Love Your Neighbour

Chapter 19

Song: Love Will Remember by Selena Gomez.

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After comforting Celine and talking to James on her phone, she left. It was as if history was replaying itself. I felt a sense of de-ja-vu as I walked up the stairs to my room and saw Mike standing there on the landing.

"Hey." He smiled at me.
"Hey back." I took his hand and fitted my fingers around his.
No words were needed. I liked the silence, we could get lost in it together.
The familiar feeling of being under his trance came to me as I stood there, a few centimetres shorter than him. He gazed at me, grinning.
"This seems very much like..." He started to say.
"Shhh..." I hushed him and brought his head down to mine, capturing his lips with mine. We stayed like that for a minute before something, or someone interrupted us.
"Lauren." I heard my mum's voice behind me and I quickly pulled away from Mike, blushing profusely.
"Ah, damn, I should have gone into my room." I said, annoyed.
Mike was casually leaning against the wall looking calm and confident.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Well, yeah, I can see that now..." I said sarcastically as she gripped my arm and pulled me away from Mike.
"Mum, please can we talk privately?" I said in a pleading tone. I could tell it was going to get awkward, and I could sense The Talk coming up.

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"Now, what has got into you, Lauren? I thought you hated Mike. Well, I knew you liked him secretly but I didn't think anything would ever happen!" She shook her head, probably trying to reassure herself that I hadn't gone mad.
"I know. But that was weeks ago! It all changed on the night of my birthday... We just had a connection. Trust me, I tried not to like him." I snorted. Don't ask me why I snorted..., because I have no idea why I did.
"What happened on the night..."
"I don't want to talk about it right now." I was really frustrated with everyone. It had been a stressful day... And I swear the day seemed to go on and on and it was only half past five!
"I just think you should be careful. You're only sixteen, and you don't want to go too far with Mike yet. I regretted getting too close with my first boyfriend... And I can see that you and Mike could take the next step in your relationship any day, so just, use protection, honey!" She laughed lightheartedly.
"I am NOT going to have sex with him!" I shouted at her. She shushed me.
"I'm sorry if I gave you that impression, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. I don't want to get pregnant at sixteen, however safe sex can be..." I shivered at the thought. There had been too many PSHE lessons at school...
"Thank God! I was worried you were just going to say 'okay' then!" She look immensely relieved...
"I know what I'm doing, just trust me. Okay?"
"I completely trust you! You're my baby! And I just don't want you to grow up too fast." She pulled me into a hug. I frowned at first then accepted it and smiled.

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After talking things through with my mum, I felt oddly refreshed and ready to go and talk to Mike once again.
I found him on the sofa, talking to Miles. I paused in the doorway, watching them.
"You know, I wish there was a place that just delivered potatoes. Why do we always need to go to the supermarket. I'm going to make up something like that when I'm older, then I'll get loads of money." Miles said proudly. It was so cute how he acted all the time.
"There's already a system like that. You can order online..." I said, walking into the room.
"What?!" He looked depressed for a moment.
"Don't crush his dreams!" Mike whispered in my ear. I jumped as it tickled, but in a good way. I liked being close to Mike.
"I was just kidding... You go and do that, Miles!" I said cheerfully.
He got up and ran out, mumbling inaudible things to himself.

"So, what's up?" Mike said, smirking.
"Don't try to be cool, it doesn't suit you." I said, sitting down beside him. He grinned at my comment like it was a compliment.
"So..."
"So..."
"So, I'm not going..." We both smiled.
"Yeah. I wasn't looking forward to you leaving anyway." I smiled sadly.
"Well I still have some time. After this is over, though, I won't forget you. We can still be together." He smiled reassuringly.
I nodded. I didn't want to forget. Even if I tried to forget, I could never.

There was an odd silence for a while, which was broken by Mike, again.

"I heard a bit of your conversation with your mum. The bit about se..." I interrupted him before he could say the end of that word. I didn't want him to put the 'x' on the end, as it would just make everything awkward, and I was already a pretty awkward person.

"Okay! I'm sorry you had to hear that! Oh no, it's like last time." I remembered when he had arrived to stay with us and my dad had set off my shouting. That had been embarrassing...

"Oh, I remember that! There are so many nice memories with you, Lauren." He smiled, leaning towards me. His smile only widened when I leant back, away from him.
"I wish I could say the same about you, but I can't remember any." I faked contemplating then came up with nothing.
"Oh, come on, the sofa memory... Don't you remember that one? Or the sleepover one, when I came into your room...? Or..." He thought hard as I tried to maintain a blank expression, although there was nothing I wanted to do more than just giggle and giggle and giggle, then kiss him until the end of the world came.
"How about this one?" He asked me.
"Which one...?" I looked confused as he leaned closer.
Then, he kissed me.
And I had to say, I definitely remembered that one.