Chapter 83

When we arrive at Conor’s house, me and Eleanor head straight to his front door whilst our Mum’s follow us through to his house with our bags.

“Jesus Christ, his house is huge!” Lauren gasps. “Is he rich!?”

“Dunno” I shrug, knocking on his door. Anna opens the door with a huge smile on her face. “Hey babe. Merry Christmas!” I bend down and give her a hug.

“Merry Christmas, An!” El cheers.

“Merry Christmas” she smiles at us both. Our Mum’s greet her by saying the same thing and she leads us into the living room.

“It’s ginormous!” I hear Lauren whisper from behind me.

“Lucy!” Conor stops what he’s doing when he sees me and runs up to me. I jump into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist, holding is face in my hands and kissing him while he holds me up by the back of my thighs. We pull away and I smile widely at him until he puts me down.

“Hey babe” I giggle. “I brought your presents” I gesture to the bags Mum and Lauren are holding and he gasps.

“I got yours somewhere” he frowns, thinking about something. “I’ll check my room”

He’s lost my present. Nice one Conor...

He runs upstairs so I take the opportunity to catch up with Jack sat on the sofa intently playing on his new video game. He’s obviously brought the console downstairs instead of in his room.

“I got your present upstairs” he says, not even looking at me.

“I got yours over there” I point to where Eleanor’s stood talking to Anna and he immediately pauses his game.

“Ooo let me see” he smiles.

“No, wait for Conor to come down. He’s just gone to find mine” I laugh.

“I’ll go get yours” he panics, running upstairs. Conor soon comes down the stairs with guilt written all over his face.

“I kinda lost it” he scratches the back of his head.

“Conor, it’s in my drawer. You told me to keep it safe, remember?” Angela chuckles and I roll my eyes.

“Oh yeah!” he gasps running upstairs. I start laughing and he soon comes down with two small boxes, at the same time Jack comes down with one massive one. “Wait” Conor frowns, looking me up and down and then looking at Eleanor. “You’re wearing the same pyjamas”

“Do you like them?” I gasp as me and Eleanor pose stupidly at the same time.

“Beautiful” he rolls his eyes.

“You need to open mine first” I stop Jack from giving me his and he shrugs, putting it down. I hand them both a bag each with all their presents in and I hand Anna a small one. Angela, Mum and Lauren sit on the sofas around us while we all gather on the floor while we open everything up.

Jack pulls out a snapback I got him first and he immediately puts it on, smiling at his reflection in the mirror and thanking me. He then pulls out his Beats headphones and starts squealing.

“Thank you so much!” he smiles widely, making a fuss out of them before pulling out a pair of shoes he kept hinting at me to get him. “YOU GOT THEM! THANK YOU!” he screams, jumping on me for a hug.

“Jack, get off me and pull the last thing out” I laugh. He rolls his eyes and pulls out the remote control car thing that him and Conor are obsessed about. You buy two massive remote control cars and you crash them into each other and they never break. You can buy tracks for them and everything and you can smash them into walls. They have webcams on them and some other shit that I don’t really care about.

“OH MY GOD” he gasps and Conor’s eyes pop out of his head.

“Conor, I got you one too” I laugh, knowing that he was jealous.

“Thank you!” he smiles widely, pulling it out and nodding at Jack.

“Thanks Lucy” Jack smiles giving me one last hug. I got Anna some jewellery, hair accessories and some clothes that she seems pretty happy about and Conor’s just opened his shoes that I got him which he loves.

He pulls out the box of doughnuts and starts laughing.

“They’re from the time that me and Jack stole them. And you told me they were out of date” I smirk.

“What like five months ago?” he frowns, laughing loudly when I nod. “The time you trashed your kitchen by having a food fight?” he laughs but covers his mouth immediately when he realises my Mum’s in the room. I widen my eyes and slowly look over at my Mum who’s glaring at me.

“He’s joking” I cough, reassuring her and she just rolls her eyes. Conor then pulls out a pair of gloves. “You always use my gloves” I pout and he starts laughing again.

“Thank you, Luce” he pulls me in for a hug and gives me a quick kiss. “Although I told you not to get me anything” he frowns.

“Shut up” I warn him and he puts his hands up in defeat. After they’ve all opened Eleanor’s presents and Eleanor’s opened theirs, Jack finally passes me that massive cardboard box. I take the sellotape off the top and open it up to see the inside decorated with wrapping paper and all my presents stashed inside. I gasp in shock at the ‘hamper’ and slowly pull one of the many presents out. I open the box it’s in and see a brand new pair of maroon/burgundy Converse.

“You’re always wearing your Converse” he laughs.

