hello guys! Well here we are, the first installment. For new readers, this is the follow up to 'The Last Journey', which left off with Craig leaving to go to Dublin for Uni after his failed attempt to win JP back and witnessing him kiss his ex. Here the story continues.

PART 1

Craig nervously shuffled his way down the aisle, with a bag strapped over his back and magazine in his hand. He switched his eyes between the ticket in his hand and the seat numbers that were displayed to the side of him. Finally he found the section which matched the seat number on his ticket and stopped. Looking up, he opened the over head storage compartment and pulled his bag strap over his head so to remove it from his body. He then pushed his satchel up into the air before pushing it forward so that it slid into it’s destination for the impeding journey which was about to occur. Sighing after this small, strenuous task, he began to move side wards along his designated row before finally stopping and settling in the seat which was to be his for the next fifty minutes.

He immediately fastened his seat belt, despite the fact that the plane was still some time away from departing. Taking a big breath, he sighed loudly and deeply. He really didn’t want to be doing this; he hated this and wished that this had never happened. Of course he did, though; it was possibly the worst thing ever to have happened to him.

In his tense state, he rested his arms on the armrests, pushed himself backwards into his chair and opened his eyes, it was as if he were preparing himself for an immediate take off but then he felt something creep over his right arm which made him slowly open his eyes.

‘Craig, it’s alright to be upset you know,’ said the comforter who had placed their hands on his arm.

He let out a small, weak smile whilst he looked at his companion.

‘I know sweetheart,’ he replied, ‘But I’m not upset, I’m really not that scared of flying anymore,’ he lied.

The blonde haired, blue eyed beauty smiled gently back at him now, ‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’

‘Oh,’ was his response, as if he had just realized what the actual meaning behind the statement was, but once again he was bluffing. He did know; he just didn’t want talk about it, that’s all.

But it seemed as if his companion was insistent on keeping the issue on the agenda.

‘What’s happened…it’s terrible…it’s indescribable…but…but…’

‘But what?’ he frowned.

‘It just seems as if, you don’t seem to be showing much emotion over it.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘That sounded bad,’ the fellow passenger flustered, ‘What I mean to say is, that it’s okay to cry Craig.’

Craig looked away now, almost in a huff, and then looked back to respond.

‘What do you want me to do Evie? Sit here and bawl like a baby?’

‘No!’ The blonde haired woman protested.

‘Because I can’t!’ Craig interrupted, ‘I’m dealing with this my own way and I’m sorry if that means no tears, but I’m genuinely cut up about this.’

‘I know baby,’ she replied soothingly, ‘I just wanted to let you know incase you were too scared to.’

Craig thawed on hearing this. He knew he shouldn’t have snapped at his fiancé like that; this was far from her fault and she was only trying to be considerate of his feelings. It was just that his emotions seemed to be venting in the wrong way ever since this had happened; coupled along with the fact that he had to travel back home, something he was dreading.

He was dreading it for a number of reasons. Firstly, he hated flying, simple as. He knew it was an irrational fear, but he had always hated it; he hated being so out of control of something that would become so isolated up in the air. He hated the idea of no escape and he hated the idea of falling, falling so hard that the consequences could only be fatal. He also hated traveling back home because that was exactly what it was; home. Not that he hated seeing his family, he loved that part, it was the actual place he hated. For all it had been six years now, that place just held too many painful memories. Memories which seemed to come vividly back to life every time he went back there. The third and final reason he was dreading this, was because of the nature of the visit. There couldn’t be a worse reason for him coming back to see his family for the first time in three years, it only made him wish harder that he had made more of an effort to come back home sooner.

‘Sorry,’ he finally replied sheepishly and then looked lovingly into his partner’s eyes, ‘You do know I don’t mean to take it out on you?’

‘I understand,’ Evie replied softy.

‘I love you so much,’ Craig promised her and intertwined his fingers with hers.

