The six-month housemate

Fourteen

FOURTEEN

"Thanks for saving us from the evil witch's lair, by the way."

Alex and I were alone again in the kitchen, he scrubbing the floor with a mop, me cleaning the counters with a sponge. When we got home, we had eaten the leftover cakes because nobody felt like preparing anything else for dinner, then Oliver gave us stuff to clean the kitchen, and had gone to his room, telling us he'd come back down to check if everything was okay and clean.

The kitchen was in a better state than we'd left it in, the bowls and other utensils we'd used had been washed and put away for the most part, so now what was left to do was clean the actual room, which wasn't easy. Batter and ingredients covered the walls and the floor, even in some corners I'd never suspected we'd touched.

"You're welcome." I smiled warmly, turning my head towards Alex. "I know I shouldn't, but I actually took what she said as a compliment. The part about my cooking."

He eyed me weirdly. "Well, I guess you could see it as such... But then again, you always had a thing for looking on the bright side of life."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning completely around to face him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. You always had that positive vibe, especially with the boys. You were always the one who could reassure them and show them that their bad situation had good sides to it too. I don't know how to explain it, really, but you know, you did the same thing for rugby matches: you always said that losing, even if it was disappointing, was always good, because it meant next time you'd face that team, you'd destroy them because you had that feeling of dishonour or something fueling your match."

"Yeah..." I trailed. "It's true I used to say that kind of stuff." I smiled. "But that was before the said life threw tons of stuff that killed off my positiveness about it." I returned to scrubbing my counter.

"Tell me what life threw at you that was negative." He asked, cleaning a floor square close to me. "I'll try and find something positive about it."

"My ankle."

"Reason for which you're here with us." He replied almost instantly.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" I half joked.

"I'm hurt, Emmanuelle." He answered, faking an expression of pain.

"Oh, don't you dare start calling me that." I threatened jokingly.

"Or else?" He answered, lifting up his chin as if it were a challenge.

"I don't know. I'll find something. But seriously, that is not my name."

"I know. But it's hilarious how it pisses you off when people call you that. I thought you were going to kill the damn witch over there." He laughed. "But don't worry, I'll find you a nickname that suits you."

"I ask for veto if it suits me in your point of view, but I don't like it."

"Okay." He scrubbed the floor a little again. "But surely, your ankle wasn't the only thing that made you lose your positiveness?"

"Well, I'd say the French educational system. You left before it became too hard, but seriously, it was hell."

"Yeah right." Alex laughed.

"I'm not going to argue with you, you can't understand."

"As you wish, princess." He smiled. "Princess! That's going to be your nickname!"

"Shut up! Where does the princess thing even come from?" I laughed.

"I don't know. Oh, yes I remember, my cousins asked me what you look like when we were redoing your bedroom, and so I showed them a picture of you that was on your Facebook page, and Kate, the youngest who's like, three or four years old told me you look like a princess."

"Aw, that's cute." I smiled.

"Yeah. Well, you'll meet her tomorrow, you'll see for yourself."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's sleeping over at our house tomorrow night with her two brothers."

"Right." I was acting like I knew, but to be honest, I had no idea that the whole bunch of kids was sleeping over the next night; I'd understood it would only be Hugo and Tom. It was fine, but it meant we'd have to be more careful if we had a three-year old running around the house.

"But don't worry, the three of them are really cute. Don't frighten her Alex."

I turned around to see Oliver standing in the kitchen doorway. He had been doing a lot of interrupting Alex and I lately in our conversations -well, it seemed a lot to me- and I was starting to wonder if he wasn't spying on his brother. Maybe trying to stop our friendship renewing from its ashes. But maybe it was being paranoid.

"I'm sure the three of them are adorable. I'm not frightened, I've done babysitting before and I got along with the kids very well, so it's fine." I answered Oliver.

"Great. Well, anyway, you two have done a super job, the kitchen is decent again. I know it's not too late, but I think you should still go to bed now because tomorrow we're going to have five hyperactive kids in the house, and I don't know how much sleep we'll get. Sure thing is we won't be able to sleep in on Saturday morning because we'll have to fix the house for when Mum and Dad come back." He replied.

"Okay." Alex and I answered at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning then?" I asked, making my way towards the door that gave on the entrance.

"Yes. Goodnight Emma." Oliver said.

"Want to go run tomorrow morning with me? I can wake you up. And like that I won't scare you in the park." Alex winked.

"Sure, no problem! Yeah, I think it would be better if we avoided another fight." I winked back.

"Goodnight Emma."

"Goodnight Alex."

I went up the stairs and in my bedroom, lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling, smiling. Even if the tea party had been really annoying, I'd still had a really good day. I was happy Alex and I were on more or less good terms now, and I couldn't wait to spend more time with him.

Hi!

I'm sorry that this chapter is kind of lame, as in nothing really happens... But I'm preparing stuff for later :) I'll try and update as much as I can in the next two weeks, but I won't promise anything because chances are I won't have much internet (but I will write to be able to upload as soon as I can). Thank you so much for the 580+ reads, it really means a lot to me! I mean, that's more than 100 reads since I last updated!!!

Happy Holidays to you all!

the_rugbywoman