Chapter forty-nine
Saturday morning and I'm up at first light and doing the housework. I feel renewed and just seem to want to clean everything in sight. I've already done all of the washing, cleaned the house and made the kids a cooked breakfast before nine o'clock.
I decide to go out the front and wash my car and clean the inside to kill some time. I'm so excited to see Andy tonight but I know it's still another twelve hours away. It's going to be such a long day.
When the interior smells fresh and the exterior is sparkling I glance at my watch and see it's after noon. It's time to go inside and make some lunch for the kids. I grab my bucket and my cleaning products and take them back into the house and put them away.
I walk into the living room where the kids are watching Mary Poppins again.
"Do you guys want some lunch?" I ask them both.
"Yes please Mum. Can we have McDonalds?" Lilly asks me.
"Umm, yeah I guess we can do that. I'll just go get some clean clothes on and we'll go."
I walk into my bedroom and find some clean jeans and a shirt to wear. Once I'm changed, my hair is brushed and my face is clean, I walk back out to the kitchen to grab my bag, phone and keys and say to the kids "Let's go."
We all file out the door and climb into my clean car and make the drive to McDonalds. I park the car and we go inside to order. When we have our food I find a table near the playground so I can enjoy my coffee whilst the kids run around when we've eaten.
There are a lot of people in the restaurant and we sit quietly whilst we eat because of the sheer noise around us. When Max and Lilly have finished I tell them they can go play and they make a run for the playground.
I pile all of our rubbish onto the tray and dump it in the bin before sitting back down and picking up my cup of coffee. I grab my phone and decide to give Alice and call and see how she's doing.
"Hello?" she answers.
"Hey Alice, it's Elle, how are you?"
"Hey Elle, I'm great. What about you?"
"I'm looking forward to tonight. It's seems like forever since I last saw the guys" I reply.
"I know what you mean. I won't see Bradie until tomorrow or Monday but I'm so looking forward to it."
"You're not going to the airport?"
"No I can't, I have a twenty-first birthday party to go to tonight otherwise I'd be there. Are you going?"
"Yeah, I'm hitching a lift with Tom and the kids are having a sleep over too. I can't wait to see him. Did you hear he got a new tattoo?" I ask her.
"Yeah I did. I can't believe Bradie got one too."
"What? Bradie got a tattoo? How is it that I know nothing about this? What'd he get?" I ask her.
"You know that skull and crossbones symbol they have?"
"Yeah, Andy's got that on his wrist."
"Yeah, that's the one. I think he got it on his arm, like up near his shoulder."
"Really? I just can't imagine Bradie getting a tattoo. That's like so weird."
"I know, I was so surprised when he told me."
"Did he send you a photo of it?" I ask her.
"Yeah he did, it looks good. You'll get to see it tonight I guess" she says.
"Yeah, I'll have to remember to ask him to show me."
"So what are you up to anyhow?" Alice asks me.
"I'm just sitting in McDonalds enjoying a coffee whilst the kids run some energy off on the playground."
"Well I'm just down the road window shopping, I might come see you, if that's alright?"
"Yeah sure, see you soon" I say and hang up.
I pick up my coffee and have another mouthful of it. Max runs up to me and asks if we are leaving yet.
"No, Alice is going to come and say hello so you've got lots of time yet. Do you want another juice?" I ask him.
"No thanks Mum, not yet."
"Okay then, you go and play for a while."
He goes back into the playground and climbs the climbing frame again.
My phone rings and I pick it up and check the caller Id before answering it. It's Andy and I smile instantly.
"Hello there my sweet" I say as I answer the phone.
"Hey gorgeous, how are you?" he says and I feel like my smile is about to swallow my face.
"I'm great, how are you?" I say.
"Good, we're just on our way to the airport now to check in. I can't wait till we get home. I'll see you tonight right?" he asks me.
"Yeah, I'll be there with Tom. I asked him last night if it was okay for me to go with him."
"Good, I was prepared to beg you to come to the airport anyhow, but since you've already arranged it, the begging won't be necessary" he says and I laugh at him.
"Wild horses couldn't keep me away from you tonight. Be prepared to be ambushed at the airport" I tell him.
"Yeah, just be careful though, there will probably be a few fans there too."
