Chapter 147

It’s Sunday... That means I only have one more whole day here.

Well, it’s 5pm so I technically have one and a half days here (seeing as we leave late at night tomorrow) but the clock’s ticking and the more I stare at it, the more I realise I have to do something with my time.

We all went on a little ‘family outing’ today. We all woke up at around 9am, can you believe it? So we decided to go out into the big city and just explore. Very spontaneous, I know, but it’s been a good day.

“Let’s do something” I say, sitting up in my place on the sofa.

“Like what?” Conor asks as he continues to press buttons on the remote control to try and find something good on TV. He’s been at this for ten minutes now and I think we’re all losing sanity.

“I don’t know, anything but this”

“There’s nothing else to do” he shrugs.

“We’re living in a mansion, for god’s sake. Don’t tell me we don’t have anything to do but watch you try and find something better than ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’” Eleanor rants.

“Okay then, genius. What shall we do?” he sighs.

“Well first thing that comes to mind when I think of ‘big house’ is probably hide and seek” she smirks, making my eyes light up.

“Oh my god, yes” I nod.

“I’m in!” Anna raises her hand.

“Hell no” Conor shakes his head, looking at Jack for some backup. “Come on, bro. You’re not seriously suggesting playing fucking hide and seek. I thought you were a man”

“Jack, listen to your heart” Eleanor snaps, sending daggers at her boyfriend. I smile in amusement as Jack racks his brain for an answer until he finally looks at me. I give him a slight nod and he sighs.

“I’m sorry, Conor. I’ve been dying to play this since we got here” Jack shrugs. I burst out laughing as Conor groans, his face falling into the palms of his hands.

“Okay, I’ll play. But on one condition” he raises his finger. I knew he would only play if he got something out of it.

“Go on” Eleanor rolls her eyes.

“We play with all the lights turned out and you don’t have to stay in one specific spot the whole time”

“Alright” we all say in sync. This should be a laugh.

-

“Shoot, shoot, shoot” I panic, pacing around on the spot like some demented chicken.

We’ve been playing the game for a good hour now and I literally can’t find a good hiding spot anymore. Either all the good ones are taken, or I’ve used them in previous rounds of the game. You’d think this house would have endless hiding spots... Well, it probably does but I’m too unadventurous to find them.

Conor’s the best at this game, surprise surprise. I swear he has a secret room none of us know about. A good five minutes at the end of each round is spent circling the house trying to find the boy, which usually results in us all giving up, so we never actually find out where his hiding spot is.

Jack’s the ‘seeker’ at the moment and I think everyone’s been in their comfortable hiding spot since he started counting. He’s up to 92 seconds at the moment and if I don’t find a hiding spot in 8 seconds, I’m screwed.

“Oy, come here” I hear someone whisper. My eyes glow in relief as I turn around and see Conor waving me over to a door he’s hiding in. I quickly jog down the hall to him and slide through the small door.

“Bloody hell, it’s hot in here” I breathe. It’s also pitch black in here so I actually can’t see a thing.

“Yeah, no one seems to look in the boiler room” he laughs dryly. Oh my god, the boiler room. How stupid are we?

“Ready or not, here I come” Jack calls through the house.

“Thanks for letting me in here” I whisper.

“Sure, no problem. Bugger up my hiding spot though and you’re on your own”

“Calm down, I’m good at staying still” I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, it’s the constant talking I’m worried about”

“I’d be careful what you say, Maynard. I’m sure Jack will find us when he hears you crying in agony when I punch you” I try to threaten, although I’m quite possibly the least threatening person known to man. Hey, that’s a good thing though.

“Fucking hell, I’d pay” he laughs. Okay, if anything, he’s going to bugger up his own hiding spot. “Any news from Nick?”

I groan, “I’ve not been on my phone for a while but I bloody hope not. I’m done with him now”

“Last I heard, you were in love with him”

 “So I can’t lie to you anymore? I thought we had a good relationship” I smirk. He starts laughing but I quickly slap my hand over his mouth. Jack’s not coming to find us now... we’re having a good conversation here.

“We have a good relationship? Cool”

You know, I wish I could see his face so I could see what facial expression he’s pulling right now.

