Chapter 88

After mine and Eleanor’s massive heart to heart with our Chinese take away, our parents finally come home and start telling us about everything they did. I’m so glad they’re here. I don’t feel safe without them after what I’ve just been through so I kind of feel protected now that they’re here. Eleanor and I have decided that we’re not going to tell them about what happened and just say that me and Conor had a bit of an argument because I don’t want them to think any differently of Conor. My Dad likes him and if he ever changed his mind about Conor, that would just be hell.

“We walked up so many hills and the views up there were incredible. Especially when it was dark” Lauren smiles widely. I smile in amusement at all their stories from today. They sound like they’ve had an amazing time. Lucky for some.

“We saw a couple of deer’s too but Lauren was too scared to go closer to them” Mum rolls her eyes and I start laughing.

“Lauren, that’s so like you” I laugh and she groans.

“So what did you two get up to?” Mum smiles, and mine and Eleanor’s faces drop as we look back and forth between our parents and each other.

“We um, we just stayed at home and um-“

“We watched loads of films and had a Chinese” Eleanor thankfully interrupts me and everyone just stares at us.

“You two need to get out of the house” Matt breaks the awkward silence and we just nod.

“Anyway, I’m tired” I lie and look at Eleanor.

“Oh yeah, um, me too” she stands up from the sofa and walks out of the room with me.

“We really need to work on this” I tell her and she nods in agreement.

“We’re not really going to bed are we?” she asks, pulling a face.

“No” I shrug and walk up to my room. We sit on my bed and both get our laptops out. “You’re not coming back after Sweden” I sigh and she does the same.

“I’m going to miss you loads” she pouts.

“Aw, Eleanor” I squeal and give her a hug. “We’ll call each other and Skype every day. By the end of the holiday, you’ll be sick of me anyway. I mean, we just had our first real argument earlier because we’ve spent too much time with each other” I laugh and she rolls her eyes.

“Right you two” Mum interrupts our conversation, walking into the room with Lauren and closing the door behind her. “Tell us what really happened today”

“What? We watched films and had a Chinese” I tell them and Eleanor nods, backing me up.

“We weren’t born yesterday. Lucy, you’re my daughter, I know when you’re lying” Mum raises her eyebrow.

“Yeah, same with me” Lauren glares at Eleanor and we both gulp.

“Well, you can’t tell Dad” I sigh.

“Lucy!” Eleanor gasps.

“They’re gonna find out when they see Conor anyway” I roll my eyes. How’s he going to explain his swollen face?

“We won’t tell your Dad” Lauren laughs.

“Right, well I went out with Conor today and we met up with Alex and his cousin again and Conor looked like he was flirting with her and stuff and I felt left out again so I just went back inside. Then Ben came over completely unexpectedly-“

“Oh God” Mum groans.

“I know!” I agree. “And he said he just wanted to see me so I invited him in and he started complaining about me and Conor being together and was saying that I’d be better with him and that I don’t love Conor and stuff. But then he apologised and everything and I was crying so he gave me a hug, and then Conor walked in-“

“I didn’t mean to let him in!” Eleanor interrupts me.

“Thank you Eleanor” I glare at her and she mimes ‘sorry’. I nod and continue with my story. “Then Conor walked in and saw me hugging Ben and he obviously got the wrong idea because he literally jumped on Ben and beat the shi- and beat the hell out of him. They had this massive full on fight in the living room and there was blood and everything. And then I had to threaten Conor to get off him and he eventually stopped hitting Ben-“

“Lucy, if there’s any blood on my carpet, you’re dead” Mum glares at me and I just roll my eyes. There’s no blood on your precious carpet.

“So I kicked Conor out because Ben was like unconscious or something, I don’t know. And I said that we’re over so he stormed out and I had to wake Ben up and I like sorted his face out and everything and then I kicked him out for causing trouble with me and for ruining my relationship. And then I slept in the attic and then we ordered a Chinese” I breathe and Lauren and Mum stare at me in disbelief.

