1412: Part 26

Sian was nervous.

She didn’t bring friends home often, and she hadn’t brought many different people home. Jasmine and Nicola had both been over a few times, of course, but with them still not talking to her, it looked unlikely that they would be coming over again any time soon.

She had certainly never brought a boy home. And while she knew that there was nothing going on between her and Edward beyond simple friendship, she also knew how her mother liked to take things out of context and blow them out of proportion. But Sian was putting her own distaste at being interrogated by her mother aside for now, because her friend needed her.

The day after Parents Evening at school had been a peculiar one. Sian knew that Kristina wouldn’t be there, because she had received a text to that effect, though Kristina hadn’t gone into detail as to what had happened. When she met up with Edward at breaktime, however, things started to become a little more clear.

Edward explained the awkward situation that had occurred, but managed to remain calm while he was doing so. He sounded frustrated, but for once he didn’t seem to be outright angry. Sian wondered if she had had anything to do with that, but doubted it; she wasn’t so confident in herself as to believe she could “fix” emotional scars as deep as those Edward had in such a short space of time.

She wanted to help, though, so that’s where the invitation had come from. It had come out of her mouth before she could stop herself; she’d invited Edward over at the weekend. As soon as she said it, she realised she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do with him once he was there, but she felt it was important for him to get out of his house for a while. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what his situation at home must have been like after the confrontation at Parents Evening; she didn’t even know if he was staying at home, given the revelations that had come out.

“What time’s he coming?” asked her mother with a wry grin. Sian could tell she had already misunderstood the situation.

“Mum, listen,” she said. “I need to explain some things.” She could feel her hands shaking as she spoke up. She normally tried to avoid difficult conversations like this, but she felt it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring Edward into her house without warning her mother about what the stakes were.

She took a deep breath and explained everything: who Edward was, what his background was, why he needed to be treated with a certain degree of care, particularly after last night. By the time she had finished, her mother’s face didn’t look anywhere near as cheerful as it was before.

“Oh,” she said. “Um, is he going to be… all right?”

“I think so,” said Sian. “Just… don’t provoke him, okay?”

“I wasn’t planning on it!” said her mother. Then she smiled. “But I’ll be careful.”

 

*  *  *  *

A couple of hours later, the doorbell went. Sian, who had been sitting in the living room, raced to the door to be the first to answer it, though she could hear her mother heading to the hallway.

“I got it,” called Sian.

She opened the door. There was Edward, standing on her doorstep. He’d brushed his hair, making him look a little tidier than usual, though he appeared to be wearing his white school shirt and trousers beneath his usual coat. He’d left the tie off, at least. Sian looked him up and down.

“Hello,” said Sian, who now felt rather underdressed in her jeans and t-shirt. “You look very smart.”

“I, uh, don’t have that many smart clothes,” said Edward. “This is the best I could do.”

“You didn’t have to dress up!” said Sian with a gentle laugh. Edward looked a little embarrassed. “It’s okay though. I’m happy you made an effort.”

He looked up at her, and smiled. It was still such a rare sight, it made Sian’s heart flutter to see it. She was glad that she was someone who could make him smile, but it made her a little sad to think that she was probably one of the few people in the world who was able to do so.

They paused like that for a moment, neither moving. Then Sian caught herself, stood aside and motioned for him to come through the door.

“Come in,” she said. “Please. Oh, would you mind taking your shoes off?”

“Sure,” he said, stepping into the house. He removed his shoes, and Sian noticed that his socks were threadbare, with a couple of prominent holes.

“Sorry,” he said, looking sheepish. “Like I said, I don’t have many smart clothes.”

“It’s fine,” said Sian. “Here, let me take your coat.” He removed it and Sian took it from him, hanging it up in the cupboard beneath the stairs. “Come on through.”

She led him to the living room, where the television was still on. Her mother was nowhere to be seen, and her father was sitting upstairs browsing the Internet, as usual. She was grateful to them both for knowing to stay out of the way; perhaps they had a bit more sensitivity and consideration than she gave them credit for, she thought.

Edward sat down on the couch; Sian sat in one of the armchairs. They both stared at the television for a few minutes.

“Is there anything you want to watch?” said Sian, indicating the TV.

“Not really,” said Edward. Then he sat forward. “We could watch a movie or something?”

“Okay,” said Sian. “What do you want to watch?”

“What have you got?” he asked.

Sian smiled, and switched the channel on the TV, then pulled up her favourite video-on-demand service. “Pretty much anything you want,” she said. Her smile widened at Edward’s open-mouthed expression of wonderment. Apparently he had never encountered this sort of service before.

“That one,” he said, indicating a movie starring a popular action her. It looked like a distinctly testosterone-fuelled movie to Sian, which wasn’t normally her sort of thing, but she was willing to give it a shot. Today was about Edward, after all, so if sitting through some blood-splattered action movie would make him happy, that’s what they’d do.

She set the movie playing and moved onto the couch next to him so she could see the screen better. Edward looked like he didn’t quite know where to put his hands, or whether he could relax. Sian just sank back into the soft cushions of the couch with a sigh.

Five minutes into the movie, there was a tap at the living room door, and Sian’s mother poked her head around.

“Would you two like a drink?” she asked quietly.

“Please,” said Sian. “Edward, do you want anything?”

“Yes,” he said. “Please,” he added, correcting himself. “Whatever you have.”

Sian’s mother disappeared, then returned a moment later with two large glasses of Coke. She passed one to Sian and one to Edward, then quietly left the room, closing the door behind her. Sian was grateful for her keeping out of the way, but felt slightly embarrassed at the assumptions her mother was probably making about her right now. She was probably going to go upstairs and have a good laugh about this with Sian’s father right now.

Sian shook her head and took a sip of the Coke. It was cold and still super-fizzy, so it tasted good. It had obviously come from a new bottle. Edward followed suit and took a big gulp, then belched thunderously.

“Sorry,” he said, looking faintly embarrassed. Sian just laughed.

“It’s fine,” she said. Impulsively, she took a big gulp, felt the bubbles rise up inside her, then burped and giggled.

“Heh,” said Edward, not quite laughing, but that smile coming to his face again. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard a girl burp.”

“We’re full of surprises,” said Sian. “Hey, do you want anything to eat? I can make some popcorn if you want.”

“Sure,” said Edward. He turned his attention back to the movie. Sian wasn’t really following it, but Edward seemed to be enjoying himself, and she was glad about that.

She went into the kitchen, reached into the cupboard and drew out one of the bags of microwave popcorn. She placed it into the microwave, set the timer and waited. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then pop… pop… pop pop pop. She listened carefully until the popping slowed down again, then took the bag out and emptied its hot, popped contents into a bowl and took it back into the living room.

Edward was right where she’d left him. She sat down next to him and laid the bowl of popcorn between them, then reached in and grabbed a handful. Then she turned back to the movie.

This isn’t so bad, she thought. This almost feels like a normal life. I wonder what Edward’s thinking right now?