Only the better half of it

5 - Weird

Lily's POV

We arrived a few minutes after leaving the beach, the whole ride making me think about how tonight could turn out. I think in the space of ten little minutes, I already thought of at least two ways that it could turn out. The first one, probably the most basic one: we would all end up being great friends and everything would be wonderfull. Unfortunatly, knowing my luck, I will certainly end up in the second situation, which is: being hated by everyone and being made fun of, just like in London.

My gaze was ligering outside the passenger's side window when a hand brought me out of my thoughts. "Hey, we've been home for two minutes already and you haven't bulge. Are you okay?" I turned arround to face Katie, being unsure of what to answer. I hesitantly nodded before opening the door and stepping outside. I took a small glance at the outside, and realised how pretty it was out there. I was so eager to go to the beach earlier that I completely forgot to look arround. Just as I was about to walk in the front door's direction, Katie motionned her hand for me to follow her. She led me to the backyard, where the trees where blocking the house's view from the small bench she sat on. I sat next to her, sighing shakily after rubbing my palms on my jeans. "Are you nervous for tonight? Is that why you seam so stressed?" My head snapped in her direction as soon as she mentionned my nervousness. "I'm more like terrified! I left London because of my ex and now I'm going out with four boys I don't even know! It's gonna be so awkward oh my lord..." I rubbed my tamples, my gaze fixed to the ground. A milion questions were running through my mind and it seams like I couldn't answer any of them. I also seamed to care a lot about what Luke would think of me in the long run, even if we just met, and that, somewhow, was scaring me. I mean, it's not like his opinin should matter, but something about him was super intriguing and I just wanted to know him more.

I let my eyes wonder arround the garden, taking in all the different flowers, trees and the differences in the lightning all over the grass. It was quiet and peaceful out there. The truth is, it's been a long time since I've been in a peaceful state of mind, but this place, not only the house but Australia, seems to be the perfect place to find myself again. Everything's been so chaotic for the last 2 years that I just want to breath, I want to enjoy myself, enjoy new begginings, make new friends. All in all, a new and bright life. I want to be happy again and just forget about all the hard times, even if they will forever be a part of me and what made me who I am today, I just want to put everything behind me.

"Hey, Lily, listen to me on this one. They seam like really nice people. Maybe you'll match with them, maybe not, but try to enjoy tonight as much as possible." Katie ran her hand on my shoulder. I turned arround and felt the need to hug her, so that's what I did. I took her in my arms and thank her for her kind words. We maybe have just met, but she was so nice with me and I could really use new friends like her. I thanked her again, before getting up and going dtraight to my room to shower and change into something a bit more nice than those beach shorts. I grabbed a beautiful lace top with nice high wasted jeans, adding a pair of white socks and my black and white vans, old of 4 years and a half now. Josh, John and my mum paired up to offer them to me for my 14th birthday, I've been whinning about wanting them for so long after seeing Alex Garskarth wearing a pair in one of their videos and he was, still is, my idol at the time.

I got into the shower, waiting for the water to heat up. Once I had my body entirely washed, I picked up the shampoo and the conditioner, rincing my hair as fast as possible when I saw the time. I had texted Luke to pick me up at 7 before going in for my shower, and it was already 6:15 pm. I quickly put my clothes on, stepping out of the bathroom and into the room. I applied a bit of makeup, even if its only a bit of mascara, and then added a few of my rings to complete my outfit. I of course didn't forget my mum's ring, that I wore as a necklace.

