I would love to live here," I said to myself as I stared out at the city. I took a sip of my water. "Wouldn't it be amazing?" I asked James.
"It would be," he agreed. We both stood there and just looked at the view for a good minute and thirty seconds before Jessica came into the room.
"What are you doing?" she asked. She was wearing her gym clothes and jogging on the spot.
"Looking at the view," I said. "Anyway, are you ready?"
She nodded and we made our way out of the apartment and down to the gym at the bottom of the complex. It was the middle of the afternoon so thankfully there wasn't anyone there.
"Are you still seeing Brooklyn?" she asked as she went over to a treadmill.
"Yeah," I said with a smile. "It's been about two months now."
"That's great," she said. "I remember my first boyfriend. We went out for the whole of my high school time. When I was about to leave to go to college he sat me down and told me he had been cheating on me for the past year."
"Right," I said after a while. "I forgot my headphones, I will be back down in a bit." I ran into the elevator before she could stop me and pressed the button I needed. However it got stopped by a teenage boy just as it was about to go up.
"Are you one of Harry's children?" he asked me.
"Uh, yeah," I said. "I'm sorry have we met before? It's just that I have a terrible memory."
"Very briefly once," he said. "You were on the way to the hospital with your brother I think. You probably didn't even notice though. How is he now?"
"He's fully recovered," I said with a smile. "Well it is nice to meet you. I'm Ella."
"I'm Jack," he said with a smile. The lift stopped on my floor and we both got out and started walking the same way. "This is me." He put his keys in the door oppposite ours. I went to get mine but they weren't there.
I knocked on the door but there was no answer. James must have popped out and Dad had to rush into work. I knew Jessica didn't have her keys with her either.
"Do you have a credit card I can borrow?" I asked Jack. He looked alarmed for a second. "It's to open the door with."
He reached into his pocket and handed me one. I slid it into the keyhole and shiggled it around for a few seconds before the door clicked open. I was so thankful my father had refitted the locks to have an old style lock.
"How do you know to open a door like that?" he asked me. "You're not a thug are you?"
"No," I said with a laugh. "I'm always forgetting my keys though so when I come home late or there's nobody home when I come home and my brother has to come and let me in, he gets annoyed. He taught me how to do about a year back. It's a very useful skill to have." I handed him back the card and walked inside the house. "Well, thank you."
"It wasn't a problem." We both clicked our doors shut just as my laptop started bleeping.
"Well hello," I said with a smile as I looked at Brooklyn. "How are you?"
"Bored," he said with a sigh. "When are you coming home?"
"Mum and Tyler are arriving tonight sometime," I said. "We're going out tomorrow night to celebrate the New Year and then I'm flying home the day after the James I think. So, two more days or something?"
"Good," he said. "I miss you. Were you in the middle of something?" He gestured towards my clothing.
"I just popped back up for my headphones and to get away from Jessica for a bit," I said with a laugh. "We've been in the gym. How's the weather?"
"Raining all the time." He popped some chocolate into his mouth.
"Don't," I said with a frown. "Jessica is on this diet thing and it is driving me insane. She's turned vegetarian for a month and has banned basically everything apart from fruit and vegetables from entering the apartment. I had a christmas dinner with no meat. I can't even order out because she doesn't have any self control but really needs to lose another five pounds."
"I'm sorry," he said with a grin. "I genuinely feel for you though. I couldn't live without meat."
"It's terrible," I said with a nod "I just want a KFC bucket but I can't."
I heard the door click open and James strolled in with shopping bags in his hand.
"I've got to go," I told Brooklyn. "I will speak to you tonight if I get a chance."
We hung up and I walked into the kitchen where James was putting away some food. "I've got us some meat." He held up a pack of chicken and a pack of beef. I ran up and grabbed the chicken off him.
"I love you so much right now," I told him as I hugged the chicken close to me. "What about Jessica?"
"She was on her way out when I saw her just now," he said with a shrug. "She says sorry but she had to go and do something and she only just remembered. She said she would be out for most of the day."
So, we spent the next hour eating our meat and bad food and watching TV. It was a good way to spend the day.
--
"I've got an offer for you Ella," Dad said as we ate our dinner that night.
"Go on," I said."
"I know you've got your last exams in a few months but what are you going to be doing in between that time and going to college?"
"I haven't figured anything out yet," I said with a shrug. "I still don't know when I am going to be taking a gap year."
"Well, why don't you move out here for a bit?" he asked. "You can come and work in my office, just doing general duties. My receptionist could do with some help. I would pay you a good wage. It will be a good opportunity for you."
"What about my friends?" I said. "I've got chances in London. I can't leave anyone."
"I'm just asking you to think about," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm not going to force you out here. We can negotiate a deal."
"Leave her be Dad," James said. "Come on, can't you see she is in the middle of her first love? You can't make her move halfway across the world and break up with him."
I whacked James on the arm but it didn't stop anyone. I stood up and put my plate in the dishwasher as it continued. "James is right Harry." Jessica joined in the discussion. "Don't you remember what you were like during your first love?"
"I just think it would be good for her to get away for a bit," Dad said with a shrug. "It would help her form a healthy relationship with her brother. You're more like Tyler's mother than his sister."
"That's because I spent the last three and a half years trying to bring him uo to be a good person," I said. "I had to deal with losing my brother while you were too busy sleeping around. Mum was working all the time. I was the only constant in his life." Dad went to say something else but I got there first. "I'm sorry I don't want him to die like Zac did."
I grabbed my phone from the table along with a jacket and a bag before running out of the apartment. I jumped into the elevator and headed for the ground floor. I could feel the tears running down my face but I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from there.
"I'm not going back in there," I said as James grabbed my arm. "I never want to see him again." I collpased into my brothers body and started sobbing.
