Status: What is this? An update? No, it can't be...
Blackbird
Eve
Cara felt her insides boil with a rage that was so potent that a single drop could kill a hundred thousand grown men. Standing behind the man, who she thought of as her father for all intensive purposes, was someone who she thought deserved to die a thousand horrible deaths. Cara wasn't usually a hateful person and hardly ever wished bad things upon people but the good for nothing man, who was posing there with an air of self-righteousness, pushed her over the edge.
A smug smile spread across the rugged face of the awful man. Much to Cara's despair, she really couldn't call his physical attributes ugly like she could call his characteristics. He was beautiful. And she hated it. He was the kind of chiseled yet rugged beautiful that artists would give anything to paint. His head was adorned with thick blond hair that fell in a perfectly messy way no matter what was done to it. Piercing grey eyes were surrounded by dark eyelashes and the faintest traces of stubble looked to have been painted across his strong square jaw. He would have looked somewhat like a Greek God, with his muscular body, handsome features and tanned skin, if it had not been for his stupid, smug smile.
"I'd say that we've done more than met before," the stupid, smug, self-righteous man said with a slightly pointed look on his face.
Oh, they had definitely met more than once before, Cara thought as she glared at him with a futile hope that maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to stop the oncoming train wreck from creating the inevitable catastrophe that was about to occur.
The stupid, good for nothing man with a smug smile was the one and only, Cara had to thank the Beatles for that, James McOwen. The same James McOwen that was currently an up and coming singing sensation. The same James McOwen that she had dated for months before being brutally dumbed for a bottle blonde bombshell. The same James McOwen that had slowly torn her heart out and stomped on all of Cara's self-worth.
"Is that so?" Lachlann MacSual said awkwardly as he observed the tense manner of the greeting.
Cara should have known that James would be here. It was essentially the MacSual's Christmas Party, after all.
Lachlann MacSual was the CEO of the major record company Isle Records. His job had resulted in him, and his family, travelling and relocating to nearly every continent in the world at some point to monitor the many branches of the company. In fact, it was his job that had allowed Cara and Brenna to meet in the first place.
The MacSual family had moved to Australia, when Brenna was sixteen, so that Lachlann, with the help of his wife Siobhan, could overlook the expansion of the newest branch of Isle Records. Cara, who had just turned 14, and Brenna become a highly unlikely duo shortly after the family's immigration.
Following Brenna and Cara's graduation the pair had moved, in Brenna's case back, to the United Kingdom where Brenna, through extreme dedication that no one really knew she possessed, became one of the paramount photographers for Isle Records.
It was through Brenna and her job that the naïve eighteen year old Cara and the up and coming sensation of James McOwen had met. Cara had fallen quickly and completely for James and had thought that he had felt the same. In the first six months of their relationship Cara thought she had felt true emotions and commitment from James but in the few months after small things began to not add up, meetings became longer and more frequent and he would come home wearing a different shirt, tie or jacket than what he had left in. And yet Cara overlooked everything because he would always smile a certain smile that would make her heart race and make all her worries disappear. The smiles and worries continued for months before Cara returned from a weekend away with Brenna to be dumped with absolutely no consideration of her feelings.
Cara needed a way out of this situation, and fast. She could she Lachlann gradually growing more confused and the air was growing tenser the longer that she remained silent.
And then suddenly, as if the Beatles were granting her silent wishes, James looked over her head and his face was filled with an even larger smug smile.
"Now, as much as I would like to stay and chat with you, Red, and Lachlann, I really must go and grace others with my presence," James' voice was laced with a certain amount of distaste, which was usually reserved for annoying, snotty, dirt covered children, especially as he said his old nickname for her, as he spoke while continuing to look at whoever was in the swarm of people behind Cara. He quickly swaggered past her and Lachlann leaving Cara to explain what had just occurred.
