Looking forward, not back (OMIMB SEQUEL.)

> 10 <

'Leah, you've got to come over to mum's! We got the photo albums out, your teenage blue eye shadow phase is absolutely pukka! ;)' I look at my phone to see this text message from Olly...I can almost smell the sarcasm.

'Would love to Ols but I'm ordering stuff for the baby's room!' I immediately text back and drop my phone next to me on the couch, scrolling through the mother care website while Alex is at work. I hear my phone's alert go off and I look at my screen, 'Pleaseeeeee, the baby has a room for the next five months! They can wait a little while!" I laugh at Olly's plead for me to go to mum's and switch off the laptop, placing it in the tabletop drawer.

'I'll be there in ten,' I quickly text Olly and shove my phone into my jeans pocket, I rub my small bump that has formed over the past few weeks and grab the car keys. "You ready to see your mum's embarrassing emo stage?" I say, directing it to the baby but realising I must have looked crazy as an elderly woman sitting on the bench outside my house stares at me.

Probably questioning my mentality.

I jump into my beat up car and switch the radio on, "Next up Olly Murs!" The radio presenter says...gosh I can't seem to get away! I laugh to myself and connect my phone to the radio, immediately blasting the charts, skipping a few songs here and there.

'WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK' I yell along to the song, dancing as much as I legally can while driving. I stop at the red light and immediately break out into some dance routine that seems to pop out whenever I hear this song, I stop when I feel eyes on me and look to my left to see a family of five watching me from the next car, the kids in the back laughing while the adults in the front almost get whiplash from looking away and pretending they weren't watching in the first place.

I feel my face flush red and thank the Gods that the light turns green almost straight away, allowing me to speed away from this awkward situation.

I pull up at mum and dad's house and get out of the car, double checking...then triple checking that I'd locked it. "Hey guys?" I yell into the house as I open the door...will they ever learn to lock it? I could be anybody!

"I'm upstairs!" I hear Olly yell, "The parents are outside sunbathing!" "Sunbathing? It's not even sunny outside!" I yell back, "Yeah I know...weird people." I hear Olly say back.

I stroll into the garden to look for mum and dad...true to his word, Olly was right, I see them both on separate sunbathing chairs, sunglasses and swimwear on...soaking up this non-existent heat I guess.

"Hey mum, hey dad!" I say, swiftly giving them both a kiss on the cheek, "I didn't know you were coming down?" Mum says. "Yeah well I didn't know that apparently cloudbathing is a thing now." I laugh as I hear dad chuckle from behind me, "just soaking up the sun before we get the awful rain again!" Mum replies. "Um...guys...I am wearing a t-shirt, hoodie and a coat...and I'm STILL cold." I say seriously. "Oh that's just the young skin on you," Dad laughs.

"Your brother's upstairs," mom gestures towards the house, "Yeah...about that...WHO thought it was a good idea to let him get his hands on the photo albums?" I ask, ready to put the blame of my death of embarrassment on someone.

"I've always waited for this day that we'd look back on these albums!" Dad says joyfully, guilt washes through me as I see how happy it makes him and I decide to drop the subject. "Right....well have fun, don't forget your cloud cream...wouldn't want you to get cloud burnt now would I?" I laugh, strolling back into the house.

"OLS. HANDS OFF THE ALBUMS." I scream, running up the stairs and leaping onto my older brother, "Shit Leah that was so unnecessary!" Olly laughs. "If I have to tell you about your language one more time...I do not need Lola-Rose or Harry hearing that!" I scold him playfully as Olly puts his hands up. "Sorry sorry!"

Olly slides across the floor, giving me some space to sit down, "gosh that bumps making a move now isn't it?" He says, looking at my stomach, "You're telling me...I don't know what's worse, the morning sickness or the back pain!" I groan. I then quickly add, "what pictures have you found to embarrass me right now then?"

Olly pulls out around eleven pictures, "The last picture is my absolute favourite," he chuckles as I flick through the photo's filled with pictures of me looking away from the camera and a tacky edit placed over it. I eventually get to picture eleven, "oh my god."

I cringe as I look at a picture I had taken of myself looking out of the car window at the raindrops with a usual tacky edit placed over it...the worst part was the caption that I had taken from a Mike Posner song...

'It sure seems, you got no doubt, but we all see, you've got your head in the clouds.'

"Leah PLEASE tell me how that quote was even remotely relevant to a picture of you watching rain on a car window?" Olly keels over in stitches, laughing hard...real hard. My face burns of embarrassment and I can't help but laugh at the cringe worthy picture. "It was my favourite song at the time; leave my 17 year old self alone!"

I laugh as Olly laughs harder, "FUCK I FORGOT YOU WERE SEVENTEEN DAMN I THOUGHT YOU WERE LIKE FOURTEEN THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH BETTER!" I ignore his language as tears stream down my face from laughter. "I hate you!" I squeal.

Once we have calmed down we both go through the albums together, laughing at some, crying at others. "What's this one?" Olly mutters, pulling out a small black album and looking through it, "oh...oh shit," he whispers and places the book next to him on the floor, reaching for the next album in the box.

"What was that?" I ask Olly softly, "Nothing," he replies back. "Ols, let me see," "I don't want you to, you don't need to." He sounds like a whiny child. "Is it my stuff or your stuff?" I ask, coming to a realisation of what it might be. Olly lowers his head slightly, "...yours."

I pick up the book from next to Olly, glaring at him when he tries to snatch it back and open it. My stomach lurches as I look through the pictures. It was all the pictures of my injuries and scars that Nathan had caused that we had to take for the police. "I forgot how bad they were..." I mumble, "Do you still have the scars?" Olly asks gently, "every single one." I reply.

I take a deep breath and drop the album back down into the box, "Nope. None of that. Not today. Next album!" I clap, winking at Olly who smiles at me sympathetically, he looks down into the box. "LEAH!" I almost jump out of my skin.

"WHAT?!" I scream back as Olly pulls out a bright small box, "Sorry," Olly chuckles, "It says Leah, you should open it." I actually had no idea what this could even be. "Um. Okay."

I slowly open the box, choking at the dust that flies through the air. I look into the box to see a few pictures of a baby and attached to them is a baby wristband. I pick up the pictures and look at the tags on the bottom, 'Beautiful Leah May Murs," and the dates of my birth attached.

"OLS! IT'S ME!" I fling myself at Olly, showing him the pictures, "I'VE LITERALLY NEVER SEEN BABY PICTURES OF ME TILL NOW...HOW HAVE I NEVER NOTICED."

I slowly look through the pictures, I was a chubby little baby with rosy red cheeks and bright blue eyes, I see a picture of me on my own, me with mom and dad, nan and granddad, Fay, Ben and finally, "OLS IT'S ME AND YOUWHEN I WAS BORN!" I squeal as Olly grabs the photo from me, "now this is cute!" He says, snapping a quick picture and uploading it to facebook while I hold my baby wristband, looking at the details on it.

I can't wait to show Alex.