‘I know, because I love you too,’ she smiled and looked away, safe in the knowledge that her fiancé knew she was always there for him.

Wonderful as always, I'll keep up with this one this time I swear lol (are you intending on it being 101 pages so I ensure to keep up with it a chapter at a time?) i like evie already keep it coming, you're absolutely excellent louise

Very good Lou keep it coming!

Totally brilliant, gr8 start can't w8 4 the next chapter.

OH LOU JUST READ IT BRILLLLLIANT AS ALWAYS

love it!! x

wow within the first part youve already got me asking a tonne of questions,please write some more soon

Wahoo, another great read begins!

I didn't think we'd be this lucky, and have the sequel posted already! I thought you'd at least want a weeks break from it all!

Looking forward to it all unveiling!...whos died.. whos still around hollyoaks...... is jp still with david....whats he done with his life... so many
possibilites.......

Brilliant opening Lou!!! Can't wait for more!!

*excited* Great start and look forward reading the next installment!!

ohhh this is so exciting, Lou - you've started already!!!

Here we go, adding JP to the mix. Oh and revealing some more about Craig's return.


PART 2

* One week before *

John Paul sat at his kitchen table, running through his usual morning routine. He had already gotten up at the same time he did every morning, 7.15am, had his shower, went down stairs and waited for his breakfast to be plated up for him and had begun to make his way through the contents of that plate. Now he was waiting for the next part of his routine to happen

‘I bet your mum never ran about after you like this in the mornings!’ joked the man who came walking towards him, dressed in nothing but boxers and a slogan t-shirt.

John Paul looked up from his plate and smirked, ‘There’s a lot of things you do that my mum never did for me in the morning.’

Both of them laughed at this for a second, whilst Stephen approached his boyfriend. Reaching him, he tapped him slightly on the head with the newspaper in his hand and then presented it to him, all rolled up.

‘Here you go sir, your daily paper, as requested,’ he mocked, adopting a posh sounding tone of voice.

‘Why thank you,’ John Paul mimicked back and took the gift from him.

‘Now would sir like me to do anything else for him? Bring the car around? Polish your shoes? Freshly squeeze you some orange juice from the finest of nectarines?’

John Paul chuckled at this and slapped his boyfriend, who was adopting the stance of a servant, on the bottom playfully with the newspaper which had only moments ago been used ‘violently’ against him.

‘Give over,’ he laughed, ‘You can make me a cuppa if it’s not too much hassle.’

‘Coming right up!’ Stephen bowed and made his way over to the kettle, leaving a very amused John Paul to enjoy his routine of scowering the newspaper.

He instantly knew what page he was looking for, the job advertisement segment. Everyday he done this, looking for any job that was better than the one he currently had. Anything was an option for him, anything; he’d seriously nearly phoned up Blades & Co for their advertisement for a new junior assistant the other day but had been put off with the prospect of actually having to cut someone’s hair, which he realized would be a major set back.

Anything had to be better, anything had to be better, he chanted in his head as he searched the page for an ad that was worthy of consideration.

‘You looking at that blooming page again?’ Stephen called back, as he had his back to John Paul. To anyone else, this may have seemed like a psychic assumption, but to John Paul and Stephen, it was a knowing of the routine that had caused him to ask it.

‘Mmmm,’ John Paul responded, affirming his boyfriend’s suspicion whilst never breaking concentration from the page.

‘Found anything today then?’

John Paul waited a second before answering this and then, with a bemused expression, looked over to Stephen and replied.

‘Oh apprentice butcher!’ he announced.

Stephen turned around wide eyed to see if his partner was joking. To his relief, he clearly was judging by the stupid grin he had on his face.

‘You know John Paul, working in Orwell’s isn’t bad,’ he tried to reason.

‘Huh!’ John Paul huffed, ‘It’s all right for you; at least you’re using your degree. I’m stuck in chain book store hell!’

