Silence (15 page)

I woke up in the morning to Mia shaking my arm.

“What?” I mumbled in a grumpy tone.

She sighed and sat down on my bed. The dip made me roll a little.

“We need to talk about Chris, and how you treat him when he comes over, but I don’t like arguing.”

“I don’t like that dick cheating on you,” I shot back, raising my eyebrows. The light stung my tired eyes.
Can’t we do this later?

“Cole, please don’t. I love him.”

I rolled my eyes. That was a crappy reason to let someone walk all over you. “Would you cheat on him?”

“No! Of course I wouldn’t!”

“Why?”

“Because I love him,” she snapped, frowning at me angrily.

“There you go, Mia. You wouldn’t cheat on him because you love him. He cheats on you all the time. Just think about that for a minute.”

Seeing the tears in her eyes made me feel like the worst brother in the world, but she needed to hear it. She could do so much better than him.

“Look, I’m sorry, but you need to see the truth.”

She sniffled and wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. “And what if you were in my position? What if it was Oakley cheating on you?”

“Oakley would never do that.”

She lowered her head, knowing I was right. I would never have to worry about that. I trusted Oakley, and I knew she would never cheat. It didn’t pass me by that I had basically just admitted I was with Oakley, but Mia pretty much knew that anyway, Jasper too.

“I guess I’m just not strong enough. I can’t do it,” she whispered, defeated.

Chris-the-dick had done a real good job on her. She had no confidence and didn’t think she could get anyone else, so now he could just screw around and knew she would take him back.

“I’m trying. I just wish you would too, for my sake.”

She walked out and closed my door without another word. I sighed in frustration and lay back down.

After breakfast at Oakley’s, we drove to the mall to do some birthday shopping. She had received a lot of money from her family that she wanted to spend. Luckily, it was a Sunday so the shops wouldn’t be open too late. Hopefully, that would mean I wouldn’t get to that point where I would just rather die than step in another clothes shop. We also had to be back for cake at four o’clock.

By the time she had spent most of her money and we’d had lunch, it was two o’clock, and we were heading back to my house.
That wasn’t too bad.
Although, after her going back to the shop we started in, I did want to jump out of a second floor window!

My parents were out, and Mia was at Chris’ house so we would have the place to ourselves.

“You want a drink?” I asked her as we walked into the house. She shook her head and grabbed my hand, leading me upstairs.
Wow.

I laid her down on the bed and slowly peeled her clothes off, kissing her soft skin all over.

“I love you,” I whispered as I held her in my arms. She kissed my chest. We spent the next half an hour messing around and then got dressed to go back to her house for the cake.

“Oakley,” Mum called, and jumped off the sofa as we walked through her front door. I took a quick look around the room and was thankful that Mia hadn’t brought Chris-the-dick with her.

Max walked into the room, carrying a two-tier cake, covered in pink icing with Oakley’s name and the number sixteen piped onto it. He started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’, and everyone joined in. I smiled at the embarrassed blush on her face and started singing too. I was determined to enjoy tonight and give her a good birthday. On Tuesday, when we announced that we were together, things would undoubtedly get so much harder.

On Tuesday, I woke up to Oakley shaking my arm.

“Morning,” I mumbled, grabbing her hand and pulling her down on the bed with me. She smiled and laid her head on my chest. The smile wasn’t entirely genuine though – she seemed too tense, probably worrying about what we’d agreed to do today.

“It’s
gonna be alright, Oaks,” I said knowing I was getting a slap for calling her that. Her hand slammed down on my chest with a thud, though it didn’t hurt at all. I laughed and grabbed her hand.

She looked like she was going to fall asleep.

“Nice try,” I teased, gently nudging her.  She frowned and looked up at me. “If you fall asleep, you’re just putting off telling everyone.”

I tried not to laugh as she sighed and sat up, pouting.

“We should just get this over with. I’m gonna shower then we’ll tell them, okay?”

She nodded, biting on her bottom lip nervously. I got out of bed and kissed the top of her head.

“It’ll be fine, I promise.” I really hoped I could make it okay after telling her that, I didn’t ever want to let her down.

After taking the quickest shower I had ever had, I threw on some clothes, and we made our way downstairs. Her parents were over, drinking coffee and looking through pictures from the holiday. That was good, at least we could just tell them all at once.

“Hey guys, can we talk to you for a minute?” I said as Oakley and I sat down on the small sofa opposite them.

Jasper looked up from the floor where he was sitting and a huge grin spread across his face. Oh great.

“Why yes you can,” he said enthusiastically, throwing down the pictures he was holding. Well he obviously knew what was going on, and judging by Mia’s smirk, so did she. Why were both our parents so oblivious?

Sarah shook her head at Jasper, grinning slightly at his weirdness. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking away from Jasper.

Oakley visibly tensed beside me, and I took a deep breath.
Please take this well.

“Me and Oakley. We’re… We’re together,” I said, confidently
as  I could, and unashamed.

Everyone fell silent. Jasper gasped theatrically and slapped his hand over his mouth. He looked between his parents and then back at us.
Idiot.

“Would you believe it?” he said, shaking his head. I glared at him, which did nothing but make him laugh.

“And how long have you been together?” Sarah asked, looking at Oakley who was chewing on her lip. Max looked angry, and my parents looked happy. Well, that was two out of the four at least.

“Since the holiday,” I replied honestly.

Max stood up, his face hard and his eyes tight with anger. He looked like he was about to murder me.

