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1115 Words
21 days till Christmas
‘You’re sure you want to drive down in my car? ‘ I asked Pheebs for the millionth time.
‘Yep! ‘ she said popping the P, her tone annoyed. ‘look Delia, I love you, but you’re driving me nuts. Just get in your brothers car and leave. ‘ she carried on while filling up her wine glass, she lent on the kitchen worktop and took a long sip, eyeing me over the rim of her glass.
‘I know Pheebs, but it’s just, well I haven’t seen them in fourteen years. ‘ I sighed defeated. In truth, I had no idea how my family were going to react. Yes most knew where I lived, me and my mother exchanged letters all year long and Theo had my phone number and we texted and spoke a lot, but my nan never forgave me for leaving like that, and f**k knows how Toby is going to react when he sees me.
‘Right you’re stuff is all in the boot, you ready? ‘ Theo shouted from the hall. No I’m not f*****g ready.
****
‘You know, his lordship is gonna blow a gasket when he sees Smeagol! ‘ Not the best conversation starter but Theo was grasping at straws, we’d been in the car for just over an hour and I’d already had two panic attacks, followed by Smeagol throwing up all over the back of the car.
‘You think he’ll hurt him? ‘ I turned to look at my dog, Smeagol was a rescue dog, I had grown tired of being alone in my big house, so I went looking for a big guard dog. Instead I walked away with Smeagol the beagle. He had been abandoned by his family because he wasn’t young and cute anymore. People suck!
‘ He won’t touch him Delia, I won’t let him. Its not his house anyway, so he doesn’t have a say. I asked Nana Maeve and she said yes. So he can sod off. ‘ Theo smiled at me and squeezed my hand. ‘ Look Delia, I have to ask. Colton never hurt you did he?’
‘No Theo. Colton never hurt me.’ Not intentionally anyways ‘ look like I said to you twelve years ago, Colton was drunk as a skunk, he pecked my lips and left. That’s it. ‘ it wasn’t my first kiss, it wasn’t even my hottest kiss, but the butterflies I felt in my stomach still linger today. ‘ You didn’t accuse him of something did you Theo? ‘
‘I did at first.’ He says sheepishly, I gasp and slap his hand away from mine.
‘Theo! Hes your best friend, he’s a brother to you. He would never do anything like that! ‘
‘he might be my best friend, a brother like you say, but that didn’t stop him from kissing you, when he knew how I felt about it! ‘Theo exploded.
‘Wait? What do you mean, how You felt about it? You and colt talked about him kissing me before? ‘
His eyes widen and he knew then he’d put his foot in it.
‘Spill Theo! NOW! ‘I shouted.
‘Fine, f**k he’s gonna kill me for this. Colton had a thing for Mallory when we were like eighteen, he told me, because he felt I had a right to know, his crush on her was starting to get in the way of our friendship, he was using it as an excuse to see her and talk to her and try and get with her, not that she ever noticed. So I told him he’d have better luck with you because you were madly in love with him… ‘
‘I WAS NOT!... ‘
‘Shut up Delia, half the town knew you were crushing on him bad It was a joke of course, but he started being more careful around you, I felt awful because you had noticed he was being weird with you ‘he laughs sheepishly and I slap his arm.
‘Oh my GOD! Theo?! No wonder the guy bolted every time I came near him; you make it sound like he was my next breath! I had a crush on him, I wasn’t going off to write Mrs Cordelia Stone on my notebooks.’ I can’t believe this guy.
‘Well, I thought he had hurt you because that Christmas, we had a massive bust up, that’s why he was so drunk. We went to a friend's party and we were playing truth or dare. God Delia’ He sighed ‘He’s never gonna forgive me! f**k!’ He bangs his fist on the wheel accidentally sounding the horn, which earns him the middle finger from the driver in front.
‘Carry on Theo.’
‘He got asked a truth. I remember it so well, Bloke said “Without thinking about it, would you rather date Megan from the coffee shop or Theo’s little sister” Colton didn’t miss a beat Delia. He just said “Cordelia”. I was already a bit drunk so I laid into him and he got drunk and left. I saw him kissing you from my window when I came home.’
Well, that explains the I wish you weren’t Theo’s sister bit.
‘Theo he would never.’ I reach for his hand and hold it in mine as he drives. He smiles softly at me and we start a different conversation.
Soon enough, the streets start looking familiar and my anxiety comes back tenfold. Theo does his bast to reassure me, and eventually as we drive down our street, I come to terms with the fact I will be seeing my family after fourteen years.
The first person I see when the car pulls up is my brother Gabriel. He looks so big and handsome; he shouts something towards the door and I swear I can feel the earth shaking with all the feet thundering towards the door.
My mum pushes through the sea of bodies as I get out of the car, and I can’t help but run towards her, tears in my eyes.
‘Oh child, you’re really here!’
I hug her close and as she squeezes me, I open my eyes and come face to face with Toby’s murderous gaze. If looks could kill I would be six foot under by now. My mum pushes me back, her soft hands on my shoulders, she eyes me up and down and smiles, I can feel the love radiating off her.
‘Right, come on in everybody. Let’s catch up.’ She says as she pulls me towards the door. As we walk past my family, I feel hands rub my arms and soft happy smiles on every face. Before I make it in the door, a hand grabs mine and squeezes hard, I turn and watch in fear as Toby pulls me to him, his arms going around me in a awkward hug.
‘You should have stayed away b***h. Now you’ll pay.’
- Writer
