Flat 64

Chapter 12

My heart hammers in my chest. I was expecting to have my brother and Lily reach out to me, but seeing Jack's name there shocked me incredibly. I decided to go through Drews messages first, seeing as there were so many.

1. 'Hey did you get back okay?'

2. 'Lily is really drunk and wont stop rambling about you and Dan. You sure you don't like him?'

Ofcourse she did, I can't help but roll my eyes at that. If anything I think she just grasps at anything to create a conversation between her and my brother.

3. 'Yo where are you?'

4. 'Dude Im home now and your not back yet. how??'

5. 'Char reply pls Im getting worried now'

Guilt forces it's way through me, but at the same time he is really over reacting. I make my way through the rest of his messages which are just very repetitive about where I am, but I freeze when I reach the bottom one.

15. 'Jackson's freaking out. Says he left you alone on the street? Im going to kill him'

He doesn't know why though does he? Surely Jackson wouldn't have told Drew about our argument. Oh my god, what if he told him about everything else! My mind races over what will happen now, but I shove it back and decide just to let him know that I'll be home by 6. Immediately my phone pings with his response.

'WTF Charlotte, I was on the verge of calling the police, where have you been???' I sigh, but decide it's best not to get into a texting war with him, I text back 'talk when I get back xox' ending the conversation before it can start. He throws more messages my way, but I don't even look at them, opting to instead see what Lily texted.

'Gal did something happen with Jack? hes walked into the bar looking like he wants to kill someone. hes being a moody bitch.'

'Also, I think something might happen between drew and me, your okay with that yh???'

I release a small smile, happy for her that my brother might be reciprocating her feelings for once, but it quickly changes to a frown when I re-read her first message. I'm not surprised that he went back to the others after he left last night, but the memory of how we left the conversation immediately dampens my mood again. I feel this overwhelming need to talk to him, so I click on the notification from his missed call, and my thumb hovers over the call button.

"Okayyy, here you go." Mike says waltzing into the room with 2 bowls. His interruption made me jump slightly, but I leave my phone and go to join him on the sofa. "Oh Mikey, this is delicious!" I say through a mouthful of food. He smiles at me gently, before we both turn our attention towards the TV, eating in comfortable silence. Once we are finished eating, I lean forward pressing pause on the remote. "You alright?" Mike asks me. "I was actually getting into that. Don't tell anyone from work though, I'll lose my street cred." he finishes, only half joking. I laughed at his comment before standing up from the sofa, "Don't worry, I can keep that between us."

He smiles at me, before gesturing at how I'm stood up awkwardly, "Are you off then?"

Nodding at him, I get my phone from the charger. "Yeah I am, I told my brother I'd be back by 6, and it's already past that now so he's definitely gonna be pissed at me when I get home." Sighing, I reply back to him.

"C'mon then, I'll drive you." He says, jumping up off the sofa, stretching his arms out to yawn. I'm grateful for the offer, but I feel too bad to accept it. He already gave me a place to stay for the night, I don't want to take the mick out of him.

"No no, that's okay. Thank you though." I say, heading to the spare room to get the rest of my things before he has a chance to answer. With my bag and work clothes in hand, I make my way to the front door to find Mike waiting for me with a coat on and car keys in hand. "Mike really it's okay I-" I'm interrupted by him already walking out the house towards the car, shouting over his shoulder. "Get in, stop being stubborn." Huffing in defeat, I jumped in the passenger seat. When he starts to pull out the driveway, something pops into my mind, and I unbuckle my belt to jump out the car. "Wait!" He slams on the brakes and his head shoots to look at me. "I've still got your clothes on. I'm so sorry I didn't think about changing out of them. I'll just run back inside quickly and..." Mike doesn't wait for me to finish talking before he reaches over me to strap my seatbelt back into its place. My mouth slams shut at his unexpected move, and I can't help but stutter out my words. Without even replying to my comment, he starts the car again, and before I know it we are parked outside my flat.

I hesitate in leaving the car, knowing what's waiting for me once I walk through the door. Mike notices my hesitation and calls me to look at him. "He's quite protective then, huh?" When I tilt my head in confusion, he carries on. "Drew, I mean. Is there a reason that he's so mad you weren't home? he acts like he's your dad sometimes." he finishes with a chuckle. It dawns on me that Mike must think I'm avoiding home because of my brother, it makes sense though, I didn't give any indication that it was someone else.

"Oh right, yeah he can be quite overbearing sometimes. He has always been like that though, it got worse after my parents di-" I stopped myself from finishing that sentence, looking down at my hands. It's been so long since I've spoken about my parents. I try heavily to avoid the topic, and I'm usually really good at it, considering the only people who know about it are in the flat waiting for me (and Lily of course. ) Suddenly staying in the car with this as the conversation topic makes the flat seem all the more appealing than before, so I quickly tie up the conversation. "Well, thank you for everything. I mean it."

He smiles at me, obviously noticing my need to forget about what I almost said. "Anytime, and stop thanking me. It's what friends do right?" He says, with a pointed look in his eye, as if there is a deeper meaning to what he said. "Also, don't worry about the clothes, just bring them into the bar tomorrow for your shift." I nod at him, saying my goodbye before I rush up to my flat, not waiting to see if he drives off.

Entering my flat, all four boys are sitting in the lounge arguing. They stop when I walk in, and Drew walks up and strangles me in a hug. "Where have you been! How could you not have messaged anything. Do you know how worried I was? When you weren't home and the i***t over there let out that he left you on the street ALONE I freaked out mate. I was ready to call the police! I-"

"Jesus Drew, It's not that big of a deal, my phone died and I was with a friend so I really don't see what the big deal is." I say with a shrug, after interrupting his tirade about me being missing. "Not a big deal." he retorts in a deathly tone. "Who were you even with anyway? Wait, What are you wearing... who's-" He's once again interrupted by some knocks on the front door. He huffs at me, clearly annoyed at the intrusion. Eager to get away from this conversation, which apparently all the guys are watching, I go to answer the door, but Drew's hand stops me from moving. "No not you. we are not done." He signals for one of the others to go and get it, and I watch helplessly as Marley moves towards the door.