Unplugged (2 page)

“
Nobody did, don’t worry about it,” says Mum. “We’ll organise something.”

Cerys
’s hair shines in a glossy, natural way that makes me want to stroke it.
What the hell?
I summon images of Honey, memories of my hands in her hair and lips on mine, but the image of her lips on Mason in the blurred photos also jumps in.

I need to walk away before inappropriate thoughts about Cerys begin.

“I’ll grab my stuff from the car,” I tell the three women around me. “Then head to my room and unpack.”

Again,
the whole eyeing each other and not telling me shit. “What?”

“
I like your guitars,” pipes up Ella. “And the pictures.”

I push my hair from my face, confused.
“My guitars?”

“
In your room. Cerys is sleeping in there,” says Louise breezily, as if my room is open for guests. I stiffen. I have gear stored in there, untouched from when I left.

“
Where do I sleep then?” I ask gruffly.

“
Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming back or I’d have stayed somewhere else.” Cerys looks to Louise discomfort in her wide-eyed expression. “We can leave.”

“
Don’t be silly!” says Mum firmly. “We’ll sort something out.”

“
I can move into the room Ella is in until I find somewhere else,” offers Cerys.

Something odd is going on here and although I
’m pissed off about a stranger in my room, there’s something more I’m not aware of. I get the impression the kid’s dad isn’t around after all.

“
I’ll grab my bag and you work out who’s sleeping where,” I mutter.

4 p.m.
and the English winter evening greys the world. I head for my car and the coastal wind smarts my cheeks. I’ve swapped California sun and a comfortable house, for a cold winter and a lukewarm reception here?

Louise appears next to me as I lug my bag from the car boot.
“We didn’t know you were coming home, Liam, and Cerys doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

“
Why?” I ask.

“
She just split from Ella’s dad and it got a bit nasty. Her mum and dad disowned her after she had Ella, and they live in Scotland now anyway. She’s my best friend and needs somewhere to stay until she gets sorted. Be nice to her.”

“
Why wouldn’t I?” I ask. “Anyway, it’s not my house so it’s up to Mum and Dad who stays.”

“
Don’t get shitty about her being in your room. The spare room where Ella sleeps is tiny, they’d have to share a single bed, or one of them sleeps on the floor.” As Louise pushes away the long hair the wind blows into her face, I know what’s coming. “Let them both stay in your room and you have the spare?”

“
I’ll think about it.” I stroll back toward the welcome warmth of my family home.

“
Don’t be selfish, Liam,” Louise calls after me.

All I wanted was to recreate my childhood Christmas, with my family and my old normality. I know I should sympathise with Cerys a little more, but she
’s spoilt the Christmas fantasy that was going to help me cope with my hurting heart Honey stomped on.

CHAPTER 2

LIAM

The last time I slept in a single bed I must
’ve been around eleven. I grew too tall and nagged my parents until they bought me a double; man, I felt grown up that day. A king size in a bedroom as large as five of this tiny bedroom is my style these days. I scoop up the flowery duvet Ella has been using and place it on the floor outside the room. I guess she’ll need it for sharing my bed with her mum.

Dumping my bag on the unmade bed, I huff and wander downstairs. Mum bangs around upstairs, fussing as she makes the rooms up for the new sleeping arrangement. The TV plays loudly from the lounge room, irritating
, squeaky voices from some crappy kids’ TV show.
Fantastic…
Has this child taken over?

A plate of sandwiches
rests on the kitchen counter and I smile to myself as I pick them up. Peeking inside, I recognise my favourite cheese and ham filling and know Mum left them there for me. Leaning against the counter, I take a huge bite and debate whether to ask the kid to let me watch TV.

Cerys comes into the kitchen. My mum always has the heating full and
Cerys has taken off her jumper, revealing a tight cotton top stretching across her chest. I can’t help myself, but I stare at her tits. So, I’m a tits man and as it’s a while since I saw natural, I stare a bit more than I should.

“
Do you mind not staring at my breasts?” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

Breasts. The word makes me smirk.
Whoops
. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. You’ve got nice...” I stop as her face darkens.

“
You’re disgusting!” she retorts. “Is this how you look at all women? Like they’re objects?”

I blink at her immediate defensiveness.
Wow.
“No.”

“
Leave the rock star attitude at the door,” she snaps.

“
Hey, you’re sleeping in my bed, the least you could do is be nice to me.” I grin but her disgusted face remains. “Far out, sorry. Uptight much? It’s not like I touched you!”

“
I’m a person, Liam, not a pair of tits.”

Fuck, I
’m not having this conversation. “Tell your kid I want to watch TV and she has to change the channel.”

“
You tell her!” Cerys pushes past me and I catch her scent, roses I think, and her bare arm touches mine. I’m overwhelmed by the urge to take her arm and apologise because behind her disgust I can see I upset her. Louise’s words about how Cerys is having a hard time pushes guilt over my arrogance.

Still, I don
’t apologise. Instead, I step away and go into the lounge.
Ella sits on the black, shaggy rug, nose practically touching the TV as she watches cartoon pigs at high volume. Grimacing, I sit behind her and pick up the remote.

“
I want to watch something different,” I inform Ella.

Ella ignores me or is so transfixed on her show she doesn
’t hear. I flick onto a different channel and she twists around. The expression on her face matches the sour one her mum gave me several minutes before.

“
Switch it back!” she says, and then adds, “Please?”

