The Ashes

Chapter 11

Sorry for the slow update, I had a lot going on :(
~~

The soft orange light from the street lamps lights our path as we slowly wander back to my house, hand in hand. Everything seems so beautiful: the symmetrical lines of cement joining the pavement, the London Plane trees, the multicoloured oily swirls on the side of the road that are catching the light. A shallow puddle that looks indigo in the dusk lies smooth ahead of us, dancing with soft ripples as my boots skims its edge. The trees indicate the way home, huffing impatiently like protective fathers whose daughters have stayed out past curfew.

Harvey's hand is warm in mine as our fingers intertwine. It's cool out, not cold enough that I shiver but still enough for me to see the vague outline of my breath and his, curling out ahead of us. Neither of us feels the need to talk, the silence comfortable enough for us both. All too soon, we round the corner of my road; I notice that we both slow down even more, taking pleasure in the last few moments of what has been a beautiful afternoon.

A distant car honks crudely, followed by a muffled curse, making Harvey laugh.

"Typical London," he says, still smiling. I hum in agreement. We've reached my front steps by the point, and we both stop.

"Thank you, Harvey," I say, biting my lip. "I had a really nice afternoon."

"Does that mean that we can go out again in future?"

"Patience, grasshopper." I chide, teasing him.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then?", he says jokingly.

"What happened to being patient?"

"I was going to wait until at least the afternoon, but now that you mention it...", he plays along.

"Okay, see you Monday then." I smile. My cheeks feel warmer than normal. He tugs me closer, his hand against my lower back.

"See you Monday.", he breathes against my lips, touching them softly with his own before turning and walking away. Oh, and whipping his head back in my direction to wink at me. The soft click of the door opening brings me out of my stupor, although my eyes still remain distant and fuzzy.

"Okay, home time for the little sister." One of the twins calls impatiently. Luke, of course. "Enough flirting and romance for one evening, I think."

"Shut up, Luke." I say, a soft smile insistently pulling at my pink cheeks. This fact doesn't pass unnoticed.

"It's love." Luke proclaims loudly as we walk back inside the house to see James and Kat laughing on the sofa. Both of them scoot back to add a few centimetres to the distance between them, red-faced at the accusation which wasn't even aimed at them.

"I wasn't actually talking about you, but this" he says, gesturing between them, "could work too."

"Shut up, Luke." James says, still blushing furiously. He might not even like her, it's just being called out at Kat's and his previous proximity to each other.

"Okay, I'm not wasting any time. What happened?" Kat asks teasingly, deliberately changing the subject. I look pointedly at my brothers, internally asking them to leave, waiting for them to catch on.

"Oh. No. No way. I'm not going, I'm hearing this too." James smirks.

"Who wants popcorn for story time with Thalia?" Luke teases, sticking out his tongue childishly. Damn it.

"Ooh, me!" Kat squeals, bouncing up and down on the soft black seat and clapping like a six year old who's just been offered a trip to Disneyland. Luke sniggers and goes down the stairs to the kitchen.

"You have to wait until I'm back upstairs!" Luke calls, his voice muffled by the smooth plaster walls and ceilings between us. Less than a minute later, he's jogging up the stairs again, two bowls of popcorn in hand, before jumping onto the sofa, crossing his legs in midair and landing with a muted thump. A few pieces of popcorn bounce out of the large plastic containers, the rest shaking softly as he passes one of them to Kat.

"Okay. I'm here.", he announces, as if we didn't all wait for him and then see him acting like a toddler on speed. The three of them turn to face me like robots with pivoting heads, expectantly waiting. James coughs, hinting.

"Um, we went to Covent Garden." I begin, glaring at Luke as he squeals like a fangirl and claps, teasingly squeaking something along the lines of Oh my God Thal, that's like, totes adorable!

I glare at him before continuing. "That's it, I guess. We just hung out, he took me out for lunch and showed me a few places."

"Right. So now, tell us the juicy stuff. Did you hold hands? Did you feel a spark? Do you think he likes you? Did you kiss?"

I spend the rest of the evening painstakingly explaining every minute detail, watching Kat's face light up as she dissects everything from the huskiness of his voice to the directions he faced at various times during our conversations. It's exhausting to even observe, but she looks like she's running a high, eyes sparkling. The boys got up and left at some point during the conversation. As Kat rambles on, I zone out, content simply admiring the change; she's pretty cool in general, but the topic of romance and flirtation is the only one that can get her excited like this. It makes me wonder if she's ever experienced love, if she's just desperately drinking in anything about what she wants most yet doesn't have. It's just speculation of course, but I can't help but be curious.

The soft orange dashes of light on my digital alarm clock tell me it's already ten in the evening. She notices my glance at the time, suggesting we get ready for bed. I dim the lights as I close my bedroom door behind me because I'm pretty certain we're both exhausted, me by my early awakening and her by her hangover. She reassures me that she won't need to borrow anything, having passed by her house while I was out. As we get changed, her arms catch my attention; something doesn't seem quite right about the way the skin shows up in the light. It seems almost uneven, but at second glance the illusion is gone, leaving me with half a second to stop staring, which I've just realised I was doing, before she turns back around, yawning. She stretches her arms above her head, her oversized t-shirt sliding a bit higher over her tracksuit shorts that she sleeps in.

Before I can think anymore about this girl, about her fascination caused by the mention of love accompanied by the subtle longing in her eyes, her arms which caught the light weirdly, the lights go out and I'm asleep.

*

Sunday passed uneventfully besides the furious call from Kat's parents at 11 telling her she had an extended family lunch in an hour that she had completely forgotten about. I'm currently walking into school, my luminous green bag hanging from my shoulders. The waves of students moaning about being grounded for staying out too late, or extra homework aren't enough to pull my attention from the tall figure dressed in all black and a leather jacket walking down the corridor. It's unlikely he knows, or even cares, that I'm here, but I don't want to draw the fact to his attention so I attempt to keep my head down to avoid the venomous glare that is sure to come. Whether it's out of pure masochism, habit, or stupidity I end up glancing up anyway, just as he passes me.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it doesn't happen; his eyes meet mine, not quite emotionless but hiding them well, although not even unkind, just seemingly neutral. He's not smiling in the slightest but I'm given the impression that he doesn't wish me any harm. It's weird, to say the least - I thought he was planning on glaring at me for a while yet, but I could have sworn his cheeks twitched into something that wasn't quite a smile but was close just as his eyes drifted back down to his scuffed black trainers.

*****
Hi guys
I've returned
I'm so sorry for the delay I just lost so much motivation because like no one is commenting or voting and the reads aren't going up or whatever but I'm going to keep writing for those of you who're actually interested in the story and who are still reading :) just warning you this isn't going to be your cliché Highschool romance story for much longer so if you're into that, I'd recommend something else

Ily
Alice x