Instead of taking the high road and telling Lachlann about the relationship between her and James, which she knew he would absolutely not approve of, that she had kept from him and the remainder of the MacSual family, excluding Brenna whom she couldn't keep a single secret from, the entire time that they had been together and for the months afterward; Cara chose to make a break for it.
"You know what? I'm really craving some eggnog right now, would you like some? I'll get you some anyway," Cara rabbled as she moved away from her father figure, who was giving her the 'we'll talk about this later' look, and towards the beverage tables.
▪▪▪▪▪
Cara had been standing alone drinking her eggnog, which she found was absolutely laced with alcohol, for at least fifteen minutes when she had heard a familiarly slow voice behind her.
"What's my favourite Aussie doing here?" Harry drawled as he put his shirt clad arm around her shoulder.
"Clearly, I'm here with all of my friends," Cara deadpanned holding out her eggnog and gesturing to the empty space around her. Harry let out a deep, hearty chuckle.
"I'm here with my friend Brenna. What're you doing here?" Cara started and immediately reminded herself that she was at the Isle Record's Christmas Party. "Don't bother answering that," she laughed.
Harry, however, didn't laugh. His face was filled with an alarming amount of shock.
"Brenna? As in Brenna MacSual?" He questioned quickly.
"The one and only." She laughed and then questioned, "Why do you want to know?"
"My mate's fancied her for months. I've got a bet going with another mate of mine, you know Louis?"
"Yes, I know Louis," Cara interrupted shortly. Harry ignored the interruption and continued.
"Well, the first one of us to introduce them gets fifty quid. And I can't loose." Harry's voice had picked up a quicker pace as he spoke.
Cara was surprised that Louis could do more than glare at strangers, insult Harry and generally just be a complete wanker to people.
They continued to speak for what seemed like hours, although it was probably only forty minutes, about everything from her name, about halfway through the conversation Harry realised that he didn't know yet, to what brought her to London and even to what Harry's favourite Christmas present was.
"And so I said to him "Hey that's my ham..." Harry laughed but was stopped short as a throat was cleared near them.
Cara turned her head to see Siobhan MacSual, Brenna's mother, standing with a confused look on her warm face.
"Beetle, shouldn't you be well and truly in Australia by now?" Siobhan's soft Scottish brogue was filled with the warmth a mother's concern. She placed her tanned hand on Cara's pale arm and squeezed it softly. "What happened?"
Cara felt her happiness shatter like a cheap snow globe that had been dropped on hard tiles. She had forgotten the reasoning behind why she was here and had actually begun to enjoy herself but now she felt claustrophobic and needed to escape from the room filled with peoples laughter, loud chatter and Christmas tunes.
"You know, the usual," Cara said simply because Siobhan knew more than anyone what Cara's family had a tendency of doing. It really wasn't the first time that something like this had happened to Cara and nearly every time that it did Siobhan would be there with a pan of fresh banana bread, Cara's favourite, and a warm hug.
Siobhan gave Cara a sad, sympathetic look and gave her a quick hug, whispering a simple, "I'm so sorry," in Cara's ear.
Cara could feel tears pooling in her eyes as she felt the motherly love that she so very rarely got from her biological mother. And she quickly excused herself from Harry and Siobhan muttering something along the lines of getting fresh air.
▪▪▪▪▪
Cara found herself on one of the quiet balconies that surrounded the grand ballroom filled with noise and people. As she stood looking onto the city she had loved for all of her life and saw all of the lights from people's homes who were celebrating Christmas Eve with their families and friends, Cara had never felt more alone. While she had Brenna, the remainder of the MacSual family, Elaine and a newly acquired friendship with Harry, Cara felt that something was missing and that feeling made her feel more alone than anything else had before.
She remained standing alone in the nipping wind until the silence was broken with a simple and quiet,
"Hey."
