and looking stressed.
“Aye, I’m afraid so. Why? Do you need something?” I poured tea into the cup he was absently gripping.
“Just wondering because if you’re not using your it can I borrow your laptop?” he asked with wide eyes.
“Ha, do you need more screens, Chaz?” I laughed, thinking of the room filled with technology he spent most of his time in. “of course you can, I don’t know where it is though...” I glanced around. I couldn’t really figure out technology so it was mainly Nathan and Briony who used it.
“Erm, I may already have it.” He grinned cheekily. “And there’s a cab outside for someone…” he added before pinching a Hobnob and disappearing back into his room.
“Guys, there’s a cab for you outside.” I called through to Cel and Briony, while filling up a basin of water and watching as they stopped wrestling the remote away from each other.
“Hear that? Get off your arse Ceallach there’s a cab for us!” Briony jumped to here feet grabbed her stuff and ran out the room waving frantically at me as she passed the kitchen door.
“Have fun at Uni!” I shouted to her.
“I’ll try!” she yelled making me laugh.
The TV clicked off and the door banged shut so I began to hum to myself while washing the dishes, wondering if I should go and get Nath up. It was nearly time for me to leave after all. Then I heard something.
“Did you speak to Ev yet?”
“Ceallach keep your voice down!”
My heart plummeted as I realised Ceallach had never left. I could hear him and Nathan whispering out in the hall. I carefully dried my hands on the cloth and edged over to the door, listening in.
“So what did she say?”
“Shh, I didn’t ask her.”
“What?” Ceallach practically yelled. “Why not?”
“I just didn’t want to, okay? I was just so happy to see her and didn’t want to spoil it.”
“But imagine how you’d feel if she said yes?”
“Cel, I’m just not ready.”
Suddenly I felt guilty, listening in and made to move away and flick on the radio. I had definitely kept a lot from him in the past; I had no right to intrude here. But I dropped the cup I had just been washing and it clattered to the ground. I fell to the ground to in my haste to scoop it up.
“Evanna?” I slowly lifted up my head, my cheeks burning with my shame. Nathan held onto my elbow and pulled me up. “You alright?” He asked tentatively. And I could tell he knew I had heard him.
“Yeah. Just dropped this.” I set the stupid cup down and met his knowing green eyes.
“I’m going to go…” Ceallach slipped out the room but no one payed proper attention.
“Did you hear that?” Nathan asked quietly, pulling off his snapback and holding it in his hands nervously.
“Yeah, I’m sorry.” I looked down “But I’m not going to ask, I promise!”
“No!” He said quickly, touching my face to make me look at him. “No, I want to tell you, I do. It’s just I’m worried about asking you. I’m being really stupid.” His cheeks flooded with colour.
“No you’re not!” I laughed at how adorable he was being. “Take your time about this. It obviously means a lot to you.”
“It does.” He replied thoughtfully, his sparkling eyes glazing over and it was obvious he was somewhere else.
I stepped in to kiss him, taking his hand when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I groaned and pulled a face.
“You have to go now?” Nathan asked scrunching up his nose.
I pulled out my Samsung “Yeah, that’s Shauna saying Brain Freeze are on their way. I better go.” I made to move but Nathan was still gripping my hand and it looked like he was on the verge of saying something.
“What?” I asked.
“I want to ask you. But I’m nervous.” He admitted, meeting my eyes bashfully.
“Take your time. I don’t mind.” I kissed him lightly, catching him off guard while he was still deep in thought.
I ran grabbed my bag, forced on my boots and snatched my keys from the bowl. We shouted goodbye to Charlie before jumping in the car. I arrived in front of his and the boys flat and stopped the engine.
“Your stop, mister.” I grinned playfully.
“Thank you, mam.” He laughed leaning forward to kiss me. I was sort of surprised at how much he was going at it, not that I minded but usually he’s quite shy about being affectionate.
I looked up to the house and saw a bunch of cardboard boxes piled up in the window. Probably just leftovers from their world tour. I could make out Jayne and Siva and his twin Kumar standing in the window.
