Broken Silence (5 page)

Chapter Five

Oakley

I felt as if I had been in the boxing ring with Mike Tyson. I had been travelling for almost a day, but that wasn’t the exhausting part. At least our first meeting was over, and hopefully the next time we saw each other things would be okay.

“How did it go?” Mum asked as soon as I was in the car and closed the door.

“Better than I expected, actually. I thought he would shout and chuck me out.”

Jasper turned in the seat. “He was never going to chuck you out.” Yeah, I knew that really. He had every right to though. “So he still loves you then.”

My jaw dropped open. Did Jasper have absolutely no respect for anyone’s privacy. “You listened!”

“Yeah of course I listened! Well, I tried to. I only heard that bit before I was hit repeatedly by Kerry. You wanna do that girly thing where you over-analyse every little detail? What did it
mean
that he sat so close to you? Did it mean
anything
? Was it accidental or—”

“Shut up, Jasper,” I snapped. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Isn’t this the kind of shit girls do?”

“You’re not a girl.”

“Yeah but you have no friends, so I thought I’d try cheering you up.”

I stared at him blankly, hiding how much I wanted to shove him out of the car. “Thank you, that really helped,” I replied dryly.

He wasn’t wrong. I didn’t really have friends. There were a few girls at work I spoke to and occasionally went out with, but I wasn’t particularly close to them. I didn’t want to get close to anyone.

“Enough now, Jasper,” Mum said, shaking her head at him. Jasper was stuck inside a teenage boy’s mind, and I wasn’t ever sure he would grow up.

“Was it nice to catch up with Jenna?” I asked to change the subject.

I saw her smile in the mirror. “It was. I worried that it would be awkward at first, but it’s like we’ve never been apart.” See, that was true friendship. I envied Mum a little for having that. But then it was my own fault I didn’t.

We pulled into Ali’s drive, and nothing about their house had changed from the outside. She was still planting the same flowers and had the little water fountain in the front garden. It was nice to see.

The front door burst open and Ali came flying out. Mum jumped from the car and ran into her sister’s arms.

“Great, I forgot how crazy those two are together,” Jasper said, opening the car door. Like he could complain about anyone else being crazy…

“Oakley, sweetheart,” Ali whispered and pulled me into a hug. “Are you okay?” She pulled back to watch my response.

I smiled. “I’m fine, just a little tired from all the travelling.”

“Oh, come in, come in.”

Inside we were hugged by Lizzie, and just as I was hoping to go to bed, Lizzie grabbed my hand. “We have so much to catch up on.” I shot Jasper a desperate look. It had been a long flight. I was tired and ever-so-slightly emotional from seeing Cole. I did not need to be dealing with Lizzie as well.

“Go on,” he said and smiled smugly.

I mouthed, ‘I hate you’ and turned, letting Lizzie drag me upstairs. I suppose getting it over with now would mean I wouldn’t have to dread her gossip filled conversation tomorrow. I didn’t like gossip.

The second her bedroom door was closed, she pulled me to her bed, and we sat down. “How was it seeing Cole? Did you have one of those romantic reunions or was he pissed at you?” she questioned.

How did she even know we’d been at Cole’s house? Unless Mum had called them to explain why we were running late.

“I’m tired, Lizzie. I don’t want to talk about that right now.” I got off the bed and flopped on the futon by the wall that I was sleeping on.

She sighed in frustration. “At least tell me if you still love him?”

I paused. Oh what the hell. “Yes, I still love him.”

“I knew you did! Oh God, this is so romantic. Reunited after years apart,” she gushed, making little squealing noises that made me want to slap her. She wasn’t helping. And it certainly didn’t
feel
romantic, just draining.

“Yeah,” I replied sarcastically, burying my head under the pillow and praying that either sleep or suffocation would happen soon, so I wouldn’t hear her anymore. It was getting late, and I just wanted to sleep!

“Fine I get it. I’ll go see Jas then.”
Wow, don’t let him hear you call him that!

I woke up to the sound of Lizzie spraying hairspray on her now curly hair. She kept going, holding her finger on the can and spraying it all over her head. Christ that hair was going nowhere, ever.
I hope she doesn’t go near a naked flame.

My mind drifted back to Cole. Would I really see him today? Or at least hear from him? He didn’t have my number so he couldn’t call, even if he wanted to, which he probably didn’t. I sighed. Obsessing wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Lizzie chirped, sounding surprised though she had creating all the noise. “So… have you spoke to him yet?” I’d been up for five seconds, and she thinks I could have spoken to Cole already.

It took everything I had not to reply with some sarcastic comment.

“Not yet. He doesn’t have my number.” Why didn’t I give him my number? Because he probably wouldn’t want it? He did say he would see me today though. Obsessing again!

Something hard hit my leg, making me jump. Jasper was standing by the door smirking at me.

“What’s wrong with you?!” I protested. Why couldn’t he call my name to get my attention like any other normal person?

He nodded to whatever it was he threw at me. His mobile phone.

“It’s Cole.”

I sat up, almost giving myself head rush. Oh God! I grabbed the phone and stared at it. Cole’s name was on the screen along with the time ticking by. He had already been on for almost five minutes. Oh God, what had Jasper said to him already?

I gulped. My throat was dry. “I’d open with hello,” Jasper said sarcastically, winking at me as he walked out of Lizzie’s room.

Slowly, I raised the phone to my ear. Cole’s quiet laughter made me smile.

“Cole.”

“He told you to open with hello,” he said.

“Yeah, well, he’s an idiot.”

