Parallel Worlds

"Duckie... Duckie! Wake up now!" Duckie groaned and stuck her arm out from under the snug duvet, flailing it about in thin air in the hope that she would whack whoever was disturbing her. As the person spoke they grabbed her arm
"Duckie just come downstairs, you're needed" Duckie huffed and poked her head out from under the covers to see a flash of purple hair
"Lucie! It’s too early!" she groaned as the older girl grabbed her by the foot and tugged on it until she finally gave in. Duckie mumbled to Lucie as Lucie took her hand and dragged her downstairs towards the living room
“You better have a bloody good reason to wake me up Lucie or I swear to God I’ll-… Why is it so dark in here?” Duckie stopped in the living room doorway with Lucie. Lucie grinned and flicked on the lights to reveal the whole household standing in amongst a mass of birthday decorations
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone shouted at her, her eyes widened
“Oh. My. GOD! Who planned this!?” Everyone laughed at Duckie’s shocked reaction and in turn they all hugged her and wished her happy birthday. Aimy grinned at Duckie and thrust a huge wrapped up box into Duckie’s hands. Duckie looked from the box then round the room
“Guys! You know I don’t like presents!”
“Yeah but you’ll like this one!” Victoria said grinning back at Duckie. She huffed and sat on the floor setting the box in front of her and ripped the wrapping paper off to reveal a plain cardboard box, her brow furrowed as she slowly opened the box to reveal the present inside. Her eyes widened and her face lit up
“OH MY GOD!” she squealed as she pulled out a two foot tall rubber duck from the box, she squealed once again and hugged everyone. When she got to Alex he held out another wrapped present to her
“It’s not much but me and the guys thought we’d get you something,” he said smiling sheepishly at her. Duckie took the wrapped parcel off him and unwrapped it to reveal a small jewellery box; she looked at the jewellery box before opening it to reveal a necklace with a guitar plectrum on the end. She inspected the plectrum; on the front it had the ‘Elliot Minor’ logo on, she turned it in her hands to look on the back which had a message on the back written in the tiniest of writing

To Duckie,
Happy 13th Birthday!
Lots of love from the EM boys x

Duckie stared at it, a smile playing at her lips. She looked up at Alex andraped hugged him tight
“Thank you so much!” she said into Alex’s chest
“No problem” Alex smiled as he kissed her lightly on the head. Alex took the necklace out of her hand and reached around the back of her neck and fastened it so that it hung loosely around her neck. He smiled at her but then something behind her caught his eye and his smile faded
“Wha-… When did-” The whole room had gone silent. Duckie stared into Alex’s anxious eyes before turning round to see what the fuss was before freezing herself
“Teddy…” Duckie gasped, Teddy looked back at her, his eyes full of sorrow
“Happy Birthday Duckie” He said quietly to her. Sarah and Charli both grabbed onto Becca and Jessica’s arms to stop them attacking Teddy standing in the middle of the room
“…When did you get back?” Duckie said in almost a whisper, her voice cracking slightly
“Just last night, almost everyone was asleep when I got here” He paused for a few seconds “… I need to talk to you… can we go somewhere?” Duckie stared at him before looking over at Christina. Christina tried to walk forward to follow Duckie to comfort her only to have Ed grab her waist and pull her back by his side
“Ed! Wh-” Ed placed a finger on her lips
“She’ll be fine, I’ve talked to Teddy and he just wants to speak with her, he doesn’t want to cause anymore harm. Just leave them to have some alone time” Ed put his hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes, Christina stared straight back into his, calming her instantly; she simply nodded and fell silent.

Teddy stood in the hallway with Duckie and looked at her
“Where d’you want to go then?” Duckie looked at her feet
“We can go up to my room I suppose” Teddy nodded and followed Duckie up the stairs and into her room in silence. Teddy copied Duckie in sitting on the bed and he looked into her sorrowful eyes for a second before speaking
“I know you wont accept my apology straight away ‘cause what I did was unforgivable so let me elaborate first” He sighed and looked down at the floor “Firstly I shouldn’t have acted so numbly when Christina told me how old you were, it was completely wrong of me to sleep with you and not even questioning you about anything like your age. Of course you look a lot older and more mature for your age but it was still wrong of me to be so full on like that and take advantage of you” He looked back up at Duckie and brought his hand up to her cheek and stroked his thumb across the now fading bruise that sported her cheek, Duckie brought her hand up and placed it on his as she looked at him with teary eyes. Teddy sighed and took his hand away to put his head in his hands
“God, why have I acted like such an arsehole? I don’t know why I hit you, you were completely right and I just wasn’t going to accept that ‘cause I was being such a cocky idiot” Duckie looked at Teddy inquisitively… maybe he really was sorry…
She placed her hand on his leg, Teddy looked up
“… I forgive you…” Teddy looked shocked
“…What?… Really? After me being the twat I am?” Duckie looked into Teddy’s eyes and nodded. Teddy looked back into Duckie’s eyes before a small smile spread across his lips, Duckie’s eyes filled up with tears as she smiled back. Teddy giggled and pulled her into his side and gave her a bear hug
“You wimp” He chuckled slightly; Duckie giggled back as she wiped her tears. Teddy pulled away and reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a gift box with ribbon around it
“I got you something for your birthday” He said smiling warmly as he handed the box to Duckie. She stared at the box before removing the ribbon and opening the box to reveal the inside filled to the brim with Skittles
“I promised myself I’d replace the ones that spilled everywhere” Duckie stared at the contents of the box before grinning and throwing her arms around Teddy again. He tilted his head slightly and caught her lips in his and kissed her gently, Duckie pulled away and stared into his eyes in shock
“Love you,” He said with a simple smile, Duckie grinned from ear to ear as Teddy went to kiss her again, only his time more passionately. Duckie moaned slightly and moved to get closer to Teddy as he continued to kiss her, sending the box of skittles crashing to the floor and spilling everywhere once again. Duckie giggled as she heard the Skittles crash to the floor with a big rattle
“Fuck it, we’ll pick them up later” Teddy said as he pulled Duckie up onto his lap and embraced her as he continued to kiss her lovingly.