Colder than ice

'When you love someone, you open up your heart'

Sunday January 15th, 2012

'Not feeling school tomorrow.' The redhead mutters, tugging at the duvet, wrapping it around her naked body, as the guy stands by the mirror. 'Can we ditch?' She begs him, as he chucks her an old t-shirt, and a clean pair of knickers she had left in his wardrobe. 'I haven't done my homework, and it's too cold for a detention.' He smirks. 'And I don't like history, or Maths.'

'Sadly not, we have to go.' He walks around the bed, pulling the cover from underneath her arse, as she pouts, slipping the t-shirt that lay next to her on, and pulling the pants up. 'Hey, you need to share.' He grins, pulling her down with him as he lays in the bed. 'You have a hickey on your neck.'

'Please say you're joking.' She turns around to him. 'Jesus Joe.' She grabs the mirror at the side of the bed. 'That's huge.' He looks smug, as she gives him the evil eye. 'How the hell is that going to be gone by tomorrow?'

'Who cares?'

'Uh me.' She stares back at it, her heart sinking the more she looks at it. 'What the fuck do I do Joe?'

'Wear it with pride.' The glint in his eye makes Dianne want to punch him even more. 'It's not like it's a secret.'

'Yes, well I don't want everyone knowing.' She had heard the names that they had called Lauren when she came in with a hickey. She didn't want everyone looking and staring at her, judging her. Sure, the collared shirts would hide the little ones on her collar bone, but the massive one on the side of her neck would make a fairly awkward conversation. The only saving grace with the hickeys is that she doesn't have PE, or dance tomorrow. Hopefully, they will disappear by Tuesday, or at least turn to the yellow colour that shows that the bruise is fading. It was much easier to cover if that was the case. Right now, the angry purple and blue bruise could not be disguised in any way, if she put concealer over it, it would still show. She wasn't angry at Joe, not really. She was embarrassed.

'Everyone already does.'

'I am going to have to sit there in history tomorrow, right in front of the devil, with a giant hickey on my neck.' She runs a hand through her unbrushed hair, her hand getting slightly tangled. 'How am I even going to get it past my mum and dad?' She bites her lip. 'And I've got to see yours, fuck my life.' She falls back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He rolls his eyes, sure that she doesn't need to be this dramatic about a hickey. He had given her plenty of hickeys in the past, but none of them visible to anyone but him. 'Jesus Joe. What am I going to-do?' He can hear her voice crack, and he suddenly feels bad that he gave her the hickey. He knew, while he was doing it, that it probably wasn't the smartest idea, but they were too caught up in the moment.

'I'll google it.' He suggests, getting out his phone. She stands up, as he googles how to get rid of a hickey. She knows she needs to get changed into some of her own clothes, she's supposed to come home tonight, her parents had their friends over, they had come from Thursday-Tuesday, both her and Andrew had given up their bedrooms, Andrew staying at Mel's and Dianne staying at Joes, they were supposed to be having dinner tonight, but at this rate she won't be going. 'Toothpaste.' He says out of the blue. 'They say toothpaste is the best remedy for a hickey, I'll find mine.' She nods, as he searches through the cabinet by his bed, looking for her hairbrush. She starts to comb through the mess that is her hair, wincing as she tugs at the knots. He finally finds what he was looking for, as she puts her hair up in a bun. He liberally applies the toothpaste, neither of them sure if this would work.

He knows that if she goes downstairs, his parents won't say anything. Not while she's there, but they would tell him off when she's gone. They did the same to Zoe, when she came home from Alfie's with a huge hickey two weeks previously. He also knew that Dianne doesn't want to face her parents with a massive hickey on her neck, that could lead to many awkward conversations. He turns the TV on, telling his girlfriend that he will be back in a minute, shoving his stray tracksuit bottoms and a white T-shirt on, and padding gently to his sisters' room, knocking on it quietly.

'Come in.' She shouts, as he opens the door and poking his head round. She's sitting at her desk, doing some work. 'Oh, it's you, what do you want.' He goes over and sits on her bed,

'I have a problem.' He starts, as she turns around.

'You've not got Dianne pregnant, have you?' He shakes his head, why would she even think that? He daren't even think about the shit that he would be in if he got his girlfriend pregnant, a hickey on her neck would be the last of his problems.

'No, but I've given her this awful hickey and she needs to get rid of it.' Zoe rolls her eyes, grinning slightly. If the positions were reversed, Joe knows that he wouldn't be able to resist winding his sister up over it. He just hoped that his sister was kinder than he was.

'Why did you do that?' He shrugs, as she laughs. 'What have you tried?'

'Toothpaste.'

'That should do it and use concealer.' He nods slightly, making a mental note of this.

'Thanks' He makes his way to the door.

'And Joe, next time make sure you don't leave one where everyone can see, it's embarrassing for us.' He flip's her off, going back to his room, to find Dianne back under the covers. He goes and gently lays with her, catching the end of the coronation street omnibus.

'Zoe says toothpaste would work.' He grabs her hand, 'And I am really sorry.' She smirks.

'It's okay, because it means we aren't going to school tomorrow.' She tells him. 'I'm not arguing with you, we are going to have a duvet day.' He doesn't protest, bringing her into a cuddle and resting his head on her shoulder.

'I love you Dianne Claire Buswell.' He can feel her smile, as she wriggles around a bit, adjusting to the new position.

'I love you too Joseph Graham Sugg.'

A/N Thoughts? Couldn't resist doing this chapter.... Also if you haven't noticed it's a double update 👌🏻✌🏻