Chapter Text
“Are you nervous?” Gwen was leaning forward, head titled and looking up at me, biting her lip playfully. My eyes met hers for a mere second before I turned to put more of my never-ending stuff in the boxes which were scattered all over my bedroom floor.
“Nah, I'm fine.” I obviously wasn't. I had never spent more than two nights away from home, and now I was expected to live away from it? Gwen had to know it. But she let it go. She pulled herself up into a sitting position on my bed.
“We, are gonna have... so... much... fun.” I laughed softly to myself.
“Say that a little louder so my mum can hear.” she threw me a cheeky look and brought her hands up as a signal for me to pull her up. But I was so weak that rather than pulling her up, she pulled me down, and I ended up on top of her, knees and elbows suddenly everywhere they shouldn't be. Thankfully, she was laughing, so I laughed too, making it hopefully less awkward as I tried to disentangle myself from her.
“Are you two okay in there?” My mother was raping her knuckles against my door, but for some reason, it made us laugh harder.
“We're fine, Hunith, thanks!” And then she burst into a fit of giggles.
“Yeah, Mum! We'll be out in a minute...” Too late. My mother was in my room, staring at the confusion and the mess. We finally managed it, not helped by my mother's horrified, but slightly amused expression. Gwen quietly slipped out of the door, head down. Not so much hiding her shame, as her amusement. I followed suit, whispering as I left;
“Don't worry, Mum. I'm definitely gay.” As I left, I heard her reply,
“Always good to know.”
“Take good care of him, please!” Mum pulled Gwen in for a hug, which must have been bone crushing.
“Of course I will, Hunith! I always do!” She finally let go of Gwen and turned her attentions to me, pulling me into the same bone crushing hug.
“Take such good care, my little boy!” I could hear the tears in the back of her throat.
“Mum.” She took my face in her rough hands.
“I know.” She patted my cheek and pinched it lightly. “Off you go.” But she held onto me for a little while. I'd miss her so much, it had always just been her and me.
Gwen sighed.
“What is it?” I lazily turned my head, slipping down further into my seat. Gwen kept her eyes on the road but sighed again. “Seriously, what is it?”
“Nothing...” Her voice was annoyingly whiny just now.
“Gwen...” She threw her hands up in the air for a split second before bringing them back down to the steering wheel. “Fine. I just want to help.”
“I know, I know, I know Merlin.” Her voice was back to the cooing song she always had. We had a minute or two of silence before she continued. “It's just... coming back. You know, a whole summer of being away... I hoped it would clear the air!” It suddenly clicked in my head.
“Oh, God. Arthur?” She bit her lip and nodded. “You did the right thing!” She rolled her head and clicked her tongue.
“I know! I know! But then, why do I feel so guilty?”
“But it was over between you two?”
“Of course! I'm not that type of girl! But... he took it so badly!”
She groaned and sobbed dramatically. “I shouldn't have got engaged. Or I should have kept it quiet.. or... oh, I don't know.”
“Gwen, It's not your fault he's a jealous and moody git!”
“Merlin!” She pulled a shocked face, but laughed a little. “We went out for two years, he is such a nice guy! I loved, I love him!”
“But...” She paused, guiltily contemplating her answer.
“I love Lance more.”
We didn't talk again. We didn't have to.
We got to Gwen's flat around eleven at night, after a good six hours of driving. Despite the fact that Gwen had a room for me, I slept on the sofa, not having the strength to face the pile of wooden planks that faced me in my new room. We sat for a little less than an hour, barely saying anything. Eventually, Gwen stood up, ruffled my hair and went into her room, shutting the door behind her. In spite of my exhaustion, I couldn't sleep. I instead sat up, and looked around my new and unfamiliar surroundings. The flat was nice, but small, which made me wonder how we would ever fit three people in one flat. (Three being me, Gwen and Lance, Gwen's 'swishy' fiancée.) The walls were painted white, with only one line of photos above the TV. The first was a picture of me and Gwen, at her tenth birthday and my eighth. It is probably my favorite photo of me as a child. On the left, ten year-old Gwen, smiles shyly, slightly turned away from the camera. And Then there is me on the right, my face covered in chocolate and a huge grin, with one sticky arm wrapped around Gwen. My mum took that photo. It was one of the last. It was one of the last because my dad left 8 days later. And she never felt like taking photos after that. I didn't feel like posing. The second is a photo of Gwen at her 18th party, drink in hand, pulling a cheeky face for the camera. I took that one, as you can tell, because my thumb's in the shot and it is at an appauling angle. In my defence, I had just knocked back three shots of tequila. That was the night I met Freya, my first (and last) girlfriend. She was a year younger than me, and just as scared of the party scene as I was. So, natuarlly, we bonded. The third is a picture I don't recognise, probably because I wasn't there. It's a photo of three people, the middle being Gwen, wrapped up in a huge scarf and wooly hat which leaves her barely recognisable. On either side of her is a guy, her past and present boyfriends. Much to my surprise, 'the blonde one' who I understand is Arthur has been... cut out? Wow. That must have been one bad break-up.
I had only ever had the one break up. And that was pretty amicable. Well, as amicable as it can be when you tell your girlfriend that you are 100% gay. Most girls would have completely freaked, but she took it rather well. Considering.
I looked up at the digital clock on the wall. 00:29. Shit. I was just considering going to bed when I suddenly heard a thump. And then silence. And then. Thump. Coming from the door. I was suddenly full of alarm. Oh my god! Someone is breaking in! And I am in my duck pyjamas! It got louder and louder and louder. And the gaps got shorter. I really should, and could have moved. But I stayed, frozen to the spot. Completely terrified. All of a sudden Gwen's door slammed open and an angry looking Gwen stood before me.
“Oh. My. God.” Wow. “How long has he been doing that?” He?
“Ten minutes, something like that.” She growled under her breath and tugged the door open.
To reveal a slumpped, drunken, blonde man. And he looked up with blue eyes and kissable lips.
He smiled and slurred;
“Good morning!”
A beautiful, drunk and sad little angel.