A smug smile spread across the rugged face of the awful man. Much to Cara's despair, she really couldn't call his physical attributes ugly like she could call his characteristics. He was beautiful. And she hated it. He was the kind of chiseled yet rugged beautiful that artists would give anything to paint. His head was adorned with thick blond hair that fell in a perfectly messy way no matter what was done to it. Piercing grey eyes were surrounded by dark eyelashes and the faintest traces of stubble looked to have been painted across his strong square jaw. He would have looked somewhat like a Greek God, with his muscular body, handsome features and tanned skin, if it had not been for his stupid, smug smile.
"I'd say that we've done more than met before," the stupid, smug, self-righteous man said with a slightly pointed look on his face.
Oh, they had definitely met more than once before, Cara thought as she glared at him with a futile hope that maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to stop the oncoming train wreck from creating the inevitable catastrophe that was about to occur.
The stupid, good for nothing man with a smug smile was the one and only, Cara had to thank the Beatles for that, James McOwen. The same James McOwen that was currently an up and coming singing sensation. The same James McOwen that she had dated for months before being brutally dumbed for a bottle blonde bombshell. The same James McOwen that had slowly torn her heart out and stomped on all of Cara's self-worth.
"Is that so?" Lachlann MacSual said awkwardly as he observed the tense manner of the greeting.
Cara should have known that James would be here. It was essentially the MacSual's Christmas Party, after all.
Lachlann MacSual was the CEO of the major record company Isle Records. His job had resulted in him, and his family, travelling and relocating to nearly every continent in the world at some point to monitor the many branches of the company. In fact, it was his job that had allowed Cara and Brenna to meet in the first place.
The MacSual family had moved to Australia, when Brenna was sixteen, so that Lachlann, with the help of his wife Siobhan, could overlook the expansion of the newest branch of Isle Records. Cara, who had just turned 14, and Brenna become a highly unlikely duo shortly after the family's immigration.
Following Brenna and Cara's graduation the pair had moved, in Brenna's case back, to the United Kingdom where Brenna, through extreme dedication that no one really knew she possessed, became one of the paramount photographers for Isle Records.
It was through Brenna and her job that the naïve eighteen year old Cara and the up and coming sensation of James McOwen had met. Cara had fallen quickly and completely for James and had thought that he had felt the same. In the first six months of their relationship Cara thought she had felt true emotions and commitment from James but in the few months after small things began to not add up, meetings became longer and more frequent and he would come home wearing a different shirt, tie or jacket than what he had left in. And yet Cara overlooked everything because he would always smile a certain smile that would make her heart race and make all her worries disappear. The smiles and worries continued for months before Cara returned from a weekend away with Brenna to be dumped with absolutely no consideration of her feelings.
Cara needed a way out of this situation, and fast. She could she Lachlann gradually growing more confused and the air was growing tenser the longer that she remained silent.
And then suddenly, as if the Beatles were granting her silent wishes, James looked over her head and his face was filled with an even larger smug smile.
"Now, as much as I would like to stay and chat with you, Red, and Lachlann, I really must go and grace others with my presence," James' voice was laced with a certain amount of distaste, which was usually reserved for annoying, snotty, dirt covered children, especially as he said his old nickname for her, as he spoke while continuing to look at whoever was in the swarm of people behind Cara. He quickly swaggered past her and Lachlann leaving Cara to explain what had just occurred.
Instead of taking the high road and telling Lachlann about the relationship between her and James, which she knew he would absolutely not approve of, that she had kept from him and the remainder of the MacSual family, excluding Brenna whom she couldn't keep a single secret from, the entire time that they had been together and for the months afterward; Cara chose to make a break for it.
"You know what? I'm really craving some eggnog right now, would you like some? I'll get you some anyway," Cara rabbled as she moved away from her father figure, who was giving her the 'we'll talk about this later' look, and towards the beverage tables.
▪▪▪▪▪
Cara had been standing alone drinking her eggnog, which she found was absolutely laced with alcohol, for at least fifteen minutes when she had heard a familiarly slow voice behind her.
