LUCIFER » SIMON MINTER

Chapter 3

Simon led me outside the living room to the hallway, where he stopped and turned around to face me. 

'What's up?' I asked, trying to sound casual and to hide the fact that my palms were sweating from just being alone with him. Where was Sarah and why didn't I ask her to come with us?

'I just wanted to give you this, quickly.' Simon said, pulling out a present wrapped in bottle green wrapping paper. I wondered if the fact that the wrapping paper was my favourite colour was a coincidence, or if he did it on purpose. 

'Oh, thank you.' I said softly, looking up into his blue eyes as I took the present from him. I couldn't stop the small smile that was growing on my lips. It made me happy to think he put some effort into actually getting me a gift. 

The present was a small rectangle and wrapped very neatly – it even had a little bow stuck to it – so it obviously couldn't have been Simon who wrapped it. That, or he spent hours trying to make it look perfect. I carefully opened the gift to see a little box. On the front was a champagne glass, which had a little red rubber stick figure hugging the part of the glass you hold. They were glass markers in the shape of rubber stick figures, and they came in 8 different colours. 

'I chose this because I know how much you love champagne and also, I don't know if you noticed this but, all the stick figures have all the colours of the Sidemen if you know what I mean. Like Harry's is blue, Josh's is orange, Ethan is red, you know? And look, there's even a green one, for you.' He said. He sounded so excited and proud of the present he bought me. 

'Thank you Simon, it's really nice. I love it.' I smiled, looking down at it and then back up at him. His irresistible dimples were in both of his cheeks and for a minute, I felt my legs go weak. 

'I'm glad you like it,' He flashed me a toothy smile and chuckled. I turned around and headed back into the living room, Simon had taken the wrapping paper off me so I placed my first present on the kitchen counter. When I walked back into the room with Simon right behind me, I made eye-contact with Sarah, who raised an eyebrow at me. It only got me to realise how weird the scenario probably looked; I just walked out of a dimly lit hallway with my ex boyfriend right behind me, and no one knew we were there in the first place. 

Oh no. 

I could hear Simon stuffing the wrapping paper into the bin in the kitchen as I walked up to Sarah. 

'What was all that about?' She leaned down a little and whispered to me. 

'Yeah, I saw it too.' Freya, Josh's girlfriend joined in, so the three of us were now standing in a little circle. I was close with Freya, too, but I didn't see her so often because of uni and because she lived elsewhere. It's a shame, really; I loved this girl. 

I shrugged. 'He just wanted to give me my birthday present.' I told them honestly. 

'But why did it have to be away from everyone else, in the dark hallway?' Freya asked. She was holding a glass of pink champagne and took a sip from it whilst still looking at me with furrowed brows.

'And what did he give you?' Sarah asked, her voice also laced with concern. 

'I don't know, guys, and he just gave me these champagne glass markers, so we know whose glass is whose. 

'Okay, that's sweet.' Freya said, and then looked up at Sarah for confirmation, who simply just nodded. 

'Yeah, anyways, I–' I began to say but was cut off by an excited Tobi bouncing our way. 

'Lu! Open my present! Please?' He asked and pulled me over to the middle of the room and pulled me down to sit next to him on the couch. Several other people were already sitting on the couches surrounding the coffee table in the middle, each holding their presents. 

'Ugh, guys, you didn't have to.' I said, feeling awkward about having to open presents. I don't know why, but I've just always felt like this with gifts. I really didn't deserve them. 

'What do you mean we didn't have to? Of course we did, it's your birthday man!' Tobi laughed and shoved his gift into my hands. This one was wrapped a little messily, which just proves Tobi tried to wrap it. At least he tried. 

I could see him smile as I began to open the present, only to see it was a bottle green snapback. Typical Tobi. 'Tobi, thank you so much, I love it.' I laughed. I carefully placed the hat on my head, avoiding messing up my hair, and then opened the camera on my phone to check myself out. Tobi leaned in so he was in shot, and we quickly took a picture for my Snapchat story. I opened my arms and leaned in for a hug from him but he pushed me away. 

'Nuh uh, not yet, there's something else in there, too.' He told me, holding up his pointer finger and then pointing at the present. 

'Oh,' I said and opened the wrapping paper more. There was, in fact, another hat lying within the wrapping paper. This time it was a bottle green beanie, making my smile stretch wider. 

'Thank you,' I smiled as I got a hug from him this time. I didn't try it on because I decided keeping the snapback on was cooler.

'Right, my turn!' Callux said, pushing between Tobi and I so he could sit next to me on the couch. 

We continued on until everyone handed me presents. I felt so loved and a little overwhelmed in the end. It's not everyday that you get to be so spoiled by all these lovely people. The kitchen in the back of the room was flooded with gifts and wrapping paper that no longer fit in the bin.

'Wait! Freya and I haven't had a turn yet!' Sarah shouted just as we were all about to stand up and enjoy some more drinks. 

'Oh, right!' I laughed with them and the three of us sat down on the carpet in front of one of the couches, as all the other boys occupied the actual comfy seating. 

Sarah handed me a small gift, which I was guessing came from the both of them. I could hear the clinging of metal inside, and raised an eyebrow, confused as to what it might be. I carefully teared the wrapping paper, only to see a key and a little keychain in the form of a locket attached to it. I opened the heart-shaped locket to see a picture of the three of us in fancy dresses. It was a picture of a night we all went out together to treat ourselves. 

'Oh my gosh, this is so cute.' I said, admiring the picture. 'But what's the key for?' I asked, looking back up at Frey and Saz. 

Suddenly, arms flew wide open and everything was a blur. I felt myself be pushed to the floor in a hug from the two of them as they screamed 'We're moving in together!' 

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So now Lu will be able to see Freya all the time and she can have Sarah by her side all the time and everything will be alright :) Or will it???

Also for those of you that don't know what bottle green looks like, it's in the media :)

Mel xx