Chapter 13
“So Leah do you have a boyfriend?”
“Ben!” Everyone shouted except me. I just stared at my brother who was looking right at me.
What was he up to?
“What? Everyone else has been asking questions to our guess. Why can't I?” he smiled moving his arm around the back of Lea on the sofa. She just sat there and smiled politely.
“So do you have a special someone Leah” my Mum asked smiling at Lea. I could tell that she liked her allot, my Mum never really talked to anyone but our family, especially when me or Ben used to bring girls round when we were younger.
I looked over at Lea, she had turned a deep shade of pink all over her face and looked a bit uncomfortable. But there was something inside me that didn't want to tell my Mum to leave her alone. I wanted, no, I needed to know the answer.
I mean I know she hasn't got a boyfriend because... well she never talks about having one. She doesn't look the type to have a boyfriend.
I know that sounds stupid and don't get me wrong, it's not that she couldn't get a boyfriend. Far from it. It was just the she seemed the type of girl, that didn't do casual dating. Lea was the type that you would be proud to be with, to get her to meet the parents and spend the rest of your life making her happy because all of a sudden her happiness becomes more important than your own. You wouldn't call her your 'girlfriend' because that word doesn't sum up half as much, as you feel for her. She would never just be someone’s girlfriend because any idiot that had her... wouldn't want to let her go. You would what to be bowed to her in every way possible.
Wow! Where the hell did that come from?
“Bowed to her”
I've got to stop thinking of her like this!
She's my employee and I'm her boss.
End of story!
From this moment on I will stop having any romantic feelings towards Lea.
I just wanted to know if there was someone special in her life I didn't know about.
Starting ......... Now. Well after she answers.
“Hmm no, there's nobody” she said innocently. I didn't know if I was just getting paranoid but there was something about her voice that made me think she wasn't telling the truth. Was there someone in her life?
“Well I sure you'll find that special someone soon” Mum said.
“Yer maybe someone is this very room” Ben said which made everyone laugh. He turned his head up towards me again, with a smirk on his face. Was he trying to provoke me or something what was his problem?
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“Why are you all laughing? You always tell me I'm your special little boy Mum” Ben joked
“You're far too much of a player to be with Leah, Ben. She's a good girl” Karl said.
Gemma turned to look at Karl with narrow eyes. “Oh and you weren't a player when we got together?” she said to him but he just lent over and kissed her on the lips.
“'I'm not saying that. But you weren't a good girl” he said as Gemma hit him on the arm. Karl laughed a little and pulled Gemma fully on his lap. “Although now I'm a tamed lion” they both looked so much in love, I just looked at them and smiled.
“Who would have thought you two used to hate each other” Chris said
“What?” I turn to look up at Chris.
“Yer! They used to hate each other ever since we were younger. We used to tease Gemma all the time and then when we went to school she used to call him the 'slut' of the school because of all the different girls after us”
“She was jealous” Karl said
“I was not!”
“'Yes you were”
“No I was NOT”
“They’re like that all the time until Gemma got her first serious boyfriend at 16 then Karl became the jealous one”
Everyone looked over at him expecting him to say 'he wasn't jealous' but instead he just sat there and nodded his head.
“I was” he said
“So what did you do, when you got jealous?” I asked
Everyone looked around with smirks on their faces; I looked back at Chris waiting for him to tell me. I was sitting on the chair looking up at Chris like a child hearing a bedtime story.
“He used to follow her to the pictures and dinners with other girls and just pretended that they just happen to run into each other. Then invited himself to join them” I laughed and looked over at them both laughing to.
“He did that for a whole year. He made sure that Matt and I were never alone” Gemma said
'Bloody right!” Karl said in return.
“Then one night when we were out Karl got really drunk and told me how he felt about my sister and...”
“He beat me up” Karl said
“I didn't beat you up! I punched you” Chris said then looked back at me “I was drunk, but the next day I said sorry and that I'd help them get together”
Chris was really showing his true colours today. I never thought him the cupid kind of guy. If he knew I was in love with him this would be cruel because I'm even more in love with him today than I thought imaginable.
“But he didn't help” Gemma said. “He made it worse”
“I told Karl to tell him how he felt about you! How was that making it worse?”
“He told me in front of everyone at school! And kissed me right in front of Matt! This nearly started the biggest fight in school! If you didn't leave when you did you would have got done for beating up a miner. He was sixteen, you were nineteen” Gemma said
“Are you saying that you wish I never kissed you, then?” Karl said moving closer to his wife.
“Well no, after that kiss, I was hooked” she said and kissed him again
“Ok, enough of this kissing in public. Go back to hating each other”
“I better be getting to my room. I haven't even unpacked yet and I need to get ready for this party tonight” Leah said making a funny face to everyone.
“You don't like parties?” Chris asked
“It’s not really the parties but the dancing, I got too left feet” I said standing up. “Although I have mastered the moving left to right move, you may see it tonight. Thank you all so much for this afternoon, I had a lot of fun”
“Oh, we all did” his Mum said looking around at us all.
Everyone moved over to me, kissing me goodbye. A laugh came from Chris saying “God guys you'll see her in like three hours” and everyone laughed.
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I walked Leah to the door.
“Thanks for letting me have lunch with your family, it was wonderful” she smiled that heart breaking smile at me that made me want to pull her into my arms and ever let go.
We kept on looking at each other and I only just came aware that I was moving in to kiss her. Panic rush through me and I thought quickly and kissed her on the cheek before moving away with dramatic speed.
Her eyes had grown and she looked shocked as well.
“See you later tonight then” I said opening the door and letting her out. She gave me a weak smile and walked out the door.
When I closed the door, I started knocking my forehead on the wood. 'Stupid, Stupid' I said again and again. So much for forgetting my feelings for her, bloody hell this week is going to kill me!
I took a deep breath in and walked back into the front room, where everyone was sitting still.
“Shouldn't you all be getting ready” I said to them all who just looked at me “What?”
The room was silent as everyone looked at each other before turning back to me with big grins on their faces.
“We love her” they all said at once.
Great, I guess that makes all of us.