The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 32

22nd/23rd December

Shannon’s P.O.V:

‘Shannon! Come here’
‘What now?’ I shouted back sleepily.
‘Just come here would you?’
I groaned, rolling slowly and sluggishly out of bed.
I mentally ranted at him as I shuffled towards Nick’s room. He was really freaking out about coming home with me and had been increasingly moody and tense as the days went by.
It was now three days before Christmas and our flight was tomorrow morning.
I leaned against his door.

‘What?’ I yawned, it was almost midnight and I’d been up late the night before packing.
Nick of course obviously wasn’t as organised as me, judging by the clothes strewn over his bed with an open, battered suitcase beside him which I knew he’d borrowed from Jay.
‘I don’t have any, like nice clothes to wear you know? In fact most of my clothes have paint on them’ he commented sadly as he limply held up a particularly splattered shirt.
‘Most of my clothes have paint on them too’ I pointed out but I don’t think he heard.
‘What am I going to do?’ he said desperately, raking a hand through his hair.
I rolled my eyes,
‘Just wear whatever you’re comfortable in’

I picked my way gingerly through the mess and cleared a space to sit on his bed.
He glared at me,
‘You’re no help! I have to make a good impression’
I lay back on the bed, dislodging a shoe from underneath my back before making myself comfortable, my legs hanging over the edge. I threw an arm over my eyes and sighed softly, we’d been over this about a hundred times ever since I booked the flights and our plans were finalised.
‘Relax; you’ll make a good impression no matter what you wear’
The mattress bounced a little as he thumped down beside me.

I peeked out from under my arm to see that his position exactly mirrored mine, right down to the arm thrown despairingly over his eyes.
‘You don’t know that’ he said quietly, he was truly worried about what my family would think.
I smiled it was nice that he cared.
I rolled onto my side so I was facing him and shuffled up the bed a bit so I could curl my legs beneath me on the mattress and I rested my head on my folded hands.
‘If I like you then they will too, simple as’ I told him gently.
He moved his arm so he could look at me.
‘You think?’
‘I know’ I smiled reassuringly.
‘Now will you pack some damn clothes so I can go to sleep?’
He stuck his tongue out at me but pulled himself off the bed and started sorting through the heap of clothes on his bed.

My eyes started to drift shut, lulled by the comforting sound of Nick as he bustled around his room, throwing clothes into the suitcase or onto the floor and the occasional cursing when he couldn’t find something amidst the bombsite that was his room.
It was never exactly clean at the best of times but it had hit new heights of messiness.

I was roused from my almost-sleep by some balled up material suddenly hitting me in the face. The smell of detergent and Nick overwhelmed my senses as I reached up to remove the offending garment – which turned out to be an extremely tatty old t-shirt.
‘What?’ I growled in my scariest voice but he didn’t look up.
‘You’re not allowed to fall asleep until I’m finished packing’
‘Why?’ I mumbled, already starting to close my eyes again.
He promptly threw something else at me.
‘Because I need your help’ he whined.
‘I could always just go back to my own room’
But he just laughed at that, making me pout. I dragged my eyes open even though they felt like they were covered in sand.
‘Fine’ I sat up and tried to look attentive.

We spent the next God knows how long deciding what he was going to bring and what he was leaving behind.
After what felt like hours, I started to flag again so I curled up into a tight ball in the centre of his bed when he wasn’t looking and shut my eyes.
He’d wake me when he was finished so I could go to my own bed.
I promptly fell into a deep sleep.

What actually woke me up was a faint, muffled ringing.
In my half asleep state, my mind couldn’t seem to comprehend where the noise was coming from (let alone what it was) – it didn’t seem to be coming from this room, it was too far away.
I looked around me in confusion; I wasn’t in my room like I thought.
The soft sound of breathing next to me caught my attention and I looked over my shoulder to see Nick on the other side of his bed, lying on his back with his left arm thrown wide while the tips of his fingers on his right hand barely brushed my back as if reassuring himself, even while asleep that I was still there.
I lifted my gaze from him to look at the clock. I blinked hard as I stared at the bright red numbers, hoping that my mind was playing tricks on me.
Sadly it wasn’t, the time was 10:40 am.
‘Crap’ I muttered, sitting up so fast I got a head rush.
I smacked Nick on the (bare) chest as I scrambled out of his bed, getting tangled in the sheets in the process.
‘Where’s the fire?’ he mumbled, rolling onto his stomach and burying his head in the pillow.

Finally managing to stand, I leaned over and shook him.
‘We’re leaving in twenty minutes’ I told him, shaking him all the while,
‘And if you’re late, I swear to God, I’m leaving without you’
I left the room at a jog when he finally pulled himself into an upright position.
‘Why’s it so late?’ he called after me, his voice thick with sleep.
‘Because you didn’t set an alarm idiot’ I called back.

I made it into my room, immediately clicking the off button on my alarm – it was its incessant ringing that had woken me up and I was thankful that I’d thought to turn it on before going to help Nick pack.
I stripped as I headed to the bathroom, hopping on one leg in an attempt to extract my legs from my pyjama bottoms.
It didn’t work and I had to stop to do it.
I then proceeded to have the world’s shortest shower, lasting approximately two and a half minutes (I’d washed my hair the night before).
I quickly towelled myself dry and jumped into my clothes – once again thanking the God of organisation that I’d gotten my outfit for today ready the day before.
I was wearing stonewashed grey skinny jeans, Uggs, a thick woollen jacket and a scarf. I threw on a grey knit beanie as a last minute addition – it was winter after all.
It was freezing outside these days and it would probably be even colder in Ireland. I was going prepared.
I grabbed my bag and wheeled it out of my room, leaving it just inside the front door.