“Wow, there seems to be a lot going on in your flat today!” I observed.
“Oh, right. Our flat.” His face dropped again and he looked away from me. I waited wondering if I should remind him that this was the part where he was supposed to get out the car. “We’re moving out.” He said suddenly.
“What? Who is?” I was completely confused.
“Us. Me and the boys. We decided we need our own space. So we’ve started looking for our own places.”
“Wow.” I whispered. It was sort of sad that were moving out. It was the end of an era. How much time had I spent in that little house crammed with those lovely boys?
“But I don’t want to live by myself.” Nath carried on. Oh, there was more. “I want you to live with me.”
My eyebrows flew up in surprise and my mouth fell open. I was too stunned to say anything.
“So, yeah. That’s what I wanted to tell you. So I did.” He laughed awkwardly. “Please say something.”
“You want me to move in with you?” I fidgeted with my fingers uneasily. He nodded pulling his hat down over his forehead.
I stared out at the frosty road in front of us, biting my lip to keep from smiling. Why was I smiling? Why did I want to smile? My phone buzzed in my pocket. Shauna. I needed to get to work. I had to leave. Nathan was staring at me, waiting for an answer and I was being rude. My phone buzzed again. And again. A car parked behind me honked its horn.
“Okay!” I said.
Nathan’s head whipped up and he stared at me, wondering if he had heard me correctly.
“Okay?” he checked.
“Okay, I’ll live with you.” I said slowly, realising how it sounded. It sunk in what I was saying.
“You will?” he asked, a massive beam forming on his face as he moved eagerly forwards.
“I will, yes!” I clapped my hands to my mouth as I began to nod my head emphatically. I didn’t know what I was saying, I didn’t think about the implications. I just knew that this would make me happy. It was already making Nathan happy.
“I love you so much.” He said. He pulled my hand away from my mouth to kiss my palm.
“You too.” I said breathlessly. Tom appeared at the door and waved at us.
“Nath get yourself inside now, Jayne wants you for something!” Tom yelled “Hey, Eve!”
I waved at Tom, and looked at Nathan as he stepped out the car.
“Speak to you later, yeah?” he asked me.
“Definitely.” I nodded.
I watched him meet Tom and disappear inside the house before turning and gripping the steering wheel. I had just agreed to move. To move in with Nathan. To leave Charlie, to leave my little flat and move in with my boyfriend. I sounded so old.
I couldn’t control my shaking fingers enough to press the silent button on my phone so, with some irritation; I pulled out the battery and threw that and the shell into the backseat. I almost crashed the car as I pulled up into my parking space, narrowly hitting a tree. I was having difficulty walking so instead I took the lift to the top floor.
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” I apologised hurriedly as I emerged in the waiting room. The happy faces of Jack, Finn and Ash bounced up to greet me and I ushered them into the studio, past Shauna’s desk.
“Can I have some coffee for the boys, Shauna?” I asked, trying to follow them into the room but she called me back.
“Of course!” She smiled “But wait! There was a message for you.”
“Mmm?” I was in such a daze, I felt like I was dreaming.
“Yeah, from your mum. She says she got a dancing job over Christmas.”
“That’s wonderful!” The daze cleared a little and I let myself grin in happiness for her.
“But she also mentions her dance group touring over Christmas.”
“Oh!” I pouted a little, no family Christmas this year then.
“Yeah, she was calling with a favour. Something about you looking after your sisters over Christmas while she and your father are away.” She read off the monitor.
The daze melted away altogether. Looking after my sisters? Even Renee; who was still just a baby? Panic shot through me: too much responsibility, too much happening at once.
“She asks you call her back when you find time.” Shauna smiled, unaware of how serious what she was telling me was.
“Ev? We’re waiting!” Ash called impatiently. The others laughed.
“Yeah, where’s the coffee?” Finn chuckled.
“Erm, I’m coming.” I whispered. Completely fazed by everything that was happening. And it wasn’t even 10am yet.