"What's my favourite Aussie doing here?" Harry drawled as he put his shirt clad arm around her shoulder.
"Clearly, I'm here with all of my friends," Cara deadpanned holding out her eggnog and gesturing to the empty space around her. Harry let out a deep, hearty chuckle.
"I'm here with my friend Brenna. What're you doing here?" Cara started and immediately reminded herself that she was at the Isle Record's Christmas Party. "Don't bother answering that," she laughed.
Harry, however, didn't laugh. His face was filled with an alarming amount of shock.
"Brenna? As in Brenna MacSual?" He questioned quickly.
"The one and only." She laughed and then questioned, "Why do you want to know?"
"My mate's fancied her for months. I've got a bet going with another mate of mine, you know Louis?"
"Yes, I know Louis," Cara interrupted shortly. Harry ignored the interruption and continued.
"Well, the first one of us to introduce them gets fifty quid. And I can't loose." Harry's voice had picked up a quicker pace as he spoke.
Cara was surprised that Louis could do more than glare at strangers, insult Harry and generally just be a complete wanker to people.
They continued to speak for what seemed like hours, although it was probably only forty minutes, about everything from her name, about halfway through the conversation Harry realised that he didn't know yet, to what brought her to London and even to what Harry's favourite Christmas present was.
"And so I said to him "Hey that's my ham..." Harry laughed but was stopped short as a throat was cleared near them.
Cara turned her head to see Siobhan MacSual, Brenna's mother, standing with a confused look on her warm face.
"Beetle, shouldn't you be well and truly in Australia by now?" Siobhan's soft Scottish brogue was filled with the warmth a mother's concern. She placed her tanned hand on Cara's pale arm and squeezed it softly. "What happened?"
Cara felt her happiness shatter like a cheap snow globe that had been dropped on hard tiles. She had forgotten the reasoning behind why she was here and had actually begun to enjoy herself but now she felt claustrophobic and needed to escape from the room filled with peoples laughter, loud chatter and Christmas tunes.
"You know, the usual," Cara said simply because Siobhan knew more than anyone what Cara's family had a tendency of doing. It really wasn't the first time that something like this had happened to Cara and nearly every time that it did Siobhan would be there with a pan of fresh banana bread, Cara's favourite, and a warm hug.
Siobhan gave Cara a sad, sympathetic look and gave her a quick hug, whispering a simple, "I'm so sorry," in Cara's ear.
Cara could feel tears pooling in her eyes as she felt the motherly love that she so very rarely got from her biological mother. And she quickly excused herself from Harry and Siobhan muttering something along the lines of getting fresh air.
▪▪▪▪▪
Cara found herself on one of the quiet balconies that surrounded the grand ballroom filled with noise and people. As she stood looking onto the city she had loved for all of her life and saw all of the lights from people's homes who were celebrating Christmas Eve with their families and friends, Cara had never felt more alone. While she had Brenna, the remainder of the MacSual family, Elaine and a newly acquired friendship with Harry, Cara felt that something was missing and that feeling made her feel more alone than anything else had before.
She remained standing alone in the nipping wind until the silence was broken with a simple and quiet,
"Hey."
♠ ♠ ♠
So who has a dislocated knee and feels like a, for a lack of better word, wanker... me.I am soooooooooooooooo sorry for not updated in three weeks. I've been so busy and so many things have happened in the past few weeks, including dislocating my knee, that I have had about two minutes of free time. So, sorry again!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much to the 76 people who have read Blackbird.
Thank you so much to the 17 people who have subscribed to Blackbird.
Thank you so much to hectic glow. and skinny love. for recommending Blackbird.
And thank you so, so much to skinny love. and ConfidentCoward0696 for commenting on Blackbird.
You all make my day, thank you and sorry! :)
Oh, and there'll be some Louis P.O.V in the next chapter which will hopefully be up within the week.