Noisy Neighbours (The Midnight Beast Fanfic)

Part 9: Natalie - Walk (with us)

I sat at my desk, in an oversized space invaders patterened T-shirt and my baggy black half-harems with mismatched stripy socks on my feet, my hair held in a bun with a pencil, my brain exploding, glaring at my textbook. I hadn't touched it since I'd gone downstairs to complain at Ash and Stef and Dru's flat.

Thirsty, I left my room to get a glass of water. Jay was wiping up the table and Maisie was lying on her back, facing the ceiling, looking somewhat wistful and depressed at the same time. I knew it was Stef. Most definitely.

"Maisie, I think you should get some fresh air or something," Jay suggested lightly, piling up a couple more cardboard boxes to her stack.

Maisie shook her head. Jay sighed quietly.

"Why don't you take these boxes to the bins for me?" Jay asked.

Maisie shook her head. I rolled my eyes - this was just getting ridiculous.

"You never know, you might bump into Stef," I muttered sarcastically, walking over.

I had meant it as a total joke. And a private joke. I hadn't realised Maisie was even conscious enough to have even heard me. Her neck snapped up as if she'd had a brain spark. She got up and scooped up the stack of boxes and instantly walked over to the door. Jay and I both shook our heads in despair.

There was suddenly a crashing sound. Crap, what was that?!

Jay and I both rushed over to the door. Maisie was standing, frozen, with all the rubbish scattered over the floor.

"Aw, Maisie -" I began, before I looked up. What the hell!

Before us, Ash, Stef and Dru were standing together. Ash looked surprised, Stef stunned and Dru quizzical. Another awkward silence.

"Um... so," I began. It was so awkward it was painful.

"Uh, yeah, um," Ash replied, scratching his head.

I felt so bloody awkward - and crap! That Facebook message by Maisie!

"Oh, um, the Facebook message, by the way," I started.

"It wasn't me," Ash and I said in unision.

What?

We looked at each other confused.

"Like, I didn't post on your wall," I said quickly. What an embarrasment!

"I didn't comment," Ash replied.

"It was Maisie."

"It was Stef."

Ha! They both went bright red and looked down to the ground.

Wait, so it had been Stef who had commented? Not Ash?

And therefore - I burst out laughing. Inevitably, Maisie and Stef had been having a conversation with each other through Ash and my Facebook accounts. What an absolute joke! I could see Ash looking awkward and a bit confused and explained. Jay and Dru laughed the loudest. Stef and Maisie just went redder.

"Basically, I came to apologise," Ash said, smiling sheepishly. God, he looked cute.

"You did nothing wrong, but thanks for clearing it up anyway," I said. I then bent down to start clearing up the crap on the floor. Jay did too and then Ash and Dru joined in. Maisie and Stef were standing opposite each other, still transfixed in each others' gaze. What a bloody cringe.

Dru looked up and sighed. "Honestly, you two are so bloody weird," he said. "Just go for a walk together or something. Like, right now."

We were all stunned in silence by Dru's comment but hey, he was right. They were weird and they should go for a walk. They could chat together. Maybe. Depends.

"Yeah, go for a walk," Jay said, more or less shoving Maisie out of the flat with Stef.

Neither of them left each other's gaze and we (as in Jay, Dru, Ash and me) basically pushed them out of the door. I mean, we all knew they were crazy about each other. Hello? The look in their faces since they had first seen each other said it all!

It was us four left. We looked awkwardly at each other. Dru smirked. "Well, I'm going to go get drunk," he laughed, and skipped down the stairs, leaving Ash. Jay smiled as well.

"Yeah, I've got to do some essays," she said vaguely, walking back into the flat, leaving just Ash and me.

"Well, I'm going to take out the rubbish," I said quickly, grabbing a stack of pizza boxes.

Ash took half the stack and chummed me down to the bins outside. As cliche and ridiculous it sounds, I felt so happy being with him. We didn't say a word to each other, but just his presence lightened my mood.

It was dark outside, a light, breezy, London summer night - comfortingly warm but refreshingly cool at the same time. The stars sparkled delicately in the midnight blue sky, a gentle wind dusting in the air. As we threw our crap in the bin, we could see Stef and Maisie in the distance, walking away from the street. Obviously since we could only see their backs, we couldn't tell anything about their facial expressions, but they still looked a whole lot more comfortable around each other. They were walking at a steady pace and they looked like they were having a light, funny conversation.

I turned to face Ash - God, his side profile was beautiful - who was looking at them, smiling, almost wistful. He sighed and laughed quietly to himself.

"What's so hilarious?" I asked, smiling to myself.

"Stef - he's not the type of guy to be obsessed with a girl," Ash said, laughing. "Not like he is with Maisie. Especially not after a day."

I smiled. It was the same with Maisie. No matter which bands or celebrities or boys at school she liked, I'd never seen her like she acted with Stef. She didn't just fall for guys either, especially not as quickly she'd fallen for Stef.

"Hey, shall we go for a walk too?" Ash asked, facing me.

With a smile like that, most definitely yes.