All We Know Is Falling

Ian and Sean walked hand in hand up the path into Ian’s mam’s house. They were smiling, knowing that they had great news to tell the family.

Ian and Sean had spent yesterday completing their big plan for Ian’s mam’s birthday. It was finally the day. Sean had woke up in the morning and realised what the day was, bouncing up and down, waking Ian up, and saying “Ian, today! Today! We get to give your mum her birthday present! Today!” and had jumped on Ian, covering him in kisses.

Sean swung their conjoined hands as Ian knocked on the door. Both of them could barely contain their excitement as Ian’s mother answered the door. They both simultaneously leapt on her, hugging her. Sean pulled away as she laughed, hugging Ian tight.

She then pushed Ian away, laughing, and pulled Sean into a hug. Sean giggled, blushing as Ian wiggled his eyebrows behind his mum’s back.

Finally, Ian’s mother released Sean from her crazy hug, whilst Sean tried to hold back his sigh of relief. Ian laughed at Sean, and turned to his mum, “Mam, seriously, I’m goin’ to be jealous if you do that again!”

Ian’s mam laughed, whilst Sean chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ian and Sean walked in to the living room, smiles still firmly on their faces. Ian whispered into Sean’s ear, “Don’t get too close to Mam, she might get the wrong impression,” to which they both laughed. The family looked at them oddly, wondering what they were laughing at, making the couple tone their laugh down suddenly, before it died out completely.

“Listen, Watkins Family…” Sean drifted off, realising how stupid he sounded, “As stupid as that sounded…”

Ian cut in, “We’ve got a surprise for you guys. Sean and I sorted something out for you, to help you all feel better.”

“So, if you’d like to come outside,” Sean continued, “We’ve got a special present to get you to your big present,” he smiled triumphantly, because this part was his idea.

The Watkins group today consisted of 6 people. Ian’s mother, Jenny; Lisa; Tyrone: Ian’s cousin; Ian’s older brother: James; James’ wife Kylie and their son: Sammy. Sean lead them out, while Ian followed him, with their hands interlocked tightly. They turned around to see the families face when the saw the surprise. Every single jaw dropped and Sean swore he could see tears in Jenny’s eyes.

Ian and Sean turned back to admire their handy work.

In front of them, there was a huge Limousine. It was a deep purple colour, and shimmered in the light. The windows were blacked out, and in the front sat a very dressed up Snoz, smiling. He got out of the Limo, and opened the door for Jenny, who curtseyed slightly, laughing. Snoz put his arm out to welcome the family into the back of the limo. They clambered in, some more graceful than others, it had to be said. Ian sat in last, and Sean closed the door, sliding into the seat up front next to Snoz. Ian leant against the partitioning wall, talking to Sean the whole journey, whilst the family sat in the back in an excited hushed mumble.

Snoz flicked on the radio up front to dull out the tones from the back, finding them pretty uncomfortable. He twisted the dials to get to the right CD, having loaded a full six CDs into the machine previously. Ian leaned forward, leaning through the hole between the driver and the back part, flicking to one of the four Metallica CDs randomly, and skipping the first two tracks, as they were released as singles and he was, if honest, pretty bored of them. Track Three came on, and Ian sung along, laughing, because he remembered one time when him, Snoz and Sean had listened to it. Sean hadn’t known many of the words, but soon picked them up.

When he realised what song it was, he squealed, and sang along to the first verse loudly. Snoz snickered at the points where he went out of tune, but didn’t say anything, because he couldn’t sing much better himself.

“Yeah! I feel you too! Feel! Those things you do!” Sean belted out, and the more he went on, the more Snoz and Ian joined in. By the third time they’d played the track, they were all singing full throttle, and gaining backing vocals from the back from Jenny. She had heard this song blasting from Ian’s room many times when he stayed the night occasionally, and had actually taken a shine to this album.

“Now come on, come on, lets take a chance…” Ian sung, while everyone cut in “Let’s dance!”. They all burst out laughing for no particular reason, while Snoz slowed the Limousine down and eventually stopped it. He stepped out to open the door, and the family climbed out of it. Ian held Sean’s hand, squeezing it. Sean rubbed his thumb over Ian’s palm, which was surprisingly cold and clammy.

Ian’s palms always got cold and sweaty when he was nervous. Sean remembered when they first kissed, and Ian had slipped his hand into Sean’s. It was much like it was now, except a bit warmer because they were inside and the house was pretty warm from all the damp drunken bodies clambering all over the place. Then there was the time when Ian had turned up on Sean’s doorstep: “I really honestly missed you, and I don’t really understand why.” Sean had acted on the impulse to grab his hand and pull him into the apartment before even asking him how he got his address or anything like that; it had been a surprise, but an amazing one: one that Ian had even taken the day off of work to organise.

Sean slipped his fingers in between Ian’s, squeezing slightly.

“Shit, Seanie, I think this was a bad idea…”

“No way, it’ll be awesome. Just wait and see.”

Ian walked over to his family, who were looking around and wondering why Ian had brought them here. They were in one of the moderately-expensive parts of the neighbourhood, nothing over the top, but a place Jenny had always been aiming to live in. She just never had the money.

Ian handed Jenny a small envelope. She felt it, couldn’t figure out what was inside, and then pulled it open, slipping her fingers in between the sticky paper sealing the top. She pulled the tab from the top, and pulled out a small silver key. Frowning, she turned to her son, who simply nodded pointedly towards a small house in the middle of the street. Jenny went a bright shade of pink, struggling to hold back a smile. She walked, no ran, up to the door,and saw a note pinned onto it’s cracking red paint.

“Told you that you needed somewhere new. I&S.”

She twisted the key around in her now dampening hand, and pushed it towards the lock on the door. It slipped in perfectly, and as she turned it, the door clicked. She pulled down on the handle, and with her family in hot pursuit, walked into the house.

Ian had picked out what he thought would be the perfect place for his mum and her family. Ever growing as it was, they all needed somewhere to start afresh. This house gave them he chance. The walls weren’t in the greatest shape, and weren’t the greatest colours either, but this would just mean that the family got a chance to decorate how they wanted. Ian handed his mother the final surprise. She opened it to reveal a cheque, and her face paled when she saw how much it was for.

“New furniture.” Ian said, while Sean laughed as the family crowed round to see how much it was.

“Ian Watkins, I am not taking this much money from you.”

“Yes, you bloody are! Don’t argue with me, ma.” Ian said with a bright smile, whilst wondering what she was thinking.

“You-“ she paused for thought, or even drama, “are a bloody lifesaver, you know that?” She wrapped her asrms around her son, hugging him tight, then pulling Sean into the hug too. She felt like the luckiest lady alive to have such caring people around her, “Everything is going to be so much better!