His Best Friends//S.M

1- A brown haired boy

|Originally Written: 26 March 2017|
|Re-written: 07/08 March 2018|

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Her bright eyes gazed anxiously at the smooth, red bricked house that cast a shadow over the driveway she stood on. The winter sun was only partially set behind it. Her new home's white-framed windows glistened in the low light and the trees either side of it swayed in the breeze. Cold, thick air felt like ice against the exposed skin on her ankles and it nipped at the tanned skin on her face.
Despite having moved thousands away from home to live with a family she'd never met, Jade felt a bubbling of ecstasy in her stomach.
The idea of having someone else around than her father excited her. Jade's father had met an 'incredible' English woman on a business trip — it was love at first sight, he told his daughter. Although her father had flown across the world to meet his new girlfriend multiple times, Jade was yet to be introduced.
To move in with someone she had never met before seemed like a ridiculous concept to the girl at first, but she trusted her father and so warmed to the idea after a while.
Being an only child, Jade was also excited to discover that the move brought with it a stepbrother too. She had rarely had female friends her whole life, so was used to hanging around with boys. He was 18, she was told, just a year older than her.
"Neil!" She heard a woman's voice exclaim, breaking her from her thoughts. She averted her eyes toward the wide-open front door, where a blonde haired woman stood.
The woman glanced to Jade's father, before looking to her with excitement radiating through her. "And hello Jade, it's very nice to meet you", she spoke with a wide, kind smile and a thick English accent.
"Good evening Adele."Jade heard her dad speak from behind her, before she pulled him into a brisk embrace.
"Hey, it's nice to meet you too." She gave Adele a small smile as she spoke, her Australian accent seeming stronger than ever in contrast to everyone else's.
The woman gave her a confused look, before pulling her into a warm hug.
"I can't believe I didn't even click that you would have such a harsh accent. I guess it's because your father's isn't so strong." Adele let out a slight chuckle and placed a comforting hand on Jade's upper arm.
"Anyway...come inside! Ethan is excited to meet you. He can help us move your stuff inside." Her father's girlfriend continued to speak with a warm smile and walked beside Jade into the large house.
As soon as they had entered the entrance to the house, Adele fastened her pace and walked quickly down the hall and towards the long, wooden staircase.
"They're here, come downstairs!" She shouted. After a couple of seconds, the three of them downstairs could hear footsteps across the wooden-floored upstairs landing. Another moment passed and a brown haired boy, with as kind smile as his mother had, bounding down the steps.
The Australian girl gave him a small smile, before Adele spoke again, "Jade, this is my son..." she gestured towards him,
"Ethan." He finished her sentence and held his arm out towards Jade. She extended hers also and shook his hand confidently.
"Now you've met each other, lets bring your things inside." Neil said with a smile and put his arm around Jade, beginning to walk back outside, as the other two followed close behind them.
The group reached the filled, grey car and opened the boot. The two adults took a few boxes inside together, while chatting quietly, leaving the teenagers alone outside.
The girl rifled around her possessions for a moment, before plucking out a large, cardboard box.
"Could you take this please?" She handed it to him, "but be careful with them." She gave him a pleading look and he nodded in return. Ethan began walking away from her, but turned back round to her.
"Why? What's in here? —if you don't mind me asking." He questioned, his arms firmly around the box.
"No, of course not." Jade smiled, "take a look if you want, I don't mind." Ethan carefully took one hand away from the base and lifted the lid, his eyes lit up at the sight of numerous disc cases, all of which marked 'PS4' at the bottom.
"You're into gaming! That's great." He replaced the lid in it's original position and looked back up to her, "I am too."
"Awesome." Jade giggled, "it's pretty much all I used to do back home—when I wasn't sunbathing anyway. I suppose I won't have the option here." She glanced up at the darkening sky and was unpleasantly reminded of the freezing cold climate in England.
"Me too." He let out a laugh and Jade noticed how infectious it was. She knew at that point that she would find it easy to get along with him.
Jade picked up a box also and walked along side him back into the house, "Once we've taken everything inside, how about I beat you at Fifa?" He asked, a mischievous smirk on his face.
She let out an exaggerated cackle, "Are you serious?" The girl looked at Ethan with raised brows, "I could beat you with my eyes closed—just you wait."
He raised a brow at her also and shook his head, "Don't bet on it." He chuckled again, causing her to also.

Once all of her boxes were in her bedroom and the most important ones were unpacked, Ethan and Jade sat down on the long, cream sofa that faced the television, a PlayStation controller in each of their hands.
The both of them were desperately focused on the screen, as their fingers glided over the buttons quickly.
After only five minutes of playing, the game was blatantly going in Jade's favour.
"Two-One to me!" Jade yelled, as she scored for the first time. "To think you said you could beat me." She showed a cheeky smirk.
"It's not over yet." Ethan mumbled, letting out a frustrated sigh.
They played for multiple more minutes, the game ending 5-2 to Jade. She giggled joyfully, knowing she had beaten him easily.
"Fine, you beat me." He glumly admitted, tossing his controller onto the sofa beside him. He leant back and rubbed his face.
"And I bet I could again." Jade spoke with a large, mischievous grin. He smiled slightly and shook his head.
"You should meet my friends, I wouldn't be surprised if you beat them too." He spoke confidently and she was overwhelmed that after just a couple of hours he was already planning to introduce her to his friends. She felt at home with this family already.
"Yeah...I'd love to." Jade smiled cheerfully and revived a gratefully warm one in return.
"I'm going to get a drink...you want one?" Ethan questioned, "I'll show you where everything is if you like?" He offered, giving a slight shrug. Jade nodded tentatively.
The both of them walked across the cream, lounge carpet and into the hall. She examined the purple-grey walls and the filled picture frames that covered them. Jade noticed an image of Ethan and a group of boys around his age. They all stood in a line with the same designs on their t-shirts; all seven of them read 'Sidemen'. Jade opened her mouth to ask who they were, but was interrupted by Adele, who walked into the kitchen behind them.
"I'm glad you two are getting on well." The blonde haired woman smiled at the two teenagers, glancing between them. "Ethan taking care of you?" She asked, her bright green eyes wide.
Jade hummed in agreement, "He can't beat me at fifa though." They both giggled and Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Sprite or Diet Coke?" Ethan enquired, as he looked up at Jade from the refrigerator.
"Diet Coke, please." She replied.
He nodded to himself, as he reached into the fridge and pulled out her chosen drink.

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A/N- The first part is now rewritten, which means I am now a lot happier with this story.
Thank you for reading, please comment & vote.
-G xx