Chapter 25

If Brianna Fairclough can have a fresh start then so can I. It's not like this isn't the beginning of a glorious new chapter in my life as well you know – I mean, not having Brianna fawn over me at every turn is a fucking blessing – I no longer feel the need to padlock my bedroom window and my boxer briefs, I can walk around shirtless in public with a slightly less chance of being mounted. When I was 16, she sent me 12 valentine's cards, that was annoying as there wasn't enough room to display the 20 or so other I received that year (I always did well out of Valentine's cards). Now that Brianna's over me, I can stop worrying about whether she'll be hurt if she sees me and Georgia exchanging in a little PDA down at the Sports center…..not that I ever worried too much about that in the first place but still, it's nice to know there's not someone watching us from one of the upper windows scowling and wishing a Freddie Kruger like death on poor Georgia. Who has done nothing wrong but date me – I should probably tell her about the night with Brianna and everything, but she was the one who didn't want to label things so I guess we're not really in a committed relationship. Yet.

So, a new dawn and a new day for Elijah Bennet and that, coupled together with the ever approaching prospect of Third Year University and autumn, has spawned me, Charlie and Jack to plan a few days away together by the beach. Not abroad or anything, as we can't really afford it, so we're just heading to our grandparents old beach house in Cornwall for a few days – nothing terribly exciting, it'll just be nice to get away from the parents and foolish younger siblings for a while. Things are going well for them. Kieran and Ariana are essentially love's young dream at this point and Aiden hasn't done anything destructive for about 45 minutes now, which is the best behaved he's been since he learned to walk. Marcus is studying a lot….in his room…..with his girlfriend…so, I believe that he is actually studying (what for I have yet to find out, it is still August….barely). And so does Mum, who has sounded increasingly more disappointed whenever she has walked into Marcus's room expecting to find some sexual shenanigans going on and found them both either discussing politics or watching some weirdo documentary about cabbages or whatever on Netflix.

Jack, of course, is becoming increasingly absent from the house due to his very rapidly evolving romance with Charlotte – which is making me a bit weary. I mean, I like Charlotte – a lot – she's a lovely girl and I can tell that she's perfect for Jack but I have misgivings. Misgivings people. They're perfect for one another, but they're already talking about their future like it's some done deal and haven't even considered the possibility that it may all fall apart for a number of different reasons. No, I don't know what those reasons are but you know, it's love, nothing ever goes right with love. Darcy is as Darcy does, to be honest, I haven't seen her since she and I had that talk about Brianna the morning after the night before but I think I've pretty much run out of any ill feelings towards the girl…..she's….nice, I guess. In a totally judgemental and up her own arse kind of way but I suppose there have been worse people throughout the entire course of human history. For anyone wondering, Carl and Jennifer didn't last. He shagged a waitress and she had sex with the pool boy – something Charlie and I delighted in and was honestly probably the whole highlight of my summer so far. Classic. Carl took it hard, according to Charlotte this is the first time his ego has ever taken any kind of bashing but considering how obvious it is that he's in love with Darcy (something which Charlotte seems entirely clueless too) I'd say it's probably not. Besides, he cheated on her too, which in a weird kind of way makes him my sort of my hero.

Mum's still shoveling around her wheelbarrow full of crazy, last night she and Dad had an argument over Kieran's childhood mittens, whilst Dad is still in his study 90% of the time pretending that we all don't exist and that his numerous debts aren't mounting. I for one welcome our impending bankruptcy, it means I'll get more financial aid from Student Finance which means I can finally move out and get a flat with Charlie and forget I was ever related to anyone in this house that isn't Jack or Kieran. That said, Aiden has begun to grow on me the sly little fucker. I need to watch that. I can't like Aiden, it just feels wrong. As for me and Georgia….well, our relationship hasn't exactly progressed to what you'd call a 'deeper level'. It's pretty much still just alcohol and sex which doesn't bother me per say, but I guess I'm kind of like Jack, I do want to label us as official because despite Brianna, I haven't looked or thought about another woman since I've been with Georgia.

"Eli"

"No"

"But-"

"No, Kieran"

"But we-"

"I said no Kieran!"

Kieran and Ariana look disappointed as I load the last of my luggage into Jack's car. They've been nagging us to let them come to Cornwall for about a week now, according to Kieran, they can't get any privacy in our house and as Ariana's parents are devout – but apparently violent – Catholics, they have no chance of getting jiggy at Ariana's too. Ariana is also getting slightly annoyed due to Aiden's recent discovery of the singer Ariana Grande and has been walking around the house telling her that he has one less, one less problem for the past fortnight now. Ariana has seemingly moved in, she's never at her own house, which Mum has embraced because a) never had a daughter and b) son has girlfriend. That said, she does still think they're virgins and I have to be responsible and ban them from coming on a holiday where they'd pretty much just shut in their room doing the do.