“This is like a movie” Lauren gasps smiling at me.

“Lauren, this is serious!” I snap and she coughs slightly, removing her smile.

“So what’s happened now?” Mum frowns.

“I have no idea. I haven’t checked my phone or spoken to any of them” I shrug.

“And you and Conor aren’t together anymore?” Lauren asks.

“I don’t know. I want to be because I just said that so he would get out and I was so angry at him” I sigh. I feel really panicked right now and me and Eleanor was calm a few minutes ago. This is stressing me out.

“Where was Eleanor in all this?” Lauren says making me laugh slightly.

“Well we had a tiny argument-“

“Tiny?” Eleanor raises an eyebrow.

“Pretty big argument and she tried helping Ben but I just kicked her out” I shrug.

“Lucy, you can’t kick our guests out of the house! She’s living with us for god’s sake!” Mum panics.

“I kicked her out of the living room, Mum” I roll my eyes and she nods.

“Well this is a mess” Lauren frowns and I nod in agreement.

“You need to talk to them both” Mum tells me and I sigh.

“I’ll go to Conor’s first thing tomorrow but I don’t know what to do about Ben. Conor always told me to stay away from him because he’s bad news but I never listened and now look at the mess I’m in” I groan and Mum rubs my back slightly.

“Just go to sleep and we’ll sort everything out in the morning” Lauren smiles slightly and I nod. I need to calm down.

We talk for a bit longer until Mum and Lauren leave my room and we decide that we should actually go to sleep. I still refuse to check my phone because I’m too scared to, so instead, I have a shower and go straight to sleep.

-

It’s one of those days where I’ve woken up too early and can’t get back to sleep... Yeah, it’s 7am. I sit up in bed and decide to check my phone. I’ll have to sooner or later.

I see that I have no texts or calls from Conor but I have one missed call from Ben, 2 texts from him, 2 missed calls from Jack and one text from him, and a text from Liv.

From - Neb: Lucy I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you x

I laugh slightly at the name he set on my phone that time he was drunk and he called me Lucina.

From - Neb: please reply Lucy:( x

I do feel like I’m being mean to Ben but I need to be harsh. He came round here completely unexpectedly and started complaining about our relationship. He had no right to do that and now it’s caused mine and Conor’s relationship to end. I am sad that Conor’s not even tried to call or text me but I don’t blame him... I wouldn’t text me either.

From - Jack: Lucy, what the hell has happened!? Call me as soon as you get this xx

I’d call him now but I understand that he’s probably still asleep. Who wakes up at 7am in the holidays for god’s sake?

From - Liv: I’ve not seen you in forever man, meet me before you go to Sweden ok?x

I laugh at how random her text is compared to everyone else’s. It’s kind of lifted weight off my shoulders to know that at least one person doesn’t hate me right now. I feel like everyone does.

To - Liv: Yeah definitely haha, maybe tomorrow? Definitely before New Years x

I get out of bed and go for a wee before going downstairs with my laptop and just sitting in the living room on my own. I like being on my own at times like this. I just get to think about everything without anyone there to input.

I go on Twitter on my laptop and start scrolling through tweets until I see one from Jack that was made five minutes ago. So he is awake.

I immediately pull out my phone and call him up, and he answers on the second ring.

“Lucy!” he whispers slightly.

“Hey, Jack” I giggle.

“What’s happened?” he sighs.

“First, why are you up so early?” I frown.

“Couldn’t sleep” he laughs.

“Same” I sigh. “Right, has Conor told you anything?”

“No”

“Well, why do you think that I have something to do with it?” I raise my eyebrow and he chuckles slightly.

“You always do. Now explain”

“Do you know about Conor and I meeting up with Alex and his cousin?” I start to explain. Once I’ve explained the whole thing, he gasps.

“Lucy, what the fuck have you done?” he laughs slightly.

