The Beauty in Between: Too Close (A Beautiful Series Novella) (8 page)

“Really? That’s
like an eye specialist right?”

“Yeah, and
don’t laugh. I’m sure it would be very interesting.”

I held up my
hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I’m not saying anything.”

“Good. Just be
nice to him ok?”

“I will be, why
would I be anything else?”

“Um, you beat
up my last boyfriend.”

“Well, he was
talking smack about you. I’m sure Ethan won’t do that. He seems
like a good-guy Trina. I’m happy for you.” With that I got up and
kissed her cheek goodbye, wanting to go back home and think through
everything that had just happened.

I can’t believe
that I was stupid enough to let her get away, and now that I’d
realised it. It was too late.

***

Christmas came
and went. We were still on school holidays until the beginning of
February, so I divided my time between taking the driving lessons
my mother had gotten me for Christmas and visiting with Trina…and
Ethan.

They were
becoming inseparable and I could tell by the way Trina looked at
him that she was getting ready to call what they had the ‘L’ word.
He’d even gotten her interested in triathlons, and together they’d
joined the local club and started training.

It fucking hurt
seeing her like that with someone else, especially since the bangle
I bought her suddenly vanished from her wrist and was replaced with
silver chain bracelet that had come from Ethan. I wanted so much to
be an arsehole to him because of it, but he was a decent guy, and I
had to accept that it was hard for him to have me around.

He actually
asked me to hang out with them himself a few times and did his best
to be really cool about me and Trina being so close. He even tried
not to seem annoyed when he showed up to Trina’s house, and I was
already there. I could tell he didn’t like that his girlfriend had
a guy for a best friend, but he still made an effort. I couldn’t
dislike him if I tried.

As per usual, I
spilled my guts to my mum. Admitting to her that I had started to
see Katrina as more than just a friend, but it was too late. She’d
moved on.

“Well David,
you could always just tell her how you feel.”

“Mum, that’s so
not an option right now. She’s with Ethan, and she’s happy. Plus, I
don’t know – I want to be with her, but I’m still scared I’ll stuff
it up.”

“Then I guess
you have to decide whether you can be the guy on the outside of her
relationship, waiting for it to end. Or whether you just move on
yourself. You’re young David. You have your whole life ahead of you
and if you’re a good friend, then some way or another, Katrina is
going to be a part of it.”

The more my mum
and I talked the more I realised that now wasn’t the right time for
me and Trina, and it was unfair for me to keep being the third
wheel in her and Ethan’s relationship.

We even spoke
about all the events of the past year, and I realised that half the
shit that happened could have been avoided if I wasn’t behaving
like a little kid and acting out because I was jealous while she
was dating Ben, and he had most of her attention.

My mother
helped me see that I only seemed to want Katrina when she was
dating someone else. I was lucky Ethan played it cool when I was
around because most guys would hate it and show it. If I didn’t
learn to back off a little, then eventually, my behaviour would
drive Katrina away from me.

She told me
that if I wanted to keep Katrina in my life, then I was going to
have to become the friend she deserved. I was going to have to
spend time with other people and stop putting myself around
Katrina’s relationship so much.

“I’m not saying
that you have to stop seeing her. I’m just saying that maybe you
should give her the chance to come to you occasionally.”

“What if she
doesn’t?” I asked, suddenly really worried.

“She will
David. I guarantee it.”

February came
quickly, and with it, the start of the school year, as well as my
birthday. I’m one of the rare people who was born on the 29th of
the month, so for a long time we have just celebrated my birthday
on the last day of the month, and we’d have a party every leap year
for my actual birth date.

We were
currently in a leap year and after all the drama I’d been through
at school, the last thing I wanted was to invite them all to a
party. All I wanted, was the day off school, so I could go and get
my license.

A few people
remembered that there should have been a party and asked me about
it, but most of them didn’t give a shit. I’d given up my friends
the day I beat Ben up, and I didn’t even really care about the new
group I had started to hang out with anymore.

We were in our
final two years of school, and all I could think about was a way to
get out of Western Sydney and away from these people. Some of the
top-ranked students were invited to the Sydney University campus in
Redfern to have a look around and see if it was somewhere we’d like
to attend.

Along with UTS,
it was the best university in Sydney, and I was in awe being there.
Katrina had been invited along as well, but she wasn’t as excited
about it as I was.

Ethan didn’t
make it into university and was doing a TAFE, which stands for
Tertiary and Further Education, course instead. It was a place you
could go to when you didn’t qualify for university to do a course
that would help further your career options. Some people used it as
a stepping stone to get into University, while others went there to
learn a trade or skill.

He was still
interested in optometry, but now he was studying to be the
technician who makes the glasses instead of the actual optometrist.
So being Katrina, she thought long-term and was thinking of going
to the UWS as it was closer to home and closer to him.

“You can catch
the train here and still live at home you know,” I told her.

“No thanks,
there is no way I am sitting in a train for an hour each way every
day,” she commented.

I shrugged off
her comment, grabbed her hand and dragged her around the campus one
more time while I talked her ear off about how great it would be
once high school was over.

“You really
want high school over?” she asked.

“Yeah. Don’t
you?”

“No. Because I
won’t get to see you every day anymore,” she pouted.

“You’ll have
Ethan. You'll be fine,” I told her, wrapping my arm around her
shoulders as we walked slowly toward the café for something to
eat.

