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Chapter Ten
Declan
A few dayshad passed since he and Andi had stood outside Sullivans and argued, and Declan had been in a pissed off mood since then. It had annoyed him even more than Andi was ignoring his voicenotes about deadlines and possible gigs coming up. She listened to them but never replied. Andi was ghosting him ...again.
Even Rhys had kept his mouth shut where his sister was concerned, just telling Declan that Andi had gone back to Manchester and planned to stay there over Christmas with Charlie. Declan knew why Charlie had made a sudden departure across the water, considering Noah told him he had finally come clean about what happened when they were younger and Charlie had run from the truth.
To be honest, Declan had spent the last few days thinking about the past, trying to put the pieces together to see if he could pinpoint the moment, any event that blew up his relationship with Andi, and for the life of him, he couldn’t.
Of course, he knew dating Lauren would annoy Andi, that’s why he hooked up with her that night at her party. A stupid, childish reaction that he had guilt about to this day. He had been so pissed off that all he’d wanted to do was hurt Andi, and he’d succeeded.
No wonder she hated him, but she had ghosted him before that and that was bugging the hell out of him.
Declan closed his eyes, hearing the erotic sound of Andi singing in his head as he drowned himself in memories of her, before everything went to hell.
The clock struck two in the morning in unison with the rapturous sounds of Rhys snoring from his bed as Declan rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. He had been finding it increasingly hard to fall asleep in the Collins' house lately, knowing that Andi was lying in her bed next door.
He didn’t know the exact moment his feelings for Andi had changed, it had been a gradual thing, slow and steady until it became all-consuming, like an addiction. He noticed more how her eyes lit up when she found new music or the way she tucked her hair behind her ears and chewed on her bottom lip when she was concentrating hard.
He’d started calling even when he knew Rhys was busy, just to spend time with her, spending hours traipsing through record stores and music shops and playing the instruments that they dreamed of having enough money to buy.
There came a creak on the floorboards outside of Rhys’s bedroom, and Declan darted upright, knowing the sound of Andi’s footfalls as well as the way his heart beat. He listened as she went down the stairs, then he was pulling on his tee and out of the bed, following after her, careful to avoid the obvious creaks on the stairs.
Declan searched the entire house for Andi, before realizing that she would have slipped out to the family music room, its soundproofed walls the perfect tranquil place for her to practice. Her dad had built the outside shed, a builder by trade and it was where he and the Collins’ siblings spent a lot of time.
He stepped out into the garden, shivering at the cold until he heard Andi at the keyboard playing the first few keys of Bring me the Horizon’s, Can you feel my heart? It was one of Andi's favourite bands and songs, and Declan knew all of Andi’s favourite songs off by heart.
He knew that she loved David Gray’s This Years Love and cried every time she watched reruns of Dawson’s Creek and Joey finally realized she was meant to be with Pacey. He knew she considered Maniac 2000 by Mark McCabe to be the best dance song of all time and Linkin Park’s, in the End, one of the best songs ever recorded. She pretended she didn’t know all the lyrics to Bewitched, C’est le Vie because she was too cool for that.
She wore band tees and jeans, but only if she really liked a band. She loved to find music from a band that no one had discovered yet and see them in the smallest of venues rather than arena tours because the acoustics were better. She wanted to go to Reading & Leeds or Download Festival instead of electric picnic. She knew a song was good, no matter the genre if it invoked an emotion from someone. She didn’t believe like autotuned songs and preferred someone who dared to sing off tune then let a computer alter their voice.
Declan stood outside the music room in the freezing cold and tried to summon the courage to walk inside and tell Andi that he saw her, all of her. But he was afraid that she wouldn’t feel the same or worse she would see that he wasn’t good enough for her. She deserved to soar and he would try and keep her here, with him and that wouldn’t be fair.
So he listened outside until his fingers and toes got numb before Declan retreated back into the house and under the warmth of the covers. He lingered, awake until she came back up the stairs, pausing outside the bedroom door for what felt like an age before she sighed and went back into her own room and closed the door behind her.
“Earth to Deco...”
Declan had forgotten that he was sat in the studio with Jameson, trying to write some songs for their debut album. Jameson Kent had been his next-door neighbour for years but it was music that had brought them together, much like it had with Rhys. Jamie could sing but preferred to play guitar and not let anyone know he wrote many of the lyrics.
Jamie was pretty reserved for the most part, and had a heart-breaking story where his girlfriend had died in a hit and run when they were sixteen. Layla had pushed Jameson out of the way and she had died in his arms as the driver sped off, high as a kite when he was arrested hours later asleep in the car.
Layla had also been his sister’s friend, but he and Niamh were as close as Rhys and Andi were, hadn’t minded it when they got together. Jameson went off the rails for a few years after, trying to deal with everything but Declan and Rhys had been there to remind him that Layla wouldn’t want him to ruin his life when she had sacrificed herself for him.
Jameson had even written a song about Layla that Declan was trying to persuade him to put on the album, even if it was Declan that sung it, but he was trying hard to get Jamie to be the one who put his grief and his pain in the song.
“I’m sorry, Jay.” Declan sighed as he dragged his fingers through his hair. “My mind's not in this today.”
Jameson gave him a sly grin. “I can understand. Andi, man...she’s a knockout.”
Jealousy surged through him and he lifted his eyes to the grinning Jamie, who just chuckled and slapped his hand on his knew. “Deco, your face man. You look ready to murder me. I have no designs on Andi, but I can totally admire that she looks hella good, even more so after hearing that voice. She was incredible. You need to fix whatever dickheadery you did to fuck that up, Dec.”
Declan snorted. “You assume it’s me that fucked up?”
Jameson’s arched brow told Declan he wasn’t believing any other explanation.
“I watched the two of you at the bar. Mate, if this was a romance novel, all those angry lustful looks would make for the hottest sex ever.”
Declan barked out a laugh and rolled his eyes as Jamie grinned. “You’ve been spending too much time working in your sister’s bookshop.”
