The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

22nd/23rd December

Shannon's P.O.V:

"Shannon! Come here."  

"What now?" I shouted back sleepily.  

"Just come here would you?"  

I groaned, rolling slowly and sluggishly out of bed. I mentally ranted at Nick as I shuffled towards his room. He was really freaking out about coming home with me and had been increasingly moody and tense as the days went by. It was now three days before Christmas and our flight was tomorrow morning.  

I leaned against his door. "What?" I yawned. It was almost midnight and I'd been up late the night before packing. Nick obviously wasn't as organised as me, judging by the clothes strewn over his bed with an open, battered suitcase beside him which I knew he'd borrowed from Jay.  

"I don't have any nice clothes to wear, you know? In fact most of my clothes have paint on them" he commented sadly as he limply held up a particularly splattered shirt.  

"Most of my clothes have paint on them too" I pointed out but I don't think he heard...or just didn't listen.  

"What am I going to do?" he said desperately, raking a hand through his hair.  

I rolled my eyes, "Just wear whatever you're comfortable in." I picked my way gingerly through the mess and cleared a space to sit on his bed.  

He glared at me, "You're no help! I have to make a good impression."  

I lay back on the bed, dislodging a shoe from underneath my back before making myself comfortable, my legs hanging over the edge. I threw an arm over my eyes and sighed softly, we'd been over this about a hundred times ever since I booked the flights and our plans were finalised. "Relax; you'll make a good impression no matter what you wear."  

The mattress bounced a little as he thumped down beside me. I peeked out from under my arm to see that his position exactly mirrored mine, right down to the arm thrown despairingly over his eyes.  

"You don't know that" he said quietly. He was truly worried about what my family would think.  

I smiled it was nice that he cared. I rolled onto my side so I was facing him, and shuffled up the bed a bit so I could curl my legs beneath me on the mattress, my head resting on my folded hands. "If I like you then they will too, simple as" I told him gently.  

He moved his arm so he could look at me. "You think?"  

"I know" I smiled reassuringly. "Now, will you pack some damn clothes so I can go to sleep?"  

He stuck his tongue out at me but pulled himself off the bed and started sorting through the heap of clothes on his bed.

My eyes started to drift shut, lulled by the comforting sound of Nick as he bustled around his room; throwing clothes into the suitcase or onto the floor, the occasional curse escaping him when he couldn't find something amidst the bombsite that was his room. It was never exactly clean at the best of times, but it had hit new heights of messiness.

I was roused from my almost-sleep by some balled up material suddenly hitting me in the face. The smell of detergent and Nick overwhelmed my senses as I reached up to remove the offending garment - which turned out to be an extremely tatty old t-shirt. "What?" I growled in my scariest voice but he didn't look up.  

"You're not allowed to fall asleep until I'm finished packing."  

"Why?" I mumbled, already starting to close my eyes again.