Arya glanced around the room to try and find Phil. "Phil," she called out. "Phil, where are you?"
"I'm just upstairs, I'll be down in a minute." He called back.
Arya pulled her phone out to pass the time. She decided to text Katie.
Hey, I'm just about to head back now, should be there in about half an hour-ish. Hope you haven't burnt the apartment building down. Ari x
Just as she hit the send button, Phil appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ready?" She asked.
Phil just nodded and opened the door for her. They walked down the stairs in silence, and when they got onto the street Phil decided it was too loud and busy to talk to Arya. They took the tube to Arya's flat, which was just a busy as the streets.
When they reached the apartment, Arya paused in front of the door. "It's not much, and it's certainly not a nice as your flat, but this is my home." She said, swinging the door open like Dan had for her just under a day ago.
The apartment had a small, open kitchen in the corner with a breakfast bar in the corner and a patterned material sofa with a TV facing it and a wooden coffee table next to it in the the adjacent corner. There were a few doors leading off to different rooms, and in another corner there was a bookshelf overflowing with books, and a desk with workbooks scattered all over it. There were paintings dotted around the room, and there were even some stacked against the wall.
"No, I like it." Phil said, strolling through the door, taking everything in. His gaze rested on a teenage girl, wearing a baggy t-shirt and shorts, sat at the breakfast bar, eating a bowl of cereal. He ducked slightly so that he was Arya's height. "Who's that?" He asked quietly.
"That's Katie, my little sister." Arya walked up to Katie, who seemed completely oblivious that there was anyone else in the room. She was wearing earphones and a faint sound of music could be heard coming from them. When Arya was stood right behind her, she pulled one of the earphones out and shouted "BOO!".
Katie almost fell out of her seat. "Fuck Ari, what did you do that for? You could've made me spill my breakfast!"
Arya tried to conceal her laughter. "Sorry Katie." She grinned. "I just- I couldn't resist it. Anyhows, Katie, this is Phil." She said, grabbing Phil's wrist and dragging him forwards. "Phil, this is my baby sis Katie."
"Oh, hey." She said to Phil, slightly distracted. Katie turned to Arya. "So this is the guy you spent last night with?"
"No!" Arya protested, standing in between Katie and Phil to make the conversation slightly more private. After a pause she continued. "Well, technically yes, but I didn't 'spend the night' with him. Anyhows, I'm going out again in a bit, so you have to go get ready."
"Whoa, slow down there sister. You're suddenly getting awful close to having a social life!" Katie mocked.
Arya rolled her eyes. "Shut uuup! I've already texted Steph, you can go over to her place. Will you be okay getting there yourself?"
"Yeah, of course. She only lives like 10 minutes away." Katie scoffed at Arya's motherly attitude and strolled off to the bedroom.
Arya sighed and shook her head as Katie left. "Teenagers." She said to herself. Arya turned her attention to Phil. "So, why did you want to come with me?" She asked directly.
"I wanted to make sure you got back okay. You know, since you got chased and all that yesterday and you seem to be very accident prone..." Phil explained, quite unconvincingly.
Arya smiled slightly. "Aw, that's sweet Phil, if only it were true. Now what's the real reason you came with me? It's obviously not to make sure I got home safe, I don't even think you believed that..." She mused over it for a second. "So it must be something sensitive... Is everything okay?" Arya approached him and rested her hand on his arm, concerned.
Phil paused before responding. "Acutally, no it's not. I'm worried about you." He looked her in the eyes.
Arya felt uneasy under Phil's gaze and laughed, breaking the eye contact and brushing the comment aside. "Me? Why would you be worried about me?" She asked, still laughing lightly. Damn, I thought he'd forgotten about that...
Phil didn't in join with her. Instead he grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Look, Arya. I know something's wrong with you, and you're trying to hide it. I don't know why that is, maybe you're to proud to admit it or maybe you're scared. But I want you to talk to me. Something's wrong and I want you to tell me what it is."