“Well you’ve been pretty nice to me all week. I guess you could say you’re back in the good books” I shrug.

“That was the intention” he says.

“Oh, for fuck sake!” I hear Eleanor groan from downstairs.

“You hid here last time!” Jack argues.

“She’s so bad” Conor chuckles.

“I know” I breathe a laugh. I decide to sit down on the floor rather than just leaning on this wall because I have a feeling we’ll be here for a while. Nobody’s ever found Conor in this game yet.

We both have a few moments silence until Conor sighs and sits down next to me with his back against the wall.

“Remember our date? On that field?” he laughs slightly. I smile at the memory and nod, forgetting that he can’t see me.

“Yeah” I smile.

“We had some good times” he sighs. “You were so happy”

“No one’s ever done something like that for me before, what do you expect?” I smile wider. That’s one day I’ll never ever forget.

“You probably get taken out quite a lot now. I bet all the boys are after you” he says casually.

I scoff, “Are you kidding? My last serious relationship was with you and I witnessed around twenty fights, got drunk in a nightclub every fortnight and got involved in a car accident with a junkie and his two shadows. That’s about as serious as it gets with me”

He rolls his head back in laughter, keeping it to a minimum because of the conditions we’re in.

“Oh god, well you’ve surprised me”

“I’m glad I give you that impression” I smirk. “So what about you? I’m guessing the whole ‘you’re my first and last girlfriend’ thing you tried to convince me is in fact, bullshit”

“Na, not dated since you. No one appeals to me” he sighs slightly. “I’m alright with it though. I don’t really look for relationships”

“Really?” I frown in confusion. I’m surprised he’s not been picking and choosing his girlfriends. I probably would if I was famous. Girls probably throw themselves at this guy.

“Mhm”

“Would you want a girlfriend?” I raise an eyebrow.

Surely he’s feeling lonely after 2 years of not dating. I mean, I feel lonely and I actually have a boyfriend at the moment, whether he’s a shit one or not... And I’m about to break up with him as soon as I’m safe to call anyone, and by that, I mean as soon as I’m back in the UK and my calls shouldn’t cost more than £1 per minute.

“Well, I do but I can’t imagine myself with anyone. Nobody would really understand me and I feel like they’d use me for the fame. Everyone sees me as this celebrity with a huge house and a perfect life but they don’t know me”

“You won’t know unless you try” I shrug. I don’t know why I’m steering him into trying for a relationship. I want him to want me, for god’s sake.

“No, I’ll find someone when the time’s right” he sighs and I just nod understandingly, shifting in my place on the hard floor because my butt feels solid right now. “Are you going on the pull when you go back to Uni then?”

I chuckle, “No. I don’t think I can be bothered at the moment with the hassle of getting to know someone completely new and having to open up to them , only to have my heart crushed two months later. Everyone’s just after sex in University”

“True” he chuckles. “You’re young though so don’t be too fussed about trying to settle down with someone”

“Yeah, I know” I turn to him and smile. My vision’s adjusting slightly to the dark conditions and I can just work out the outline of his head. His eyes are clear to me and I can work out the smirk that’s slowly making its way onto his face.

I want him so bad.

“Since when did you have a fucking boiler room?” Jack gasps, swinging the small door open. I jump slightly, holding my heart in panic as I stand up from my place in sync with Conor.

“Woah, this place is huge” Eleanor gawps, strolling into the room and taking a look around when Jack flicks the light on.

I turn around and just see a load of shelves with a couple clothes hanging on them. It’s a big room for a bloody boiler room.

But Jack interrupted mine and Conor’s heart to heart! I was loving that.

“Have you been hiding here each time?” Jack frowns at Conor.

“No” Conor lies fluently, shaking his head.

“Anyway, I found Eleanor around five minutes ago. Anna’s still missing so let’s go” he smiles, clapping his hands together as a signal for us to get out of the room.

“I don’t know how you managed so long in there, I’m sweating already” Eleanor pants as she follows me out of the room.

I just laugh as I continue to follow Jack through all the rooms to try and find his sister, my thoughts drifting slightly to Conor’s who’s got his hands shoved awkwardly into his pockets, and has a frown on his face.

Does he feel the same way about me?