Living In The Shallows (UK Crush #1)

Chapter Thirty-Three

A few days later, Ronan, Matty, Geth and I took a tour of Tokyo with the film crew, while Teddy begged off, citing nebulous "stomach issues"; when we returned for an evening of pizza, sushi, and ice cream, however, he seemed fine. We all gathered and watched The Two Towers after. I cried during the scene where Smeagol talked to Gollum and told him to "leave now, and never come back".

I was sitting on the sofa between Teddy, who was on the end, and Gethin, with Matty on the other end. "Hold on, everyone, here come the waterworks," Teddy announced when I started sniffling. I punched his arm, which, as usual, did nothing; he put it around me and pulled me in, and I pulled my legs up on the sofa, snuggling my knees into him. Teddy put his hand under my leg, holding the bottom of my thigh, rubbing it gently. I fleetingly hoped Matty couldn't see.

Gethin gave Ronan, who as usual was camped out on the floor, a nudge with his foot, and jerked his chin in our direction. Ronan looked up at us, looked back at Geth, and wordlessly got up, got the down comforter off my bed and flicked it down over Geth, Teddy, and me. Gethin nodded his thanks and Ronan nodded back. The entire exchange had taken ten seconds and had been handled with a near telepathic level of communication.

After I started crying in earnest, Matty wordlessly pulled a tissue from the box at his elbow and passed it to Geth, who handed it to me. Teddy took it and held it for me to blow. I found this habit very endearing, and wondered if it was an example of United Kingdom chivalry, or if it was specific to this group of boys.

After the movie, we kissed our goodnights, and I was brushing my teeth when I got a text from Teddy.

"In the hallway. Let me in?"

I remembered the last time I'd gotten a text like this from him, so I was a little nervous as I opened the door, toothbrush still in my mouth. "I'm already in my pjs," I said through a mouthful of toothpaste as I stood aside to let him in.

"Hey, me too," he said with a smile. He came in, carrying in his hands two shopping bags with the Mitsukoshi logo on them. Mitsukoshi was one of Japan's premier department stores.

"Did you go shopping?" I asked. He nodded. "Alone? How did you get there? Weren't you recognized? How did you communicate? How did you know where it was? What did you get? How—"

He interrupted me. "Enough with the questions, Jesus! All in good time."

Fine. I could be patient. I shrugged and continued scrubbing my teeth.

"LOVE your nightshirt, it's the shit!" he said with a grin.

I was wearing an extra large UK Crush T-shirt, from five or six years ago, when the boys were all babies. They were darling, young, energetic, jumping in the air. I loved it. "Look how adorable you guys were!"

"Were? Some people still think we're pretty cute, you know," he said, following me into the bathroom to watch me spit.

I rinsed and turned around. "You are," I said, as I passed him. "So, what's in the bags?"

He set them on the bed. "They're a little present I got for you, actually."

I inclined my head toward the bags, and he nodded, so I approached them, and pulled out the contents of the first one.

It was filled with sweaters, four of them, in all colors, beautiful sweaters, made of cashmere, with the most beautiful beadwork. The other bag contained four more, in four more colors, very similar in style to the one I'd lost, though of course much more costly. Mine hadn't been cashmere.

It was overwhelming. I must have been looking at over three thousand dollars in merchandise; Mitsukoshi wasn't inexpensive, and prices in Tokyo were outrageous. I looked at him, back at the beautiful pile of wool on the bed, and back at him. Predictably, my eyes filled. He stood, arms folded at the elbows behind his back, smiling with pleasure at my response.