Run [Stereo Kicks/ James Graham]

Chapter 10

We finally arrived at the restaurant, going in and sitting down at a long table for twelve. Just as we all sat down, Jake and Casey skipped over a place, with a smirk, so James sat next to me. They both grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes, but offered a smile in return. Reece was on my other side, Charlie across from him and Tom was across from me.
"Jeez, this is expensive." I frowned as I looked down the menu, and they all looked at me blankly. "What?"
"Just eat." Reece shook his head. "Trust me. And I'm not sure if I told you, Mom, Dad and Lexi are going to-"
"They're what?" My voice rose. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"That's why there's extra places." He laughed, and I glared at him. "Sorry."
"Oh my god." Nerves took over me as I contemplated the fact I was going to see my little sister and parents for the first time in three years.
"You'll be fine." James told me quietly, and I smiled weakly at him, but I could tell it wasn't convincing. "Honest."
"AMELIA!" The young, excited voice made me spin around, and I saw the little, blonde haired girl running over.
"Lexi!" I grinned, jumping up and dashing over to meet her, scooping her up in my arms and giving her a tight hug. Tears filled my eyes as she wrapped herself around me.
"Amelia..."
"Mom?" I whispered, looking up. Their eyes met mine and I froze up, emotions washing over me.
"Come here." My dad pulled me in for a huge hug, and I clung onto them both, Lexi in the group hug as well. "You silly, silly girl."
"I did it to protect Reece." Tears were steadily falling down my face, and my mom was crying slightly too, my dad having tears in his eyes. Lexi was balling her eyes out. "It's okay, Lexi, I'm not going anywhere."
"You better not." My mom said furiously, but her anger wasn't aimed directly at me. "Ah, we're making a scene. Let's go sit down." It was true. Over half the restaurant was shamelessly staring at us, so I swiftly walked back over to our table and sat down, Tom and Barclay moving so Lexi and my parents could sit together.
"Can I take your orders?" A waitress appeared at our table several minutes later.
"I'll have a lemonade and a vegetarian burger, please." I smiled politely, and she wrote it down before turning to James.
"The last time I've ever been somewhere like this is with Leo for Christmas." Thoughtfully, I looked around, missing my almost-brother.
"Leo?" Tom questioned, raising an eyebrow. The table had split off into three different conversations, and I was talking with Charlie, Reece and Tom.
"My practical brother. He kept me alive on the streets when I couldn't. I'd be dead now if it weren't for him." Shaking my head, I fell into thought.
"You celebrated Christmas?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, every year. Just a few days before Christmas, though, but it was amazing. Not much, but we'd save and save to either get a meal, or have enough food saved up to feed ourselves well, just for a day." I grinned. "It was honestly great."
Reece was silent, and I could tell he had picked up on why we celebrated a few days before Christmas, so his eyes were slightly saddened. "I'm okay now." I mumbled, laying my head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around me, and we stayed like that until our food arrived.
Everyone was talking loudly, and I enjoyed the atmosphere, eating my food, which was absolutely delicious. "Casey!" A feminine voice called, and we turned to see a girl walking over, two friends in tow. "Hey, what're you doing here?"
"Hey, beautiful." Casey grinned at her, and I tilted my head.
"Girlfriend." James whispered in my ear, so I nodded in understanding.
"I was just headed out and noticed you." She smiled down at him. "You just out with these lot?"
"Amelia, as well." Casey motioned to me.
"Oh, hi!" She smiled at me. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm RK. I've heard about you from Casey."
"The pleasure's all mine." I smiled politely, taking in her appearance. RK was wearing light coloured jeans, a black t-shirt, a white cardigan, and had natural makeup on, apart from her eyeliner. To be honest, I was impressed by the neatness of her wings. Some I had seen...
"I've got to go, Case, but I'll talk to you sometime, okay?" RK looked once more to Casey, who got up and kissed her before letting her go. We all bid her goodbye and she left along with her friends.
"Any more of you got girlfriends?" I asked, giggling, until a thought struck me. What if James...?
Reece soon realised my dilemma, and quickly assured me that they were all single, apart from Casey and Barclay. "Ooh, who's your girlfriend?" I questioned.
"She's amazing, called Georgia, but you're not finding out about her yet." He grinned at me.
"Fair enough." Sighting dramatically, I took a sip of my drink, picking my cutlery up again. Because I was still unused to eating large amounts of food, I didn't finish my burger, leaving my chips, but eating my salad.
"How could you leave chips?" James shook his head at me, stealing one off my plate. "Disgrace."
"Take them, I'm full." Soon, the boys had eaten my chips, finishing their own meals as well. It was amusing to see how much teenage (and early twenties) boys could put away with no problem.