"Come on Elijah, we've already packed!" Ariana demands

"You pre-emptively packed because you just assumed that I'd cave and let you come with us at the very last minute?" I demanded

"Yes" they answered in unison

"Oh come on Eli, let them come" Charlie says "I reckon they look like they could do with a break and besides, everyone needs a break from your mother once in a while"

"Aiden'll kick off though" I protest

"Not if you let us leave now before he knows" Kieran points out

"No!" I protest once again "Do you really think he wouldn't give chase? He's like the bloody terminator for god sake. He'd skin me alive and feed me to the Cornish wolves"

"There are no wolves in Cornwall" Charlie informs me

"It was a figure of speech"

Jack walks around the corner holding Charlotte's hand and sighs as Kieran and Ariana's dumb but pretty hope filled faces come into his view. Charlotte smirks.

"What do you two want?" Jack asks

"They want to come with us" I tell him

"Fair enough" Jack says with a shrug "Go, get your stuff"

Kieran and Ariana smile and run back inside to fetch their already packed bags whilst I turn to face Jack with a presumably disgusted look on my face, judging by his raised eyebrow

"What?" he asks

"I just told them they weren't allowed to come" I said hitting him on the arm "Will you please stop undermining my authority when it comes to the kids!"

"You're an authority on nobody Elijah Bennet" Jack says with a smirk before kissing Charlotte on the cheek and getting into the driver's seat of the car

"I hope you know that's what he'll do when you two have kids" I tell Charlotte, she smirks and pats me on the arm

"Oh Eli, just relax and have fun" she says "What's the worst that could happen if you let Kieran and Arabella or whatever her name is come with you?"

"Eurgh, let's see, they could spend all week in their room having endless sex which may result in Ariana getting pregnant – she would then, of course, be kicked out by her highly religious parents and have to move in with us. I'm too young to be an uncle and I can't have a baby screaming down the house every night" I answer. Charlotte laughs.

"Have a nice time Eli" she says kissing me on the cheek before waving to Jack and heading back to her own house. I don't know why she laughed, it's highly possible that that chain of events could conspire now Jack's let the kids come.

"Run" says Kieran quickly as he and Ariana reappear and climb into the car

"Why?" I ask getting into the front passenger seat

"Aiden walked in on us. He wants to come" Ariana says

"Bollocks Jack, flaw it" I instruct as a furious looking Aiden comes out of the kitchen door and starts shouting abuse that no one can hear

It probably didn't help that I decided the best way to deal with the situation was to flag him off as we reversed out of the driveway

"YEAH-YEAH COS THE PLAYER'S GONNA PLAY, PLAY, PLAY AND THE HATERS GONNA HATE-HATE-HATE-HATE BABY I'M JUST GONNA SHAKE-SHAKE-SHAKE, I SHAKE IT OFF, SHAKE IT OFF" the entire car but me sing endlessly about three hours later as we're still on the road. It's not like I hate that new Taylor Swift song or my loved ones, but being in control of the car, if Ariana insists on playing that thing one more time I'm driving us all into the ocean to a watery grave.

"Guys, please, I'm trying to concentrate on the road" I say as Jack continues to look in the map because he got us incredibly lost and now we're adding on about four hours to our journey

"Ah, OK, Eli – get back onto the motorway and we should be alright" Jack tells me "If we beat rush hour we'll only be an hour or so behind schedule"

"So, what is there to do down here?" Ariana asks

"Stay out of Eli's way" I tell her, as I'm getting increasingly in a bad mood because of the slowest driver ever infront of us. Seriously, I don't know why old people insist on driving so slowly. You've not got that long left to live, surely you should, you know, hurry it up a little?

"OK, but what actually is there to do?" Ariana asks, directing the question more towards Jack and Charlie now than towards me

"Err, there's a beach and we have the car so it's not like we're stuck there" Charlie answers "The town's alright as well; some good restaurants and bars"

"What about a shopping center?" Ariana probes

"There's an Oxfam Charity shop" Jack tells her as his phone begins to ring, I'm guessing Charlotte, and I pull into a service station because I've been driving for four and a half hours and I'm seriously close to killing everyone in this car. Jack steps out of the car to answer his phone and Kieran and Ariana, having spotted a Burger King, also disembark under the strict instructions that they bring me back a large cheeseburger. Charlie jumps into the passenger seat.

"You're being a little ray of sunshine today, you know that?" he says

"Well, you try driving for four and a half hours in the boiling heat as you're div brother gets us horrendously lost, the docile duo play yellow car-yellow car and we have Taylor bloody Swift blasting out of every god damn radio station" I snap "I'll be fine once we get there"

"Missing Georgia?"

"No. Maybe."