“Agreed. So, do you wanna go get some ice cream?”

Wow. How easy was that! A huge grin stretched across my face.

“I’d love to.”

I couldn’t wait get ice cream again. It was something we’d done all the time when we were younger.

“Great,” he said. As if I was going to say no!

“I’ll pick you up in an hour? Will you be ready then?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, gripping the phone tight. My stomach was doing flips.

“Okay. See you in a bit.” He hung up, and I smiled to myself. That conversation was a little awkward, but I didn’t care. Hopefully things would be normal between us by the end of the day.

Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows. “I’m outta here. Have a good date.”

Before I could correct her, she was out of the room. It wasn’t a date. Even if Cole wanted anything it was too early for that. Life wasn’t a fairy tale. Things took time and effort, and even then there were no guarantees.

Jumping up, I grabbed my clothes and ran into the bathroom to have a quick shower and get dressed. My morning routine took a little longer since I started wearing make-up. My dad never let me wear it, but that was my decision now. I didn’t particularly like the stuff, so I only used a little mascara and a natural eye shadow. It wasn’t about making myself look better; it was about having the choice.

As soon as I was ready, I went downstairs to find Mum. The smell of coffee wafted through the hallway, and I knew she was in the kitchen. She smiled as I walked in.

“Morning.”

“Morning,” I replied and smiled.

“You look nice. Are you going out?”

I froze. Nice? Trying too hard nice? I had on a navy blue maxi dress – Australia clothes!  Was it too much to meet Cole in? Maybe I should go more casual.

“You’re meeting Cole, aren’t you?”

I nodded numbly, mentally searching through all the clothes I brought with me.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy?”

“Should I change?”

She smiled, and I knew inside she was going, ‘Aww’.

“No, you look beautiful. Stop worrying, Oakley. You could turn up in a bin bag and he’d still love it.”

“That’s not helping.” I sipped a glass of water slowly, trying to calm my nerves. “Yeah, I really need to change.”

Before I could take a step closer to the door, the bell rang. That would definitely be Cole. It had been almost an hour since we spoke.

“Too late,” Mum said and grinned, amused.

“No, it’s not. Get the door, I’ll be back in a minute,” I called over my shoulder as I ran out of the room. Her laughter rang through the house. I was being stupid, but today was extremely important and even the small details mattered. I grabbed a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a long T-shirt. Much more casual.

As I dressed, I heard muffled voices downstairs. I prayed they were catching up and Mum wasn’t telling him I was changing again. He was so close to me, and that made me feel dizzy with nerves and excitement.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly crept downstairs. His eyes landed on mine as soon as I stepped into the lounge, and my heart started beating wildly.

“Hi,” I said hoarsely, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

He smiled, his eyes lighting up. I loved seeing him like that.

“Hi.”

“Have a nice time,” Mum said and walked into the kitchen, giving us some privacy.

“You ready to go?” I nodded in response to his question. I could barely talk!

We drove in a comfortable silence. I watched as he pulled his lip between his teeth every so often. He was nervous too. It felt too good to be true. I was still waiting for him to get angry with me again. He wasn’t being honest about how he felt. This going for ice cream was incredible but it was masking the conversation we needed to have. It was as if we were papering over the cracks and that would get us nowhere in the long run.

“I’ll warn you now, it’s different,” he said as we parked in front of the diner.

“Different how?”

“You’ll see.” As he always did, Cole held the door open for me, and I walked in
. I turned my nose up. It was completely different now. Not one thing was as it used to be.

“I take it from that look on your face, you don’t like it?”

“No. Why did they change it?” Frowning at the new decor, I walked towards the counter.

“To ‘move with the times’ apparently.”

I much preferred the old traditional style diner to this ultra-modern, minimalistic look. The walls were a warm caramel shade, with large mirrors hanging from them. The tables and chairs were white glass and boring.

“I don’t like it either. Ice cream’s still good though. Want your usual?”

I turned and grinned. Those three words made my whole day. ‘Want your usual?’ I hadn’t heard that in four years.

“Please.”

Cole ordered, and we sat where our old booth used to be. The seat was comfortable but not falling onto a cloud comfortable.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for yesterday. I didn’t mean to upset you, but I needed to say that stuff.”

I shook my head.

“Please don’t apologise. I guess you’ve waited a while for the opportunity to say it. I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have given you the choice. I was too wrapped up in what was going on. I didn’t want your life to be messed up too.”

He raised his eyebrow, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. His life
was
messed up because of it.

“I would have come with you, Oakley.”

“I know,” I whispered, looking down at the table. “Can we get past this? I don’t want things to be weird between us.”

The waitress arrived, cutting into our conversation. She balanced the tray on the edge of the table and passed us our milkshakes and ice cream. My lungs started to burn, and I realised it was because I was holding my breath, waiting for him to answer. We both muttered a polite ‘thank you’ and I turned my attention back to Cole.

He smiled and before even opening his mouth, I knew we could.

“Yeah, but only if you give me some of that ice cream,” he said, reaching out and digging his spoon in before I answered. I slapped the back of his hand with my spoon, laughing. Finally, laughing properly again.

“So, when do you think you’ll move out of your parent’s house?” It was weird thinking of Cole living on his own. He didn’t seem old enough, but he was twenty-two now.

“I’m actually looking at a couple of places next week. As soon as I find somewhere that’s not a shit hole, I’ll be out.”

I shook my head. “How are you going to survive on your own? Do you even know how to work a washing machine yet?” I teased.