Arya was quite unnerved by how much Phil could read into her, but at the same time, she felt relieved that she'd finally found someone who cared, who wanted to know.
I've never really had anyone to confide in before, I guess I've just never found anyone I could trust... But can I trust Phil? Pff, what am I thinking? Of course I can trust Phil, how could anyone not trust Phil? I suppose it would be nice to be able to talk to someone...
With that realisation, Arya took a dep breath and nodded. "Okay."
A muffled shout calling for Arya echoed through the room.
"... We can talk after Katie's gone." Arya strode off in the direction of the call and disappeared into one of the rooms.
Katie left soon after, but not before Arya gave her a kiss on the forehead and instructed her not to get into any trouble.
Phil chuckled as Arya closed the door. "You might as well be her mother." He joked.
Arya smiled. "Yeah, I might as well be. But I'm not. So, you wanted to talk?"
"Yeah, about what happened yesterday, and that message you got earlier."
"You saw that, huh." Arya muttered. Her voice dropped to barely over a whisper. "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about the waiter?"
"Oh, Martin." Arya almost spat his name out. "Umm... you might want to sit down." Arya guided Phil to one of the bar stools and walked around to the other side of the breakfast bar. She grabbed an empty bowl from the counter and turned around to put it in the sink. "He's my... ex-boyfriend." Arya gritted her teeth as she forced the words out, for he was nothing short of a monster. A solitary tear fell from her left eye as the memories resurfaced. Phil couldn't see it as she was still turned away from him, so she quickly wiped the tear away and turned back to him.
Arya leant on the breakfast bar as she explained everything to him. "From when I lived up north. It started off really good. He' was so kind and thoughtful, and we were in love. Or so I thought. It wasn't long before he turned... nasty. He got angry all the time and started beating me. I changed so much to try and please him. I dyed my hair, changed my clothes, but it wasn't enough. I tried to distance myself from him, but it's not easy in such a small town." She blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall.
Phil took her hands in his. "Didn't you tell your parents?" He asked softly.
"I tried but they wouldn't listen. Nobody would. They preferred to take sides with that smooth talking, manipulative bastard than listen to their own daughter. And I couldn't go to the police because Martin's the son of the Chief Constable. So, when I moved here, I took the colour out of my hair, used most of the money I had to completely change my wardrobe, and changed my name. I thought I was rid of them all, but my family followed me here. I guess I'm glad that my sister's here, and I'll be happy when I gain custody of her, but everything's just so... complicated." Arya wasn't even aware of the tears streaming down her face until she finished.
Phil said nothing, but walked round to her and pulled her into a tight hug, where she stayed, her body shaking gently and tears streaming down her face, soaking into his shirt.
A few minutes passed and Arya eventually pulled herself away from Phil arms. "Thanks. I needed that. And I'm sorry for dumping all this on you."
Phil held her at arms length. "What do you mean?" He asked, puzzled.
"Well you've only known me for a day and I'm burdening you with all my problems." Well, not all of my problems, but there's only os much drama a guy can handle in one day. Anyway, my father is my problem, and I've got to sort it out myself.
Phil shook his head. "Nonsense. There is one more thing that I'd like to know though." Arya looked at him questioningly. "When you got that message earlier, you seemed at bit... distraught. Do you mind me asking what it was?"
"Oh, that." Arya fished her phone out of her bag and showed the message to Phil.
'I didn't know you changed your name, HOPE.'
"It's from a blocked number, but I'm sure it's from Martin. It couldn't be from anyone else. He must've recognized me." She said as Phil read the text.
Phil placed the phone down. He was unsure of how to respond. "Well, look on the bright side! At least he doesn't know where you live... and you can always change your number if you want to." He said eventually, trying to cheer things up.
Arya gave him a half-smile. "Yeah, you're right. And as Monty Python says, Always look on the briiight side of life." She sung the last part and bobbed from side to side. "Anyhows, I've got to get clean. You can watch the TV if you want, there's nibbles in the fridge if you get peckish or whatever. I'll try not to be too long." Arya smiled as she grabbed her bag and walked off to the bedroom.
