Run [Stereo Kicks/ James Graham]

Chapter 14

Streets stretched out in front of us, and I heard Leo inhale sharply. "You know where you are?" Charlie inquired.
"Y-yeah." Slowly, Leo drifted to the building by us, trailing his fingers down the wall. There was silence for a few minutes, until he spoke quietly, "It's been eight years."
"Well, let's see if your parents are home, right?" I nudged Leo, breaking him out of his trance. He laughed, leading the way through the streets, where we only encountered a few people, who sent us curious and questioning looks.
"It used to be a quiet place, where everyone knew everyone, but I'm not sure how it's changed." Leo explained as he led us down another street. "It's just-"
"Leo?" The sharp shriek made us turn around. A middle-aged woman was standing by her house, hands over her mouth, a basket by her feet as though suddenly dropped. "Is that you?"
"Aunt Sara?" Leo's face split into a wide grin. "Are mom and dad still living here?"
"Of course, they wanted to be available incase you ever returned." Sara, I presumed her name was, said, waving down the street. "It was so hard on them, you have no idea how pleased they'll be that you're back."
"Thanks, I really should go see them." As we continued down the street, Leo let out a nervous breath before stopping someway down. "Here." His house was quaint, a light blue car parked on the driveway, the lawn well kept.
"We can go now if you want?" Jake offered gently.
"I couldn't just send you all that way back without the potential of a cup of good old Yorkshire tea." Leo grinned, and we laughed, breaking the tension as Leo knocked firmly on the door.
The door opened, revealing a woman who had black hair that fell to her shoulders in waves, and blue eyes. Her features were soft, but hardened to an indecipherable mask when she saw Leo. "I'm dreaming." She muttered. "ZAC!" Heavy footsteps, before a man who had startling similar features to Leo appeared.
"Leo." He said cordially. "Nice of you to pay your dear old parents a visit after eight years." Suddenly, Leo's mother wrapped him in a tight hug, and we smiled, backing off slowly.
"Wait!" She cried out. "Please, come in. You returned my baby boy to me."
"I'm eighteen!"
"As I said, you returned my baby boy, I'm forever grateful. Please, please, come in." She invited the nine of us into the house, and we all sat down over the sofa, leaving the loveseat and armchair free for the small family. I balanced on the arm, James, Casey and Barclay sitting on the actual sofa, Charlie on the other arm, and Jake, Tom and Chris sat at their feet. Sending me a wink, Reece shoved me off the arm into James's lap, sitting down where I had been. Flushing lightly, I forced myself to focus on Leo's family, who were all sending me knowing looks.
"You could've asked if you were that desperate." James murmured in my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist, letting me get comfortable against his chest.
"You can call me Beth, do you all drink tea, or would you rather have coffee?" Beth, Leo's mom, asked once we were settled.
"Tea's fine." We all agreed.
"Very good, Leo, go find some more chairs with your father for Heaven's Sake." She bustled into the kitchen as Tom assured Leo and Zac that they needn't bother because we were used to piling up together.
"Of course, wouldn't want to move the lov- anyone, that is, if you're comfortable." Zac looked at James and I as I went bright red, thankful that James couldn't see my face. Casey, who had Jake sitting on his feet, started to bit his lip like he did when he was about to laugh. Jake tipped his head back, catching his eye, before they both burst out laughing.
"Here, I'll help." Barclay leaned forwards, producing some duct tape and wrapping it around their mouths, several times around their heads so they wouldn't be able take it off easily.
"Day, mo hair!" Casey mumble-shouted through the duct tape. Grumpily, they both flopped down, smiling slightly when we all laughed at them.
"Zac, could you carry some of these cups through?" Beth called from the kitchen.
"Oh, I'll get some, don't worry." Chris sprung to his feet along with Charlie, and they went into the kitchen together. As an afterthought, Reece went after them, knowing it would be difficult to carry twelve cups between three, then Tom trailed after. I would've helped, but I really didn't want to leave the warmth enveloping me from behind, as I was very comfortable on James's lap, his arms around me, leaning against his chest.
"Good job Jake didn't go." James said idly.
"I think he said 'why not?'." Tom translated the babble through tape from Jake.
"Because he's too short to see over the mugs and might get tea on this carpet when he tripped." James nudged the carpet with his foot, as we laughed, Jake exclaiming as indignantly as he could while partially muted.
"You'll have to forgive me for not knowing how nine strangers exactly like their tea, so just ask for sugar or milk, darlings, I don't mind at all." Beth helped hand a mug to everyone, James holding his in my lap as his arms were still around me, much to my not quite-so-secret delight.
"We know, we'll help." Reece took the milk, Tom the sugar, and they dumped some accordingly into our cups.
"D'you have sugar or not?" Tom asked me.
