Talia Hearts Who?!

Chapter 11

I’d gotten about two steps before a car pulled up. 

“Talia!” John shouted, running down the path towards me.

I stopped walking, and turned around to face him.

“Look, I am so, so, so sorry! Please, just let me explain, and then we can go,” he said, the expression on his face sorrowful and then hopeful. 

I couldn’t be so heartless as to say no to him. “Fine, explain then, how you could possibly be nearly 40 minutes late. I’m sure it’s a riveting tale.” Well, I was still mad at him after all. 

John sighed, and ran his hand through his light brown hair, a move that was probably calculated but was still hot as heck. “I’m really sorry. It was Drew’s fault - stupid idiot insisted that he and Tanya needed to ride with us, since it turned out they were going to the same gig. But instead of being a normal person, he thought that he could tell me this right as I was leaving to come and pick you up. And finally, he just decided not to mention the fact that Tanya lived like twenty minutes out of town, which is what made us so late.” 

I frowned, and peered around John slightly to get a better view of the car. Oh. I had been so busy talking to John (and, okay, looking at John too. The boy was good looking, alright?!) I hadn’t noticed the couple in the back seat of the car, sucking each other’s faces off. Lovely. 

“So now Drew and Tanya - both of whom I absolutely despise, by the way - are crashing our date? Maybe it would be better if I just stayed here and you guys went without me. I doubt they’re planning on surfacing long enough to notice if you leave without me,” I said flatly, turning around and walking back up to my doorway. 

I glanced back over my shoulder, just as I was twisting the door handle. Oh. That’s right. I’d told Mum about this date, (although, I neglected to mention that it even was a date. I felt that life would just be better for the both of us that way), and I’d mentioned that it was with John. My mother adored John, so she wasn’t at all worried about waiting up for me to arrive home, and had gone to bed, safe in the knowledge that I had the spare door key and a responsible adult making sure that I would make it home. But once Mum had gone to bed, Eliza had gotten a text, reminding her of a “study session”, (i.e party), that she desperately “needed” to go to. Eliza, being Eliza, was already late for this wee study session and had to grab the first set of keys she saw on her way out. It wasn’t until she got back home, she told me years later, that she found her usual set of keys (the only other house key we had) in her pocket. 

I sighed, my shoulders slumping, then turned fully around to face John again, who, was still there, watching me intently. “There is a new plan.” I stopped, suddenly realising the small flaw in my plan that I had overlooked. I had originally been going to ask John to drop me off at Keira’s house, so I could just spend the night with her, and not face the embarrassment of revealing my lack of keys. And have to try and break into my own home. But Keira still wasn’t speaking to me, and I really couldn’t just show up at their door without some kind of peace offering. Which I couldn’t exactly access, the perfect thing hidden deep in my wardrobe. 

“Talia?” John waved his hand in front of my glassy-eyed stare. “Are you going to reveal this mysterious plan to me or not? Because we,” he indicated himself and the couple still licking each other’s faces in the car behind him, “really need to get going to the gig.” 

I shook my head, and walked right up to John. “Right, sorry. I was just thinking up a new plan, since the old new plan won’t work.” 

John just rolled his eyes, and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the car. “You know what, just come with us, alright? I realise I’ve kind of ruined things, but you clearly don’t want to go home, and judging by your current lack of other ideas, you can’t think of anything else to do.” 

I glanced at his exasperated expression, and made up my mind. Maybe it would be awkward and weird, and there would be no snuggling up with John on a rug - going to the gig would be infinitely better than any alternative. I nodded, and hopped into the car, John getting into the driver’s seat at the same time. The two in the back didn’t come up for air the whole drive. 

Hey, sorry it's short, and sorry for the wait! If anyone's still reading this, then thank you so much for your patience, you are the best and deserve all of the cookies in the world x