“Thank you so much” I squeal. I then pull out a black leather, studded handbag that has a strap so it can go on your shoulder. “Oh my god, I love it!” I gasp and he just laughs. I pull out another box that’s a dark purple colour with butterfly designs on it. I open it up and inside is a straightening kit with straighteners, curlers and loads of different heads for the curlers in it. “No you didn’t” I gasp, keeping my eyes locked inside the box.

“Yes I did” he gasps, mimicking my voice.

“I love you!” I squeal, pulling him in for a hug. I go back into the box and thank him for the ton of sweets stashed at the bottom, the fuzzy socks that can ‘slide you across the kitchen floor’, – Jack’s words – the Christmassy mugs and the ‘Wreck This Journal’. It’s basically a journal that you just destroy. Jack was telling me about it ages ago and I was really intrigued by it.

I look at Conor smiling at me so I smirk back. He hands me the two small boxes without a word so I frown and open the biggest one first. Inside it is a thin metal Pandora bracelet. I put my hand over my mouth to muffle the gasp I just let out.

“Oh my- Conor” I gasp, looking up at him smirking then down to the bracelet.

“I need to explain the thing in the other box so come here” he gestures for me to come over with his hand so I shuffle towards him and sit on his lap, pushing my pony tail to one side so it’s not in his face. He puts his arms at either side of my body holds the box in front of me. I look around the room and see everyone staring intently at the box. I return my attention to Conor and watch him slowly open the box.

Inside is a selection of various charms for the bracelet and I immediately gasp. He points to the small car first.

“This is from the time I took you to the doctors” he wraps it up quickly because our parents were in the room. If they found out that Conor drove me, they’d kill him.

“I love it” I smile, touching it gently. He smiles and points to the small wine glasses.

“This is for the times we drink” he chuckles and I laugh with him, quickly glancing at my Mum to make sure she’s not sending daggers at me. She actually looks like she’s about to cry. She gets emotional way to easily...

Conor then points to the small globe.

“You know when I said we’ll travel the world?” he asks and I nod. “This is a promise” he gestures to the globe and I just smile widely. My throat goes dry and tears form in my eyes, the only sound in the room is from the clock ticking. He then points to a Christmas tree. “You forced me to decorate the house and made me realise how amazing Christmas actually is. And it can remind you of when I jumped on the tree, I guess” he shrugs, causing everyone except my Mum and Lauren to chuckle quietly.

“It’s so nice” I whisper. He points to the only fully coloured charm in the box and it’s literally the same colour as his eyes... Sapphire blue.

“I tried to find one from our first date but I couldn’t really think of anything so this just kind of resembles the lake we went to” he mumbles.

“That’s so creative” I smile, touching it gently with my index finger. He points to the tiny telephone box and laughs slightly.

“This is from when we went to London and we got the picture outside the telephone box with Jack. I know how much you love that picture” he chuckles and I laugh quietly, wiping a tear away because he’s making me emotional. “It can remind you of when we went to London”

I laugh, “Yeah”

“Don’t cry” he rubs my back slightly and I just shake my head, gesturing for him to go on. He points to the final charm in the velvet box, in the shape of a science chemistry flask. “And this is from when we first properly met. In science”

The room goes silent and you literally can’t hear a pin drop. I feel like even the clocks stopped ticking. I look at Jack and see him smiling like an idiot at me, probably holding in his laugh. All the girls in the room are sat with their mouths open in shock except for Angela and Anna, who probably knows that Conor got me these and for what reasons.

I give up holding it in. I let warm tears roll down my cheeks and I just cry on Conor’s shoulder. I wrap my arms around his neck and he wraps his around my waist. We both hide our head in the crook of each other’s necks, causing his t-shirt to get slightly wet.

I love knowing that he can only act like this in front of me. Everyone sees him as this popular, intimidating boy but behind that front he’s so much more. He’s so caring and passionate and perfect. I love him so much.

It feels like we’re the only people in the room and I think he feels the same because he’d never open up like this in front of a crowd of people. He’d never open up to anyone really except from me and his close family.

“Luce, you know how bad I am in these situations” Conor moans, making the majority of the room laugh. I chuckle against his chest and lift my head. “Are these happy or sad tears?”

“Happy” I squeak. I can’t speak properly because I’ve been crying.

“Come here, baby” he pulls me in for another hug and kisses my forehead. The fact he’s put all this effort into a Christmas present makes my heart swell. He’s done all this for me and I feel so so special for that. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

“Thank you so much” I sob, shaking slightly.

“Anything for my girl” he kisses my head again and I laugh. I pull away from him and look around the room again. Jack bursts out laughing, Anna laughs quietly at Jack, Angela smiles widely at me, and Eleanor, Lauren and my Mum let a tear roll down their cheek.

