Just Friends (26 page)

I’ve noticed I need to hurry with purchasing my Christmas presents. I have given little thought to what I will get everyone. For Max, I’m thinking of buying him tickets to a concert. Not sure which one, Eleanor will help me. Purchasing anything for Eleanor is going to be difficult. It’s hard to think of anything she doesn’t already own. I’ll speak to Max or Ethan about that one. Maybe we could buy her something from us all. I always say we should do joint gifts so then the blame can’t just be pinned on one person if it goes wrong. For my Mum and Dad I cannot explain how much I would love to give them a new house. The house they have is too small. Even with me not living there. It may have three bedrooms, but it is still very cramped. All their hard work has paid off and I want to thank them for it. Ethan is considering giving them the house of his. That would eliminate my gift. They won’t want two houses. Maybe a holiday or a villa abroad is the only other idea I had. They deserve a holiday at least. I don’t want to see them waste their lives away working. They still have Madeline to take care of so they can’t disappear until she’s old enough to be alone, I suppose. This is why I hate shopping, you never know what to get anyone. I’m tempted to insist Ethan and I send gifts from the two of us. It saves messing around with individual presents. Ethan will obviously need a few more ties. Money isn’t an issue since being in the film, but I don’t want to get him loads of expensive pointless ties. That isn’t the tradition. So I’m on the hunt for some funny or patterned ties. I’m considering finding a tie production place and getting a photo of us put onto a tie. I hope they don’t make me purchase a thousand of them. That would be such a hilarious present. One thousand ties all with the same photo on. At least they would last him a long time. Ties are a side gift. I want to get him something extra special for Christmas. The things he has done for me are beyond meaning, and I am so grateful for having him. I don’t know what I’d do without him. So my main agenda this Christmas is to purchase Ethan the best, most brilliant, fantastic, amazing, awesome present in the entire world. Max suggested I bought myself some lingerie, to which I replied, “Go away,” in a much more offensive way. After he left I secretly added it to my list. It is a most definite last resort.

November 23
rd

“
R
eady to go?” Ethan asked, picking up our bags and holding the door open with his foot. I planted myself in the middle of our wonderful living room and rotated on the spot, scanning the apartment in one final search of anything we would need for our ten-day trip home to visit our family. I snatched at our passports on the side, placing them inside the handy pocket inside my bag.

A new bag is what I am in need of. I hardly use bags, although when I do, my previous college bag isn’t the most glamorous accessory for a rising star. I’m holding out until Christmas because no doubt Ethan will buy me a magnificent one made of a material man wasn’t even aware existed. That’s not what I want though. I want a satchel, a normal leather satchel. With my initials on it, and inside a cute message from Ethan telling me how much he loves me. If that turns out to be the only gift I got for Christmas, I would be the happiest girl. Anyway, I placed the passports in my bag and shut the door behind us.

Ethan hired a private car to take us to the airport, where his private jet would wait for us. I glanced over at Ethan. He was wearing his second favourite tie today. He must have been considering today as a special occasion. This tie I bought him for his eleventh birthday. It was a white tie covered in a splattered paint design. Red, blue, yellow, green, and black squirted onto a blank white canvas. It’s very artistic.

He says when we return to New York he will take me around the site of the hotel . I don’t want to go, but I will try and show my support. Ethan handed me a bottle of water as we sat in the plane.

Too early for champagne
. I thought to myself.

I fell asleep during take off. Ethan and I were listening to some classical music on his MP3 player and I dozed straight off. Somehow I remained in that slumber. We did wake up during the early hours of the morning so I suppose I hadn’t gotten as much sleep as I would normally do. I do love my sleep.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked Ethan as the captain called over the speaker that we were coming in to land.

“You looked so cute and peaceful and I didn’t want to wake you. I know how grumpy you can be when someone wakes you up. You were snoring, too.”

I scowled at him.

We could be the cutest couple ever
. I said to him telepathically.

Ethan and I stood waiting outside Madeline’s school. We wanted to surprise her by picking her up. I told Mum to let us pick her up so she could go straight home without having to rush over and collect her. Our surprise was almost ruined when crowds of people gathered around us for photos and autographs. We rushed through the crowds, most were Mum’s sneaking a picture kissing Ethan on the cheek. My crowds were kids asking for autographs. A lot of them were so young, their parents shouldn’t be letting them watch me shoot people at such a young age!

Madeline appeared from school, scanning the yard for Mum, as she always picked her up. I grinned at her. It took her ten seconds or so to spot us. Her face lit up and she sprinted towards us. I held my arms open and crouched to embrace her. She ran straight past me and wrapped herself around Ethan. Squeezing her arms around him. Ethan picked her up and swept her around

“What’s happening Maddie, you miss me?” He placed her down.

Madeline wobbled in her dizziness. “Where have you been?” She shouted, folding her arms and sulking.

“I’ve been looking after August! What else would prevent me from seeing you!” He said, matching her sulk. He placed his hands on her shoulders and twizzled her around to face me.

I raised my eyebrows, with my arms still spread. “Don’t forget about me!”

Madeline grinned and dawdled into my arms. How I’ve missed her ginger hair, and her cute freckled cheeks, and her bossy attitude.

She’s such a delicate little flower, I didn’t want to let her go.

“Did you get married yet?” Madeline whispered.

“To who?” I giggled in her ear.

