Chapter 10

Jacks phone vibrates while we're baking pancakes with the mixture we bought earlier.

“FUCK YES!” Jack shouts after he read the message.

“What?” Conor and I say in sync. It surprisingly isn’t awkward between me and Conor after what happened before. He’s helping me flip pancakes and is acting like nothing happened. I suppose that could be a bad thing but I’m glad he’s not being weird about our kiss.

“Mum and Dad are stuck in Bristol because of that party at work they had. They’re staying the night in a hotel and they’ll be back at 1 o’clock tomorrow”

“YES!” Conor shouts and high-fives Jack. I swear they have the best brotherly relationship ever. I laugh at how weird they’re taking this situation. Jack whispers something to Conor making him laugh.

“Lucyyy” Jack drags out my name. I know he’s after something when it takes him 3 seconds to say my name.

“What do you want?” I sigh, not taking my eyes off the pancake in the pan.

“You know my parents aren’t coming home till tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes”

“Well why don’t you maybe, stay here for the night?” he mumbles.

“What? No way”

“Come on. It’ll just be the same as sleeping at the girl's houses. You can even sleep in the spare room if you have to” he begs.

“That’s not the point. What do I tell my Mum?” I ask, genuinely thinking about his offer.

“Just say you’re staying at Lois’s. That’s what you put on the note” he shrugs, picking his fingernails. “Please”

I think about it. It’ll be fun. There’ll be no parents. We can do whatever we like. Or I could go home and sit on my computer for the rest of the night.

I choose Jack's house.

“Fine” I mumble.

“I knew she would!” Jack cheers making me and Conor laugh.

“Finish these pancakes while I text my Mum” I say, stepping out of the way and sitting on the kitchen counter.

To - Mum: is it ok if i stay at Lois’ house tonight?x

I wait for a reply as I watch Jack trying to flip a pancake. It isn’t working out for him...

From - Mum: yeah sure, will you need picking up tomorrow?x

She can’t pick me up from Jack’s house. No way. I’m sure Conor or Jack will walk me back...

To - Mum: No she only lives 5 minutes away. I’ll walk it x

I put my phone back in my pocket and finish the pancakes with Conor and Jack.

-

“Conor you’ll never get away with it, you look too young” I frown, trying to persuade Conor not to go. Yeah, we were planning on trying to get served seeing as their parents were out.

“Well what the fuck do you suggest we do?” he snaps.

“I don’t know but getting angry isn’t helping. I think Jack should go” I say as calmly as possible. We’d been planning this out for half an hour now.

“No way, he knows me” Jack frowns.

“The shop closes at nine o’clock. We have half an hour to decide what to do” I moan.

“Why don’t I just go?” Conor suggests. He said Alex is usually the one getting the alcohol for everyone because he’s the only one that actually looks old enough.

“You don’t look eighteen”

“It’s worth a try” Jack shrugs.

“Fine, but we only have one chance ok?"

They both nod in agreement. I slip on my shoes and head out to the corner shop to try and get alcohol. We get there in about two minutes and on the way, we planned Conor’s false date of birth and what he’s going to get.

“Good luck” Jack mumbles before Conor walks in the shop. Me and Jack sit outside and hope for the best. If we don’t get this alcohol I’m going to be pretty pissed off.

A few minutes later, Conor walks out with a box of 12 beers.

“YES” Jack shouts. Conor laugh but tells him to shut up. I just smile.

“Told you I could do it” Conor says to me and turns his head up.

“Whatever” I laugh.

As soon as we get home, we all get a can of beer and start drinking. In Cheshire, I’d only drink at parties which were very rare. Mum would kill me if she found out but Conor and Jack don’t seem to care what their parents are going to say.

Conor plugs his phone into his docking station and starts blasting his music. I pull Jack up out of his seat and start dancing to whatever song was playing. I didn’t know what it was but it was a jumpy song and Jack seemed to love dancing to it. I was laughing at his moves and I looked at Conor smirking on the sofa, watching us dance while holding his beer can to his lips to hide his smirk.

I roll my eyes at him and grab his hands to pull him off the sofa. He puts his can on the table and just looks at me. The alcohols gave me all this confidence. I’d never do this sober...

He sighs in defeat and stands up. Jack’s stood on the table doing his own ‘moves’, so I hold Conor’s hands and start doing embarrassing moves that I know I’ll regret in the morning. I try to push that thought to the back of my head and just have fun.

After all the singing and dancing for 2 hours, we’re all worn out and are eating more of the stuff we bought earlier to try and sober up. It’s not working...

“Do you think Dad will be mad if I drove his car?” Jack smirks.

“Jack stop it, you’re being stupid” Conor sighs. He’s the only sober-ish one here...

“No no no, I’m serious. I can do it” he smiles, putting his hand on Conor’s back.

