Undaunted

Chapter 4- James

TW: explicit language
Chapter 4- James
June 28th, 2020
Hannah Shawe

I stared James hard in the face, he looked kind and gentle although silently he appeared to look me up and down quickly, hoping that I wouldn't notice him judging me for my extreme and peculiar outfit choice, and heavy makeup. There was a few seconds of awkward silence between us. I forced a slight smile after his introduction. He glanced down focusing his eyes on the floor anxiously. Then, hesitantly beckoned me and Katie into the house. As he held the door open I happened to notice a long scar upon his hand, etching up his arm.  Peculiar I thought to myself. Without having much choice, I hesitantly walked into the house.
"Hello Hannah! It's lovely to meet you, how are you?" said James.
"I'm fine, thank you for asking it's nice to meet you to" I muttered stumbling over my words slightly, trying to sound polite.
"So...this is our living room! it's quite small and could do with some decorating, but it'll do for now!" He managed some laughter that was quite obviously forced.

The living room was very bland and was in need massively of refurbishing. It had a huge plump grey chair which sat in the corner of the room, navy blue pillows crumpled were placed upon it, which didn't match the shade of grey the rest of the room was themed in. It had aged, stained walls the plaster cracked in parts, I could just about see the walls were once painted white. I noticed a photo of James in a charcoal grey shirt (the same shade as the rest of the room) looking about 5-6 years younger than his current age with his arms wrapped around two boys, big bright smiles were spread across there faces. One of them, on the right to James, had jet black hair with deep brown eyes. The other boy, shorter than the one on the right, had chestnut brown hair with brown eyes a lighter colour than the boy on the left.
Fuck.
What if that's his... kids.... this was the only thought in my mind what if that's his kids... what's if that's his kids.... It was already hard enough to manage being chucked into a new home halfway across the country with one MAN, let alone THREE, especially when they could potentially be my AGE! I tried to ignore this thought and focus on my conversation with James.
"I like it..." I muttered, attempting to sound enthusiastic.
James looked embarrassingly around his house his eyes had a sadness to them now as he looks around at the walls and the furniture.There was a small, awkward pause.
"Would you like to see your room?" He asked.
He looked into my eyes as if trying to interpret what was going on in my mind.
"Yeah sure! if you don't mind..." I replied.
He followed me to the the stairs and we came across a small, empty room with white walls and a thick cream coloured carpet. Thoughts ran through my head as I began to reminisce about all the life I could bring to the room. Interior design was a strong passion of mine.
"I love it! thank you James!" I smiled at him, showing gratitude. Any negative thoughts I had had over these past few hours had subsided as I thought to myself, "Maybe this won't be so bad after all. James seems nice and trustworthy. It's different to anything I've ever experienced before, but I know I can do this...
                                  ***
I took my belongings and thought about how I could decorate my new room further.
I began by putting my LED lights up along the wall. I bought out my various posters and decoratively hung them on the wall. After that, I collected my photos of back home in Bristol and stuck them over the wall until the wall was barley visible, but I still had my records to hang up. Soon I helped James heave my comfortable double bed out of the moving lorry and up the stairs. Although to my annoyance, placed it into the centre of my new room. As much as I wanted to I didn't say anything as I didn't want to come across as rude and picky in front of James. He kindly put my chest of drawers in the corner of my room and I placed my monster energy can gun and candle on top of it. I organised all my makeup on the top of my drawer and hid all my private magazines, secret laptop, burner phone and vape deep underneath a pile of clothes in my brand new wardrobe. I plugged in my galaxy light and watched as my room lit up and looked like a night sky. There was still room for improvements.

*two hours later*

I looked around in pride at my new room. It had taken me two and a half hours, but it already looked amazing. I heard James' heavy feet pound up the stairs as he came to look at my new room. He complimented my efforts and invited me downstairs to talk.
"So" he said nervously "I see you've been enjoying decorating your room! Do you like interior design?" He asked me. He sounded genuinely curious.
"Yes! I enjoy bringing rooms to life and making them fit my many different and unique personalities." I replied.
"Oh how lovely! Well, I've been meaning to speak to you about something. I actually have two sons. One is twenty years old and is off at university. His name is Zach. My other son is your age! He is turning sixteen in September. His name is Connor and he lives here and will be in your year group at school! I don't know wether Katie told you or not. They know you're coming, they just don't know when. Connor is currently on a road trip with his friends, but he'll be back on Thursday. I'm sure you two will get along very well!" He beamed as he said this, obviously proud of his children.
I glanced over at the photo of James with his arms around Zach and Connor.
Shit.
Men. THREE MEN.

hope you like this chapter! sorry for the late update- i had a phone ban for 4 days and we've both been quite busy with school but we will try to update sooner! stay tuned for chapter 5 x
-ruby