Give Me Love

"I can't help my love, for graveyard girl."

I fumbled with the zipper of the suitcase, ungracefully getting caught up in my finger, to secure my belongings. I was packing up and getting ready to leave.

I was still completely gutted at the thought of spending my whole summer in the dull, dreary Poconos in Pennsylvania. I was so used to the city life here in New York and now I had to leave it all behind because of my mother’s oh-so-successful career.

I was quite astonished at how quickly her career had taken off. Only a couple of months in and she was already being shipped to another country for a shoot. Mum was always into the idea of living in luxury with the glitz and glamour. She tried out for countless roles in movies and looks wise she was Hollywood’s girl next door, with her luscious blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. When it came to her acting, she never quite made the cut, so she did the next best thing she could think of; a wardrobe stylist. She was so dedicated to her job that she didn’t mind tossing me to the side some more.

Mum never paid me much attention, her head was always somewhere else, swirling with ideas on how to become rich and famous or how to be the one woman everyone envied. My father didn’t come around, keeping his visits seldom. I hadn’t seen him since I was ten which was a good six years ago.

So now, since Mum got to travel to the UK to play dress up for some of the hottest celebrities this summer, I was given the great pleasure of going to live with my annoying, irresponsible twat of a cousin, Claire. She had no care for anyone but herself and she was dumb as a fucking bat. She spent most of her nights parting and getting high off of all sorts of heavy duty drugs and pills.

Of course, my mum didn’t exactly know of Claire’s reckless habits and she had even presumed to think the world of her. I didn’t try to convince Mum otherwise, it’s not like she’d take my word on the matter, or even pay me some attention anyways.

“Effy, we’ve got to go, let’s hurry along now!” Mum yelled, her heels clanking against the floor with every step.

I packed the last of my necessities, took a last look around my room, realized I wouldn’t even miss the emptiness among these walls, and walked out. I walked outside and watched as the movers piled in the house to collect my things. I hadn’t even had much baggage and they were only carrying it to Mum’s car anyway. It made me feel like quite the posh and I didn’t like it.

“Mum, you’re acting very divaish, you didn’t need to hire the movers. I could have easily handled my own luggage,” I announced, watching the movers carelessly fling my things into the back of the vehicle.

“Careful! Some of those items are delicate and fragile!” Mum screamed at the men. She was acting like more of a priss than usual. “Honey, we needed the movers and anyways, they’re plenty of help,” she said, flashing me a brief smile.

There she went again, acting as if we were part of the rich and famous, like we were known world-wide or something meanwhile we were the typical mother and typical daughter without a relationship. I had to fight off the urge that lingered inside of me that told me to just retort with a simple but effective, “Piss off!” Instead, I walked off to the car and sat down in the front seat, preparing myself for a somewhat lengthy car ride and a brand new, yet still boring lifestyle waiting for me in Pennsylvania.

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I sat in the house, all alone, unpacking. The moment I got here, Claire acted prim and proper for Mum, go figure, but once Mum sped away that was the end of her act. “Hey, Ef. How you been? Yeah, real cool. I’ve gotta jet, don’t wait up for me,” she said in her air-headed tone, pulling off her robe to reveal very skimpy attire and rushing out of the house. With that, she was gone and I was left here.

I moved back and forth from my white wooden dresser to the king-sized bed with my suitcase in the light tan room. While I may have had a real shit-for-brains cousin, her house was immaculate and I had to admit, I adored the spacious, luminescent room, along with all of its décor. The black and white photos on the wall, the gorgeous white curtains that hung neatly over the window frame. The desk placed in the corner of the room, with a stationary prepared and everything. Good thing I would have somewhere to store my laptop.

All of a sudden, there was a thud at my window and I shrieked. I slowly walked towards the window and below me on the level under me outside, stood two guys who had erupted with laughter, most likely due to my girly shrill. I also saw off to the side three other boys as well. I did have a better view of the two boys who stood directly below me, though.

“Hey babe, you alright?” Asked the one who was more tan the other. I took both of them in. Both of them had been shirtless with the sun beaming down on them. The tanner one had dark brown/black hair that was perfectly styled and combed in all the right places and it seemed to swerve in an up kind of motion, looking like it had much volume. Resting around his waist was a pair of khaki trousers. His smile was so big and he seemed to have a certain mystery to him that I couldn’t quite place a finger on.

The other, much lighter than the other, had his own body identification to him, starting with the fact he was much taller. His shirtless body revealed a never ending torso topped with a set of abs. he had perfectly tousled brunette curls, that hung to his mid neck and covered his ears. He was smirking up at me and he had on a pair of baggy, grey sweats that rested low at his non-existent hips, showing off his “V” line.

“Could you do us a favor babe, but when you’re done checking us out, could you fetch us our ball that’s stuck in your gutter there?” The curly one said chuckling, his British accent rolling off his tongue as he slowly pronounced every word. His cheeky smirk and cockiness combined in one attracted me to him very much so, but I wasn’t about to give him this conceited stranger the satisfaction he desired.

“I wasn’t gawking at you, for your information. And no, you threw it poorly as shit, you come get it,” I went back at him. The tan one proceeded to laugh a bit, but Curly knew I was challenging him and wanted to create some more banter.

“But you’re closer to the roof and it’s your house. What if I fall and get hurt or even suffer fatal consequences?” He said, trying not to laugh, his little half smile appearing.

“Well then, you better go fetch a ladder and make sure you’re keen on your balance, yeah?” I fired back, winning this game. I smirked at him and shut the window. I was never flirtatious with guys, for my insecurities always held me back and set limitations. I don’t know whether it was the fresh new start here or the way they called me “babe” but they made me feel daring, bold. Not thinking much of him actually taking me up on my offer, I went back to unpacking.

Around three minutes later, I heard the doorbell sound off and I had to catch my breath. I slowly walked down the steps, trying to peer out the mini window in my door.

When I saw who it was, I tried to keep my cool and casually walk down the stairs. I didn’t even understand why I was going to open the door for him. I hadn’t been here a day even and I was already welcoming strangers into the house? I opened the door to Curly with a blond boy in the back holding a ladder, seeming to be stumbling back and forth, trying to contain his laughter. He seemed to find his unstable balance and coordination to be humourous so he let out a heart, genuine laugh, the one that you could instantly laugh right along with.

“So,” Curly said to me, trying to seem sly and mysterious, “about my ball… where should I position the ladder?”