wedding date | miniminter

xiv

flash back:

fourth of september 2014
josh's twenty-second birthday

—»—

Eve's fingers fiddled with the loose strand of thread on her denim skirt, as it brushed against her legs annoyingly. Giving it a sharp tug, it came off in between her fingers and she sprinkled it onto the floor. In her left hand, she held a neatly wrapped gift whilst in her right, she raised it to knock on the front door. The Sidemen House was alive with the buzz of music, the heavy bass almost came through the windows and doors as Eve waited for somebody to let her in.

The birthday boy himself opened the door, a bright pink party hat placed slightly to the left on his head. In a drunken manner, he threw his arms around Eve and gave her a tight hug "You made it!"

"And you're already drunk." she jested, stepping into the house and slipping her phone into her back pocket as she handed Josh his birthday present "Here you are, birthday boy."

"You didn't have to get me anything." Josh said, grinning as he ripped off the wrapping paper and examined the gift in front of him. The jet black diary lay in his hands, his smile only getting wider as he looked from the present to Eve.

"It's because you always plan things, it would be better to write things down that just put them in your phone." Eve stated, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Eve shut the front door behind her, hearing it click as she was yet again met with Josh's arms being tightly wrapped around her.

"That's very thoughtful, thank you so much." Josh slurred, kissing her cheek lightly before he pulled away to give her a grin "But, really you didn't ha-"

"Josh, what are you doing? The party is in here, man." a voice interrupted, equally as slurred as Josh's. Eve's eyes met Simon's and for a brief moment, she felt a smile tug on her lips before she pressed her lips together to mask it. Simon ran his fingers over his chain, looking between Eve and Josh before taking a quick swig of his drink.

"Come back to your birthday, Josh." Simon coaxed, "We miss you."

Josh rubbed Eve's arm comfortingly before rushing back into the front room, Eve chuckled to herself as she reached to grab her phone from her back pocket. Simon still stood in the doorway, his eyes slowly moving up and down her figure as he took a slow sip of his drink. When Eve met his gaze, she raised a brow.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice was judgemental as her previous encounters with this boy were mostly negative and she didn't appreciate someone who acted like he hated her to look at her like that. Simon shook his head, taking another long sip of his drink as he blinked slowly.

"Why are you staring at me?" Eve questioned, taking a step backwards as she made her way towards the kitchen.

He frowned, "I'm not."

"You obviously are." Eve argued, pulling at her deep crimson top as she walked towards the kitchen. Footsteps behind her made her briefly look over her shoulder before she reached for a glass and the bottle of lemonade, Eve jumped a little when Simon sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. He watched her hands as she poured the drink into the cup and screwed the lid back on top of the bottle.

It was now that Eve noticed his eyes in the bright light of the kitchen, they were their usual blue colour except his pupils were dilated and the whites of his eyes were a pinkish-red. It clicked in her mind then that this boy was either not sleeping or he'd just smoked something.

"Simon?" Eve asked, her voice was quieter than she expected it to be. He looked up at her then, blinking a few times before raising his eyebrows for Eve to continue "Are you high?"

He smirked then, letting out a deep chuckle. Eve rolled her eyes, she wasn't against people doing whatever they wanted but she had never smoked weed in her life and she didn't like talking to someone who was high. She'd had enough of talking to her high uncles and aunts at Christmas parties at her parents hotel and she respected actual conversations and ones that weren't fueled by drug taking.

"Why does it matter?" Simon questioned, resting his chin lazily on the palm of his hand "I only had a couple of hits on someone's bong."

Eve's eyes narrowed, if she had learned anything from her junkie of her uncle it was that you always know where your weed is from and who's weed it actually is.

"Do you know who's it is?" Eve asked, taking a sip of her drink and watching as he shook his head slowly from side to side. It was then that she realised he still had a beer in his hand, and a mixture of weed and alcohol may seem like a fun idea but tomorrow his head would spinning.

"Dunno who's it is, somebody in there." he said, pointing to the music filled living room. Eve nodded slowly, taking another sip of her drink. Even though she didn't exactly get along with Simon, she was worried about him and if this had been his first time smoking weed then he probably didn't know that mixing was a bad idea.

It was then his eyes closed, fluttering softly shut as his arm slipped from under him and he slammed his head down on his arm. Eve gasped, bending down so her face was almost in front of his. She let out a sigh of relief as she heard the regular pattern of his breathing, she was relieved she wouldn't suddenly have to bust out her limited knowledge of First Aid and put him into the recovery position. Her hand daintily rested on his shoulder, shaking him softly as she tried to get him to open his eyes and let her actually know he was actually conscious.

He let out a grunt, his head turning slightly as he lifted his head up to look at her. His eyes narrowed, his blurry eyes trying to figure out the girl that was in front of him. It was then that his stomach lurched and leaned forward, vomiting straight onto the floor in front of her feet. Eve almost retched herself, stepping backwards and reaching over to grab some napkins. Simon shuddered, resting his head on the cool marble of the breakfast bar as he watched as Eve gently wiped at his mouth with the corner of the napkin. He felt bad, an emotion he'd never thought he'd feel when it came to Eve. Words formed on his tongue as he felt the napkin brush against his lip, words that the sober Simon would never dream of saying.

"Thank you." he mumbled, closing his eyes again. Eve stopped then, placing the dirty napkin into the sink before grabbing a wet cloth off the side to try and mop up the sick off the floor.

She smiled, this was probably the first and the last time that Simon was ever going to thank her so she basked in his apology.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

you wanted it, here it is.

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nell
11/08/17