Roomies

Chapter 22

I’m 10 minutes away from my parents, driving with the music turned up in the car and the gift Niall bought my mother, wrapped, in the passenger seat.

Back home, when I got out of the shower, I thought Niall would be back with the gift but when he wasn’t, I got dressed and packed my stuff then I went out to the car and that’s when I saw the package. I figured that he had been called in for work or something, atleast the gift was there.

When I finally turned up on my parent’s driveway, I saw my father’s car and then one that I didn’t recognize, an F-TYPE coupe. It wasn’t my mum’s birthday until tomorrow so that any guests would arrive today seemed highly unlikely.

I parked the car and took the gift from the passenger seat then made my way inside. As I opened the door, I heard my mum laugh. It wasn’t one of those fake polite laughs, but a true one, which I didn’t hear that often and it sort of brought a smile to my face. I took my shoes and jacket off then went into the livingroom. My mum was sitting in one armchair and my father in the other and then there were 3 people in the couch with their backs facing me.

Both my father and my mum looked up at me and my mother basically ran over to and wrapped her arms around me, making me stretch both my arms out on either side of myself and I looked over at my father who laughed and walked over and grabbed the present from my left hand.

My mum let go of me and took her hands up to my cheeks and looked at me.

Mum: It’s a birthday miracle!

Stella: It is? I mean, I’m here often..

Mum: No not you… well you too but this.

She pointed over to the couch and then people in it stood up and turned around. It was two men; one was younger than the other, then a woman. They all looked very classy.

Stella: Hello…?

Mum: Stella, this is my sister.

She walked over to the woman and grabbed her arm and pulled her over to me. We shook hands and I kind of thought I heard my mum say that this was her sister.

Stella: Sister?

Mum: Yes! Mari meet Stella.

Mari: Nice to finally meet you Stella, your mother has been telling me a lot about you!

Stella: She has? I haven’t heard shit about you.

Yeah I have to confess that I talked before I thought about what I was going to say, but come on, my mum didn’t have a sister, did she?!

Mari laughed and gestured to the two men behind her. The older one was wearing a suit, it looked very expensive and when he shook my hand, I saw that his watch also was very expensive. His name was Nigel and judging from his looks, he was around 45. He had really nice brown hair and unusually a lot of it.

The other man introduced himself as Liam. But he looked nothing like Liam… well the Liam I met through Niall. This Liam was wearing a just as fancy suit as his father and his hair was brown too, he also had a very expensive watch on his wrist and I couldn’t help but think that that outfit looked so wrong on him and as he spoke, I noticed that he wasn’t speaking British.

Stella: Okay, Mari, Nigel and Liam… interesting. I’ll be right back; I have to get some water.

I said and left the room. I didn’t go into the kitchen, instead I went out of the house and over to my car. I opened the trunk and leaned in to take my bag and when I stood up again, Liam was standing next to me and I dropped the bag back into the trunk.

Stella: GOD! Do you mind?!

I said and gestured for him to move away from me a bit and he did, while keeping a smile on his lips.

Liam: I just wanted to see if you were okay.

Stella: I’m fine.

I grabbed the bag again and managed to get it out of the car this time. I closed the trunk then looked at him.

Stella: You’re their kid, right?

Liam: Well..

Stella: Then how come you’re not as British as them? Or British at all?

I looked down to my feet and put the bag down on the ground.

Liam: If you didn’t run out before we managed to speak, I would have told you.

Stella: Well here’s your chance.

Liam: You’re very… forward.

Stella: So sue me.

Liam: No, I like it. It’s unusual.

I looked up at him and he kept his hands in his pockets of the blazer while he tipped back and forth on his toes.

Stella: Okay… So are you going to tell me or not?

Liam: Sure. I’m actually not from England-

Stella: What?! Are you kidding me? I couldn’t have guessed that.

He laughed and leaned his head to the side.

Liam: Do you want me to tell you or are you going to keep interrupting?

Stella: Sorry…

Liam: I’m from New York from the start and-

Mum: Stella, Liam! It’s dinner!

Both I and Liam looked over to my mum and I nodded. She went back inside and I leaned down to take my bag but Liam managed to grab it before me.

Liam: I’ll help you.

Stella: I can manage.

I said and took the bag back then started walking towards the door again. Before we walked into the dining area, I turned to Liam and looked at him.

Stella: You still owe me an explanation.

Liam: How about lunch, tomorrow?

Stella: Can’t, a café tonight?

Liam: I don’t drink coffee.

Stella: You don’t have to drink coffee to be in a café.

Liam: Well then, the café tonight.

I nodded and walked into the dining room. My mum, dad, Jacob, Mari and Nigel was all sitting there and the dinner passed without any dramatic happenings. I actually found out that Mari and my mum hadn’t seen each other in 12 years because Mari left the country when she had lost her unborn baby and when she came back to the UK, she had no idea how to get in touch with my mum again because by that time, my mum had finally decided to take my father’s last name (a battle she fought until I asked her why she wouldn’t and she didn’t have a good enough response) and since both Mari’s and my mums parents were dead, there wasn’t really a way to get in touch.

That’s until Mari had asked for special help about 6 months ago and finally found my mum today, the day before her birthday. It was actually kind of sweet if you thought about it, two sisters who hadn’t seen each other for so long and now they are finally together again.

I also found out that Nigel worked for a big ass company back in New York and the reason to why they were in England was because they had just opened a new office here, but I didn’t waste any time remembering the name, all I knew was that it was important and had something to do with insurances.