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"USAMA, YOU NITWIT."
⠀⠀⠀ It was the only thing Darcy could manage to muster out when she glimpsed the lower sixth boy with copper skin knocking on the window of Jude Asher's car, the bones of his fist an incessant grating sound that startled her out of the fatigue that had begun to fog her mind.
⠀⠀⠀ She glared at him through the windowpane, her eyes going raptor red in her imagination. Her scathing look was received with a sheepish grin and a five-fingered wave to lower the barrier between them.
⠀⠀⠀ It took a moment longer for Darcy to press her fingertip on a button that lowered the screen before hissing at him, "Why did it take you so long? You practically live next door for fuck's sake."
⠀⠀⠀ Usama Balakrishnan, in true hopeless romantic fashion, thought it to be fate when his family moved into the neighbourhood several years ago. Darcy and Emma were both in agreement that it'd been nothing short of a curse, for he meant well but his happy-go-lucky demeanour and sunny optimism was, even for Emma, an acquired taste.
⠀⠀⠀ A taste Darcy had curiously developed an affinity for, when she came back to Manchester.
⠀⠀⠀ "Maybe if you'd reached out at a decent hour..." he muttered, voice still thick with sleep though for the first time ever sounding somewhat begrudging. "You're lucky I'm here at all."
⠀⠀⠀ Darcy flushed in a bit of embarrassment. "I...Thank you for coming. I only meant that I was surprised to see you is all."
⠀⠀⠀ "Really?" He leaned closer. "You're surprised that I came for you?"
⠀⠀⠀ Darcy shrugged. "Not many people I know would come for me at this hour, it's nice to know I can count on you."
⠀⠀⠀ He offered one of his small lopsided grin. "Always," he promised before sticking his head through the car's window, taking a swift glance around the situation that unravelled before him.
⠀⠀⠀ He first noticed Emma with her head thrown back onto her seat, mouth completely slacked open. Her mobile tucked between her legs, still flashed open on the game Piano Tiles, that was instructing her to play another round.
⠀⠀⠀ Darcy couldn't help but notice the fond twinkle in his eyes when he looked at her sister, but it quickly dissolved when he shifted his gaze onto Jude whose large limbs were still sprawled out, taking up all the space in the backseat. Sam's eyes narrowed before a frown edged between his hardly groomed brows. He drifted his eyes back to Darcy. "I'm guessing this is a long story?"
⠀⠀⠀ "Mate, you've no idea," Darcy said, already handing him the keys to Jude's Ford. "You drive – I'll fill you in."
