Just Like Nicotine

Chapter 3

(Alaeia's POV)

It was getting around to 6:30pm, and I was beginning to feel like I'd overstayed my welcome. I was mostly helping Theo tidy up the kitchen whilst still mindlessly chatting with him and Will. We'd begun finishing up the tidying and I started moving quietly towards the front door to grab my shoes when I saw a peacefully sleeping Celia laying on the couch, a blanket gently across her and she seemed to be gripping onto it as a form of comfort. That's something she always seemed to do growing up, too. I gently kissed her forehead and whispered my goodbye before going to bid farewell to Theo and Will.

"It was great seeing you again, Theo." I hugged my best friends husband gently, his smile returning mine.
"Same to you. Come over anytime, I'm sure you'll be in town a lot more anyway." He grinned. I nodded, moving over to the taller brunette boy who seemed to be leaning against the door frame, his head in the clouds.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, hopefully we'll see each other again soon?" I asked almost to myself, putting my hand out for him to shake. I wasn't quite sure if he wanted to hug a complete stranger just yet, then he surprised me by not only shaking my hand, but giving me a quick hug too. He mumbled a sweet "you too, maybe we can figure out a day where everyone's free so we can all chill or something?"

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Short Time Skip - In Alaeia's car <3
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I was listening to my Spotify playlist whilst driving home when one of my favourite songs came on - Taunt by Lovejoy. I began singing along quietly when I realised at a stoplight that the main singers voice sounded very similar to someone I'd heard earlier today. I knew it must have been someone from earlier today - but who?

By the time my car had pulled up outside the block of flats it had just gone 8pm, I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed my bag and began locking up the car after getting out. My feet dragged me towards the intercom that let residents into the block and punched in the numbers '573' before pushing open the large metal gate and walking up the 3 flights of stairs. I can't wait to move into a bungalow, it'll be so much easier to access. I mean, there'll still be a little more than decent amount of space storage in there - plus I'll finally be able to have a roommate too!

The precooked lasagne sat in the fridge just waiting to be heated up, it looked almost inedible. After a short while of contemplating, I sighed and grabbed the lasagne, shoving it into the microwave for a couple minutes whilst I heated up the kettle. Lavender tea always helped before bed, so I'd made it a mini tradition to have some every few nights with my dinner. Lavender tea was my favourite, but it's hard to get ahold of in England as far as I was aware. I luckily got a large supply when I visited Scotland for the last couple of years.

As I was pouring the scolding water into a mug I heard the irritable beeping of the microwave that indicated my lasagne was ready.

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About an hour and a half had gone by and I was sat cozily bundled in a blanket on the small couch in my living room, watching Avatar : The Last Airbender on my laptop. My phone was turned off completely whilst it charged, it's not like anyone was going to try and communicate at this time of night anyway, right?

I was wrong.

My laptop signalled a small banner across the screen, an email from someone had just been sent through. I paused Netflix and clicked on the banner, letting it move to my unread emails tab. After a bit of skimming, I realised it was from Celia, with just three simple words, all in full caps with an array with exclamation marks following them.

"Call. Me. Now!!!!!!!!!"