Somebody To Love

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐲

We stop the car in front of Freddie's house. It was Victorian and very beautiful. It had a tall black front door. We all got out of our cars and walked up the stairs to the front door. Freddie raps on the front door and a young woman, around our age answers.

"Kash! Hello, sweetheart." Freddie embraces the girl before introducing her "This is my younger sister, Kashmira."

"Hey!" She says. Roger, Brian, and John shake her hand and Kath and I give her a friendly embrace. "Come, sit. Mama made us all some food." She smiles at Kath and I, so we follow her into the large dining room. The walls were a deep yellow with pictures, mirrors, and flowers everywhere. Some were of Kash and Freddie's grandparents and some were of them. The dining table was a dark wood with a cream table runner. It was lined with candlesticks and flowers. It had 10 chairs, a similar wood to the table. Freddie's dad took a seat at the end near the window. As we all enter, he stands and shakes our hands.

"Lovely to meet you, Evelyn, Kathrine." He smiles at us and sits back down. As he sits back down, Freddie's mum walks in with plates of food.

"Oh hello! You must be Farrokh's friends. He tells me all about you." She smiles at us, and we all look confused.

"Farrokh?" Mary, Freddie's girlfriend, smiles at Fred's mother. I look at Roger and smile at him. He doesn't notice, but I do. His side profile is very angular. He has a sharp jawline and a slightly hooked nose. His blonde hair is almost gold in the window light. Kathrine nudges me and raises her eyebrows again. She gets closer to me.

"You're staring." She whispers. I snap my head to face her. I shake my head subtly.

"Shut it. I'm not." I growl through my teeth. She winks at me teasingly. Freddie's mum sits us down at the table. Bomi next to the window, herself next to him, Kath next to her, John next to Kath, Kash and Freddie at the bottom. On the left side was an empty seat, Brian, Roger, then me. Kathie winks at me again and I scowl at her. She just laughs. In return, I nod my head at John, which she slyly sticks her middle finger up at me from across the table. I stick my tongue out which she rolls her eyes at.

"Go on, dig in." Jer begins. All of a sudden, hands reach for spoons, scooping up food and picking up bread rolls and bhajis. We begin to talk about Freddie and his school life as a child. His mum stands up and leaves into the living room. She's quite short so she reaches for a large book on the shelf while standing on her tip toes. She comes back with the book in her arms.

"Ooh, I have just the thing to show to you all!" She laughs, beginning to open the book. Everyone was full of food but sat up as soon as she opened the first book. Freddie tried to snatch the book from her out of embarrassment. She handed one to me and Roger. We leant into the photobook and began to flick through. We laughed and pointed some out.

"Aww! Look at this one!" I pointed and giggled. I turned my head to look at Roger, but he was already looking at me. I smiled before spitting out "What?"

"Nothing. You've done something different. With your makeup." He smiled at me, going slightly red. I touch my face and smile back.

"I didn't have time to put much on, why?" I ask, realising he notices the littlest things about me. How I do my hair to how I change my make up.

"Well... it looks nice." He nods, a red glow still smeared across his face.

"Thank you." I lean a bit closer to him and smile. We stared at each other for a minute before flicking through more pictures.

"His behaviour was unruly." Bomi started. Freddie rubbed his eyes and tipped his head down "We had to send him to a boarding school, even they didn't know what to do with him." The disappointed tone filled the room, making everyone look at Freddie feeling sorry for him.