All of this past

Home again

"Li? It's me. Listen, that stupid management meeting is running late, so I won't make it back to yours before six, shall I meet you straight at Gemma's?"

He sounded disappointment, but agreed anyway.

"Okay, half past seven was it, right? Shit, sorry love I need to go, I see you tonight. Love ya!"

I quickly hung up as I spotted the big boss of my management company walk towards me. We were supposed to meet up an hour before, but he had been delayed, or so his secretary had told me. Tim scurried out of his office on the other side of the hall, looking nervous as hell. I still had no idea what this meeting would be about, but it had to be important, if Mr Delaware himself would make time for it.

I rolled my eyes at Tim when his boss had left the small meeting room, two hours after we'd entered it. "I still don't get why this was necessary, but I sure hope you're happy with your promotion Tim." I produced a small smile before I finished my glass of water and got up. "It's Friday though, so I suppose you want to go home as badly as I do, call me sometime next week to arrange the details, okay?" I got up and waved at him before I hurried out of the office building. All this fuss to ask me if I was alright with Tim being the main responsible for my account, and to evaluate his work over the last five years. While he was in the room. I thought it was utterly strange, but there was not much I could do about it. And yes, I was very happy with his work, as he was the one who got Dave Grohl's consent to covering Times like these, so I was just happy for him he got promoted over it. I got into my car and tried to get home as soon as possible so I could freshen up and change for the dinner at Gemma's. Liam had been fussing about it ever since I had returned on Wednesday evening, he still hated the thought of Jude having sex, but he knew it was inevitable anyway, and I managed to convince him at 2am last night that he should really be glad that they were open about it to their parents. Besides, Jude had left her packet of birth control pills out in the bathroom for a few months now, so there was no need to worry about them being foolish and irresponsible.

Liam's car was already parked outside Gemma's house when I arrived, fifteen minutes later than I should've been. Gemma opened the door for me, right when Jude and Ethan were taking their coats to go out on their date. Ethan gave me a kiss before he walked out to his mother's car, waiting for his girlfriend to follow him. Jude hugged me and quietly asked me to talk some sense into her father before she kissed me on the cheek and ran out behind Ethan.

It was pretty weird to be here tonight, because I wasn't quite sure what role I was supposed to be in. I was still Ethan's uncle, but Jude was my boyfriends' daughter. My boyfriend, who wasn't comfortable with this new stage in his daughter's relationship. I tried to stay out of it as much as possible, only calming Liam down when I thought he was completely overreacting to the situation. In the end, they all managed to agree on them being allowed to stay over at each others houses on weekend nights, and only when they had notified their respective parents up front. I let out a relieved sigh, glad we could now enjoy the rest of Gemma's delicious cooking with this matter out of the way. They asked me about tour, and I was updated on what had happened around here while I was away. Apparently mum and dad had been over in London for a couple of weeks because mum had been down with the flu and dad still couldn't fry an egg if his life depended on it. Everything was back to normal by now though, so there was not really anything to worry about. Liam and I were both dead tired from last night's late talking, so we excused ourselves around eleven, going straight to bed when we came home.

A week passed, Liam was working hard as usual, and I was mostly around the studio, working on some songs I'd written for other bands or singers, and in meetings or preparing for a single gig here and there when I wasn't at the studio. Most nights were spent at Liam's, although I tried to be at home at least two nights to give my cats their fair share of attention. Ethan and Louise had taken good care of them while I was away, but the poor animals had been alone for far too much already.