“Look what you’ve done” I gesture to the girls.

“Hey!” he pouts.

“I’m kidding. I love you so much, Conor” I put my hands on either side of his face and kiss his soft lips.

“I love you too, Luce” he chuckles making my heart beat faster than it already was. No matter how many times he calls me ‘Luce’, it will always make my stomach flip and I don’t even know why. “There’s one more thing though” he gasps, remembering something. He gets the bracelet out of the box and shows me the clasp. I frown and squint my eyes to read the small writing.

‘Forever and Always’

“It just means that no matter what happens, we’ll always be together. Relationship or not. I'll never stop loving you. Forever and always” he shrugs.

He’s killing me.

“Oh my god” I cry again, hugging Conor with the bracelet in my fist. I pull away and frown. “Did you come up with that yourself?”

“Yeah” he shrugs. “I came up with the quote but Lois gave me the idea to get you one of these”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know what to get you so she said a Pandora bracelet would be ‘cute’” he uses air quotes. “So she looked it up for me and told me the idea of them and stuff. I knew you’d like it the second I saw them”

“I love it!” I correct him.

“Do you want to put it on?” he chuckles and I nod fastly. He carefully slides all the charms onto the bracelet and wraps it around my wrist.

“Thank you” I smile widely at it.

“Wait, one more thing” he moves me off his lap and jumps up from the floor. “And this probably won’t make you cry” he adds before running into a different room. I smile at the door he just went through and we all wait for him to come into the room. He soon comes back with a ginormous teddy bear in front of him and the only thing I can see of him is his legs. I laugh and run over to him, moving it out of his face. “For you” he pushes it towards me and I smile widely.

“Aw, it’s so cute!” I cuddle it, squeezing it tight. “Thank you so much!” I squeal, dropping the teddy and jumping onto him and kissing his lips repeatedly. I jump off him and smile. “I love you so so much”

“I love you more” he kisses the tip of my nose and smirks.

“Who wants a drink?” Angela asks the room. Everyone mumbles a yes or a no so I decide to help her out in the kitchen. I follow her in and sit at a bar stool.

“Did you know Conor was getting me this?” I ask her, curiously.

“Of course I did” she chuckles.

“Oh” I giggle.

“As soon as he asked me about it, I was all for it” she laughs and I gasp.

“Aw” I coo. Mum and Lauren walk into the room a few seconds later.

“Show it me!” Lauren squeals, sitting opposite to me.

“You’re acting like he just proposed” I roll my eyes.

“Says the one crying her eyes out” she laughs, picking up my wrist and looking at all the charms. Conor walks into the room and sits next me. “Tell me how you met then!” Lauren smiles. Angela gives out the drinks and walks into the living room to give Anna, Jack and Eleanor’s their drinks. I feel bad for not helping her now... She comes back in and sits at a bar stool with us all.

“Ok, go!” Angela laughs.

“Well when we first moved here, Mum sent me to the shop so I could get whatever I wanted really. So I went and when I got there, there was a group of boys outside the shop. Conor, Alex, Ben, Mike and Jack. They were seriously intimidating but I just walked past them and they were all whistling and stuff” I start to laugh. “They followed me into the shop and Conor was being dead cocky and stuff and he ‘recommended skittles’. It was funny, so I grabbed them and paid for them and then I left”

“Yeah, and you said something mean” Conor huffs.

“Conor, a group of boys dressed in black followed me in the shop and you expect me to be nice to them?” I raise an eyebrow and he shrugs.

“You liked me then, I could tell” he winks and Lauren ‘aw’s.

“Anyway, the next day, I went for a walk and I passed the park and the boys ran up to me and started talking to me and I was kind of scared but then Lois came over and shooed them away and that’s when we started being friends. Then the next day, I went to the shop before school and Lois was there and we were wearing the same uniform so she was like, why don’t you walk with me? So we got to school and I met all her friends and when I went into form, I bumped into Conor and he was like ‘watch where you’re going’” I say the last bit in a manly voice.

“I was not!” Conor gasps and I just roll my eyes.

“So I sat with some randomers but Alex called me over to him and Conor, so I went over and Conor didn’t even speak to me or anything but me and Alex got along well and we was in the same classes and stuff. Anyway, at the end of the day, after Conor had called me ugly” I smirk and Conor moans.

“You know I didn’t mean it” he sighs.

“I know” I giggle. “Jack said that Conor thought I was 'hot', so Conor called me ugly to prove a point” I roll my eyes.

“Tight ass” Lauren teases, making him laugh.

