Love & War | Brad Simpson ✔️

13. "If you find her selling your boxers on eBay, don't come running to me"

Gemma has the time of her life at the gig. We introduce her to James and Connor, who welcome her with open arms, and when we aren't watching the boys perform from backstage, Gemma is asking them countless questions about being in a band and occasionally dropping flirty side-comments, especially to James.

Gemma goes back home a couple of days after the gig and life returns to normal. As normal as it can be whilst living with your famous brother and his famous knobhead of a bandmate.

My text conversations with Seb increase and he eventually tells me that he wants to take me on a date. I am obviously totally up for a date with Seb and I feel like it would be nice to actually spend time with the guy when we're not inside a dark, loud and overcrowded bar or club. Seb says he's going to pick me up in his car and take me out for some lunch in London.

I give myself an hour to get ready, curling my hair loosely and doing my normal everyday make-up except with the added extras of sleek winged liner and dusky pink lipstick. Then I start to pick an outfit out to wear, which takes a bit longer than anticipated because I get a little indecisive. In the end, I go for a pair of high-waisted skinny jeans and a cream crop top with lace detail, covered with a bomber jacket to keep me warm in the early spring breeze. I pull some underwear on and then lay the clothes down on my bed, just before I realise that my bag isn't on my dressing table where I normally put it. I momentarily forget about putting clothes on and decide that searching for my bag takes priority right now. I look underneath the dressing table and in the bottom of my wardrobe, which are the more obvious choices. When I have no luck, I start to go look in the nooks and crannies of my room and eventually find that my bag has fallen down the side of my bed. I attempt to pull it out but it seems to have gotten lodged down there somehow and it's going to take a bit of strength to pull it out.

And that's how I find myself on all fours on the bed, wearing only my underwear, my arse stuck proudly in the air and my arm stuffed down the side of the bed as I tug on the handle of the bag.

It's also how Brad finds me when he barges into my room without knocking.

"Tris says- woah!... Wow..."

My head shoots up at the sound of the voice, causing me to bang it hard against the wall.

"Fuck" I groan, clutching my head as I sit up and swivel around on the bed. My eyes land on Brad who's stood in the doorway, staring at me - sorry, I mean, my chest - with a slightly glazed look in his eyes.

"What the fuck?" I snap, climbing off the bed, "get out!"

Brad doesn't make any attempt to move, nor remove his gaze from my bra-confined breasts, so I stomp over to him and start pushing him backwards out of the room.

"Nice arse" he snickers as he lets me push him, clearly not apologetic about barging in my room or for leering at me.

"Get out!" I yell, giving him a final shove and then slamming the door in his face, "perv!" I add loudly and I swear I can hear him sniggering to himself. I'm genuinely starting to believe that he has lacks the ability to knock on a door.

I huff, making sure my door is shut properly before I return to my previous position and fish my bag from down the side of my bed. Then I quickly get changed before Brad can walk in unannounced again.

As I'm spraying myself with some perfume, I get a text from Seb, telling me that's he's outside waiting for me. Perfect timing. I grab my bag and make my way to the living room where my brother and Brad are sat watching telly. Brad smirks at me when he sees me but I completely ignore him, though I do notice that covering his torso is an Arctic Monkeys t-shirt. This irritates me greatly because I love Arctic Monkeys, and if he's wearing their t-shirt, it must mean Brad likes them too. The bastard. Just my luck that he would have good music taste. It makes me hate him even more.