Quick note, a lot of this chapter was written by blankcanvas12 I hope I did you proud with it. 😊
Charlie's POV:
"Come on Charlie" Keira yelled up the stairs impatiently. "I'm coming!" I shout back, before grabbing my jumper and running down the stairs. "I know I asked you to hurry up, but that doesn't mean I want you falling down the stairs" she said, with an unimpressed look on her face. She turned on her heel, grabbing her car keys, before leaving the house, with me right behind her. I'm not sure who was more excited, me or her, for this day out. She mentioned taking me shopping just the two of us a few days ago and I convinced her to let us go into Manchester to go shopping. It's not like we haven't done it before, it's just that our lives are so busy recently, so spending one on one time has become nearly impossible. Especially with Elleã, but today Mum was looking after Ellie, while me and Keira were hanging out just the two of us.
When Keira first became my mums girlfriend, I was really worried. I'd seen the aftermath of the other girlfriends, though I definitely didn't like them as much. They treated me as a child... I guess I was one but that doesn't mean I didn't see things. But Keira was different, she didn't just love mum, she loved me, and she made sure I knew it from the start. She even loved me when I was cold towards her, I was scared that she'd leave mum and break her heart. But once I realised she really loved us and was going to stick around, I loved her with my heart. She even asked me for permission to ask mum to be her girlfriend. Safe to say I really love her now, nearly as much as I love mum... but not there yet.
"Charlie?" Keira asked. "What did you say?" I realised I had been daydreaming and quickly turned to look at her so as not to be rude. "I asked where you want to go first" she replied. "PRIMARK!" | yelled with a bit too much enthusiasm for a Saturday morning. "OK then I guess we'll start there" she said, chuckling afterwards. "You're so like your mum, you know that?", Keira added. "That is such an insult Kei, how rude!", I replied, frowning at Kei's comment. Keira chuckled and tried to ruffle my hair. I dodged and replied "don't even think of it", swatting her hand away. We both bickered and laughed all the way into the city centre.
"Can we get this?" | asked while holding up a weird pot with no obvious purpose. "And why would we need that?" Keira laughed. "It's cool I guess" I replied, not really sure why I liked or wanted it.
"Come on I think we have enough stuff in our basket" Keira said. With that wise statement we went to the checkout and paid. It was expensive... very expensive.
"Let's go drop these bags to the car" she said as we walked out the doors and into the fresh Manchester air. Or at least as fresh as it gets in the city.
We were walking down the busy street and Keira carrying four bags while I was carrying one, containing some new clothes 1 picked out. There were lots of people who seemed to be part of a tour that got in my way, and suddenly I couldn't get past the crowd of people all speaking rapid Spanish.
When I got past the group I couldn't see Keira anymore and my mind went blank. I forgot what mum told me to do if I got lost and I started to panic. I couldn't breathe properly and I could feel my breaths becoming shallower. My vision was blurring and I couldn't focus on looking at my own hands in front of me.
Suddenly a hand grabbed mine and led me somewhere. I didn't know where, nor could I protest being led away because I was so terrified that I had lost Keira. 'Where was I ? Where am I now ? Where's Keira ?, I want Mum', all these thoughts whizzed through my head.
Steph's POV:
A group of us City girls had been out for a well deserved shopping break in Manchester after the intensity of the Euros and pre-season training. We were walking down the main street going slowly so we didn't get stuck in the tour group who were overly fascinated with the local buildings. I looked over to see if the tour group was going to move on or stay staring at some insignificant wall for a while when I spotted a young girl who looked very similar to Charlie standing alone with a scared look on her face, a shopping bag clutched tightly in her hand.
"That's Charlie!" Ellie called out. "What's she doing alone in the middle of Manchester?"
From just one look you could tell she was terrified, of what I don't know but I knew that at that moment she needed to be with someone she knew. Taking charge, I walked over and spoke to her. I didn't get a response and I don't think she even heard me. I grabbed her hand and led her into the nearby Starbucks. "Alex grab a strawberry lemonade" I said, remembering that was Charlie's favourite drink. She sped off to the desk while I brought Charlie to a seat and sat down, pulling her onto my lap. I wrapped my arms around her, rocking her back and forth while whispering that she was safe so as not to startle her. The other girls had followed us in and sat at the table beside us looking over concerned as Charlie occasionally whimpered while she was crying into my shoulder. Alex came over and put the drink on the table before sitting down opposite me and grabbing one of Charlie's hands, rubbing circles over her knuckles.
"Charlie can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked her in a gentle voice.
"Keira" was the only reply I got, barely audible had she not been sat on me.
Alex immediately took out her phone and dialed Keiras number, waiting about ten seconds before it was answered. "Alex is this important because I'm really not in the mood for a catch up right now" Keira's voice said through the phone. Charlie shifted on my lap to look up at me so I nodded at her to let her know that was actually Keira's voice. "Charlie is with us and she asked for you" Alex replied. Keira audibly sighed in relief before saying "Oh thank god, where are you?" "At the Starbucks we sometimes meet in" I said.
"I'Il be right there" was her reply before the line went dead. Charlie started to cry again obviously upset that Keira had ended the call.
Demi pointed to the drink on the table in front of me before saying to Charlie "I heard you love strawberry lemonade, because I do too, and I think that drink needs to be taste tested". with those words of encouragement, Charlie moved in my lap to face the table before grabbing the drink and gulping it down. She got about halfway done when I pulled it away from her stating "you're going to need the bathroom now." She huffed and leaned back into me, clearly more relaxed now having heard Keira's coming.
We all sat around the table, chatting quietly, until a fan approached us asking Alex for a selfie. Alex turned to the fan and complied before the fan ran off. Soon more fans started to approach us, and I could tell it was starting to bother Charlie as she shuffled closer into my lap. As I heard the doors open I spotted Keira coming through, looking frazzled. She spun around immediately spotting us and started walking over briskly. "Look who's here", I whispered to Charlie who peeked around and instantly detached herself from me, racing over to Keira and leaping into her arms. Keira held her tightly as she sat down beside me. "Thank you so much", Keira said as she held Charlie, who's tears had started falling again. "No need to thank us Kei", Ellie piped up. Keira nodded and rested her cheek against the top of Charlie's head.
We sat around as Charlie stayed out on Keira's lap, until the fans became too much and Keira nudged me and quietly said "we're gonna head home, thank you again for everything Steph". I nodded my head and peeked over at Charlie "bye bye Mini", I muttered to her, ruffling her hair. I watched as Keira walked out the cafe with Charlie still clutching her and the Primark bag.
