Troubled - Alex Turner

21. L-O-V-E

Alex's POV:
"You gonna hurry up and tell us what's going on between you and Sophie, then, Al?" Jamie questioned, desperate for a bit of gossip.

The others all chimed in with drunken agreements, as they each tried their best to convince me to reveal the truth through many slurs of 'C'monnn' and 'We're your best mates, Alex!'

It eventually got to the point where I couldn't disguise my smile any longer. The girl had me addicted. "We may have kissed, alright?" I told them with an unbothered eye roll that was totally contradicted by the wide grin sprawled across my face. 

They all cheered in unison, although I had no where near convinced them enough to make them believe that a kiss was all it was.

If only they knew.

"So, you like her?" Nick asked, taking a swig of his pint.

"Yeah," I let out with a defeated chuckle. "Yeah, I like her. I like her a lot, actually," I admitted with a sheepish shrug, trying to play it off as though it was nothing.

Both Nick and Jamie turned to one another and let out an "Awwwwww" just to take the piss out of me. Successfully making my cheeks flush slightly in embarrassment to the way they were making my confession a big deal.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes once again."Ha-Ha very funny."

"Now, tell us what really happened," Jamie then pushed further. "Did youse sleep together?"

"Woah," I exclaimed in defence, buying myself some time as I contemplated whether or not Sophie would be okay with me revealing the full truth to everyone. "Why's this all 'bout me? I wanna know about Matthew and Ella," I said, wiggling my eyebrows as I placed a hand on Matt's shoulder, successfully diverting the topic from me to him.

"Yeah, same, actually," Nick agreed, pointing a finger towards Matt as he swallowed his mouth full of drink. "What even is going on between you two? And don't even feed us your bullshit cause' we've all seen it with our own eyes," he questioned accusingly.

Matt turned to me, with an unamused expression. "Well that was an unprovoked attack."

"Sorry, mate," I shrugged simply, as I took a sip of my own pint. I wasn't drunk — no where near it, in fact. I wasn't in the mood to even go out to the pub in the first place and I simply just wanted to go home, didn't plan on drinking too much.

*

"Just two pints of Guinness please, mate."

"British boy, huh?" a blonde women from the side picked up on, as she made her way towards me.

I huffed a laugh and shot her a small smile to acknowledge her comment in the most polite-but-not-interested way possible.

"My cousins from England," she continued. "What part of it are you from?"

"South Yorkshire," I told her as I got the correct amount of money out from my wallet. "Small place called Sheffield, to be exact."

"You know," she said, "i'd lie and say I knew where that was just to get a little bit of attention," she chuckled, "but I have no clue where that is whatsoever."

I let out another small, forced chuckle. I didn't want to be rude, just had my mind set on Sophie and simply couldn't flirt with anyone else. "Well, as I said, it's a small place. Not many people outside of the country know 'bout it, to be honest," I shrugged.

"Here you go, mate," the bartender eventually said, passing over the glasses Matt and Jamie had sent me over to get for them.

"Cheers, pal," I thanked him before taking off and giving the blonde a small smile and a nod. I noticed her blush and instantly regretted that decision.