by S R Dyble
"I already knew that," Kit answered, looking at me.
My face instantly changed when I saw Niomi moving into the room and she threw her arms around me, squeezing me tightly.
"God, it's been so long!" she said, voluntarily bringing her hands to my stomach in a loving way.
"I know! You said you'd been modeling some more, how's that—"
"Ha-ha, that sounds great. What are we talking about?" Jesse randomly interrupted our conversation, placing his arm around me like we were best friends.
He was drunk, and Niomi stared at him before glancing back at me.
"I was just about to say to Eve that we should play a game," Niomi said and I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Stripping game!" Jesse announced, smirking at her.
He was literally fucking her with his eyes in front of me. At least he'd lowered his arm from my shoulder.
"Not exactly," Niomi answered.
Taking my hand, Niomi led me back into the living room and she called Kit over as we took a seat at the coffee table.
"Okay," Niomi led the game as everyone came and sat down.
"Niomi, this is not gonna be a bloody stripping game," Kit said, sitting beside her on the floor.
"You killjoy," Jesse smirked at him from across the table.
"I prefer to save what's mine for my own eyes only, Mate, sorry about that," Kit replied.
Jesse eyed me and it made me question him with my eyes.
"Apology not accepted," he said, shocking me.
"You're lucky you’re pissed right now, Mate," Kit replied and I eyed him. It made Jesse grin and he knew as well as I did that it only pissed Kit off more. I'm pretty sure that's the game he loved to play.
"Let's continue, truth or dare," Niomi said and I watched as Kit sat back against the sofa, drinking his beer.
How was he not nervous?
Obviously, I was gonna have to pick truth if the bottle spun and landed on me.
"Rules are, if the bottle lands on a couple, both of them have to complete the truth or dare."
I looked at the other couples that had joined the game. Thankfully, this was a large coffee table. I noticed then that Maddie joined the game, sitting furthest away from me but closest to Kit. He glanced at her but did not attempt to speak with her. Then I turned my attention back to the spinning bottle and decided I felt too old for this type of thing. I was probably the perfect age for parties and party games but being pregnant had matured me drastically and sitting around a spinning bottle didn't seem fitting for me right now. Nevertheless, Niomi had asked so I decided to stay a few spins then I would make an excuse to leave. The bottle first landed on a guy from Delta. He chose dare and I rolled my eyes as he got up and downed a full bottle of beer in one go. That was classed as breaking the ice before the real dares commenced and I wanted to roll my eyes again. I felt like an elderly woman overseeing this and thinking how stupid it was. The next spin landed on a girl that I hadn't seen before and I assumed she was the date to one of the Delta guys. It was confirmed when they both had to answer the same truth. This time my eyes did roll when they were asked how many shags they'd had. I saw Kit glancing at me and he smirked, seeing my very badly hidden eye-rolling. He got up to leave when the bottle landed on him and our eyes connected.
"You and Eve, Kit,” Niomi said. “I have an interesting one for you two. I have these couple cards."
Oh dear god. Niomi had couple cards…
"It's fun, I promise!" she pulled them out of her bag and by the looks of them they'd been used many times before, which didn't surprise me. Niomi was the ultimate party girl.
"Okay, just three cards, okay?" she grinned and I nodded before looking at Kit.
"I'll pick three at random. The first being: name your partner's favourite colour," she said, reading from the card.
"Blue," I answered. Remembering the comment he'd made about my eyes.
Kit didn't look very willing but none the less he played along.
"Green," he answered.
"What's your partner's favourite sex position?"
Everyone scoffed and laughed.
"Pass. That's for me to know only," Kit winked at me and it made me blush.
"You're no fun, Mate," Jesse said.
"Okay, what's your partner's biggest fear?"
My eyes stared at Niomi once she'd asked the question, the question alone was what I'd feared.
"Masks," Kit answered quickly and I stared at him.
I could tell that Kit had instantly regretted his answer and he'd said it without thinking much about the people sitting around us. All of the guys from Delta either looked at me or looked away awkwardly. Maddie stared at me knowingly, making me feel all the more messed up.
"Pass," I answered quickly after. "Because I need the toilet," I added.
I knew Kit had followed after me, but I rushed upstairs.
"I'm sorry," he said once the bedroom door was shut.
"It's fine," I said pulling my dress over my head.
No more party for me.
"I need to go to bed," I said on my way to the bathroom but Kit stopped me.
"Are you okay?" he asked and I nodded.
"You're supposed to be opening up to me, remember?"
Again, I nodded and took a breath.
"You saying that reminded me how messed up I am, because you were right."
"Eves, people are afraid of clowns. You're afraid of people in masks because it's linked to something very real. There's nothing messed up about that."
I looked around the room, allowing it to sink in. Perhaps I had overreacted slightly. I could hear the music still blaring downstairs.
"We're never gonna get any sleep here."
"Get dressed, we'll go somewhere that we can."
"Where?"
"Home," he smiled and I stared at him, admiring how utterly gorgeous he was.
"There's no bed there," I answered. We didn't have any furniture there apart from the furniture in the nursery.
