Wonderwall

Chapter Twelve

When I stepped back into my house at one, the smell of melted cheese and ham floated towards me from the kitchen. I stepped out my black military boots before wandering towards the smell and looked around for anybody. But the grill was not grilling and the microwave not cooking.

'Mum?' I called out. I walked through the other door at the other end of the kitchen and walked into the lounge. My mum was sat on the sofa looking sheepish.

'Brianna.' She muttered, pushing a strand of brunette hair behind her pierced ear and looked over at a middle-aged man, with dark stubble. His hair was messy and he looked shocked to see a teenage girl stood in the doorway.

'I thought you were working? You walked out with Niall a few hours ago..' She mumbled, nibbling at her lip.

'Yeah to go to the park. I'm not working until tomorrow at eight..uhm who's this?' I nodded at the silent man who was shifting his body from left to right as though he had a snake in his dark denim jeans.

'Oh. Malcolm. Meet Brianna. My daughter. Brianna; this is Malcolm. He's come to fix the..uhm..stairs. Remember. They..broke?' Her eyes were wide. The stairs were perfectly okay, with the exception of a slight creak that everybody had gotten used to. We didn't have nearly enough money to fix the noise anyway. But the desperation in her voice, made me bite my lip and nod, forcing myself to smile.

'Oh yeah. Thanks, Malcolm.' I gave another smile at the two before walking out of the lounge and walking up the stairs, the creak echoing through the house.

* * *

My phone's screen lit up with a text and I grabbed for it, in hope of seeing Niall's name appear in small pixels. But instead, Aidan's name popped up.

Hey xx

Aidan had been there for me a lot since my father died, but even so, I was hoping for Niall to text. I text Aidan back a small 'Hi x'. But when he text 'How are you?xx' I turned over my phone at the boring text, only to be disturbed a few minutes later by my ringtone.

'Hello?' I pressed the mobile to my ear, a shiver shooting down my spine as the cold glass touched my skin.

 'Brianna' Aidan's deep voice came down the phone and I let out a sigh. He didn't care how I was. He just wanted some reason to talk to me. I could tell.

'Oh, so you don't hate me anymore?' I snarled. I bit my lip. I never liked falling out with Aidan, but the feeling that I had Niall to fall back on made me feel like I could say anything on my mind.

'I never hated you, Bri. I was just mad because..'

'Because I went to a party with employees from a place that you sent me to? Well sorry for making the most out of it, Aidan. Sorry.'

'Brianna, don't do this.' He mumbled. I put down my phone, without hanging up and stared at the wall, my lip close to bleeding now. Aidan didn't hate me. I knew that. We had never fallen out since the day my father died. Maybe before then, but not after. He'd always agree with me to keep us friends.

'Brianna' A muffled voice came from the face down phone that lay on my white lace bedding. I picked up the phone and pressed it to my ear once again.

'What do you have against Niall?' I asked. I heard him sigh from the other end of the phone.

'How long have you known me?' He muttered. I paused and thought back to 2001 when we were both six. When I broke my crayon in primary school and got upset. Aidan let me borrow his crayon and we'd been friends ever since.

We used to hold hands at the park whilst we went on the swings. It was fun and we'd have sleepovers under our duvets, telling each other secrets until we both fell asleep; close enough to hear each other's heartbeats.

'I don't know.' I said.

'Twelve years. We've known each other for twelve years, alright? And you'd rather trust some ex-criminal that you've known for about a week than your best friend that you've known since you were six? This is the first time we've fallen out in two years. The very first time. Let's just stop it before..'

'I don't need you anymore, Aidan. Niall's here for me. We've only known each other a week but he's been more supportive than you have been in two years.'

'Why? Because you fancy the shit out of him? Because you want his snog his face off?' Aidan's voice was louder and more angry. I'd never heard him like that before, so I was a bit taken back. But it was too late to back out.

'Niall's sweet. And..and he's done nothing wrong.'

'Except embarrass you in front of the employees? Take you to a party where you cut your hand open and pass out on the floor? Yeah, Brianna. He's perfect. You need to open your eyes'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

'It's supposed to mean that..that maybe the guy you think is so perfect is so wrong. And the guy you think is so wrong, is more right for you than you actually realize..'

Then the phone line cut off and I was left in the eerie silence of my bedroom.