“Jack, it’s not funny!” I moan. “I hate myself for it”

“I know, I’m sorry. Well Conor has barely left his room since he came home and I just saw his face was messed up”

“I feel so bad. I’m so angry at Ben” I huff.

“I’m not surprised. I didn’t think he was like that”

“Either did I” I sigh. “Do you think Conor will forgive me?”

“Why do you have to apologise? Conor’s got the wrong idea so he needs to learn to stop jumping to conclusions. It’s not your fault, Lucy so stop blaming yourself” he tells me. He’s kind of right but I still feel like I’m to blame.

“I just need to talk to him” I sigh.

“Yeah”

“Can I come over today?” I ask, staring at the dull Christmas tree while biting my nail. It’s only pretty when it’s lit up.

“Yeah sure. If you can get him out of his room” he chuckles and I moan.

“This is going to be a challenge” I laugh and he agrees.

“Lucy, I haven’t seen you in forever” he moans.

“I know! A whole two days!” I say sarcastically and he starts laughing.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t missed me”

“Aw, I have babe. I’m going to use my new curlers you got me today so you can see my hair” I gasp.

“Can’t wait” he cheers sarcastically.

We end up staying on the phone for literally hours. Everyone’s already awake and a few people are in the living room with me.

“No but you’re in a year below me, don’t you think it’s weird?” I frown.

“Yeah, kind of. I like it though” he laughs and I agree.

“You’re like my little baby” I squeal and Eleanor looks at me as if I’m a freak.

“Lucy, I’m the same age as you, dickhead” Jack says, monotonously.

“Shut up” I laugh.

“I’m more mature than you anyway”

“Are you fu- hell. Are you hell” I cough, realising my Dad’s in the room.

“You’re Dad’s in the room, isn’t he?” Jack asks, a smirk to his voice.

“Yep” I nod and we start laughing.

“Anyway, I’m gonna get going. I’ll see you later”

“Yeah okay, bye!” I smile widely.

“Bye baby, love you”

“Love you too, babe” I giggle, ending the call.

“I thought you were on the phone to Jack” Eleanor frowns.

“I was”

“Oh. Wait, what?” she raises an eyebrow and I start laughing.

-

“I’m scared” I tell Eleanor when she knocks on Conor’s front door.

“I know you are, that’s all you’ve been telling me for the past half hour” she moans. I don’t even know what to say to Conor. I’m panicking and I can’t think straight.

Angela soon swings the door open and smiles at us both.

“Hi you two!” she smiles widely, stepping aside so we can come in.

“Hey Angela” I smile and Eleanor does the same.

“Jack’s in the living room and Conor’s upstairs” she says before walking off into the kitchen. I quickly pop my head through the living room door, wave at Jack and start to walk upstairs while Eleanor stays in the living room.

My heart is racing and I feel sick. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before and to be honest, I never want to do it ever again.

I stand outside Conor’s bedroom door and debate whether I should knock or not. He probably won’t let me in if I knock so I’ll just walk through. I slowly open the door and see him sat on his recording studio with his headphones on and his feet on the desk.

“Mum, get out” he mumbles, pressing some buttons on the system.

“C-Conor” I stutter. Pull yourself together Lucy. He quickly turns round and stares at me in shock.

“L-Lucy? What are you doing here?” he quickly takes his feet off the desk and stands up. His face is all cut and bruised and it’s all my fault. A tear rolls down my face but I quickly wipe it away.

“I-I’m so so sorry” I sniffle.

“What? Why?” he frowns.

“I should’ve listened to you about Ben and now I’ve done all this to you. I don’t want to break up with you, Conor. I love you” I continue to cry and he quickly walks over to me and wraps me in his arms. He’s taking this so well. I’m surprised he’s even talking to me. I was expecting him to just kick me out and I’d have to improvise from there.

“Shh, it’s okay baby” he kisses my forehead repeatedly. “Why did you go back inside yesterday?”