“Fuck sake Jack, shut up” Conor shouts making Jack pull a weird face. I’m just laughing at everything that’s going on now and I can tell Conor’s getting annoyed. “This is the last time I’m giving you two alcohol” he chuckles.

“Ok Conor, ok” I giggle.

At 1am, Conor locks all the doors and we follow him upstairs. He opens the door to his room and sits on the bed. I go to his window and look at the view of his humungous garden. All the lights are lit around it and it looks so cute.

“Can we go into the garden. It’s really pretty” I smile. Conor shrugs.

“Yeah come on” Jack says and runs back out of Conor’s room. I pull Conor off the bed making him moan, and we go downstairs and follow Jack into the garden. When we get outside, I see Jack in the middle of the field with the football me and Conor was using earlier.

He kicks the ball over to Conor and he kicks it back, but runs onto the grass so he and Jack can have a game. I walk over to the garden swing and sit on it, slightly rocking myself. I’m glad I brought my beer out here. I take a sip of it and watch the boys play, they’re really good.

I watch every move Conor makes and he keeps laughing at Jack trying to kick the ball while he’s drunk. Conor’s so cute. I love how he’s so mature one minute, then the next he’s running around the garden pretending he’s in an actual football match. I love how he puts up a dark front but deep inside he’s as soft as anything and I love how he gets embarrassed so easily. I love how he doesn’t take life so seriously. I love him.

Wait.

No.

I’m just saying this because I’m drunk. I’ve only known him for a week for god’s sake.

“Lucy you’re freezing, let’s go back inside” Conor says, interrupting my thoughts.

“Where’s Jack?” I ask immediately.

“Um” he mumbles, moving out of my view so I can see Jack rolling around on the floor laughing his head off at something. I let out a small chuckle. “Are you coming?” he asks.

“But I want to stay out here” I pout.

“Ok, one second” he sighs, running inside and coming back out with his bed duvet. He awkwardly wraps it around me and sits on the swing with me.

“Thanks” I smile and put some of the covers around him. He smiles, puts his arm around my waist and pulls me closer. I put my head on his chest and take in his scent from his shirt. He even smells perfect.

“I really like you Conor” I sigh. He just looks at me really confused.

“What do you mean?” he stutters.

“You’re perfect. I like you” I mumble, thinking he didn’t hear me. What if he did?

Blame it on the alcohol, everything will be fine.

“Lucy you’re drunk. It’s three in the morning, come on” he says and picks me up bridal style. He carries me upstairs and into his bedroom. He puts me on his bed and sorts the covers out. “I’ll be back in a second” he smiles and runs downstairs.

A few minutes later, he walks in laughing with Jack.

“We’ll all sleep in here yeah?” Conor suggests. I just nod knowing that I’ll get the bed to myself. He walks out of the room and Conor comes back in with a mattress which I presume is Jack's. He puts it next to the bed and tells Jack to go to sleep. He is a mess.

Conor walks out of the room again and comes back in with loads of duvets and pillows. He shuts the door and turns the bedside light on. He turns off the main light and I can already hear Jack snoring. I laugh to myself.

“What are you laughing at?” Conor smirks while setting up a little bed with all the duvets on the floor, at the other side of the bed I’m on.

“Jack” I giggle.

“He’s fucked” he laughs, making me laugh. Jack is either a lightweight or he's drank a lot more than me and Conor. He finishes his bed and lies down before noticing something. “Lucy, do you want to change into something more um, comfortable?” he asks hesitantly.

“Yeah” I nod.

I’m still in my shorts and top and they’re getting really tight, probably down to all the alcohol and food I’ve had. He goes into his walk-in wardrobe and comes out with some track suit bottoms and a shirt.

“Thanks” I smile and get changed in front of him. I’m too drunk to care right now and he doesn’t seem to mind. The shirt I’m wearing doesn’t smell like him, probably because it’s been washed. I watch him take his shirt off and throw it to the end of his ‘bed’ before getting more comfy.

“Conor?” I whisper.

“Lucy?” he says, mocking my tone.

“Can I wear your shirt? The one you just took off” I ask.

“Why?” he frowns, sitting up.

“It smells like you” I Mumble.

He laughs, “Yeah sure”

He throws me his shirt and I swap it with the one I was just wearing. I feel so much more comfy now.

“Conor?” I ask again. I know I’m annoying him.

“Yes Lucy?” he sighs.

“I can’t sleep”

“Well just shut your eyes for a bit and shut up”

“Can you sleep with me?” I ask.

“What?” he snaps.

I moan, “It doesn’t matter, forget I asked”

I turn around so I’m not facing him and shut my eyes to try and sleep when suddenly, the bed dips and I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist. He kisses my neck before putting his head back down on the pillow.

I get those butterflies again. He’s so delicate and I can feel his breath on my skin. I could feel his chest falling and rising with every breath which makes me smile at myself.