‘Oh baby, but at least your not just an assistant anymore. Junior manager’s a good position to be and don’t you have a review coming up for that new post?’ Stephen had said as he walked over and kissed him reassuring on the head.

‘Yeah,’ John Paul said looking up at him from his chair, ‘But that isn’t for another month, plus….’ He sighed, ‘I don’t know if I wanna go for it.’

‘Why not?’ Stephen asked, shooting him a confused look.

‘Because, I know that’ll make me stick around there even longer and I don’t want that!’ he moaned.

‘Oh yeah?’ Stephen began, as he walked over to the ready kettle, ‘And being an apprentice butcher is something you’ve always aspired to be?’

John Paul raised his eyebrows at this, ‘Yeah, just imagine it, bacon all round! What a perk!’ he said lifting his own bacon from his plate and waving it around.

He could hear Stephen cackle at this from behind him.

‘Oh why can’t we all be what we wanted when we were seventeen?’ he wistfully asked, ‘I’d be a superstar DJ!’

‘We all have silly dreams at that age,’ came the reply.

Nice, John Paul thought, feeling a little hurt. Shrugging this off he decided to look at the rest of the paper. Flipping the pages round, he decided to start logically and look at the front page but as he did he almost immediately regretted doing so.

‘Jesus Christ!’ he exclaimed in shock.

Stephen froze, ‘What?’ he asked. Had John Paul caught him putting too many spoonfuls of sugar in his mug?

John Paul delayed his reply and studied the page some more. How did he miss this? Why didn’t he see this straight away? He couldn’t believe it.

‘What’s up?’ Stephen asked, looking concerned and walking over to inspect what John Paul had just read.

‘Landlord, shot dead in robbery?’ he read aloud and looked at John Paul, who seemed to be stunned, ‘Do you know this guy?’

‘God yeah…’ he answered, ‘He was my e…my best friend’s step dad.’

‘Oh my god,’ Stephen quietly exclaimed looking at the paper some more.

It read:

‘Tuesday night saw the murder of Jack Osbourne, 58, a Chester pub landlord. The incident took place as the man, originally from Aberdeen, Scotland, was cleaning up after a hard nights work in the Dog in the Pond, in the village of Hollyoaks. It was reported that Mr Osbourne was attacked by what is believed to be by three men who were robbing the establishment. The shooting took place only metres away from his devoted wife, Frankie Osbourne, and son, Darren, whilst they were slept soundly in bed upstairs in the flat which housed the family. Three men have been arrested but as of yet, no charges have been made.’

‘F*cking hell,’ Stephen exclaimed once he had finished reading it.

‘I know,’ said a shell shocked John Paul.

‘You’re mate, the one who’s step dad he was, how come he never rang to tell you?’ Stephen finally asked snapping out of his shock.

John Paul’s heart sank as he thought about what to say.

‘He’s probably lost my number. We’ve not spoken over the years, drifted apart,’ he told him, telling him the truth if only omitting vast amounts of information.

‘You going to get in contact with him then?’ Stephen asked as he scooped up the empty plate on the kitchen table and walked it over to the sink.

John Paul thought this over for a few seconds and then tried to answer without the worry he was feeling at the prospect of this, show through in his voice.

‘Dunno,’ he said, ‘Maybe.’

wow louise, great stuff as always.

but poor Jack, my poor darren must be mortified.

great chapter! - had somehow expected david to stick around after what you'd told me... - am loving this story already!

Ah, all will be revealed, surely you know that by now? Lol. Oh i just thought of a hreatbraking part to write later on. Mwah ha ha ha!

v. v. v. v. good!!!!!

*Mwah* loving this story already Louise!! Look forward reading the next chapter..

(Yes i'll Vote for you,, leader of the O.M.U.F, the One McDean United Front, in your local elections!)

oh my god, carry on soon! x

OMG SO GOOOD NEXT CHAPTER SOON

Fantastic as always Lou! Keep it up!

Hooked already !

Grumpy