Notice Me! (A Conor Maynard AU Fan Fiction)

Chapter 27 - Locked In!

Beth’s POV

Arriving home from school I flung my bag on the chair in my bedroom and ran into the bathroom, switching the shower on as I undressed, brushed my hair and grabbed my razor. I only had half an hour before everyone was coming round my house for a chat. Mandy had come up to me today during lunch and explained that she and Sam were pretty much dating and it felt like a weight had lifted from my shoulders. Mine and Conor’s relationship had begun to get rocky because of the stress of Sam and his attempts to break us up were really getting to me. I was tempted to leave Conor until someone had got Sam’s attention but luckily my plan worked. See, Mandy thought my plan was just to distract Sam but really my plan was to get them together. I always saw the way she looked at him, the way she smiled when he spoke to her and when she stood up to me and told me about Sam’s feelings it was more than clear that there were things going on in her mind. I had to get them together for the sake of my sanity, Conor’s relationship with his brother and Sam’s feelings. We all would have broken down otherwise.

I jumped into the now warm shower and let the hot water hit against my skin, calming me down before the storm will begin when the others arrived. I washed myself with my favourite shower gel and shaved all the necessary areas before I washed my hair and turned the shower off, now knowing I was against the clock to get ready! I wrapped the blue towel tightly around me as I applied heat protection serum to my hair and used the hairdryer to dry in almost instantly. I ran my straighteners through my frizzing hair quickly and it settled down to a normal and frizz free state. Rushing back into my bedroom I noticed I only had 10 minutes left and began to panic. I grabbed my straight leg jeans and my black top, throwing them on the bed as I put on my favourite (and lucky) black underwear before I put my jeans and top on and ran to my dresser. I quickly applied my makeup and just finished as the door rang. I grabbed my slippers and put them on as I went down to answer the door.

“Hi Olivia!” I smiled happily, pulling her in for a hug.

“Just finished getting ready?” Olivia laughed as she walked in my house. How did she always know? Maybe it was just something I had a tendency to do? “You still have a bit of wet hair at the back.” She said as if reading my mind. I laughed as I led her into the living room which was set out for us all to be sat around in a circle – well nearly. Olivia sat down on her favourite chair in my house, the one seater chair with cushioned arm rests.

“Nervous?” I asked Olivia as she began playing with the bottom of her jumper.

“Sam and Mandy? No. The boys all in the same room? Yes.” Olivia said and I could see the fear in her eyes. This was going to be huge. Part of me wished I never tricked them into thinking I wanted to have a chat with each one of them individually so they’d all turn up at my house, but I needed this to be sorted. A heavy knock at the door drew me from my guilty thoughts and I opened the door to be greeted by Zack. He smiled at me as I let him into my house.

“Thanks for the invite. I don’t really know what use I’m going to be to your coursework though…” He said and I felt more guilt build up at the fact I had to lie.

“It’s no problem, Olivia’s going to start it with you while I sort some stuff out!” I grinned and pointed over to the living room. Olivia stood up and they hugged and kissed before Olivia led him upstairs and put some music on, just as I had asked her to. Seconds later, another knock at the door was heard. I hope they didn’t see Zack come in the house! I flung the door open and Sam and Mandy came in. I hugged them both and sent them into the kitchen to make sure they avoided Olivia and Zack. That was a close call, if only people turned up on time like I’d asked we would have had a perfect amount of time to hide everyone away! Finally, the last knock at the door was heard and I opened it to see Conor standing at the door. As we always did, we looked each other up and down, taking in each other’s look for the day and usually feeling pleased with what we’d seen. I let him in the house and carefully locked it so no one could escape – dramatic I know!

“Let me take you into the living room!” I said to Conor, ushering him into the two-seater sofa. “Do you want me to get you a drink?” I said, emphasising the word ‘drink’ on purpose so Mandy would hear. The plan was she’d then text Olivia and they’d come downstairs so lets hope it happens.

“No, I’m good thank you babe.” He said with a sweet smile. I loved seeing Conor happy, but I could see at the moment the smile didn’t reach his eyes. That’s why this day was happening.

“So why did we walk into the kitchen?” I heard from my left, knowing Mandy and Sam were now making their way to the living room. I quickly sat on Conor’s lap, knowing he wouldn’t jump up and run off then. At the same time, the stairs started creaking and a mumble of voices came from the stairwell. I could feel Conor tensing up in the chair. Olivia and Zack, Mandy and Sam all walked into the living room and all the guys froze on the spot.

“What have you done?” Conor whispered harshly in my ear. The others took their seats so we were all in a circle and I took a deep breath in and out. I could feel the tension in the air already; I could have cut it with a knife. Conor’s breathing was heavy and quick, like he was annoyed and all the other guys were just shooting daggers at each other.

“Look, guys.” I started. I felt my palms sweating and rubbed them on my jeans. “This is getting out of hand! You’re all living together, you’re meant to be close – like brothers. How can you let some stupid girl problem ruin your relationships?” I went off on my rant I’d been planning in my head throughout my shower today. “I’m happy with Conor, Olivia is happy with Zack and Mandy is happy with Sam so why are you all still annoyed with each other? We should all be concentrating on having happy relationships!” I slumped back down next to Conor on the sofa and waited for a fight to ensue. I never imagined this would go down easily.

“Look, I was jealous and I tried to ruin your relationship, yes, but I’m happy now. I’m with someone who cares about me and I know isn’t going to go for someone else. I’m sorry for everything!” Sam began, and I was happy he did otherwise we’d have been sat in silence forever.

“You could have broken us up!” Conor said, not even looking in his direction. He was barely looking at Zack.

“Could have, but didn’t.” Sam added quickly. I nodded in agreement and grabbed Conor’s hand in mine, but he pulled his hand from my grip. I felt my heart tear as he did it, I stared blankly at my hand for a second before attempting to make it look like he didn’t affect me, although Olivia was already looking at me sympathetically.

“Look, I’m not having this conversation!” Conor stood up and walked to the front door, pulling it open but realising it was locked. “Beth? Did you lock the fucking door?” He shouted.

“It’s not being opened until this is sorted.” I said, folding my arms and pursing my lips. “So sit down.” Conor tutted and stormed back to the sofa.

“Conor, mate, I didn’t mean for us to get into an argument. I genuinely thought you were paranoid and I wanted you to think about it. You were fighting Sam when he was apologising and saying he’d moved on.” Zack added, receiving a smile from Olivia.

“I was trying to tell you I was happy and you fought with us both!” Sam said, nearly sticking up for Zack. Memories came flooding back of when I was walking with Sam and he told me Zack and he couldn’t get on; now they’re sticking up for each other!

“I’m not paranoid. We were on the verge of breaking up thanks to you and your antics! You don’t understand what your stupid jealousy was doing to us!” Conor shouted at Sam, taking a deep breath in and out after saying it. I looked around awkwardly. Yeah, thanks Conor for just shouting our relationship out to everyone.

“I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.” Sam said quietly, looking down at the floor guiltily. “But now I’ve found a girl I’m happy with and I just want us to go back to how we were.”

“Yeah we can try…” Zack agreed again. “We can be the three musketeers again.” The guys all smirked and shook their heads.

“Oh come on, that was years ago!” Conor laughed. “But ok. Let’s try and get this sorted.” Conor looked over to me and put his arm round me. “Thanks Beth for locking us in your house until we’d had a conversation.” I let out a huge grin. I just hope they’re not lying to get out of my house!