"Think she's missing you?"

"I doubt it" I say with a sigh "I might just end it you know? We don't really seem to be going anywhere, and it's been like eight weeks now, surely she should have at least come round for dinner or something by now. Look where Jennifer and I were by eight weeks into our relationship."

"Getting banned from the cinema because she performed a sexual act on you in the backrow during The Princess and The Frog?" Charlie said with a smirk

"No" I reply "I don't know….it's just….what's the point when half the time she acts like she doesn't even wanna see me? I asked her to come on this trip and she said no, she's not even got any work on, she just didn't want to come"

"Gee, when did you get so…Brianna-ry" Charlie says with a laugh

I stop before laughing too. "I'm making way too much of this aren't I?"

"Yeah, it's a causal relationship Eli. That's what you both agreed. Clue's in the name."

I gave him a thankful pat on the shoulder as Jack got back into the car with a big stupid grin plastered across his face

"What're you so happy about?" I ask him

"Charlotte's coming down. With Darcy, they're going to meet us at the cottage" he says

Yay?

The first thing Darcy had to say about the cottage was note how small it is and the lack of a swimming pool. I mean, its right above its own private section of a very nice beach but you know, Darcy's got to have her swimming pool. I asked, and apparently "it's hard to do widths of the entire pacific ocean Bennet, god". I think it was her attempt at being humorous and having a joke but we've well established by now that humor, politeness and general happiness do not come easily to Darcy. Still, in a way, I'm guess I'm glad that she and Charlotte decided to surprise us by driving down. Even if it does mean myself and Kieran have been relegated to the sofas. Or that neither will eat in a restaurant with less than four stars, and they'd rather go for five. Even if it does mean that I can longer saunter about the cottage in various states of undress if I want to because Darcy's a prude. Look, I do like talking to the girl on a 'holy shit I just totally fucked up and you actually gave me surprisingly good advice' kind of basis but I don't know if I can do a week with her in a relatively small and cramped cottage

Kieran and Ariana seem happy enough. They're a bit gutted that they're now in separate bedrooms, though I wasn't happy about the prospect of them being in the same room anyway, if Ariana got pregnant it wouldn't be her or Kieran who got the blame from my parents. It would be me. Jack is obviously over the moon as he gets to spend yet more time with Charlotte, which inevitably means that Charlie and I will be left with the task of entertaining Darcy whilst she's here. I don't imagine she likes drinking on a private beach from midday, ab-sailing and going on some rapids?

"Eli, I've done unpacking" Kieran says by which he means he's dumped all of his stuff on one of the sofas and I'll be expected to clear it up. I swear, I'm not responsible, this kid just makes me feel like I should be, and he honestly makes me realize why our family don't have a puppy. Because who needs a puppy when we've got one in human form with Kieran.

"Excellent mate, could you and Ariana go to the shops and get some food in?" I ask giving him a £20 note that he takes and calls for Ariana to go. I start cleaning up his mess as Darcy walks into the living room and sits down on one of the arm chairs.

"Never thought I'd see the day" Darcy says with a smirk and she pulls open a magazine

"Never thought you'd see what day" I say with disgust, not at her, I've just realized that Kieran has only packed one more pair of underwear

"The day that Elijah Bennet acts responsible" she says with a smile "It's quite something really, nice to see as well"

"It's only with Kieran" I say with a shrug "That boy is like a helpless puppy if someone doesn't keep him on the straight and narrow"

"Sounds like my little brother" Darcy says fondly

"Oh yeah, how's he doing now? All those problems get sorted?" I ask her

"Better" she says with a smile before getting up and making her way into the kitchen where I am "Thanks for helping me with that by the way, I really appreciated it"

"Anytime" I say with a smile

"I hope you don't mind me and Charlotte joining you?" Darcy says "I gather this holiday was your idea in the first place"

"Nah, its cool, the more the merrier and all that" I say politely. She smiles before coming over to help me set up the sofa beds

"I can't believe you're making me do this" Charlotte moans a few hours later as she's lead down to the private beach by the hand by Jack. Kieran and Ariana had returned from the store in excitement having found out that there's due to be a shooting star go overhead tonight and the skies were meant to be totally clear so we'd have an amazing view of it. So, naturally, we decided that at 11.30 we'd all go down to the beach and watch them go by however then Charlie had the genius idea that she would do a barbeque and camp out under the stars. Something that we all including, to my surprise, Darcy thought would be lovely except Charlotte who had become convinced we'd all be swept out by the tide.

"Oh it'll be nice Charlotte" Ariana says "Just think you and Jack, under the moonlight, so romantic with all the stars it would be a crime to deprive-"

"You and Kieran are not sharing a tent" I snap

Ariana rolls her eyes and goes ahead to catch up with Kieran who is already on the beach with Charlie and Darcy setting up the camp.