Nick’s door was closed.
I rolled my eyes, I hadn’t meant it when I said I’d leave without him but we couldn’t afford to be late.
‘Nick, hurry up!’ I called but didn’t wait to see if he would answer.
I headed straight for the fridge. It was depressingly empty because we couldn’t leave any perishables while we were away.
I toasted a cinnamon and raisin bagel and scraped the last tiny bit of butter on it. I ate it as I went back to my room to grab my carry-on bag.
A glance at my clock told me that it was now 10:53 am; we were leaving in less than ten minutes.

There was a knock at the front door as I was doing a last minute check to make sure I had everything I needed.
I didn’t bother moving as I heard the door open, I knew who it was.
With a last glance around my room, I walked out the door and shut it behind me.
I smiled at Mark and Jay as I dumped my bag on top of my suitcase.
‘I didn’t know you were coming to the airport with us?’ I directed the question at Jay.
‘I’m not’ he smiled, ‘I just came to say goodbye then I’m headed over to Nicole’s’
I grinned while Mark groaned.
‘Don’t say it’ he pleaded, but I ignored him.
‘You two are so cute together’
Jay blushed but he seemed happy that I approved.
‘I think we should have a ban on having the words “Jay”, “Nicole” and “cute” together in the same sentence’ Mark groaned again.
‘I didn’t put the words “Jay”, “Nicole” and “cute” in the same sentence’ I retorted.

I walked over to Nick’s room and slowly opened the door.
I figured the worst that could happen was that he’d be naked and somehow my brain couldn’t see that as a bad thing.
He was pacing his room with his phone pressed to his ear.
‘- like you’ll care if I’m gone’ he snarled at whoever was on the phone,
‘I’ll visit her when I get back’
He sounded frustrated and angry.
He looked up, saw me and stopped mid-pace. He stared into my eyes as he listened to what the other person was saying.
At last he turned away, his shoulders slumped.
‘Ye okay, I will when I get back’ he hung up without another word but didn’t turn to face me.
‘You okay?’ I asked quietly but he didn’t answer.

Mark came up behind me and rested his hands on my hips.
‘Nick, are you ready?’ he turned around, his face carefully blank.
He nodded, his gaze briefly flickering to Mark’s hands before he bent down to pick up his suitcase.
Grabbing his jacket, he pushed passed us without a word.
Mark managed to pull me back against his chest just in time, saving me from being squished in the doorway as Nick barrelled through.
We exchanged glances and I shrugged at the question in his eyes, before following Nick into the living room.
Whoever he’d been on the phone to was the reason for his sudden bad mood. I just hoped it wouldn’t last.
A grumpy Nick was all I needed.
Thankfully he was back to normal – well he seemed to be at least – within five minutes.
‘It’s time to go kids’ Mark announced.
He’d borrowed his mother’s car and was driving us to the airport.
‘Be a sweetie and get my bags would you?’ I batted my eyelashes at him, making him sigh.
‘I’m powerless to resist your feminine wiles’
He dutifully took my stuff out and waited patiently for us outside the door.

We all followed, waiting while Nick locked up the apartment.
With one last look back at the door with its faded number 13 printed on it, we walked the two minutes the two minutes to where Mark had parked the car.

When our things had been packed in, I went over to Jay and wrapped my arms around him tightly.
He held onto me and kissed the top of my head.
‘Don’t miss me too much’ I smiled, stepping back out of his embrace.
‘I’ll try’ he grinned, ‘I’ll cry when I get to Nicole’s though’
I opened my mouth to speak but Nick stepped up behind me and wrapped a hand over my mouth.
He bent down and whispered in my ear,
‘Don’t say it’
I twisted my head, his hand still clamped over my mouth to glare at him.
He ignored my death stare and stepped forward again so he was pressed against me and leaned his free arm over my shoulder to fist bump with Jay.
‘I’ll see you man’
‘Have a good time’
With that heartfelt goodbye – note the sarcasm and eye-roll – Nick wrapped his arm around my waist, picked me up and deposited me in the back of the car, closing the door after me.

When he got into the front, I stared daggers at the back of his head.
‘I’m not a child you know, I am capable of getting into the car myself’ I snapped.
He turned and stared at me in silence before turning to face the front again.
‘Bastard’ I muttered, staring sullenly out the window.
‘Now now kids, none of that’ Mark said happily as he reversed out of the parking space.
The rest of the journey passed in silence.

It was after 11:30 when Mark pulled up in front of the airport doors.
He left the car idling as we all got out.
He got my bag out for me and placed it at my feet before stepping in close to me. His eyes flicked to Nick who was in the middle of extracting his suitcase out of the car before looking back to me.
He bent down and smiled at me.
‘I think this will be good for him, thank you’
He straightened up before I had a chance to even think about what that could mean let alone trying to come up with an answer.
He winked at me quickly before throwing his arms around my waist and picking me up.
‘I’ll miss you Sweetcheeks’ he mock sniffled.
I giggled, ‘I’ll miss you too loser’
He put me down and pouted at me before he bent down and quickly kissed me, pulling back before I had time to push him away.
I glared, punching his arm,
‘What the hell was that for?’
He grinned,
‘You shouldn’t have called me a loser’
Nick stepped up beside me and glared at Mark.
He backed up a couple of steps with his hands held up in front of him, palms out.
‘No harm done, so don’t hit me again’ Mark groaned, obviously recalling being hit numerous times when he kissed me before.
When Nick had loosened his jaw – which had tensed when he saw Mark kiss me – Mark stepped forward and they shared the same goodbye that Nick and Jay had.

We picked up our suitcases and started for the door as Mark went to get back into the car.
‘Neither of you is to cheat on me’ he called after us.
I laughed, waving at him one last time before Nick and I walked through the doors into the airport, heading straight for Departures.