stop the clocks | oasis

f o u r t e e n

"Noel! Nice to see you. No cat today?" I chuckled, greeting Noel and his family at the door. He rolled his eyes.

"They're all mad at me."

"How many cats do you actually have?" Belle asked from behind me, laughing quietly.

"Four. He treats them better than us," Anaïs replied. Noel smiled and walked in, followed by Sara, Anaïs and Donovan.

Guess Noel wasn't lying about cats being more his thing, then.

"We left Sonny with Mam, hope you don't mind," Noel said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Not at all. I'll have to meet him soon though." Liam's voice came from the living room. Seconds later, his head appeared from behind the door. "You guys wanna come through?"

~

After a while, everyone had relaxed a bit and things were a little less tense. Anaïs and Belle were getting along just fine, like I expected them to.

Noel was looking around the room. "Do you guys still have guitars and stuff here?"

Liam nodded, standing up. "Of course!" He disappeared for a minute or so, before reappearing in the doorway with an acoustic guitar in his hand. He handed it to Noel, who took it gratefully.

"I want to show you something I've been working on," Noel explained. He strummed a few chords before his angelic voice filled the room.

"If I had a gun,
I'd shoot a hole into the sun,
And love would burn this city down for you,
If I had the time,
I'd stop the world and make you mine,
And every day would stay the same with you..."

He paused. "That's all I have."

"That was incredible," Liam said quietly. "You're an amazing songwriter."

"Really? I was expecting some kind of sarcastic comment."

"No, it's good." I butted in.

"But... it's not the same as what I could do in Oasis, right?" He sighed.

"Noel, it sounds amazing," Liam said, probably trying his hardest to make Noel feel better.

"Thank you." He shyly picked up the guitar and leant it against the sofa.

My eyes wandered to the clock in the corner of the room. "We should probably get going."

Everyone slowly began to get their things together and leave the house. All the while, Noel looked like he was thinking hard about something, and I couldn't think of what it could be.