In Denial | Alex Turner

XIV

Knock, knock, knock. 

Despite the fact that I'd spent around 15 minutes cleaning the snow off my car, I got there pretty quickly. It wasn't too far away from my house.

"Mon! What took you so long?" Miles' tall figure opened the door and hugged me.

I laughed lightly at his actions and pulled away softly. "Had to clean the snow off my car. Sorry," I smiled.

"Yer forgiven," he dramatically threw his arms to his sides and made me chuckle. "Come in!"

Miles' house was expensive-looking. It was decorated with modern pieces of furniture and was painted with bold shades of black and white. 

I walked inside and found the living room, where Matt, Nick and Jamie were sitting at. It had a glass coffee table in the middle and two black armchairs around, along with a black-and-white settee. Jamie and Nick were sitting on the armchairs and Matt on the settee with his legs resting on the edge of the coffee table in front of him.

"Monica!" they all exclaimed as soon as they saw me.

"Hi!" I mimicked their tone and we all laughed.

"Took yer long enough," Matt scooted over, making some space for me to sit beside him.

"Oh, shut up," I rolled my eyes and took my black coat off. Miles took it from me and told me he'd hang it himself.

"D'ya want a beer?" Nick offered me and handed me a can of beer.

"Is that even a question?" I rolled my eyes and took the beer from his hands before sitting next to Matt.

"How were yer able to skip work?" Jamie asked me before taking a sip off his can of beer.

"You know," I opened the beer. "I'm sick," I coughed and made everyone laugh. "I feel kind of bad for leaving Elle on her own, though," I admitted and took a sip of my beer.

"Why is Al always so late?" Miles groaned as he entered the living room again, without my coat this time.

"Alex is coming?" I asked, looking at them.

"He's breakin' up with 'is bird tonight," Matt casually informed me as he sipped his beer.

I was taken aback and widened my eyes at him. Matt laughed at my reaction and shrugged. 

"Is this such a normal thing?" I questioned, still confused as hell.

"Al 'as a new girlfriend almost every month. It's not as surprising anymore," Jamie stood up from his armchair, heading to the kitchen to grab another beer.

"Oh," I furrowed my eyebrows and looked away. Of course he was like that. Playing with their feelings and then leaving by the back door with no explanation. It almost made me feel bad about Makayla.

"He wasn't always like that," Nick's smile turned into a straight line and I turned my head to my left, taking a look at him.

"No," Miles added as he shook his head. "It's this past year. After Alexa broke up with 'im," he sat on the armchair Jamie had just left.

"Who's Alexa?" I felt like an idiot asking. I really did live under a rock.

"His ex. They were together for what, four years?" Matt turned to Jamie who came back from the kitchen and he nodded.

"They' ad to break up because of their careers. Y'know, he was a musician, she was a model, it was 'ard since both their careers were starting to grow at the time," Jamie added as he sat on the arm of the seat Nick was seated at.

"Oh..." was all that I could let out. I never thought Alex was the type of guy to stay such a long time in a relationship and then get heartbroken over it.

"'Suck It And See' is basically all about Alex's heartbreak and 'er," Jamie added, opening the can of his beer.

I opened my mouth to speak but was soon interrupted by four knocks on the door. I wanted to ask them more about him. I was dying to know.

"I'll get that," Miles stood up from his chair and Jamie instantly slipped on it, earning back his seat with a devilish smile Miles replied to with an eye roll.

"'Ey!" he opened the door and pulled Alex in his embrace. "How'd it go?" he asked, pulling away.

"Good," he shrugged and took his coat off, giving it to Miles. I looked at Matt with a confused expression and he shrugged with a 'I-told-you-so' look.

"Oh, we 'ave company," he smirked as soon as he acknowledged my presence. He nodded his head towards Matt, gesturing him to scoot over so he could sit on the settee.

I scooted over with Matt, leaving him space to sit on. The settee was quite big so we didn't have problem fitting.

"Thanks, love," he smiled and sat next to me, grabbing a beer can sat on the coffee table.

"How'd she take it?" Jamie eventually asked for me. I wanted to ask him myself and it was pretty obvious, so Jamie did it for me.

He shrugged, looking back up at Jamie. "Good, I guess," he gave him a weak smile, not knowing how to answer.

"What happened?" I asked innocently, acting as if I didn't know what was happening.

"I broke up with Makayla," he replied flatly without looking at me.

"Oh," I replied quietly, almost inaudiable. I turned my head to look inside Miles' kitchen, where Miles was making drinks.

"Don't act like yer didn't know, love," I turned my head back to Alex who was smirking, looking at me.

"I didn't?" I furrowed my eyebrows and couldn't help but smirk.

"You're very bad at lying, darling," he leaned closer to me, almost whispering. I swallowed a lump on my throat before looking away from his hot gaze for a brief second.

"I'll go help Miles," I let my can of empty beer on the coffee table, patting Alex's thigh so he could move it.

Alex looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and stood up, walking past his legs, squeezing through the small space between him and the coffee table.

"D'you need any help?" I walked up to Miles, looking at him making the drinks. 

"No, love, I'm good, thanks," he took a brief look at me with a smile. "You can put the crisps and popcorn into bowls, though," he looked at me again and pointed at the bags of the snacks and then the cupboard where the bowls were located at.

I nodded, heading over to the cupboard I was just shown at.

-

"We brought the goods!" Miles cheered as we entered the living room again. He was holding a silver platter with six drinks on it and I was holding another silver platter that had four bowls of crisps and popcorn on it.

"Fucken' finally!" Jamie groaned, reaching for the one bowl of crisps.

"Easy there, Cook," I warned with a laugh as I placed the silver platter in front of the guys, letting them take the bowls off it.

"What are we watchin'? Miles turned one of the armchairs to face the TV and Jamie did the same with his. I went back to the kitchen to leave the silver platters.

"Some Science Fiction film Matt picked out," Nick got comfortable on the arm of Jamie's armchair and Matt made space for me to squeeze between him and Alex again, who was sipping his drink unbothered.

"Matt always picks the worst films!" Jamie whined, making us laugh.

"I promise this one is better," Matt sighed and took a bowl of popcorn off the coffee table. I finally sat between Alex and him.

"We'll be the judge of that, Helders," Jamie rolled his eyes, grabbing another bowl of crisps.

I grabbed a bowl of popcorn and offered Alex, who was sitting beside me, some which he accepted.