"You're awfully thin." My mom said to me quietly, once we had left the restaurant.
"I'm fine, mom." I smiled at her.
"You've been putting weight on, which is good." Reece glanced over from where he was walking next to me, Lexi currently holding my hand. "You were a twig."
"Just like you, then." I muttered darkly. It was true - I was severely underweight, but I had put on a few pounds since joining the boys, so I didn't look as skeletal anymore.
"Well, fatten her up, Reece. We'll send money whenever you need it." My dad grinned at us. "Though I do see you enjoyed your shopping trip."
"Yeah, Jake mostly helped out with that. Reece just tagged along."
"You talking about me?" Jake interrupted, looking suspiciously over to me, a smile still on his face from where he was laughing and joking with the other lads.
"Yep, got a problem?"
"Amelia! Manners!" My mom scolded me.
"Sorry, mom." Sending a glare when the other boys snickered at my telling off. "I'm sixteen." I hissed to them, and they just laughed louder, so I rolled my eyes.
*********************************************************
"Well, our band anniversary is coming up." Tom announced a few days later, when all of the boys and I were hanging out in their games room, just watching as they played FIFA. "And we were thinking of going out."
"That'd be cool." Reece mumbled as he furiously clicked away at his controller. I had no love for football, and certainly not FIFA, so I was dozing in and out. "Amelia?"
"Where would we go, though?" I asked simply.
"Well, somewhere where we can party, but you don't need ID's..." Charlie murmured thoughtfully. "Over 16's club?"
"You're still fifteen, prat." Jake said.
"Rude."
"You're tall enough to pull it off, you'll be fine." I assured him. We soon agreed on it, leaving Tom to sort it out, as he was the least likely to mess it up. Excitement bubbled in my stomach as I thought of the upcoming party-type-thingy, finally having the chance to properly go out with the boys.
*********************************************************
One week later
*********************************************************
"You coming?" Reece asked me softly. I was currently examining myself in the mirror. Dressed in a plain, light blue dress, with new heels to match, my hair done half-up, half down, and my makeup done to perfection (with the help of RK and my mom), I was ready to go out. "You'll be fine."
"I hope so." With a bright smile, I carefully walked out into the lounge. Tom, Barclay and Casey were already waiting, and they looked up as we walked in.
"Damn." Casey said flatly, and Reece hit him forcefully with a cushion. "What?"
"That's for flirting, get out." Reece smiled cheekily, and we all headed outside, going down to the other apartment and knocking on the door. Not five seconds later, it was swung open by an over-energetic Jake, and the four other boys piled out, leading the group downstairs.
"Taxi's here!" Tom told us several minutes later. "Hurry up!"
"Going, boss." We all chimed, Reece steering me towards a taxi with a gentle hand on my back. There were three taxi's, so I got into one with him, Charlie also climbing in with us. After I'd put my seatbelt on, the car drove off, and I jumped slightly, unused to cars.
"Shouldn't take too long to get there." Charlie sighed contentedly.
"And you look perfect to charm James." Reece added, and I groaned.
"Will you guys stop it already? He doesn't like me." I muttered. Over the past few weeks, all of the boys (apart from James, obviously) had learned that I had a crush on James, and they wouldn't stop teasing me, or making small comments here and there.
"You don't know that." Charlie said happily.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.
"Stop being grumpy, I know you're excited." Reece poked my cheek, and I didn't respond. "I know you are." Suddenly, his hands were at my ribs, and I muffled my shriek, not wanting to scare the driver, automatically lashing out, elbowing him hard in the chest. "Ow!"
"Serves you right." Eyeing him suspiciously, I shuffled closer to Charlie. "Don't tickle me."
"Good secret weapon." Charlie mumbled, putting the information away mentally.
"I hate you all."
"Love you, too, Amelia."
**********
"This is crazy!" I panted, flopping down at our booth. Most of the boys were there, only Jake, James and Chris were elsewhere. It was packed, considering there was the opportunity of over-eighteens, normal, clubs.
"Managed to get a girl's number already." A satisfied-looking Jake appeared, sliding in after me.
"Really? What's her name?" Casey asked him curiously.
"Gemma. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Cute." He smirked, taking a sip of his drink. "I've danced a bit with her, but she went back to her friends, so, you know."
"Take things steady." Sighing dramatically, I patted him on his back. "About time you got a girlfriend."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake pouted, and we all laughed.
"We mean it, we don't want random girls in our apartments, thank you very much." Tom told Jake.
"I know, I know."
We were all talking and drinking, Charlie, Reece and I having non-alcoholic drinks (as we weren't of age yet), until Chris came back, looking equally pleased with himself. "Numbers?" Jake challenged.