“So it is true?” he spat through gritted teeth.

Oakley looked lost, and tears welled up in her eyes. She grabbed my hand squeezing tightly for support.

“No, it’s not. We are together, but nothing like that has happened,” I said smoothly, hoping they would believe the lie. Jasper raised his eyebrows.
Say something, Jasper, and I
swear you will lose your balls.

Max started pacing the room, deep in thought, obviously trying to figure out if he should believe me or not. “She’s fifteen!”

“Max, calm down. She’s sixteen now,” Mum said soothingly.

“Not when they first got together,” he growled. Oakley shrank back in the sofa, pressing the side of her body against mine.

Sarah knelt in front of Oakley.

“Are you sure this is what you want, honey?”

Oakley nodded at the same time I shouted, “What the hell does that mean? You think I’d take advantage of her or something?”

I actually felt sick that they would think that. I would die before I let anything happen to her.

My parents jumped in to defend me while Sarah tried calming everyone down. The room was buzzing with tension.

Max glared at me.

“You’re seventeen, Cole! What on earth do you want with her anyway? You know how she is!” he shouted, making everyone flinch.

I felt my blood boil; I wanted to punch him so badly. ‘How she is.’ What the hell was that supposed to mean? Oakley jumped up and ran. Damn it.

I turned to follow her, but my dad held me back.

“Let him go,” he said in my ear as Jasper ran after her. “You need to sort this out, Cole.”

“I didn’t take advantage of her,” I whispered to Dad.

“I know you didn’t, and deep down so does Max.”

He pulled me back around and I locked eyes with Max again. He still looked angry. Sarah was holding his arm, sobbing quietly.

I shook my head. “You know I would never hurt her.”

He took a deep breath and nodded.

“I know, but she’s not like other sixteen-year-old girls though, is she?”

There’s nothing wrong with her!

“Why her?”

That one was easy.

“I love her,” I answered simply. I wanted to be with her, and I wanted to make her happy. “She’s not a little girl any more. Just because she doesn’t speak that doesn’t mean she’s a child! There are plenty of mute people out there that have everything everyone else has,” I reasoned.

I was so angry. Angry at Max’s reaction and angry at myself for promising her it would be okay. Max laughed humourlessly and shook his head. Sarah let go of his arm and wiped away the tears that were falling freely down her cheeks.

“If you love her could you not wait until she’s got everything sorted out?” Sarah asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.

“Well,” she started, sitting down on the sofa. “I think maybe you should wait until we’ve sorted out her speech problem.”

“Sorted out her speech problem? When are you all gonna realise there’s nothing wrong with her not speaking! If she wants to talk, she will, but until then, back off!” I ranted, tensing my muscles so much they started to ache.

I was so pissed off with everyone thinking that she had to be fixed somehow. As if she was a broken doll that needed a spare part to make her whole again. Of course I would love her to speak, but if she never did then it wouldn’t change a thing in my eyes.

“And you say you love her!” Sarah scoffed, shaking her head at me.

“You know what? I think I might be the only one that does. You don’t see her how you used to, do you? She’s not your
perfect
daughter any more!”

Sarah started crying harder. “I love her.”

“That’s not what I asked, Sarah.” Her face suddenly fell, and she gasped. I spun around and saw Oakley standing by the door, looking at her Mum with the most heart-breaking expression. Tears poured down her cheeks.
No!
She’d had heard everything.

Sarah shook her head. “No, Honey...I…”

Oakley’s eyes flicked to me, and I made the few steps over to her, and wrapped my arms around her waist. She gripped my t-shirt and started pulling me backwards, trying to get out of the house. Jasper glared at his parents hatefully. This was such a huge mess, worse than I ever imagined. Everyone was crying and trying to tell Oakley that she had misunderstood, but she hadn’t, Sarah had left it too late to deny it.

She tugged my shirt harder, and I knew I needed to get her out. We should probably stay and talk so Sarah could explain, but Oakley clearly just needed to leave.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said over my shoulder as I slammed the door behind us. I led her to my car, and we got in quickly. I locked the doors. Sarah ran outside just in time to see us drive off.

Oakley’s body shook as she cried silently. Her feet were up on the seat and her head buried in her knees.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whispered, stroking her arm. What the hell had I done? “We’ll go to a hotel tonight, okay? We’ll sort all this out tomorrow. Everyone was upset and saying things they don’t mean.”

She didn’t look up or make any gesture to suggest she was even hearing what I was saying, but I didn’t stop. I had to make her feel better.

“What I said about your mum isn’t true. I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry, but they were talking about you not speaking, and I just kinda lost it. Oakley, it’s not true. Your parents love you the way you are.”

She sniffed and shook her head, placing her hands behind her neck, with her elbows drawn together in front of her chest.

“Sorry,” I said quietly, knowing she didn’t want to hear about it.

It was just after eleven in the morning when we arrived at a small B&B by the coast. We were allowed straight into our room, but since we had nothing with us, we decided to take a walk along the beach. My phone hadn’t stopped ringing since we left, so I turned it to silent after sending a text to Jasper.

She had barely looked at me, and I was starting to worry.

“Oakley, please,” I begged, stopping to turn her to face me. “Can you forgive me?”

I held my breath, absolutely terrified that she was going to shake her head. She looked at me confused and nodded.

I let out a sigh of relief and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you.”

She pressed her petite body against mine, and we held each other. The strong wind whipping up from the sea, stinging my skin. If I was cold, then she really would be.