"I don't really care anymore. I haven't seen you in a week now and I'm not going to worry about a few kids with cameras. To hell with them if they can't deal with me hugging and kissing and all but raping my boyfriend" I say to him.
"Bring it on. I'm all for a bit of airport P.D.A." he says.
I laugh and then say with a sigh "I miss you. I can't wait until you're finally here."
"Me too, we're just pulling into the airport now so I'll have to go but I'll text you when I'm boarding. I love you" he says.
"I love you too" I reply as I see Alice walk in and I wave to her.
"Bye gorgeous" he says and I reply with "bye" before hanging up.
"That was Andy right?" Alice says as she sits down opposite me and smiles.
"Yeah, it was. How'd you know?" I ask her.
"You've got the biggest smile on your face at the moment and I'm pretty sure he's the only one who can make you smile that big" she says standing back up again. "Do you want another coffee?"
"Yeah, that'd be great thanks. A skinny cappuccino please" I reply and she heads to the counter with a quick 'I'll be back'.
When Alice comes back she sits beside me and hands me my coffee. "Thanks" I say as I take a sip.
She pulls her phone out and fiddles with it for a second before handing it to me. "Here, have a look" she says.
It's a picture of Bradie's arm and the tattoo of Maurice. "That looks great. Actually it doesn't even look like a tattoo to be honest. Are you sure someone didn't draw this with a Niko pen?" I ask her laughing at the same time.
"I thought that at first too but have a look at the next photo" she says. I flick forward and see a picture of the tattoo artist actually doing the tattoo for him. I notice Andy is sitting next to him as well and smile.
"Wow, so it is real. Cool."
"I can't wait to see it" she says and smiles as I hand her back her phone. We sit and talk for ages and even have another coffee each. I see Alice glance at her watch and I do the same. It's nearly four thirty and I can't believe the time has flown so fast.
"I have to get going" she says, standing from the table. "I have to get ready for this party tonight. It's my cousin's too so I have to help her get everything ready."
"Alright, thanks for coming and seeing me. It was great to catch up finally" I say to her as I stand and wave to the kids to let them know we're heading home.
They run over and say goodbye to Alice and she gives them both a hug.
We all walk out together and I say goodbye as we walk to our car. When we're all buckled in safely I drive us back home again.
When I'm pottering around in the kitchen making biscuits for the kids, my phone buzzes next to me.
Just boarding the plane now. See you soon xx
I smile to myself and count the hours until he's home. It's just on six o'clock now and I start to cook the steak and vegies for the kids and I. I ask them both to have a bath whilst I put the biscuits in the oven so we can go next door straight after dinner.
After we've eaten and I've cleaned the kitchen up, I go and get a bag packed for them both and we head next door to see Tom, Sarah and Chris.
I knock and Sarah answers the door straight away. "Hello kids how are you?" she says as she winks at me.
"Come on in" she says and we walk down the hallway to the living room. Tom is sitting on the couch with Chris and they're watching TV.
"Hey Elle, hey kids how are you all?" he says and I smile and reply, "Great thanks Tom."
"So are you ready to go?" he asks me and I nod enthusiastically at him.
"Alright, I'll just go grab a jumper and we'll get going" he says leaving the room.
"Come here kids and give me a kiss please. You guys behave yourselves tonight and I'll see you in the morning" I say holding my arms out to them both.
They cuddle and kiss me and I stand back up as Tom comes in the room.
"Alright Elle, lets get going" he says as he gives Sarah and Chris a kiss each.
I follow him out to the car and climb in the passenger seat when he unlocks the door.
We talk about nothing in particular on the drive there and listen to the radio. We hear Heartbreak Made Me a Killer play and both smile at each other.
When we finally get to the airport he drops me at the terminal whilst he goes and finds parking. I sit on a bench nearby and wait for Tom to come back.
When he does finally return we make our way inside and find a screen to tell us which gate they are arriving at. We make our way there and realise we still have another hour until the plane lands.
"Do you want to go grab a coffee or something?" Tom asks me and I nod in reply. There's a café nearby and we find a table and order.
We people-watch whilst we wait and I notice there's a group of about six girls milling around the gate.
"I bet they're waiting for the guys" I say to Tom as I nod in their direction.
"Yeah they would be. I recognise a few of them. Just watch your back hey" he says with a laugh.
"I'll be fine" I say in mock-seriousness to him.
