"How does this outfit look?" I ask Angele, on the evening on January 28th, 2017 - aka, Sophie's birthday.
"You look great. But I thought Sophie told you not to bring anything for the party," she motioned towards the present I had wrapped and ready to take with me.
"I cant just go to her party without getting her anything! Plus I think she meant that about food and drinks, not presents...I don't know! You're stressing me out now!" I whined, throwing a random beauty blender at her head. "And you can't even say that hurt because it's literally sponge," I warned her, knowing exactly what she was like.
She rolled her eyes but nonetheless smiled at me, and told me to have a good time.
"Oh yeah - I might not be back tonight, depending on if there's alcohol, because I won't be able to drive." I warned her, and she told me she was perfectly capable of looking after herself. I knew she was, but I would always worry about her anyway.
"Bye, Angele, love you!" I called out, before taking the wrapped present and walked out to my car. Tonight was going to be fun, and Sophie was introducing me to some of her other friends. I was excited.
-
It seemed like I had arrived a little early, for the parking spaces out the front of the house were still pretty empty when I pulled up. I was greeted by Sophie this time, who hugged me and beckoned me in.
"Happy birthday!" I told her, and gave her the present I had wrapped. "I know you said to not bring anything, but honestly I thought you meant food and not presents but then my sister said you might have meant presents so then I was unsure but I didn't want to be -"
She cut me off by gently taking the package from my hands. "Thank you for the present, Talia. I really appreciate it, and I'm sure I'll love it. Don't overthink it too much!"
Easier said than done.
"Alright, well, drinks and everything is in the kitchen, so go help yourself! I'm just going to go, erm, talk to Harry, I'll be back! You go in the kitchen!" She said quickly, side eyeing me, making sure I was going to the kitchen. I walked cautiously into the kitchen, unsure of her previous behaviour.
I nearly laughed out loud when I saw Simon sitting down at the island, by himself. She had done this on purpose, hadn't she?
"Hey," I spoke simply, smiling at him as he looked up at the sound of my voice.
"If it isn't mysterious girl! Long time no see," he joked, beckoning me to sit down next to him.
"My name is Talia, and I saw you practically last week," I scoffed, and he seemed to marvel in me getting wound up. "You did that on purpose, huh? I'm an idiot," I laughed, and he laughed along with me. We shared the same sense of humour, and that was something.
"I prefer the nickname mysterious girl. I'm going to keep calling you that, if you don't mind."
"I suppose it'll have to do, right?" I murmured, a slight smirk visible on my face as I reached for a plastic cup.
"What do you want? I know where all the drinks are, prepared it myself," he offered, and I told him my preferred drink.
"Nice choice. I drink it sometimes."
"Sometimes? What's your go to?"
"Depends on the day and the mood."
"That's the same with me! Sometimes I'm in a gin mood, and then sometimes I'm in a cider mood. It completely changes, it's crazy!"
For the next fifteen or so minutes, myself and Simon bonded over alcohol, of all things. Clearly, we didn't realise how long we were talking for, because Harry sought us out telling us that Sophie was asking for us in the living room.
I glanced at Simon before following Harry out into the living room, standing at the back of the room as we all sung happy birthday to her. I couldn't help but feel like there were eyes on me, and I was correct. I caught Simon red handed, looking at me from the other side of the room.
It brought a slight grin to my face, and he must've seen it for he bowed his head, scratching behind his ear. Along with it, there was a slight fluttering feeling in my stomach, one that I hadn't felt in a long time.
-
"Is it alright if I stay here tonight? I drove here, and I've had a lot more to drink than I thiught I would," I said to Sophie, swaying on my heels slightly. She was also a drunk, giggling mess, but she agreed, telling me where the spare room was.
"If you need anything, just drop me a text or something...goodnight!" She said happily, walking off in the direction of her own room.
I tried to follow her vague instructions to the spare room, but the house was so big I honestly had no clue where to go. And it wasn't like I could just trial and error the doors, people were sleeping!
In the end, I just made my way down to the kitchen, a place I definitely knew the location of. The lights were on, indicating that someone was in there.
"Hello?" I asked, peering round the corner. I saw another girl in there, and I think by Sophie's introduction it was Freya, Josh's girlfriend.
"Oh, hi! Sorry, didn't think anyone was awake!" She apologised, shooting me a small smile as she took something out of the microwave.
"Are you making porridge...at half past three in the morning?" I asked in bewilderment, rubbing my eyes because I was definitely not a night person.
"I am, yes. You want some?" She offered, holding out the bowl. It was at that moment I knew me and her were going to become good friends.