“So at the end of the day, I found out that no one was in my Science lesson, the only lesson I had on my own. So I walked on my own into class and sat on my own, and Conor came in late and sat next to me and annoyed me constantly. He even got me detention, on my first day of school because I shouted at him!” I laugh and he does the same. “So after detention, we walked back from school together and he thought that I ‘fancied’ Jack” I burst out laughing. “So I got mad at him and when I got home, I just kept thinking about him. That night, I went to the park and Jack invited me over, then Conor got in a fight-“

“What!?” Angela snaps.

“Mum, it was in September” Conor rolls his eyes.

“I thought you stopped all that” she frowns.

“He has, it was ages ago. Sorry” I apologise and she just laughs. “And I helped you, didn’t I Conor?” I smile proudly.

“I guess” he shrugs, rolling his eyes.

“So yeah. We had billions of arguments but we always made up. He kept coming to mine and I went to his and now we’re here” I shrug and he chuckles.

“That’s so cute” Lauren gasps. I go into a bit more detail about how we got to know each other more and she found it was too emotional. I look down at my bracelet again, and the blue one catches my eye.

“Conor, this one looks like your eyes” I hold it up to his eyes and he poses jokingly. I roll my eyes and laugh.

“You’re so cute” Lauren pinches my cheeks, then Conor’s.

“If you do that again, I’ll hurt you” I threaten her and she just starts laughing.

“So do you two still argue?” Lauren asks. I shrug and look at Conor.

“It’s not a strong relationship without arguments” I shrug again and Conor smiles. “We always get past them”

“Because I love you” he smiles widely.

“And I love you” we start acting really cringey, making me laugh.

“I’m gonna play on Jack’s new game” Conor jumps up from his seat and kisses my cheek before running off into the living room. Lauren asks me to explain every charm so I go through them all, telling her about each memory we’ve had, skipping past the car incident by saying we got a taxi and it was funny.

“Lucy!?” Jack calls from the living room.

“See ya” I jump up from my seat and leave the adults in the room. “What?” I ask, sitting on the sofa and watching the boys play Jack’s Xbox game.

“Do you wanna go out?” Jack asks.

“Excuse me?” I frown.

“I mean outside” he starts laughing and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh right” I giggle. “Um, yeah sure”

“Ok, give us a second” he mumbles, shooting someone in the game. After him and Conor shout and cheer at the game, they finally stop playing and we put our shoes on.

“Wait! Lucy, I need to show you something” Conor grabs my arm and pulls me back before I can go outside.

“We’ll meet you out here then” Eleanor nods outside. I nod and follow Conor upstairs. I go into his room and sit on his bed as he sets up his computer. The room’s silent and I just look down at my new bracelet, twiddling the charms around.

“Ok, look” he hits the play button on his computer screen and I watch as he sings into the camera from all different angles.

“Oh my god” I whisper, watching the video intently with my mouth open. His voice sounds so perfect and his editing skills are amazing! The video fades out and a weird noise falls out of my mouth.

“So?” he turns to me nervously. “What do you think?”

“That was... just... a-amazing” I stutter and finally close my mouth.

“Really?”

“It was absolutely perfect, Conor! I’m so proud of you!” I squeal, pulling him in for a hug.

“Thank you” he rubs my back, chuckling slightly before pulling away. “Now let’s go out” he grabs my hand and drags me off his bed, running out into the snow.

“Lucy!” Angela calls as soon as I get outside.

“Yeah?” I turn around and smile.

“Your Mum and Lauren went home. They said you need to be back before three” she smiles and I nod.

“Okay!” I call, running into the back garden to try and find everyone. I look around his garden but see no sign of anyone. Before I look anywhere else, I feel something hard being thrown at my back. I frown and turn around to see Jack laughing at me, holding a snowball in his hand. “That’s it” I bend down and start to roll up a snowball, throwing it at him hard while he tries to make one.

The game goes on for a while when Conor, Eleanor and Anna start to join in but eventually, our hands get numb so we decide to go back inside.

-

We’ve been smashing Conor and Jack’s remote control cars into walls for about half an hour, and now I understand why they wanted them so badly. They’re so entertaining! Conor sits next to the box it came in so I do the same as we watch Eleanor and Jack bash into each other. I look inside the box and see those really annoying, tiny polystyrene balls to keep the car from breaking.

“I can’t stand them” I scrunch up my nose when I see Conor stick his hand inside the box.

“Why?” he laughs.

“They’re so annoying” I moan, watching him shuffle them around the box.

“They’re annoying?” he smirks and I nod hesitantly, knowing he’s up to something. He picks up the box and before I can even react, he throws the whole thing over my head.

“I hate you so much right now”