Coming Home

Chapter 22

With the boys back in town, I had been drinking way too much alcohol and had eaten too many pizzas to keep up my fit(-ish) shape. The weather was nice so I decided to tie my running shoes and go for a few miles in Mortomley park before it got too crowded with families later in the afternoon.

I was on my 3rd mile, listening to my favourite playlist, when I heard someone behind me calling out my name.

I pulled out my earphones, still running. I listened intently, and heard the voice behind me again so I stopped, turned around, and saw Jamie jogging towards me in his normal attire; leather jacket and boots.

"You out for a run too, Red?" I laughed as he caught up with me huffing and puffing.

"Shit, I need to stop smoking," he panted as he put his hands on his knees, almost coughing up his lungs.

"You alright there, Jamie?" I laughed.

"I don't know why I ran that far to be honest!" He panted, "I just saw you and I wanted to say hi and you didn't hear me so I kept running."

"How far did you run before I heard you?" I laughed.

"Embarassingly little to be this out of breath," he said and straightened up, finally having caught his breath.

"What are you doing in the park on your own?"

"Needed to get away from my parents! They were driving me crazy with their constant questions and music suggestions," he said and rolled his eyes, "Said I had to meet up with Al and the rest of the lads just to get out of there."

That made me laugh! Jamie had always had the nicest parents ever, but he had always been sick of them. It was nice to see that hadn't changed since we were teenagers.

"So now you're just wandering the park on your own like a total mad man?"

"Leave it to the volunteer-runner to call me a mad man," he teased me, "how much more do you need to run? There's a small café on the corner over there and I could sure use a coffee!"

"Coffee sounds great," I said and stopped my GPS watch and followed Jamie to the café. We sat outside in the shade and Jamie ordered us both an Americano.

"I really enjoyed listening to your new album in London the other day!" I said.

"Thanks! We're not completely set on the track list yet. The order and such."

I nodded slowly, thinking of the songs they had been playing for me and the Domino guys, "what was all that stuff about the 13th song?" I asked him, "I think Nick mentioned it" I tried to sound casual, but the truth was that I hadn't been able to get Alex' facial expression at that particular moment out of my head.

Jamie sighed, "that's Al you need to talk to about that. I don't really know much."

"What is the song about?" I asked and took a large gulp of my coffee.

"You really should talk to Al about that," he said and shot me a look, "I'm not the one you want to hear it from, alright?"

I nodded while both being disappointed and intrigued at the same time. I had no idea what the song was about but I had a faint idea based on Jamie's words and how Alex had looked when Nick had mentioned the song; it was probably about me.

"So; I hear that you're coming out for Matt's goodbye party tomorrow," Jamie said, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"Yes! I wouldn't miss it for the world. Who knows when I'm going to see you lads again?"

"Give it six years," Jamie winked at me and I gave him a small smack saying, "hopefully not that long.."

-

The old pub was filled to the brim with people but I was quick to spot Matt and Nick sitting in our regular booth in the back.

"Hey guys," I said as I hugged them both, "you got the booth!!"

"Yes! Isn't it nice? We just talked about how we feel 19 again!" Nick exclaimed with a spark in his eyes that I hadn't seen for a while.

I ordered a round of beers for us all and as we were half-way through the beers, Alex and Jamie had joined us. We talked about the fact that next time I would see Matt, he would have a baby and the thought was just so foreign to me. I couldn't believe that he was actually going to be someone's dad. We joked around and talked about how the kid would be 6 years old when I finally got to meet it, but I could tell that Alex didn't think it was that funny. He chuckled along with the rest of us but his face stiffened a bit every time the six years apart were mentioned.

At the same time, he was constantly texting someone and it was really annoying me, seeing as this would be the last time we'd all be together for a while.

At some point, Nick asked me if I wanted to go dance, and I happily followed him to the designated dancefloor. We danced for a few tracks while Matt, Jamie, and Alex were in deep conversation at the table - or at least Alex tried to look in deep conversation. Truth was that I could feel his eyes burning on my skin.

For the next few hours, I was dancing and singing with the lads who took it in turns to babysit me on the dancefloor. When Matt left me alone to go to the loo, Alex stepped up for the first time that night.

"I didn't expect to see you on the dancefloor, Turner! You never used to dance," I yelled to him, trying to outshout the loud music.

"I still don't dance," he laughed, "but I wanted to spend some time with you and it seems that I'll have to be on the dancefloor to do that."

"Like I said; I have you wrapped around my finger," I said, holding up my little finger that he swatted away with a laugh.

We danced to a few nice tunes that I didn't know until they put on a Katy Perry song. Alex groaned loudly but we kept on dancing in the hopes that the next song would be better. The popularity of the Katy Perry song, however, had caused a lot of people to join us on the dancefloor. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people writhing their bodies, pushing Alex and I closer and closer. I kept bumping into him, sending him small apologetic smiles. At some point, he grabbed me and pulled me closer to him while mumbling, "figured it was easier this way. Now you don't bump into everybody all the time."

I was standing close to Alex' body trying to dance as subtle as possible, hoping for the Katy Perry song to be over soon so people would sit back down again. To my dismay, the next song was another popular pop song, leaving people to dance even harder than before. I was now completely jammed up against Alex' body as I accidentaly stepped on his foot. He winced and I shouted, "sorry! Shit, I'm so sorry - are your toes alright?" I asked him while wearing a grimace, indicating how sorry I was.

He nodded but I could see his lips were pressed together in a thin line meaning that it probably had hurt more than he had let on.

"I'm so sorry," I said once more, avoiding his gaze.

"What?" He screamed over the music.

"I said I'm sorry!" I yelled back, looking back up and directly into his beautiful brown eyes.

"It's alright," he winked at me.

"Are you sure?" I said and bit my lower lip.

He leaned in a placed a small, tender kiss on my lips, causing me to go momentarily deaf, only existing in that brief moment that the kiss lasted. He pulled away again and said, "that's how sure I am."

The music started playing in my ears again and I couldn't help but smile at his nervous facial expression. My mouth formed a broad smile and his face soon broke in to a huge grin too.

"Want to get out of here?" He asked me, "There's something I'd like to show you."