She released her arms from around me, planting her hands on either side of my face. I stared into her adorable, serious eyes, awaiting her reply. She stared right back at me and then attempted to roll her eyes. She was clearly trying to indicate Ethan, she tilted her head in a further attempt to imply him.

I laughed again. “No, no, why would we get married, Madeline?” I asked with curiosity, holding up my hand to reveal I wasn’t wearing a ring.

She squinted at me and raised her head. “I’m just checking cus I’m supposed to be the bridesmaid.”

I bit my lip and peeked up at Ethan, he was smiling down at her as if he were her parent. I imagined that’s how he would look at our kids if we ever had any. Madeline was still wearing the bracelet I bought her, along with her friendship bracelet from Ethan. They slid down her arm as she raised it to grab a hold of Ethan’s hand. They started to walk out of the school gates and towards the car. She squeezed her right hand as they walked away, implying for me to grab hold of it. I lunged forward and linked my hand with hers. She jumped into the air, lifting her feet off the floor, swinging forwards and backwards on our arms, nearly pulling me over. I’m too small and weak to sustain a good frame for swinging. Within the first five seconds of clambering into the saloon car chauffeuring us around, Madeline has pressed every button possible in the car. The electric windows jolted up and down repeatedly to her amusement. She loved when the TV screen unfolded down from the roof. Patrick Miller’s show was on. I’d seen it already, but we watched it on our trip home anyway.

My Dad was sitting at the kitchen table as we entered through the front door. I crept on my tiptoes as far as I could before sprinting behind him and covering his eyes with my hands.

“August, I saw your reflection in the mirror as soon as you walked in.”

I cuddled his neck and kissed his cheek. “Did ya miss me?” I asked, squeezing him.

“August you’re choking me, love. Of course I missed you.” He coughed and rose from his chair and hugged me. “I’m tired of seeing you on the bloody television and in all the newspapers, though! Can’t catch my breath without seeing you!”

He avoided hugging Ethan. Instead they shook hands in a manly ordeal. “Loving the TV show, Victoria and I are hooked! That model you had on was smoking, wasn’t she?”

I was unsure as to whether Dad knew of my love for Ethan or not, perhaps Mum hadn’t told him. Either way, his comment made me roll my eyes.

“Natasha is very nice, and funny too.” Ethan replied.

Suddenly my Mum came bolting downstairs, sliding on the wooden flooring in her fluffy socks and swooped Ethan and I into a group hug.

“Did everything go ok collecting Madeline?” She asked.

“Everything went well, no need to worry Mrs. Bishop. Parents and children swarmed us as we first set foot on site, but they soon disappeared. Madeline looked so adorable when she recognised us and sprinted over to us.” Ethan replied, patting Mum on the back.

“Oh I’ve missed you both so much. Since your faces are everywhere it reminds me you’re all grown up and don’t need me anymore. Now I have to pretend I like talking to your father.”

Madeline raced over and huddled into the middle of our hug.

“August that dress you wore for your premiere, my word it was beautiful! You nearly looked as hot as your Mum! Where did you get it? He can sell the car and buy me one for our anniversary or Christmas, a dress for both occasions perhaps.” Mum asked with bulging eyes.

“Stanley, the director of the movie has a friend who creates masterpieces. We’ll sort you one out, don’t worry.” I replied.

“Who’s this model chick you’re seeing then Ethan?” She suddenly turned and asked with a blank face.

Ethan’s eyes lit up. “Natasha? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we’re only friends Mrs. Bishop.” He stuttered back to her.

“Smooth.” I said, nudging him with my elbow.

Mum winced her eyes at him, “Ok, sweetie.”

November 29
th

W
e stayed at Ethan’s house. We didn’t want to cramp up my parent’s house. Only my bed was available, my Dad made it very clear that Ethan and I wouldn’t be sharing it.

Ethan stood and observed the deserted house as we first entered. He paced around the room, stroking his hand across the dusty furniture. I felt so helpless watching him. I just wanted to give him a crushing hug and reassure him that everything would be ok. It saddened me so much knowing he was the last of his family. He has me and my family, and we’re a family. The Knight’s however could become extinct unless Ethan decides he wants a family of his own. I can’t imagine a world without an Ethan Junior or his little princess of a Daughter.

We’re cleaning Ethan’s house today, throwing anything out that isn’t needed, tidying up and packing up anything Ethan wants to take with him to New York. He’s finally decided he wants to give my parents his house for Christmas.
Our
home, Ethan calls it
our
home, not
his
.
Our
home is far more spacious, so we agreed they shouldn’t turn down the opportunity to live here. The house they live in now could be saved for Madeline when she decides she wants to move out. They can rent it out until then. This is currently the plan we have lined up. We can hardly wrap the house up in wrapping paper, so I suggested we give them the key in a little box with a note.

Ethan was in charge of rearranging everything downstairs while I took care of his parent’s bedroom. His parent’s bedroom had a depressing ambiance. It was tidy, but there wasn’t much to tidy. The wardrobes were almost already empty. Ethan’s Dad didn’t have many clothes. I removed the clothes from their hangers and stuffed them into a bag. I dragged the bag to the top of the staircase. Ethan said he didn’t want me to carry anything downstairs, because he knew I would trip and break my neck.

Then I rummaged through the cupboards, I found more screws and instructions on how to build the wardroabe in the wardroabe than anything else. I sighed as I shut the final door, flopping onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was tougher than I had expected.