We both have a chuckle over that and as I turn my head back around to see where the girls have gone I notice a few of them looking our way.
"So do they know who you are?" I ask Tom.
"Yeah they do. Why, have they spotted me?" he asks without looking at them.
"Yeah I think they have" I reply and try my hardest not to look in their direction.
We talk quietly and I secretly hope that the girls go away but they sit down at the gate and wait.
We hear the announcement that the flight has landed and I feel the butterflies go nuts in my stomach and my chest tightens like a strained rubber band.
Tom looks at me and says "Are you ready for this?"
"I think so" I say as we stand and wander towards the gate. Tom steers me over to the wall and we both lean against it as we wait for everyone to disembark.
We watch as the teenaged girls start bouncing up and down and Tom looks at me and laughs. "I figured we'd be safer if we kept ourselves away from them" he says.
"Good thinking" I tell him and shake my head to myself. Suddenly they start squealing and I realise that the guys must be visible to them.
There's a bit of a gathering near the gate and I assume they're signing stuff for the girls. Eventually I see Shaun's head above the crowd and know that Bradie and Andy must be nearby. I look around and spot Brooke on the other side of the waiting area. I wave my hand at her and she waves back at me. Shaun looks over in my direction and I see him turn his head away from me and then nod in my direction.
The crowd seems to thin out a little bit and then I see Bradie followed closely by Andy heading in our direction. We smile at the same time as we see each other and I can't help but stand up straighter. I'm stopping myself from running at him but he doesn't seem to have the same self control.
Next thing I know he's jogging towards us and as he reaches me he dumps his bags to the ground and grabs me in a bear hug.
I squeeze him tight before he backs off a little and kisses me like there's no tomorrow. When I come up for air I smile at him and he says a simple "Hi."
"Hi" I reply as I rest my forehead on his as we just look at each other.
He kisses me again and turns his head to Tom and says "Hey" to him.
Andy lets me go but keeps his hand in my back pocket. I turn towards Bradie and give him a hug and a "hello."
Tom is talking to them both but I wrap my arms around Andy's waist again and hold him tight. He's doing the same thing to me and talking to the other two over my head.
I turn my head to the side and look out at the crowd and notice a couple of the girls from before looking in our direction. I'm still smiling like an idiot and I notice they have their phones out taking photos.
I quickly turn my head back in the other direction as the guys keep talking.
"Hey, we're going" I hear in my ear and look up to see Andy looking back at me.
"Okay" I say as I release him and reach down for one of his bags. He grabs the other and we make our way to the baggage collection area hand in hand.
Bradie and Tom are talking non-stop about the tour but Andy and I just quietly following along, smiling at each other like a pair of love-struck idiots.
When we get there we stand next to Brooke and Shaun and the rest of the gang. I say hello to everyone and wait patiently for the bags. Tom hands Andy the keys to the car, asking him to go get it and tells him where it's parked.
We both make our way out to the car park and when we find it we both climb in. Andy leans across the centre-console and kisses me deeply again. I wrap my hand around the back of his neck and pull him even closer to me.
I feel his hand grab my arm and he is trying to pull me closer to him. I start to have a little giggle to myself and he pulls his mouth from mine and says "What?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I was just wondering if Tom and Bradie are patiently waiting for us at the terminal whilst we try to get in each other's pants in the car."
"I see your point. Okay. Let's go get them and then we can share the backseat the whole way home" he says with a smile as he sits back in his seat and starts the car.
When we pull up to the front of the terminal, Bradie and Tom are waiting curb-side to put the bags in the car. We both hop out and Andy helps with the bags whilst I climb in the back seat.
The other door opens and I see Bradie try to climb in before being ripped away by Andy.
"Don't be stupid" he says to Bradie as he climbs in next to me.
As Tom gets in the driver's seat he says "now you two behave back there" and we both look at him in the rear-view mirror and nod solemnly.
Once the car is in motion, Andy takes his seat belt off and unclips mine for me too before sliding across to my side of the backseat. He cuddles me to him and I feel him sniffing my hair.
I wrap my arms around him and hold him tight. Before I know it we have both drifted off to sleep.
Tom wakes us both when we arrive and we climb out of the car together.
I help him get his luggage before we say goodnight to Tom and Bradie and walk next door.
