Second Shot (Bastille)

11: Like a funky fanfare for my favourite brother

*April 2013*

*Dan's POV*

"Hey, how busy are you this weekend?" I asked Freddie, dropping onto the sofa next to her and taking her moving her laptop away from her.

"Depends on how much work you stop me from doing today," she teased, retrieving her laptop and saving the editing she was working on. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well uh, my family do these uh, big get together things: aunts, grandparents, the lot. There's lots of food- too much food- and lots of music. So I was just wondering if-"

"Yeah. I'd love to." Freddie beamed and quickly kissed my cheek.

Saturday Afternoon

"Okay." I clapped my hands together as we climbed out of the car and made our way up to my parents house. "So it's gonna be pretty full-"

"I'm ready" She grinned confidently, catching me by surprise slightly, and took a tight hold of my hand. I lead her up the path and knocked on the door, it took a while for someone to answer until my aunt Cathy pulled the door open.

"Ah Dan! How are you?" She exclaimed, talking over the chatter that was coming from the house and bringing me into a welcoming hug "It's been too long since I saw you last, come on in, everyone's all scattered around." Then she looked at Freddie and smiled widely "You must be Freddie, I'm Cathy- Dan's aunt- Amelia, Dan's mother, has been so excited to properly meet you, we're yet to here a bad thing about you." Freddie caught my eye and smirked proudly. Shaking my head, I tried to hide my embarrassment and guided Freddie into the house which was full with family members, barely making it through the front door before two of my uncles- my dads brothers- stuck their head out of the living room and said hello to us. Eventually, we made it into the kitchen where my mum and dad were surrounding the oven; stirring sauces and slicing vegetables. "Look who's here!" Cathy announced, making my parents look over their shoulder and smile excitedly. Mum hurried across the room and entangled me in a longing embrace before pulling away and subtly scolding me for not arriving earlier- even though it had only just turned 1- however, her stern words quickly dissolved when she saw Freddie. 

"Freddie, nice to officially meet you. It's lovely to have you over, we've heard so many wonderful things about you" She soon contained her enthusiasm; composing herself and brushing wild strands of dark hair out of her face. "Sorry it's a bit chaotic in here, though what can you expect when you're feeding 10+ people?" Freddie smiled understandingly and looked around the room. 

"Is there anything I could do to help?" 

"Oh no don't worry about that! You're here as a guest, go on, get Dan to get you a drink, sit outside and say hello to everyone" Mum turned back on her heel and continued to lean over the stove, carefully watching the five saucepans that were giving off powerful aromas of meats and spices.

"And that's my mother" I whispered to Freddie, making her giggle quietly. "Drink?" I offered, moving towards the fridge. She nodded, asking what we had. Once we had two glasses filled with wine, I lead Freddie through the extension where someone was crouched in front of the speaker, flicking through a stack of CD's. "Quick! Dan's here hide all the funk albums!" I exclaimed loudly, making the person rapidly spin round, an amused grin spreading across his face.

"Aw, I was gonna blast it loud and proud for your arrival, like a funky fanfare for my favourite brother" He joked, flicking his hair out of his face.

"I'm your only brother Oli." I retorted bluntly before turning to Freddie who was stood at the side, watching the scenario play out humouredly. "Freddie, you remember Oli, my little brother who wastes he's brilliant intellect on the daily task of trying to piss me off"