Falling In Love

Chapter 27 • 2007

Aleasha

We all headed out to the restaurant where everyone was meeting and we were one of the first there. We waited in the car for a bit until other people started to arrive then we got out and said hello to everyone. I introduced Danny to my nan and she said to him, "You're a very lucky boy. Don't ever let her go!" to which I blushed, but then she carried on by saying to me, "Same goes for you! I imagine he's quite good in bed, what with those muscles!" before winking and walking off. Danny was wetting himself with laughter so I slapped him on the arm, trying to suppress a smile myself, to try and snap him out of it.

"Danny! Oh my god, I'm so sorry about my nan, she's - well, she's an old person. What did you expect?" I rambled, not quite sure how to follow up what she'd said.

"Not that! But I tell you what, she's not wrong!" He said with a cheesy grin and a wink...at which point my parents showed up behind us. We were uncontrollably laughing when we turned round but as soon as I realised they probably heard what I'd just said I stopped, composing myself and blushing whilst giving Danny he nudge he needed to stop laughing.

"So...um, you've met Christina then Danny..." Mum said. Christina was my nan.

"Yeah, lovely lady. Very honest too." Danny replied with a smile. I nudged him hard in the ribs, my face getting deeper by the second.

"Ha, always one for jokes aren't you Danny!" Dad said with a chuckle, obviously a bit uncomfortable about the situation too. I didn't blame him.

"Well I think we're next to you both in the seating arrangements so...we'll see you in there..." Mum said before walking off. As soon as they were out of earshot I slapped Danny on the arm a lot harder than before and said, "Okay, that was not funny! Those were my parents! It's bad enough they heard what my nan said, you didn't have to make it worse!"

"I can make it better later if you want..." He whispered, pulling me a bit closer to him. I giggled and pushed him away.

"Maybe. You'll have to be on your best behaviour though. No more talking about our private life to my relatives! What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. Especially after tonight." I said with a cheeky wink before walking off to the toilets and leaving him standing there with a hungry look on his face. I loved winding him up, it was hilarious.

The meal was absolutely delicious and it was so nice to see all of my family, most of which I hadn't seen since we'd moved to London. My parents seemed to have forgotten about earlier (well, unlikely, but they had at least put it out of their minds for now) and Danny got on so well with them. It was probably the longest Danny had spent with them so it was nice to see them talking and getting along better. At the end of the day we all went back to Cody and Lily's house for a little while. When it got to about seven o'clock Lily suggested getting a small portion of chips to share for a bit of dinner so she popped out with Dani to the takeaway shop. About half an hour later (although they still weren't back yet) Danny and I decided to go back to the B&B for an early night as we were leaving quite early in the morning.

We drove along the road for a few minutes before I decided that actually I was starving. I asked Danny if he was hungry and we agreed to stop off at the chippy and get a small portion ourselves. We were considering getting some with the others but decided not to, but I changed my mind. We turned round and parked the car in the car park by the precinct and got out.

"Oh wait, do we have enough cash?" Danny asked before we got very far.

"No I didn't bring any with me today." I replied.

"Oh well we'll have to get some from the cash machine then. Let's go." Then we turned back the other way and made our way towards the bank.

Danny suggested we went down the alley between the bookshop and the pizza takeaway as a shortcut.

"I'd rather not Danny, it's dark and late! It's not that much quicker anyway." I said, uneasy about going down a dark alley late at night.

"Come on, it'll be fine. Besides, I won't let anyone hurt you." He said as he pulled me in and walked with his arms round my shoulders. We walked down and I saw someone slumped against the wall.

"Danny, maybe we should turn back..." I suggested, worried it was a homeless person or some gang member that would attack us. I started tugging on his arm but he released his grip of me and started walking towards the figure.

"Wait...oh my god Aleasha, it's Lily!" He yelled as he ran and knelt down by her.

"What!?" I yelled and ran towards them. He was right. Lily was lying on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding her, dying the polystyrene chip containers red in the bag next to her.

"Danny what do we do..." I said through tears.

"Um, call an ambulance!!" He said as he took off his leather jacket and pressed it to her stomach. With shaking hands I took my phone out of my pocket and phoned for an ambulance.

"H-hello?" I stuttered.

"Ambulance services. What's the problem?" A lady spoke from the other end of the line.

"My sister in law is bleeding, she's unconscious, we just found her there..." I cried. My breaths were short and sharp as I cried, terrified and shocked.

"Is there anyone else injured?" She asked. Then I realised that Dani wasn't here. I lowered the phone down and cried to Danny.

"Where's Dani?!"

"Oh shoot, where is she? Dani! DANI!" Danny started to yell. I could hear the woman on the phone trying to talk to me. I put it back to my ear and talked to her again.

"My niece is - I don't know, she was with Lily but she's not here and I don't know where she is." Then Danny stood up and took off.

"Where are you going Danny?" I yelled.

"I'm going to find Dani!" He called back over his shoulder before he disappeared round the corner.

"Okay, can you tell me where you are sweetie?" The lady said to me as I cried.

"Um, we're in the alley between Waterstones and Dominos down Hardey Street." I said, closing my eyes and trying to concentrate.

"Okay, the ambulance is on it's way. Now you need to put me on speaker and put the phone on the floor." I did what she said.

"Done that?" She asked.

"Yeah." I replied, taking deep breaths.

"Good, now you need to calm yourself down so you can look after Lily. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now you need to put all your pressure on her wound, as much as you can..." She talked me through as I knelt by my dying sister-in-law in the middle of an alley...