When I glanced at the clock, I had ten minutes left to do whatever I wanted to do as I was waiting for him, so I went to the small bench, in front of the house, so I could see him when he'll arrive.
I sat down and just as I was to return back to my thoughts, my phone rangged. I quickly checked the ID, answered and put on speaker as soon as I saw that Josh was calling. "Hey!! I'm so happy you called." My smile grew wider when I heard him laugh. I really miss him like crazy, even if I saw him like yesterday. "Hey buttercup, how are you? I'm so sorry I haven't called earlier, I was just so busy with school plus my job, Miss Cherryla is making me go crazy." I laughed as soon as he mentionned his job, he was previously working with me in a small café in the center of London, near the tower of London, but then, a friend of his mum offered him to work for her in her little doggie shop. Of course, he couldn't refuse, he loves dogs too much for that, plus she was paying him almost the double compared to what he earned at the café. When he quit, my boss offered me his shift, which mademe earn way more money and I was able to save up for college and even have extra money to go back to Australia, but now that I'm actually here, I kept th money for a future appartment and a little kitten or puppy.

"Well I am very great, why thank you very much." My attempt to sound British was terrible and I new it but hearing Josh laugh made my heart burst with happiness. This boy could make me smile whenever. "You're still terrible at this, even after leving in England for almost 15 years now!" He laughed even more and completely ignored the sighs leaving my mouth. "Stop making fun of me!! Ask me what I'm up to, that would be nicer, asshole..." He wouldn't stop laughing but calmed down when I cleared my throat for probably the 3rd time in a minute. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. So what are you up to girl?" He asked in a girly voice. "Well, I'm going out with people I met on the beah earlier today, we're gonna have dinner and then I don't really know." I felt heat rushing to my cheeks as I thought about Luke again. I'm really worried he won't like me, even if it shouldn't matter. "Ooh nice! Are there any cute guys?" I shook my head at his comment even though he couldn't see me.

Josh is bisexual, so it's pretty easy and fun to talk about boys with him. That's also how I'm sure he would never try anything on me and that we'll be besties forever. "Yes of course, but I'm quite nervous. I mean, maybe they're gonna find me weird or something, I mean, it would be pretty understandable. But I just want them to like me so I can have other friends." I heard Josh sigh before speaking again. "Listen Lils, you're the best person I've ever met in my entire life, you know this cause I probably told you this a thousand times before. But if they can't see how great of a human you are, then it's their loss, but in no way does it mean that you're weird. You're fucking amazing and I wouldn't exchange our friendship for anything in the world." I truly smiled at his comment.

I was about to answer him when I heard someone clearing their throat. I snapped my head in the direction of the noise and was met by Luke's tall frame. He awkwardly waved and smiled, taking his lip ring in between his lips, probably out of nervousness. I sent him a small smile back, remembering that Nick was still on the phone. I eneded the call with Nicolas and got up to follow Luke. "Hey, how are you since a few hours?" His head snapped at my voice, making me grin slightly. "I'm great, thank you. And you?" Somehow, he seemed pretty nervous. "I'm great too. Are the others waiting in the car?" I asked, a bit surprised they didn't wait with Luke. "Nah, they're already at the restaurant. We're meeting them there." I nodded and followed him to his car, a nice black range rover. Nice.

A rather comfortable silence took over us and we arrived to the restaurant, that was quite close to where we were on the beach earlier. I spotted Calum and two other guys standing in front of the restaurant. As soon as Calum saw me, he waved and the two other boys grinned at me. Okay, so far they seem super nice.

"Lily!! Hey, so this crackhead here is Michael and curly there is Ashton. Guys, this is Lily and Luke." I waved and giggled as the other boys laughed, not Luke though. I bumped his shoulder soflty and warmly smiled at him. So far, he seems like the quiet and shy one out of all the boys, but that's really nice. He took a breath and smiled back, slightly brushing our hands together. I blushed and looked at the ground. The boys all agreed to get inside, so I followed, Luke behind me. As we stopped for a moment, letting the boys ask for a table, Luke leaned closer to me, his breath fanning over my hear.

"By the way, Lily, you're far from weird and anyone saying you otherwise is missing out on a very nice and cute girl." He smiled before following the boys to the table, leaving me completly frozen in place. Well damn, this boy is making me feel way too many things.

Fucking hell.