Page 7 of The Boy I Once Loved

My mum looks at him like she thinks he is the sweetest boy she has ever met, and it just makes me even angrier.

“Are you still dating the delightful Beth?” I ask, plastering on the fakest smile.

He scoffs. “God, no! That girl is high maintenance.”

"Really?” I cock a brow. “I would have thought she would have suited you. You know, with her not being frigid or flat-chested."

He chokes on a piece of cookie and my mum pats his back whilst giving me daggers. “I’m okay,” he tells her, keeping his eyes on me.

“More the pity,” I mumble, but clearly, I don’t say it quietly enough though, as the look on both their faces tells me they heard me.

“Connor and I are heading over to a friend’s house this evening and wondered if El would like to come. You know it would be a great opportunity for her to get to know some other kids from school.”

My mum’s face lights up. “That is so thoughtful. Ella would love to go.”

“Actually no, Ella wouldn’t,” I tell her firmly.

“Nonsense. It will do you good and I insist, especially if you want your pocket money at the weekend.”

I want to scream at the top of my lungs but instead I do it silently in my head, all the while imagining myself kneeing Dylan in the balls. “Really mum? You are resorting to bribery? Besides, I’m sure Dylan has a string of other girls he could invite.”

He smiles then. A challenging smile that tells me he isn’t going to go away quietly like I had hoped when I warned him away earlier on today. “Scared of spending time with me El?”

I scoff and glare at him. “Nothing about you scares me, Dyl.”

"Good, then that is settled." My mum claps her hands together. "Go and get ready."

Glowering at her, I jump down off the barstool and stomp out of the room. I can hear them happily chatting away like old friends as I climb the stairs.

When I get to my room, I lean back against my door and I let out a big breath that I have been holding in. Grinning to myself as I head to my wardrobe. Okay, I will go with him, but as soon as I am there, I will detach myself from his company and make my own entertainment. I dress in something that I think is as far as what he would find attractive and make my way down into the kitchen. They are laughing together over something when I walk in, but the laughter stops as they take me in.

“Is that what you are wearing?” My mum asks as she looks me over from head to toe.

I look down at my outfit, plain black leggings and a gym shark hoodie in turquoise. I have thrown my hair up into a messy bun and put on my white converse. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Well, you could have made an effort,” she tells me, frowning.

“I think she looks great, Mrs H, besides it an informal thing.” He stands up and picks his phone and keys off the worktop. He gives my mum a quick kiss on the cheek and a beaming smile replaces her frown.

“You two have fun. Make sure you are home for eleven!” She shouts after us.

His car is a black Honda. Silently, we both climb inside and buckle up. “Like old times hey, my Ella Umbrella.”

My response is to scowl at him and then turn my attention to the view outside.

“My mums invited you for dinner Thursday night.” He informs me as he pulls off the driveway.

“I’m busy Thursday.”

He chuckles in response. “And let me guess, the Thursday after that and the one after that.”

“Ah, see now you’re catching on.” This earns me another smile from him, and he just shakes his head and laughs.

"Hey, there's an overnight ghost tour on at that old manor house in Pennington. You used to love anything like that, right?"

“No, not anymore.” I lie through my teeth. “People change a lot in three years.”

He reaches for the console screen in his car. “I bet you still like these guys though.” The music blasts out and I can’t help but grin when the Vamps–shall we dance, blasts through the car. Dylan used to tease me rotten for my crush on Brad.

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