Better for You

Wordlessly, Andy and I walked into the room where everyone was in deep conversation which halted upon our arrival.

”Hey” I started timidly, giving them all a small wave –for what reason I was completely at unaware of- before walking in front of them. Andy sat down next to Liam and who gave me a small, comforting smile.

“So, um there’s something that I should tell you.” I began, before rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. How was I supposed to say this? Should I gently lure them in? But how was I meant to do that? I should just get to the point and say it. “I have a brother.” I revealed and they all (minus Liam and Abby) gaped audibly – Abby however began chocking as she looked on at me with wide eyes.

“W-What are you talking about? I’ve met with your family too many times to count and I have never met your brother!” Abby exclaimed as she recovered from her choking fit. Andy and Niall both still had wide eyes as they stared ahead at me.

“His name is Daniel, he is my older brother but my mum sent him off for adoption before I was born. I only found out about him a couple of days ago.” I elaborated for them, gauging their reactions.

“So your parents lied to you for 19 years?!” Abby questioned, clearly having a hard time accepting
what I had just told her.

“Why didn’t they tell you?” Andy asked with furrowed eyebrows.

Niall lowered his gaze to his lap and fiddled with his fingers awkwardly.

Liam watched me carefully with worry etched on his face; he was probably worried that I would lose my temper at them or breakdown crying.

“They wanted to keep Daniel a secret, I don’t know why. Maybe they were ashamed of him. Maybe they didn’t want to ruin their image… I don’t know.” I answered them and they all nodded. Niall kept his head bowed.

“How are you handling this with your parents?” Abby inquired.

“Well, my dad’s in rehab and my mum is trying to pretend like nothing happened and I don’t want anything to do with them at the moment.”

Silence began to fill up the room in the absence of conversation. I awkwardly shifted my weight from one leg to the other while everyone absorbed the information that I had just told them.

Abby sat with her fingers supporting her temples and her thumbs beneath her jaw.

Andy had her hands clasped together between her thighs and her gaze focussed on a painting of a
boat in the corner of the room.

Niall kept his gaze lowered as he spoke.

“I was adopted.”

What? Did anyone else know this? As I looked around the room, everyone’s shocked faces answered my question.

“My birth parents were shitty people and um, I was taken away from them when I was 6. I met my adopted parents when I was 8 and they officially adopted me a few weeks after we met.” Niall confessed, finally raising his gaze to meet mine as Abby takes his hand in both of hers and squeezed it comfortingly.

“Niall, I-I had no idea.” I stammered as I try to comprehend what he just told me. He was adopted?

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad that I met my parents, they were the best thing that ever happened to me.” He speaks and then suddenly corrects himself. “After Abby; of course.” This earns a laugh from us all and a peck on his cheek from Abby.

“Did you ever meet your birthparents after you were taken away?” Abby asked softly.

“I met them a couple of years ago, I guess I wanted closure. They invited me to meet their family and they were so perfect and kind and different to how I imagined them to be. They were so shit to me, they were horrible… And now they were this poster family with polite smiles and a white picket fence. I got my closure but I didn’t want anything to do with them after meeting them.”

“They don’t deserve you.” Abby told Niall quietly as she caressed the side of his face lovingly.

“Izzy, what your parents did to your brother is wrong on so many levels… What they put Daniel through is something that will scar him and yourself forever. They may not have hurt you, but they did hurt you, do you get what I mean?” Niall asked quietly.

“Yes.”

A silence descended upon us once more until Niall forced a smile onto his to face. “Let’s get some curry; I’m fricking starving.”

After a large curry which had left me so full that I simply lied down on the sofa and did not move for the next hour or so for fear that I might throw up. We all decided to watch a film so we watched Ted 2. It was a half decent film that was funny for everyone else but I was kind of in my own world throughout the majority of the film.

Once the film ended I lazily walked towards my room and flopped down onto my bed, not bothering to change or brush my teeth as I began closing eyes. I was so tired, today had been a long and draining day and I just wanted to sleep.

I sighed as my tongue ran over teeth, feeling the bumps of bacteria or whatever it was on them and made a loud, exaggerated huff. I mentally weighed the options of staying under the covers and in the warmth or leaving the warmth of the covers and brushing my teeth – to be warm or not to be warm, that is the question…

I’ll be warm.

I slowly began closing my eyes and preparing myself for a long awaited sleep. I was incredibly comfortable and about to sleep when I felt the all too familiar sensation in my bladder.

I need to pee.

Fuck it. I sighed used my fingers to rub beneath my eyes to wake myself up slightly as I went to the bathroom.

@Izzy_Hartley96:
If I didn’t need to sleep I swear that I could take on the World.

The following morning tension was thick in the air after the revelations last night. Andy and I were both staring at the beautiful potion that is coffee with renewed interest simply as it was all that there was to do.

