Frightened Blue Eyes

I heard the door open. Nicky grinned and lent round the arm of the sofa.

“Hay Louise. How was school?”

“Ugh, dull.” A small voice replied. Louise walked into the living room and lent against the door. her eyes flickered to the TV and then to me. “Hi Toby.” I smiled and waved slightly. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. I could see why Max liked her. Nicky was frowning at her.

“Umm, Louise, you now I love you dearly but, well, why are you wet?” Nicky asked with a small smile. Louise raised her eyebrows. And turned away.

“We didn’t have a water fight in the middle of town.” She whispered a slight blush covering her cheeks as she left. I looked over at Nicky who grinned back.

“Who are ‘we’?” I asked softly.

“Louise and her mad friends do the weirdest things.”

As the film came to an end I was beginning to feel more comfortable in Nicky’s company. He made me laugh and there was something in his smile that made my stomach flutter.

“Come on, lets go upstairs, dad will be home soon.” Nicky stood up and held his hand out for me. I blinked at it before taking it warily. Oh dear I was going upstairs, alone, with Nicky. Anything could happen. I took a deep breath as we walked into his room. Nicky grinned and flopped down on his bed. “What do you want to play?” he asked as he through me a controller. I shrugged and sat down on the floor next to him. I looked over at the door. It was still open, I had an escape rout if he tried anything.

Before I realised it, it was nearly six o-clock and my phone was buzzing franticly in my pocket. I bit my lip and put the controller down. Nicky paused the game and looked at me. Max.

“Hi Max.” I said cheerfully.

“Hay Toby, what time do you want to be picked up?”He spoke softly. I bit my lip, I felt safe here. It was really strange. I liked it, Louise would randomly walk in and pick up a book or something or she would sit at the end of the bed while she did her maths homework. She didn’t treat me any differently to Nicky, I smiled as I thought I felt excepted already. June and Nick’s dad had come up to say ‘hi’ when they got in and Nicky had waved them off quickly. “Toby? Are you ok? When do you want me to pick you up?”

“Nicky, when do I have to go home?” I asked, hoping for a definite time. Nicky shrugged and slid off the bed he walked into the hall and lent over the stairs.

“June, when does Toby need to go home?”

“Toby are you really sure you don’t want to be picked up now? He isn’t making you feel uncomfortable?” Max sounded worried. I smiled.

“No Max, really I’m fine, it’s been fun.”

“Toby love,” June said as she walked up the stairs. “You can stay the night if you want, it’s up to you.” I bit my lip and smiled.

“June says I can stay the night.” I told Max. a knot began to form in my stomach, I wanted to stay, but I was so scared.

“Toby do you want to stay the night, we can think up some excuse and you can stay another time.” I bit my lips again. That sounded like a very good idea, but I hadn’t been out like a normal person for so long I didn’t want it to end.

“I think I do.” I said softly.

“You want to stay?” He sounded sceptical.

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“Well okay then, I’ll drop you things off, will you need a sleeping bag?”

“umm, June, will I need a sleeping bag?”

“Oh no, we’ve go plenty of stuff.” She smiled at me, I couldn’t help smiling back.

“No sleeping back. umm, Max?”

“Yes Toby I’ll bring snuggle monster.” I smiled and blushed. Snuggle monster was a large, round, fluffy, purple monster with googley eyes, I couldn’t sleep without him.