"None, but I got a dance and snog." He smirked.
"Ha, I beat you." Jake snickered. Their boyish banter made me roll my eyes, again. "Where's James, anyway?"
"He's..." Barclay swallowed, eyes darting over to me. "Nowhere." Confused, I turned to scan the dance floor and my heart froze up. James was dancing with a strange girl, their bodies pressed together, arms around her waist.
"Don't look." Reece told me sharply, turning me away.
"It's cool." I mumbled. They all gave me sympathetic looks, but carried on talking as I dwelled on it, trying to push it to the back of my mind, failing, no matter how hard I tried.
"Hey, lads." James appeared, the same girl practically draped over him. He was clearly drunk, or at least tipsy, and stayed standing. My mouth felt dry, and I blanked him, sipping on my drink to try and rid the unpleasant feeling in my throat. "This is... Is..."
"Janey." She grinned, her breath smelling of alcohol, even though I wasn't close to her.
"Pleasure." Tom said dryly.
"Oh, no, the pleasure's all mine... Meeting Jamesy..." Janey slurred, her smile sickening as she looked up at James. Slowly, I felt my hands clench into fists.
"No, they're not worth it." Charlie whispered to me, taking my hand and forcefully uncurling them.
"Well, ditch her in the next half an hour, we're going home at midnight." Jake said bluntly. He'd always been a bit protective over me, but I guess that was coming into play now, especially as he wasn't inhibited with the alcohol in his system.
"Rude... What if I want to take her h-home?" James hiccuped half way through his sentence, as tears rose in my eyes, knowing exactly what he meant, and I fixed my gaze on the table.
"No fucking way, man, it's our home too, you're not bringing her anywhere near." Casey snapped, and I think James got the message, finally.
"Okay, okay, whatever." James rose his hands in defence, before leaving again.
"Fuck her, the slut." Jake muttered, Casey nodding in agreement.
"Language, boys." Tom murmured, but I could tell his eyes were following them across the room. Reece and Charlie both wrapped an arm around me comfortingly, but I kept silent, just drinking and staring at the table.
"We should go soon, it's gone midnight." Barclay checked his phone some time later.
"Right, let's go. Casey go find James, Jake, go say bye to Gemma if she's still around and you want to, Chris, Barclay, help me clean up the glasses, and young ones, out." Tom took charge again, and we obediently followed orders, Charlie and Reece leading me out of the club.
"No... She was c-c-cute." The familiar voice filled my ears, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Casey forcibly dragging James away, who was putting up a slight resistance.
"Shut the hell up, you're drunk." Casey growled, throwing James into a taxi. "I'll catch you guys back there." And he climbed in after him, the taxi leaving soon after.
"Right, we're all here? Where's Casey and James?" Tom said as he, Chris and Jake left.
"Gone home." Charlie nodded towards the road.
"Fair enough. Right, taxi's. Have you all got the money to pay?"
"Yes, Tom." They muttered, and he laughed, motioning for us to get in. I got into a taxi with Jake and Tom this time, Charlie, Reece, Barclay and Chris going in the other.
"We haven't got anything on tomorrow, so you can sleep in." Tom murmured as the taxi left. "Why am I the responsible one?"
"Because everyone else is drunk or stupid." I giggled. Jake was on his phone, and I got a creeping suspicion is was the girl he'd talked about... Gemma. "What's she say?"
"Creep." Jake mumbled. "We're just talking."
"Hmm, we believe you." Tom rolled his eyes.
********************
Later that night, I was sat on the sofa, curled into a ball. It was almost three o'clock in the morning, and everyone else was asleep, but I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried, so I had gotten up before my tossing and turning woke Reece.
"God's sake." I cursed, trying to removed the image that had been burning into my eyes all night.
James was dancing with a strange girl, their bodies pressed together, arms around her waist.
Tears streamed down my face as I hid my face in my knees, muffling my sobs. My hands were shaking, and I tried to wipe the tears from my face, but I just ended up crying harder.
It hurt. It physically hurt, like something was stabbing my chest, and it didn't know why. All I knew was that it hurt, and I didn't want it to hurt. "Not worth it, not worth it..." I whispered to myself, stumbling over my words. So I cried. I cried and cried for what seemed like hours, my soft sobs filling the otherwise silent room.
"No, ssh, he's not worth it, forget them, he was drunk, that's all." A comforting voice replaced my sobbing as warm arms wrapped around me, and I took a shuddering breath. "It's going to be okay."
Casey held me as I cried out the pain in my chest. His voice soothed me, but I couldn't make out the words, my tears the main focus. He was calling out for someone, but I didn't care, trying to calm myself down. James wasn't worth it.
Or was he?