Nevertheless, I did as he said and packed a few things in my bag before getting dressed in my hoodie and leggings. Holding my hand and hoisting his bag onto his back, Kit led me through the house and through the still very active party. Once outside, I took a deep breath and enjoyed the fresh evening air. The Beck lamp-posts were lit and we took a walk around the Beck to the other side where Kit handed me the key to the house. I smiled and unlocked the door, into our very bare house.
"Tomorrow we can go pick some furniture if you like?"
As much as I wanted to pick furniture, I couldn't help the uneasy feeling in my stomach.
"What's the matter?"
"I haven't paid for any of this," I answered once inside. "I don't want to come across as ungrateful, but I also don't want to come across as a leech."
"Eves, Sweetheart, you worry too much," he said running his fingers down a strand of my hair.
"No one is thinking that, it’s not like you have asked me for any of this. I did it all myself and besides, you'll have your chance to make us money when you start your photography business."
I forced a smile.
"You really think I can do it?"
"I know you can."
The next hour consisted of watching Kit trying to blow up a double bed with a very noisy foot pump. Thankfully it wasn't too late because it took forever and we both laughed as he tried to blow it up whilst being a little tipsy.
"This will teach me for not ordering an electric pump…" he huffed. "Your very firm and comfortable bed awaits, your majesty," Kit offered his arm out to the bed.
"I told you, we could just sleep on the floor."
"You're pregnant, Eves, and even if you weren't, I wouldn't allow you to sleep on the floor."
"How chivalrous of you," I teased, getting up to test the bed out.
"Hard to believe you're that cocky, arrogant little shit that popped up in my photography class."
He raised his eyebrows. "It's hard to believe you're that stubborn, litt
le head-fuck that I had to chase around."
I smiled, mirroring his face.
"I'm still that girl," I said laying on my side on the bed.
Kit got onto the bed with me.
"Well, I'm still that arrogant, cocky little shit."
I eyed him and smiled as he brought his hand to my face. "I just have a sweet spot that I didn't know about."
I hummed and closed my eyes briefly.
"I spoke to my grandparents. I meant to tell you…"
"Yeah?"
I hummed and closed my eyes, feeling overly tired.
"They told me to tell you... That we have their blessing."
"They're happy about us moving in together?"
He sounded happy and I'd bet he was grinning if my eyes were open to see. I hummed again and I felt Kit's lips kissing my nose, then I fell into a peaceful sleep.
Two days had passed when Kit pulled me out of bed despite my exhaustion and I groaned as he drove us to B&Q, the local DIY store.
"You said you wanted to get it painted as soon as possible before the furniture arrives."
As he'd promised, the day after the party we'd spent a full day walking around IKEA and weirdly enough it was fun with Kit and his brothers. Despite half of them being hungover.
One more so than the others… Meaning Jason.
Despite feeling like crap, Jason still made the journey. We'd picked a plain, three-piece sofa and were going to paint one of the walls in the living room light blue. We'd also picked a beach style wooden coffee table for the centre and some other accessories for the living room. The kitchen was next and with no utensils at all, we bought pretty much the full kitchen section. The more Kit added to the basket, the more my eyes bulged just thinking about how much all of it was going to cost. It made me even more determined to start my business. I knew I'd probably never be able to match the amount that Kit had spent just on our house alone, but it would make me feel useful to earn money instead of allowing Kit to buy everything.
Over and over Kit had to remind me that what was his was now mine, but I still couldn't comprehend the amount he was spending. He was fairly light-headed about my choices too. I suggested mainly plain and pastel-coloured accessories because I knew it would make our house seem calm and relaxed. We needed that. Once we'd picked a bed it was finally time to leave. We already had built-in wardrobes at our home. It still felt so weird to say our home.I never, ever pictured this for myself.
"I know what I said," I answered Kit, feeling wound up like a coil.
"Hormonal," Nick commented from the backseat of Kit's car and I turned around to eye him.
He placed his hands up in surrender.
"You're lucky I like you," I said and he chuckled.
"Most of the time," I added, looking out of the window and thinking about Lilly.
It made Kit scoff and grin in his seat as he pulled into B&Q. Taking my hand, he kissed it and I smiled like a teenage girl. The wash of butterflies settled in my stomach as Kit led me inside. Straight to the paint section where he had me pick out colours.
"What colours do you want?" I asked him.
"I'm not bothered, whatever you like," he said carelessly and I narrowed my eyes at him.
Despite already discussing the pastel blue colour for the living room wall, I reached for a tub of bright pink paint and he stared at me.
"You're joking right?" he asked and I grinned and bit my lip.
"See, you do care," I commented.
"You don't want bright pink walls do you?" he asked looking at me, then to Nick, and then back again.
I shook my head and reached for a pastel blue colour and handed it to him. Then I took another walk up and down the aisle, picking the perfect colour from the paint strip I'd found showing all of the shades on paper. I eventually picked a pastel green pot and brought it to him. Despite our bedroom already painted pastel green, this colour wasn't quite the same.
"I think we should paint the nursery this colour because it will suit a boy or a girl..."
He nodded, taking the tub from me and looking at the colour.
"I like it," he said, making me happy.