“
No.” I turn back to the TV and keep flicking through the channels.

I expect Ella to scream like the kids in the shops who don
’t get what they want. Instead, her face crumples and she stands, eyes brimming with tears. In her hand Ella grips a ragged piece of cloth I expect was once brightly striped, but is now dull and dirty. A tear crawls down her cheek and the quiet sadness cuts through my determination to do what I want in my parents’ house.

My hatred of women crying extends to tiny girls, and I hold out the TV controller to the rainy faced child. Ella takes it and perches onto the sofa besides me, dropping her piece of blanket as she does. The pigs reappear on the screen and I stand to leave, no way am I staying round to watch this.
 

Ella
’s fixated on the programme again but patting the cushions on the chair around as if looking for something. The blanket rag lies on the floor and I pick it up, handing the item to her. Ella’s face lights up and she sniffs loudly.

“
Thank you,” she says.

I can
’t help but grin at the little girl, guilt over making her cry wiped away. “You’re welcome, little lady.”

She giggles at my phrase and I wink at her. I catch
sight of Cerys standing in the kitchen doorway with a cup of juice in her hand, staring at me. Embarrassed at being seen giving in to Ella, I straighten and drop the grin. Cerys’s brown eyes tear up too, confusing the hell out of me. Is crying over nothing a family thing?

I walk toward the doorway, ensuring I look at her face and not her tits this time.

Cerys steps to one side to allow me to pass. “Thank you,” she says softly.

“
‘S’okay, don’t want her having a meltdown.” I pause, wishing for some crazy reason she’d look at me the way she’s looking at her daughter.

“
She’s not that kind of child,” says Cerys. “She’s having a hard time, so I appreciate you being nice to her.”

Goldie trots past me
, and climbs onto the sofa next to Ella, resting his head on her leg. Cerys goes over and hands her daughter the bright blue cup before perching on the seat next to her. The little girl snuggles up to her mum, and Cerys strokes Ella’s hair as they watch the god-awful TV show together.

I hover in the doorway, looking around the room that
’s adorned with the same gold and red garlands we had as a kid. The scent of pine from the Christmas tree, which is already dropping needles onto the gifts beneath, pulls me to my own childhood, a stable, happy one.

Poor kid, not in her own house and without her dad at Christmas. I hope some of the brightly wrapped presents beneath the tree are Ella
’s.

CHAPTER 3

LIAM

The house fills with the smell of perfume and the sounds of girlish laughter. A pyjamaed Ella drinks milk in the kitchen, watching my every move as I walk across to the huge, white fridge and pull out a beer.

“
Are you going out with Mummy?” she asks.

I wrinkle my nose at her.
“No, I don’t think your mummy and Lou would want me there. I don’t wear enough perfume.”

She chuckles.
“You’re funny. Men don’t wear perfume.”

“
I do. I like to wear really, smelly perfume,” I whisper.

“
Like Mummy’s? My mummy smells nice.”

“
I’m sure your mummy smells nice, too,” I say and I have no idea why.

“
Whose mummy smells nice?” asks Louise as she walks in carrying her shoes.

“
Liam says Mummy smells nice.”

“
What? No! We were talking about how people smell!”

Louise arches an eyebrow.
“When did you start sniffing my friends, Liam?”

“
I didn’t. For fu...” Louise throws me a look and I glance at Ella. “The house stinks of perfume! It’s like being in a house with teenage girls again.”

“
Better than your teenage boy feet!” retorts Louise. “I see Mum put your boots outside. Nothing changes, huh?”

I glower at her and Ella watches our sibling argument attempting to hide her amusement. Yeah, nothing changes
; I’m no rock star in this house.

Louise is dressed for a Christmas night out, short, tight
, black dress, tinsel in her hair and flashing Christmas tree earrings. I suspect she’s going further afield than the local pub.

“
Is Connor going with you?” I ask her.

“
No, girls’ night, leaving the men at home.” She smirks. “It’s been a long time since me and Cerys had a girls’ night together.”

“
Cardiff, two years ago,” says Cerys as she joins us in the kitchen.

“
Yeah, you would move to bloody Cardiff so I never see you anymore.”

Cerys shifts her look to the floor. Her and Ella live in Cardiff now? Why the hell is she here? As Cerys isn
’t looking at me, I check her out. Same as when I came home a few years ago, there’s something inappropriate about imagining my little sister’s friend naked. So I try not to. And fail. Her dress isn’t as tight or revealing as Louise’s, a dark blue and a bit floatier or however a chick would describe it. I will not look at her tits. I fail at the exact moment Cerys lifts her head and looks at me. I pull my mouth down into a ‘sorry’ face.

Cerys
puts a hand to her necklace, the pendant sitting just above the top of her dress and she twists the gold chain around a finger, glaring at me. The diamonds set into the gold heart catch the light.

“
I like your necklace,” I tell her.

“
Sure, you were looking at my necklace, Liam…” Cerys sits on the chair next to Ella and pushes on her black heels.

“
You look pretty, Mummy,” says Ella.

“
Thank you, Baby.” She kisses Ella’s head and musses her hair.

“
You smell good, too.”

Louise sniggers and I shoot her a warning look in case she decides to share our earlier conversation. Raising both eyebrows
, she opens her mouth, still looking at me. “Liam says you...”

For fuck
’s sake, her body grew but she’s still an annoying kid sister. “Shut up, Lou!”