Abby was picking at her breakfast which was just simply cheerios due to the fact that she was now vegan and we probably didn’t have any almond milk or whatever milk replica that she uses.

Niall was staring at his empty plate that once had toast but had been devoured quickly because it’s Niall and he can’t comprehend how one can possibly eat slowly.

Liam was leaning against the counter and tapping a rhythm that was completely random and I could feel my body itching to flinch in annoyance.

“We should go out tonight” This came from Abby who popped another cheerio in her mouth.

“Where to?” Liam asked while continuing to tap his damn fingers. The rhythm was like nails scratching a black board and my hormones were not making it easier to let go of the tap tap tap rhythm which was random.

“I don’t know, are there any clubs around here?” Abby countered as she got up to place her now empty bowl and Niall’s empty plate in the dish washer.

“Um, have you seen this area? It’s only really high class clubs around here.” Liam answered.

“So? Let’s go to one of them and pretend we’re like super rich!” Abby enthused and Andy sniggered.

“What?” Abby asked Andy, clearly not understanding the humour of Abby trying to act posh when she uses the work like in every sentence.

“If we are to do that then we’re going to have to have Izzy and Niall do all of the talking.” Andy replied and my eyes widened, am I posh? I always thought that I was just normal.

“You’re legit the most posh person I know!” Abby stated with a small laugh. Did I say that out loud?

“It’s the accent.” Andy added. “You’re all like ‘I would luve four you to join me’ ok, that wasn’t the best impression but it’s your accent.”

“Ok, so what are we going to do when we have a ridiculously expensive bill to pay for the expensive drinks that we’ve been consuming?” Liam asked.

“Well, we’re charming… Right?” Abby asked in a questioning tone which reassured us that maybe she wasn’t totally delusional.

Liam chuckled, “Izzy trips over a flat floor-“

“Hey!”

“What?! It’s true!” Liam defended and I shot him the evils. “And Niall gets drunk and sings really loudly and deafens everyone in a 20 mile range.”

“Hey!”

“But you get my point. We are not charming enough to get away with-“

“Well then we won’t drink much or if we do we just make it super cheap shit.” Abby interrupted.

“Ok, but I didn’t bring any classy dresses or anything…” I say and Abby shrugs.

“So? None of us do so we’ll just have to pretend that they’re expensive.”

“How about we just be ourselves and don’t care about what everyone else says?” I suggest.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Ok then.” I conceded which was followed by a few other ‘fuck it’s and ‘fine then’s.

I spent the majority of the day reading War and Peace which I had set out to finish by the end of the holidays… But that wasn’t going to happen. I had been reading for a couple of hours and I was only 80 pages in out of the 1,358 pages that were smiling at me mockingly at my naivety at believing that I could finish it in the break.

By the time that I was past the 150 pages mark Abby had come barging into my room declaring that it was time for me to get ready for the evening.

“What dress are you going to wear?” Abby asked as she began changing into her dress, why she hadn’t changed before coming into my room was beyond me but I didn’t care too much as I was used to it at the dorms.

“I have this black cut-out type dress.” I explained as I dug around in my suitcase which I hadn’t bothered to unpack.

When I found the dress I began to change into it also. Once dressed I had to fiddle with my pant line
and eventually decided that I would have to change into a thong because my pant line was too visible.

“Oh my fucking gosh, your dress is like better than my future, Izzy.” Abby exclaimed as she looked at
it with wide eyes full of adoration.

“Thanks, I love the colour of your dress.” I replied laughing as I stumbled out of my pants and into the thong.

“Babe, it’s grey.” Abby deadpanned.

“And? It really suits your skin tone.” I replied and Abby broke into a smile and flicked her hair over her shoulder.

Then Andy came barging into the room with about five different outfits in her hands. “Guys, I have a problem.” She huffed as she plopped her clothes on my bed. “I don’t know which outfit to wear.
Nothing looks good.” She sighed as she flopped on my bed.

Abby walked over and immediately picked up a pair of studded black shorts and a purple lacy t-shirt which I wasn’t sure if the combination would work but Abby seemed to be 100 percent sure as she handed the outfit to Andy.

Andy changed into the outfit and to my surprise the outfit worked really well and was very complimentary to her figure. “That looks hot as fuck, Andy.” I told her and Andy grinned at her reflection in the mirror, clearly happy with her reflection.

I managed to persuade Abby to perform her make-up magic on me with a smoky eye effect and some reddish coloured lipstick. While Abby did Andy’s make-up I accessorised with some black dangling earrings. I also tried to tame my hair which had decided to be a little bit too frizzy for my liking.

Within a couple of minutes we were ready to go. Abby was greeted by Niall and his wandering hands (which Andy, Liam and I all fake gagged at while Niall shot us the middle finger) in the lounge and then we left.