A Complicated Completion

t w e n t y- theres a girl

T O M M E N

I typed a message and then deleted it. And then I would type another before backspacing it all. Rinse and repeat until you want to hit your head on the wall.

Until finally she sent me a message first.

"Tom, I see the bubbles appearing and disappearing."

"I just don't know what to say."

"I've just dropped Paddy off at the train station, I'll come to yours."

So I waited. I watched the kitchen clock slowly tick by. It was agonising, waiting for her.

The door bell rang and I was up like a shot.

"Erm, Hi. Come in."

As soon as a closed the door as she stood in the foyer, I began to ramble.

"Eliza, I'm sorry it's just that-"

"Just shut up, please?"

I nodded to let her carry on.

"I'm not annoyed anymore, and if you're really sorry let's just forget it."

I was shocked at her response, I thought she may have offered me castration.

"Yeah, I do mean it. I am sorry."

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Well- yes."

"Then ask me, like you should of."

"Eliza, will you be my girlfriend."

"Erm, I'm not sure actually. I saw this other really sexy boy a few streets away..."

She has my balls in a vice just like Con, but for some reason I'm not scared.

My lips turned into a smile as she was joking around.

"Is that your way of saying yes?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

I lead her up to my room and watched her as her eyes followed all the paintings that littered the walls. Some of them were truly awful, but I hung most of them up until there wasn't any more space because I felt like they were extensions of me.

I grabbed my guitar, and began strumming away. I loved the way she watched my hands when I played. In true admiration, the way I wished she always looked at me.

"If I fell in love with you, would you promise to me true and help me understand? Because I've been in love before and I found that love was more than just holding hands..."

She studied the canvas' on the walls like she would of if they were in a museum and her hips swayed as she caught on to the beat of the Beatles song I was playing.

"So this is what you do in art class," her fingers rimmed the outline of the canvas.

"Yeah, I paint and play. That's all I'm good at."

Tossing her sketchbook and some pencils, we began to draw eachother. It was a personal and secret art competition that she would undoubtably win. I loved painting nature, and city scapes but people, they weren't my forte.

The sound of pencil on rough paper, with our breathing was relaxing until I heard a loud, "Tommen!" from the other side of the house.

For a while I'd forgotten the world around me, and the fact I had brothers.

Before I could jump off the floor and run to my brother to prevent them meeting Eliza, I heard too many footsteps approaching my room.

It wasn't that I didn't want them to meet it's just that they're both well, special to me, and I didn't want to let her in to leave or for them to began the torment that will ensue from having a girlfriend.

So on que my four brothers entered, Arthur, Callum, Victor and Darren.

"What do you want for lu-" Darren began.

"There's a girl," Callum said. It was almost like he couldn't believe it, and they all stopped in amazement to look at Eliza like she was a ghost that may walk through the walls soon.

"That's definitely a girl," Arthur repeated with the same amount of shock.

Eliza eyes scanned over to them, as I saw the almost worry spread across her face. She doesn't like most people, then again neither do I.

"Yes there is a girl; do you want to go now?"

"Do you want to introduce this girl?"

"Eliza, meet my stupid brothers, Darren, Callum, Arthur and Victor. My stupid brothers, meet my girlfriend Eliza."

I watched as there faces mixed from Callum trying to contain a smile, and the rest trying to hide their confusion. I mean I get it, they saw me wallowing around in self pity for months after Con left and now I seem mine but only from help with a girl.

But there's nothing I love more than confusing my brothers and right now I've done that job well.

"Well do you and Eliza want to come down for lunch?" Darren finished, still eyeing us with sketchbooks in hand.

I looked at her for a nod or shake of the head, because I'm intimidated by her one brother I haven't met, I can't imagine meeting four of them and a sister waiting down stairs.

Finally she nodded, so I reluctantly followed my brothers downstairs aware of all the burning questions they would hammer me with once she'd leave.

I saw Addy blatantly stare down Eliza as we sat down. The uncomfortableness of the situation for them two was obvious.

After Callum came back with pizza and plates I hope food would dissipate the atmosphere.

Slowly, actually very slowly, the room became less awkward as they asked Eliza questions and she asked them back. It was soothing that they got on so much, and even the most concerned (my sister) turned out liking her, it's a pretty easy thing to do.

As we returned to my room for more hours of nice nothingness she asked the question I didn't even realise was on her mind.

"So where's your mum and dad?"

Ah the parents, where were they? If that was a question I could answer. Because I didn't know. My brothers raised me as my dad try's his hardest to expand his business in anyway.

Even if that way was abandoning his family for financial gain, and my mum just went with him. Send us lump sums every month of too much money, and an occasional phone call telling my brothers a "good job" for keeping his company alive in the UK, a yelling at for me as I wanted to go to art school in Paris and a consultation on who Addy (despite being underaged) would marry.

I hope you've grasped that my dads main priority is money, at every point.

"On a business trip, they'll be back for Christmas." Considering it was approaching November now, that must of sounded weird to her.

The day rolled by with laughs and smiles, and I couldn't help but feel happy. But maybe the happening was upon us.