"I will pass, for now. But thank you. I was wondering - do you have any idea where the guest bedroom is? Sophie said I could stay here tonight, but she was a little too drunk to tell me where I was staying," I explained.
"I do in fact know where it is! I'll show you now, come on," she led me out of the kitchen and up the first set of stairs, coming to a stop outside of a door. "It's just in there, make yourself comfortable."
"Thanks so much, Freya. Enjoy your porridge!" I said, closing the door after our goodbyes.
I was so ready to collapse and fall asleep, that I didn't even change out of my clothes I was wearing. I was going to wake up with a banging headache tomorrow, and usually I was sensible with drinking but tonight I had just let go, and it had been so fun.
-
I had been hoping for a lie in the next day, but what happened was far more humiliating. I was woken up by the sound of someone coming into my room, clearly not realising I was there. What was worse was that I recognised that voice.
Simon.
Shit.
I hid under the covers as he walked over to the window - why the hell was he in this room?
I dared peeking out of the covers, and grimaced when I saw a computer set up. So he was about to film? Shit, now I definitely needed to say something.
I coughed, my head now above the covers, causing him to whip his head around in fright.
"Holy shit!" He exclaimed, clutching his chest to over exaggerate. I shot him a confused look, and he spun around in the chair. "I didn't see you there-"
"Evidently," I cut in dryly, but both of us smiled.
"So you ended up staying the night, mysterious girl," He teased, knowing how much the nickname annoyed me.
"I drank a little too much last night, and I drove here," I explained. "Plus, my name is Talia, but you know that so I don't know why I'm telling you again."
"Well, Taaaaalia," He spoke, dragging my name out, "I'm filming a video in here, it's actually my setup room, so feel free to stay, the bed is out of shot," He spoke casually, turning back round to face his computer.
I saw no problem with it, I needed some more sleep anyway. I sent a quick text to my sister, making sure everything was okay before leaning my head back against the pillow, hoping for my headache to be gone when I woke up again.
-
The next time I woke up, the room was empty, but there was a glass of water with some pills next to my bed. There was a little note attached.
To mysterious girl
Take these, should make you feel better. Hope I get to see you soon,
Simon
The words made me grin, he was definitely something, I will give him that. Seeing as I was still dressed from my clothes last night, I didn't have to change, so I could get out quickly. I felt bad though, would it be rude to leave without saying goodbye to Sophie?
I slipped out of bed, and somehow made my way to the door of her room, knocking on it cautiously. I heard a reply from the other side of the door - at least I hadn't woken her up.
"Hey!" I whispered - she looked a little bit rough, but then again it had been her birthday yesterday.
"Hey Talia! Thanks so much for last night, I hope you had a great time!"
"I really did, I hope you did too! I just came by to say that I'm off now-"
"You're leaving already?" She asked, and I swear I saw her look disappointed.
"Yeah, I've got to get back to my sister, she's home alone in our apartment-"
"You can always bring her over here if you wanted to, so you know, you could hang out with us more.." She trailed off, looking around the room, or, anywhere except at me.
I had a sneaking suspicion she wasn't telling me the whole story, but I kept my mouth shut. "I will definitely bring it up with her, it's nice of you to offer. But I really have got to go now, I'll text you?"
"Definitely. See you around," She spoke, waving me goodbye as I left her room. That had definitely been weird. Something was going on, I could feel it. I just needed to figure out what.
I thought I could leave the house unnoticed, but no, there always seemed to be someone everywhere. Or more specifically, there seemed to be one person everywhere. Simon Minter.
"Hey! You leaving already?" He asked, hanging out by the living room door.
"I am, yeah. Thank you for the water earlier," I spoke, grateful for te thought.
"No problem. Thanks for letting me film whilst you were asleep."
"Now I'm starting to realise how odd that sounds. You're welcome, I guess." I started to move towards the door to leave, but he walked over to me, blocking my path.
"I really do need to get home-" I started, only to be interrupted by him.
"Do you have Instagram?" He asked, and it seemed like he was - nervous?
"Uh, yeah. It's the same as my YouTube channel, just Talia Mar, no spaces." I said awkwardly.
"Okay, yeah, cool. Just wondering was all," He rushed, trying to play it cool. Then it clicked. Oh. He was asking for my Instagram.
Before I could possibly embarrass myself further, I left the house, climbing into my car.
My phone buzzed, and the notification left my mouth hanging open.
@miniminter has followed you! Follow back?
Well, that was quick. He wasn't waiting around. I pressed the follow back, and hoped that none of his millions of fan girls would notice. Besides, it wasn't as if I liked the guy, right?
{2003 words}