I dressed in my trampy clothes—an old pair of leggings and a ripped top I would usually wear for bed. I watched as Kit undid the lid on the paint tub and poured a load of green paint into the tray. He was wearing a sleeveless vest top and an old pair of jeans that had been marked from his renovation work to the house. The way he had an old rag hanging out of his pocket, and the way he rubbed his head with his arm sent a buzz over my body. I just stared at him, admiring everything about him.
"You ready?" he asked, handing me a roller brush.
I took it from him and nodded. We'd moved all the furniture into the centre of the nursery and had covered everything, including the floor in huge plastic sheets. I loved it, in fact, painting the walls in complete silence was so relaxing that I didn't want it to stop. Eventually Kit and I clashed. He was working up on the ladders, painting against the skirting boards and I painted beneath him in the only section I hadn't painted yet when I felt a blob of paint landing on my nose.
"Kit!"
"What?" he asked, glancing down at me. "Oh shit, sorry," he smirked and the more he looked at me the more he laughed.
He came down the ladder as I wiped the paint from my face and he grinned at me whilst coming towards me with his rag. I rolled my eyes as he attempted to wipe it from my face.
"Crap, I'm just making it worse," he said.
"You think this is funny?" I asked him, staring at his smile.
I brought my hand up then and placed it against his cheek. At first, he wasn't aware that in the palm of my hand, there was a huge dollop of paint that I'd wiped from my nose. Now it was on his cheek and I reached for his rag.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," I smirked, having my fill of revenge.
"You little…" he smirked, using his rag to clean his face. His paintbrush was still in his other hand and I dodged it coming towards my face.
"Oh no," I said warning him. "We're not gonna replay those corny scenes in films where they have a paint fight and then—"
"I thought you loved those girly films?"
"Sometimes I do," I agreed.
"But—" I couldn't believe it. The cheeky little shit had just ran his brush the length of my nose.
"There you go, it's more blended in now. It was driving me mad—all uneven."
I eyed him, cocking my face at him.
"Somewhat of a perfectionist are we?" I asked.
"I only tend to settle for perfection," he said looking me up and down.
"Let me show you what perfection looks like then," I said picking up my roller and moving towards him.
He smirked, knowing exactly what I was about to do. Instead of allowing it to happen, he tackled me, careful not to hurt my stomach. He turned me around so my back was snug against his front and he held me there. As he brought his paintbrush back to my face, I screamed and gripped it between my hands. Only, instead of my face covered in paint, my hands were now covered and I glared at him as he bit his lip and laughed at me. Again he fought me as I lifted my hands to his face, covering his hands in paint. Eventually, I brought my hands to his face and laughed at the sight.
"Baby, thanks for trying but I don't think you could improve on how perfect my face already is," he said and I shook my head.
"You feeling okay?" he asked, assessing my face. "You look a little green, are you sick? Come here..." he came towards me to kiss me.
"No!" I smirked but it was too late and we both laughed together, then kissed so that the paint equally covered my face just as much as his.
"I like this colour," he eventually said, pointing to my face.
"You wear it good too, you cocky shit."
"I'm sorry I can't go with you to pick them up. If I could, I would."
I nodded and cuddled into Kit. Unfortunately he'd been called into Delta and couldn't come with me to pick my grandparents up from the airport. Instead, Li
lly was going to drive me.
"Bob and Phil will be right behind you, okay?"
I nodded and waited for him to kiss me, so that I could feel the warmth it brought over my body.
"I'll see you later, okay?" he said and again I nodded.
Shortly after Lilly arrived she saluted Bob and Phil who stood beside their car, waiting for us.
"Thanks for the escort, fellas," she said and as always they just smirked at her.
"Although they smile, they reminded me of those guards that stand outside Buckingham palace that aren't allowed to show emotion..."
I scoffed and got in.
"What's going down at Delta this time?" Lilly asked as we set off.
I did wonder that myself. My grandparents were getting a late flight home which meant they wouldn't be here for another hour at nine PM.
"I think sometimes they have nightly training sessions," I answered and she nodded.
"Makes sense. How often do they train?"
"Pretty much every day recently," I answered.
Kit barely had a chance to train kids boxing anymore, which meant he took to Saturday sessions only instead of once every two days. It meant less time for us together, but I was glad that he'd kept it up. He was good at it and those kids looked up to him. Our journey to the airport wasn't boring, because like always Lilly turned the tunes on and I relaxed whilst we both sang like a comical smaller version of the spice girls.
I was thankful that we'd got there early, because when we arrived my grandparents flight had landed early and I beamed at the two of them, before I practically ran across the floor to them.
"Eves," my grandma breathed, hugging me tightly.
My grandad was next and he made sure to point out my bump.
"You're glowing!" my grandma said once I pulled back and I blushed as Lilly came over. She hugged them both and commented on their tans.
"She been taking it easy?" my grandad asked Lilly.
I looked at her, telling her with my eyes to be careful what she was about to say.
"Yeah, I've made sure to keep her in line," she grinned.
We were leaving the airport a lot sooner than planned and I thought about texting Kit to let him know but figured he'd be busy training. Instead, I enjoyed speaking freely with my grandparents in the car.