"Geez, you're in proper loco-parentus this week aren't you bruv?" Jack notes with a laugh

"Well, someone has to be" I say with a grin "You and I were never allowed to sleep in the same room slash tent as our girlfriend's when we were their age, why should it be any different for them?"

"At least you guys were allowed to have people of the opposite gender at your parties" Charlotte interjects with a laugh "It was strictly single sex until I was 18, and after that, the boys all had to go home. Still, it helped Darcy a lot I suppose and she wouldn't have come otherwise"

"Prude?" I ask

"No, just shy" Charlotte says with a smile "Look, I've been thinking babe, I don't really need to camp out here. I'll look at the stars and I'll have some food, but do I really need to sleep on the sand where all the crabs and starfish are?"

Nice girl, not too bright when it comes to sea creatures

"Come on Char, it'll be fun" Jack says encouragingly "We can share a sleeping bag if you know what I mean"

"That would just be uncomfortable" Charlotte whines "Fine, I'll sleep on the dirt and the ground if you really want me too but at least drive me into town tomorrow to go shopping"

"Deal" Jack says with a sigh as Charlotte kisses him on the cheek and skips off towards the sea where Ariana and Charlie have decided to go for a paddle

"She knows there's crabs and shit in the actual ocean right?" I say

"Don't be snarky" Jack warns me

"It's my default setting" I say with a wink

Jack rolls his eyes "You" he begins "Have yet to tell me what really went down between yourself and the lovely Brianna last week"

"She went down on me not-OH, you mean in general?" I say "I fucked up, she realized she can't keep waiting around for the impossible, went on a speech about how much I sucked, gave me one last kiss, left and hasn't spoken to me since. I also think she may have de-friended me on Facebook"

"Cold" Jack says with a nod "So, am I to assume that, whatever it was that was going on with you two for the best part of two decades is now over"

"I think so" I say with a smile "…..You know on reflection, I'm fairly sure she sexually assaulted me like at least 12 or 13 times"

"Didn't think you'd be so into this" I tell Darcy a few hours later. The shooting star has yet to make an appearance so we're all just sitting around and eating, or we were, until a few minutes ago when Kieran thought he spotted the Lock Ness Monster (off the Cornish coast? Don't ask) and tried to lead everyone else to go and see it. Darcy and I volunteered to hang back and clear up.

"Father used to take me and Jonah camping all the time when we were kids" Darcy says with a smile on her face "I love it. Reminds me of him. It's also normally quiet and I can get away from whatever drama's going on at home"

"Guess that's not really gone to plan with this trip" I say with a nervous laugh

Darcy shrugs, "I've had a nice time so far"

We tidy away in silence for a few more minutes before everyone else returns. Kieran despondent that he did not see the most iconic Scottish water monster of all-time sits down and immediately starts a fire for the marshmallows; I assume he did it with a lighter but I wasn't looking so for all I know he lit the fire with his own anger. Ariana rests her head on his shoulders and they look very cute.

"Heard from Georgia yet?" Charlie asks me as he sits back down

"Nah, don't think I'm going to either" I reply

"Who's this?" Darcy asks, I hadn't realized that she'd been listening

"Someone Eli's been going out with" Ariana replies "My swimming coach – Georgia Wickham. She's nice, I think the two of you are well suited"

"Geor-Georgia Wickham?" Darcy splutters out "You're going out with Georgia Wickham"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that" I ask

Darcy shares a look of concern then anger with Charlotte who just looks apologetic whilst everyone else, myself included, seems utterly confused.

"I need to go" Darcy says suddenly. She gathers up her things and practically runs back up to the house as everyone else turns their attention to Charlotte, who blushes and looks embarrassed

"What the hell was that about?" I demand

Charlotte doesn't answer so I do what most normal people in this situation do; stand up and run after the clearly horrified person who has just run away

"Darcy, Darcy, what're you doing?" I ask as I finally make it up to the front of the house where Darcy is packing away her stuff into hers and Charlotte's car

"I need to leave" she says

"What's happened?" I ask

"You're seriously going out with Georgia Wickham?" Darcy asks angrily

"I don't see how it's any of your business" I snap "Yes, I am and I know you two have a history because she's talked about you but-"

"What's she said about me?" Darcy demands. I don't want to answer that because a lot of it hasn't been good and I've always believed Darcy could be capable of committing the perfect murder and managing to cover it up

"That's what I thought" Darcy says with a sigh before getting into her car and driving away leaving me utterly confused.

Hi Guys, so about those frequent summer updates…..ermmm…..I'm very sorry that didn't happen. I got super busy in July as I got a new job, and then I've been on Holiday – you know, the usual summer absence excuses

Anyway, I hope you all really enjoyed this chapter and hopefully it won't be too long before the next