Page 39 of Catch Me

Sean’s mum pulls both of her children in for a tight squeeze, one that makes my chest thump with the tiniest bit of jealously. She smacks a kiss to each of their cheeks before pulling Callie in for a hug too, stroking a hand down her thick curls and taking Lily into her arms. Lily kicks her legs excitedly and shrieks with glee as her granny smooshes kisses all over her chubby little face. Then when she’s finished suffocating her granddaughter with love, she turns to me with a bright smile, like she’s really happy to see me.

“Hello Nick,” she beams, unexpectedly pulling me into a hug too. “How are you?”

“Erm, yeah I'm good thanks, how are you?” I stutter a little, unsure what the extra friendly reception is all about. Then it smacks me in the face, does she know about Lois and I?

The others head towards the smell of cooked chicken and honey roasted carrots, leaving Lois’ mum and I alone in the entrance of the house. Lois peeks over her shoulder at me with a thick worry in her eyes, before disappearing into the kitchen with Callie and her brother.

Her mum glances back at the kitchen, checking everyone is out of earshot. “Look Nick, I know you and Lois have been seeing each other.” She says quietly, eyes piercing into mine with something I can’t decipher.

“Yeah, we have, but I swear I won’t do anything to hurt her I—”

She holds up a finger to stop me. “I know you won’t, I trust you with her.” She lowers her voice again as the chatter from the kitchen gets louder. “I just wanted to tell you that you both havemy blessing and whenever you decide to tell Sean about this, I’ve got your backs.”

My heart thumps hard, straining against my ribs. “Wow, that’s not what I was expecting you to say, but thank you.”

She gives my shoulder a brief squeeze and heads off to the bustling kitchen. I can hear Lois and Sean arguing from the spot where I'm stuck like glue, my feet won’t budge no matter how hard I try to force them to. I can’t believe that Lois’ mum trusts me with her daughter, nobody has ever trusted me so fully like that before, apart from Lois of course.

Dinner is nothing short of spectacular, the spread that Lois’ parents presented us all with was like something you would see in a movie. A whole chicken sat in the centre like a trophy, surrounded by dishes filled with carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, roast parsnips and everything in between. When I finally put down my knife and fork, leaning back against the chair with a weighted sigh, I spot Lois eyeing me again. She’s been watching me out the corner of her eye since we got here four hours ago. Whenever I get anywhere near her she darts to the other side of Callie or Sean like I might accidentally stick my tongue in her mouth without realising it. I grin at her across the table and she snaps her eyes away, but I see the corners of her lips lift slightly. She excuses herself after about ten minutes of pointless Christmas small talk between everyone at the table and I follow after her without drawing too much suspicion. Lily is busy throwing tiny bits of food at Sean, while Callie tries her best to push a bottle into her mouth as a distraction.

Lois climbs the grand staircase and I follow her steps quietly, making sure she doesn’t hear me behind her. She pushes open the door to the main bathroom and goes inside. But before she can click the lock, I push through the barrier. I shut the doorbehind me and push her back against it, kissing her like my life depends on it. God I've missed her smell, her touch, the feeling of her bottom lip between my teeth. It’s been just as hard as I knew it would be, being here with her but not being able to be close to her. She kisses me back immediately, not in the slightest bit shocked that I followed her up here. Her hands are meandering up the back of my t-shirt, nails sinking into my tattoos and her legs wrapping around my waist when I lift her to me.

“Nick,” she says against my lips, breathless and still trying to touch every inch of my skin. “We should go back downstairs before someone figures out what’s going on.”

“Uh-huh,” I keep kissing her, literally unable to stop and definitely not wanting to. “Okay, one more minute.”

“Okay,” she pants, fingers lacing through my hair as she hoists herself higher up my waist. I pray she forgets about that minute timer I just set in her head. But of course, I’m not that lucky and she breaks the seal of our lips and climbs back down my body.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I groan, sucking at her neck as she prises me off, albeit unhappily. I know she wants to stay here forever too, but her anxiety is overwhelming her desire to wrap her thighs around my face right now.

“Let’s go downstairs and then maybe,” she teases, pursing her lips and bringing them close to mine. “You can sneak into my bedroom later and I can make it up to you.”

I blow out a sharp breath of air. “Ok, deal.” I give her ass a pat and leave the bathroom, dawdling on my way back downstairs to the living room that’s already full of people.

LOIS

The next several hours are spent playing board games, arguinglike families do over who’s winning at Monopoly and watching my favourite Christmas movie of all time, The Polar Express. I don’t know what it is about that movie, the music alone takes me away to a place I know I’ll never get to really go back to, my childhood. The time when life was simpler and I could play the piano on Christmas morning, eat my body weight in roast potatoes without concerning myself over my weight and rocking the pyjama and slippers look all day. But that time never lasts as long as you wish it would and now I'm an adult I have expectations to uphold. One of which is not falling in love with my brother’s best friend, this one I appear to have already failed miserably.

The credits roll onto the screen and I swipe a nostalgic tear from under each eye, tipping the last of my hot chocolate to my lips. I have my favourite pjs on, fluffy socks to match and Sean’s huge thigh is where I’ve had my feet wedged for the entirety of the night, using his constant body heat to keep them toasty.

“Ok,” I get up, stretching my arms above my head with a wide yawn. “I'm going to bed, see you all in the morning.”

Nick watches me leave, his eyes tracking me on my way to the kitchen where I dump my now empty mug in the sink. When I hear the padding of barefoot steps behind me I smile to myself before spinning around. But it’s not Nick staring back at me with eyebrows raised and arms folded, expression sharp and dripping in knowing.

Callie wafts a hand in the air, jutting a hip to add extra sass to the already fiery face she’s pulling at me. “So, how long has that been going on?”

My heart beats hard, straining against my chest and I wonder for a split second whether I should lie. But who am I kidding? There’s no use lying to Callie when her eyebrows are that high on her forehead. She already knows, she’s just waiting for meto confirm. Although, that doesn’t stop the next strangled words from falling off my tongue.

“What? There’s nothing going on between me and Nick, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Callie’s face immediately cracks into a smirk and I metaphorically slap myself for my mistake.

“I never mentioned Nick,” she smirks, arms folded again as she leans against the open kitchen door.

“Shit, ok.” I scramble over to her, grabbing her hands in mine. “Don’t tell Sean, Callie please.”

“Relax,” she smiles, softer now while tucking a curl behind my ear. “I don’t like the idea of Sean putting you in a time out either.”

“It’s not me I'm worried about, it’s what he'll do to Nick.”

---