"One." I grinned thankfully as he did as I asked, before taking careful note that James had a little milk and no sugar. It might've been useful information for the future, so I stored it.
"Do tell us your names, then." Zac asked once we were all seated, Leo with his legs tucked up into the armchair, his parents side by side on the loveseat.
"Reece, you start." Tom prodded his leg from where he was sitting on the floor.
"You're Reece, then?" Zac chuckled as Reece nodded.
"James."
"Amelia."
"K-shay."
"That was Casey." Leo filled in for Beth and Zac.
"Barclay."
"Charlie."
"Chris."
"..."
"Jake." Leo explained.
"Tom."
"You'll have to forgive us if we forget some of your names." Beth smiled at us. "But I have to ask, how come you know Leo, and where in the world were you?"
"London." Leo said simply. "Amelia was part of the kidnapping a few years ago, so she ended up in London as well. That was when I was fifteen, and she was thirteen, barely alive when I found her, so I sort of took her in. A short while ago, Amelia bumped into Reece, but ran again. Basically, they're twins, and Reece was performing with these lot because they're a band, and then Amelia went back to find him, but came to find me again and drove up here."
"We'll have to have more details later, but I'm most grateful." Beth sighed happily.
"We both are." Zac confirmed. After a bit more prodding, Leo told them more about his life for the past eight years, and I helped, throwing in as much as I could remember.
"Sir, ma'am, I do pray you don't judge your son in any way for what he has been forced to do for both of our survival's." I said quietly. "London is a harsh place."
"Please, don't address us so formally, and I could never judge my son. He's my baby, he always will be, even though he now seems taller than me even when he wasn't at ten." Beth laughed softly. "It's getting late afternoon. If you're heading back to London, it will take you a while, especially if there's traffic. There's not enough space in here, but we could pay for you to stay somewhere for the night."
"We won't take your money." Charlie denied pleasantly.
"It's fine, I assure you, we have drivers, we can sleep in the minibus if it gets too late." James said, and I could feel him speaking by the slight vibrations against my back.
"If you're sure. Leo, if you want to stay in touch with them, you can take their numbers if they don't mind, we'll buy you a phone as soon as possible." Zac said, so Jake set about copying our numbers from his phone onto a piece of paper that they gave him, while Casey started to unpeel the duct tape from his face. Unfortunately for him, it'd stuck in his hair.
"I do pray we haven't been a bother to you, but I'm sure having these pair, the noisiest of them all, muted, has helped our case." Barclay chuckled gently as I giggled at Casey's sharp glare, leaning over to help him.
"No bother at all, I'm glad Leo has some friends as it's been some years since he's seen his others." Beth bit down on her lip, a frown forming lightly on her face. "Anyway, we mustn't keep you. It's been an honour to have you here.
"It's been a pleasure." Chris shook hands with Zac and Beth then Leo, leaving first. The rest of them all shook hands, trickling out of the door. After I shook both their hands, I turned to Leo, sighing sadly. Leo smiled, wrapping me up in a tight hug, and I squeezed him back.
"Bye." I whispered.
"For now. Stay strong, remember what I said." Leo released me.
"Don't get upset, he's okay now, thanks to you." Reece slung an arm over my shoulders, sensing that I needed support from my twin more than anybody else at that moment. Our silent conversation continued, me telling him I was worried, and him telling me to shut up.
Simultaneously, we burst into laughter, earning strange looks off the rest of the boys. "I worry about them pair, sometimes." Charlie shook his head.
"Ned dher bin loinc." Jake mumbled.
"What?" James laughed.
"Ghind luint!" Casey stressed.
"Des!" Jake exclaimed, bumping Casey. "Noind pinx!"
"Right..." Tom nodded slowly, making us all laugh again.
"Come on, it isn't much further." Reece murmured as I yawned.
"What time is it?" I asked Reece.
"About three o'clock, that's all, but it'll take quite a while to get back down, probably four, four and a half hours." He shrugged. "Then again, the traffic will get bad just as we hit the motorway so it might take six."
"Great." Rolling my eyes, I jumped into the minibus after Casey, sitting down again. Both Casey and Jake were attempting to get the duct tape off, and Barclay and Tom sat in the front with them again, laughing at them.
Chris, Reece, Charlie, James and I clambered through to the back, sitting down again but moving over so that there wasn't a seat in the middle, leaving a window seat by Chris.
"Apparently the traffic's really bad, boys, so don't go loopy or try to fall asleep or something." Tom instructed them, and I let out a slight cough. "Yeah, it's only them lot which are stupid so it wasn't me forgetting you, Amelia." At this, I started laughing at their indignant faces.
"Here." James offered me one of his earphones again, so I put it in my ear again, leaning against him and shutting my eyes. We both dozed as the music played softly in our ears, until I eventually slipped into sleep.