“You were flirting with Beth and she was irritating me and-“

“I wasn’t flirting with her, Luce” he frowns.

“You completely ignored me the first time we met her, and the second time you turned up at my house half an hour late and started laughing and stuff with her. I felt so left out” I wrap my arms around him again and cry on his chest.

“Oh my god, Lucy I didn’t mean to. You should’ve said something and I would’ve stopped. I’m so sorry” he hugs me tightly. “Is that why you invited Ben round?” he pulls away and frowns at me.

“What? No he just turned up unexpectedly and said he just came to see me. And then he started complaining about me being with you because you fuck me over and stuff and that I’d be better off with him so we started arguing and I said I loved you and he said I don’t know the meaning of love. I do though, Conor. Everyone thinks I’m too young to love you but I do-“

“I know baby, I know” he wipes away my tears and smiles slightly. “My Mum used to think the same but I don’t give a shit what other people think. If we’re happy then fuck them” he smirks and I laugh slightly.

“Does she still think that now?” I ask him.

“No she’s cool with it. She fucking loves you” he laughs and I smile.

“Why did you tell Beth that I get angry?” I frown.

“I didn’t, she was winding you up” he sighs.

“I hate her so much” I moan and he laughs slightly.

“She is a bit annoying. She’s too clingy” he cringes. Well thank fuck for that.

“I didn’t mean to break up with you. I was just so angry at you for turning up like that and everything was a mess” I groan.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m sorry too” he kisses my forehead again. “What happened when I left?”

“He was unconscious or something for like a minute” I sigh and he laughs slightly. “Conor, it’s not funny!”

“It is pretty funny” he smirks and I roll my eyes.

“And I just sorted his face out then I kicked him out” I shrug.

“Has he texted you?”

“Yeah, twice but I ignored him”

“That’s my girl” he smiles widely and high fives me.

“Conor, your face is a mess” I cringe and he rolls his eyes.

“Thanks, Lucy” he smirks.

“It is though! You need to get it sorted out. What did you do when you got home?”

“I just washed my face” he shrugs.

“Conor!” I gasp. “Come here” I laugh and take hold of his hand. I lead him into the bathroom and take time to clear up his face. “See, you look one hundred percent already” I smile once I’ve cleaned him up slightly.

“I can’t really tell” he frowns. “But thanks”

“You’re welcome” I roll my eyes.

“I uploaded that video” he smiles.

“Seriously?” I gasp and he nods. “How many views?”

“I think one hundred and something but my other one just got one thousand” he smiles.

“Conor! You’re practically famous!” I squeal.

“I shouldn’t tell you stuff like this. You freak out” he frowns and I laugh slightly. “I’m not famous with one thousand views, Lucy”

“Nearly” I shrug.

“Alright” he smirks and I smile slightly. “What’s up?”

“Are you mad at me?” I sigh.

“No, I’m not mad at you, Luce” he frowns. “Why would I be?”

“Because of yesterday”

“I was pissed off that you were with him and you kicked me out and shit. And you split up with me” he chuckles and I moan. “But you’ve explained everything so I’m not fussed. I fucking hate Ben though, wait till I see him”

“Conor, don’t” I sigh.

“I’m not letting him get away with it” he shakes his head.

“Please don’t, Conor. You knocked him unconscious and nearly killed him. I think that’s enough”

“No, I’m gonna kill him” he grinds his teeth together.

“Conor, stop it!” I snap. “Look, we’ve sorted everything out so why are you trying to mess things up again?”

“He deserves everything he gets”

“Just fucking leave it!” I shout and he looks taken aback. “I’m going to stay away from him okay? Please, just don’t go near him because one more time Conor and he’ll probably call the police”

“Why would he do that?” he frowns.

“I’d call the police if you nearly killed me. I’d be fucking terrified” my eyes go wide and Conor starts laughing.

“Right, I won’t do anything. But if he even looks at you, Lucy... He’s dead this time, I swear” he threatens and I just sigh and nod.