Phil was amazed by how quickly Arya was able to change emotions. She had gone from emotionally vulnerable to cheerfully humming and bobbing her head to 'Always look on the bright side of life' in less than a minute.
Arya emerged a while later with her damp hair in a braid, draping over her shoulder, and she was wearing ripped skinny jeans, a 'Honey, you should see me in a crown' top and red converse. She had a fresh face of make-up, with some black eyeliner and cherry lip balm. Her freckles were still visible underneath the light coat of foundation she was wearing.
Phil looked up from the TV. "Oh, hey. You ready to go then?"
"Yeah, just give me a second." Arya walked over to the kitchen, opened a cupboard and started shoving a bunch of things in her bag.
"What you doing?" Phil inquired, getting up from the sofa.
"I just thought, since you guys are being real nice to me and letting me hang at your place, and you let me sleep there last night, that I'd bring some snacks and stuff. I don't want to eat all your food and not give you anything in return. And since pretty much all my other food is either frozen or in tins, I've got some malteasers, some crisps... and some other stuff. And don't argue with me, I'm bringing this stuff whether you like it or not." She shouldered her bag and walked over to him.
"Alright, I won't argue. So, shall we go now?"
Arya nodded and they departed back to Dan and Phil's place.
When they arrived, Chris was sat watching the TV, and Dan and PJ were nowhere to be seen.
Phil, as if sensing that Arya was wondering where they were, said "They're probably upstairs editing their videos."
"Oh, okay. Hey Chris. What you watching?" Arya dropped her bag and sat next to Chris on the sofa.
"Doctor Who." He replied absent-mindedly. Arya watched a few seconds of it. It was a repeat of one of Eccleston's episodes, 'The Empty Child'.
Arya noticed her laptop and camera on the table. "Well, I'll be upstairs if you need me. As much as I'd love to watch Doctor Who, I've got a video to edit." She grabbed her laptop and her camera, and headed up the two flights of stairs to the 'nerd room'.
Inside, Dan and PJ were sat next to each other, both with headphones on. They didn't notice her enter, so she sat on the sofa bed and opened her laptop, not wanting to disturb them. Arya plugged in her earphones and started editing.
After a while, Dan got hungry and decided to have a food/internet break. He got up and noticed Arya sitting cross-legged on the sofa bed with her laptop on her knees. When the hell did she get there? He stood and watched her for a moment. Her eyes flitted across the screen and her fingers moved deftly over the mouse pad. He tentatively walked over to her and waved his hand in front of her screen.
Arya stopped editing with a start when a hand suddenly appeared in front of her. She looked up and a smile spread across her face when she realized it was Dan.
"Oh, hey." She said as she took out her earphones.
"How long have you been there?"
"Meh.. I don't know. Maybe half an hour? You going downstairs?" Arya shoved her laptop off her knees and Dan helped her up.
Phil's voice echoed through the apartment. "Lunch is ready! I made pasta."
"Ooh, food!" Arya exclaimed as she grabbed Dan's hand and pulled down the stairs, at a much faster speed than he would've liked.
Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris and Arya were all sat around the table, wolfing down pasta and garlic bread.
Dan was the first to strike up conversation. "So, um, Ari.. Theres going to be a New Years Party for Youtubers in a couple of weeks. I was um wondering if you'd like to come with me- us. We'll all be going. You don't have to if you don't want to, it's just that..."
Dan carried on babbling until Arya finished her mouthful. "Sure! I'd love to go! It sounds like fun." She smiled.
A/N: Hey guys. Sorry it's taken so long to update. I made this chapter extra long to make up for it :)
I have a feeling I've been writing a bit too much fluff in this chapter... What do you guys think? Should I tone down the details a bit and focus on getting some more interesting stuff down?
Anyhows, thank you so much for reading and I love you all mucho! ^_^