Bashful - A Skephalo Story ❤️

Part 42

The next few weeks passed in a whirlwind of activity. Darryl and Zak had set the date for their wedding to line up with the anniversary of their first date. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight leaving only a month to plan a whole wedding wasn't the smartest thing in the world.

Groaning as he looked at the list of all the things they still hadn't sorted, Zak climbed onto Darryl's lap, laying his head on his chest. "You do realise," he complained, "we have three days to do all of this?"

"I know, you muffin. I don't care, though." Darryl smiled at Zak's indignant expression. "So long as I see you at the altar, it'll be perfect. Besides," he looked at the clock, "you can get your sister to help you in a bit."

"Okay..." Zak murmured, kissing his cheek and turning to pick up the remote. They watched a few YouTube videos as they cuddled, wrapped around each other as they shared the armchair.

Darryl barely saw the screen. He cupped Zak's face in his hand, watching the rays of sunlight making his skin glow. Feeling Darryl's eyes on him, Zak turned and smiled sheepishly, his dark brown eyes crinkling at the edges. "What are you looking at?"

"You," Darryl replied, stroking his hair.

Zak rolled his eyes, giggling. "I know that." Leaning forwards, he bit Darryl's ear playfully.

Blushing, Darryl went to kiss him - just as the doorbell rang. Standing up, they headed to the front door and opened it.

"Hi!" Ally grinned, hugging them both. "I've got the clothes you said to get, they're in my car. This is so exciting!"

Zak laughed, watching as she shot off down the hall to go explore. "I guess that's my cue to get her stuff," he shrugged, letting go of Darryl's hand and pulling two cases out of her car. One had a piece of paper with 'Wedding' scrawled across it on the front, which he left downstairs. Taking the other case up to the spare room - George had moved into Jacob's room, so now there was one spare - he put it on the bed and trailed back down into the living room.

As Ally wandered through door after door, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. "So this is where all the YouTube money goes," she joked under her breath.

"Pretty much, yeah."

Jumping, she turned to see who had spoken. Clay was sat in a chair by the fire, and when Ally glanced at him he gave a friendly wave. "Ally, right? I'm Clay."

"I know who you are," she replied, rolling her eyes. "We've met before, remember?"

"Okay, whatever. So how far did you get on your little tour?" Clay smirked, standing up.

"Just a bit of the downstairs area," Ally shrugged, her interest spiking. Discreetly, she let her eyes take in Clay's appearance, pretending to be interested in a painting behind him. He was actually quite cute...

"Enjoying the view?" He joked, striking a ridiculous pose and sticking his tongue out at her.

Apparently she wasn't as discreet as she had thought, but for some reason Ally wasn't bothered. "So what if I am?" She retorted cheekily, pulling a face at him.

"Well I don't mind anyways, I'm used to the attention." Fanning himself dramatically, Clay gestured to the doorway. "How about I show you around the rest of the house?"

"Sure, that sounds fun." Cheeks heating up, Ally fell into step with him as they drifted through the rest of the house, chatting and laughing.

As they made their way up the stairs, Ally missed her footing and toppled backwards. Clay, who was a few steps behind, lunged forwards and caught her. If he had been a millisecond later, her head would have smashed into the hard wooden steps.