“I love Ethan,
but he’s my boyfriend. He’s not my best friend – he’s not you. I
still need you, you know. I’ll always need you.”

I pulled her
into a big hug. Hearing her say that was music to my ears. I needed
her as well. I just couldn’t figure out how I needed her.

“We’ll still be
friends Trina. There’s weekends and uni holidays. I live around the
corner for crying out loud. You’re acting like when high school is
over that I’m going to move across to the other side of the
country.”

I loosened my
arms, so she could step away from me, and I could see her face. She
had her lips pressed together in a smile, and she wiped at her eyes
while trying not to meet mine.

“Hey? Why are
you getting upset?” I asked, furrowing my brow in concern as I
peered into her face.

Shaking her
head, she dropped her eyes. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just
worried. You hardly come over anymore. I’m worried that once high
school is finished, and you aren’t forced to spend time with me,
then our friendship could be over.”

“Are you
serious? Trina, I was trying to do the right thing and stay out of
your and Ethan’s way. I’ve been trying to give you space for your
relationship. I get to see you all the time at school and Ethan
only gets you when you’re training together and on the weekends.
I’m trying to be fair.”

“Fair? Going
from visiting me all the time to only seeing me because of school,
feels like you don’t want to be around me anymore. I miss you. I
miss spending time with you.”

“I’m sorry. I
wasn’t trying to upset you. I thought I was doing the right
thing.”

“Well you
weren’t. I want you around me.”

“Ok, I’ll start
coming around more often.”

For the next
year, I was the continual third wheel in Katrina and Ethan’s
relationship. It helped that he was someone I got along with
easily, but I could tell he didn’t really want me there.
Occasionally, Trina’s brother, Tom, hung out with us as well, so it
wasn’t always just me.

It was an
alright existence, when we all went to parties together, I tended
to hook up with some random girl from another school. I was never
going to make the mistake of making out with a girl from my school
again. Not after what happened with Cassie, that kind of shit
follows you around forever – people still talk about it.

Everything was
going fine in my life until the next Christmas. I had been using my
mum’s car because we didn’t have a spare. I wanted to get a job and
save up for one myself, but my mum insisted that I focus on
school.

I had been over
at Trina’s house watching movies with everyone all day and when I
came home, there was another car parked in our driveway. It looked
fairly new, and I quickened my pace to find out who was
visiting.

When I walked
in the door, I could only find my mother in the laundry, doing the
things that mums tend to do.

“Who’s here?” I
asked her straight away.

“Well, hello to
you too.”

“Sorry mum –
Hi. Who’s car is outside?”

“Yours.”

“Are you
serious?”

“I sure
am.”

“Mum! Please
don’t take this the wrong way, but how did you get the money for a
car like that? I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but if you’re in
debt for it, I’d rather you took it back and just got me an old
bomb.”

She smiled
gently at me. “You’re very sweet to worry about the cost David. But
I assure you. I am not in debt one bit. It’s all yours, and it’s
all paid for.”

“But mum? It’s
too much.”

“No. It’s
exactly what you deserve,” she said, touching me lightly on my
cheek. “Now go and take it for a spin.”

I stood there
for a moment, not sure if this was really happening. Was that car
seriously mine?

“Go! The keys
are on the bench top.”

All of a
sudden, I sprang into action, went and grabbed my keys and just
about bounded out the door.

Running my
hands over the dark-blue paint job, I walked around the car to
check it out properly, while my mum stood in the doorway, watching
me happily.

As I slid
inside, it still looked and smelled new. I practically sunk into
the leather seats as I sat back, taking in my surroundings.

“Start her up!”
my mother yelled, beaming at me.

Placing the key
in the ignition, I turned it, my chest vibrating when the V8 engine
grunted to life.

I couldn’t stop
the smile from taking over my face. This was the most amazing thing
I had ever been given. Immediately, I reversed out of the driveway
and headed to Katrina’s house. She was the first person I wanted to
take for a drive.

I pulled up to
the front of the house and tooted the horn to get their attention.
I saw the curtain in the lounge room pull to the side and Tom’s
face poke through. Straight after that, the front door opened and
out filed Tom, Katrina and Ethan.

“Nice ride
mate,” Ethan said as they all looked over the car.

“You going to
take us for a spin?” Tom asked, not waiting for my answer as he
slid into the front passenger seat.

“Sure, hop in,”
I laughed.

“It really is a
nice car David. Is this your Christmas gift from your mum?” asked
Katrina as she slid into the backseat with Ethan.

“I guess so, it
was waiting for me when I got home this afternoon.”

We went driving
for maybe an hour, talking and listening to music. It felt great to
have the freedom of my own car, and I was on a high for the rest of
the afternoon.

When I got
home, my mum used her phone and took some pictures of me with it.
It seemed so strange to be enamoured over a tonne of metal, but I
smiled proudly. I loved that car.

At maybe one
o’clock in the morning, I was woken up by a loud banging on the
front door. I could hear my mother get up and answer it, and I sat
up to listen and make sure everything was alright.

“You gave the
kid that car?!” the early-morning visitor yelled at my mother.

“Yes, I did.
You gave it to me, and I gave it to him. I thought you’d be fine
with it.”

“He’s a
seventeen-year old kid. Give him your old car.”

“God, I should
have known you’d react like this. I never should have sent you that
picture. Can’t you just be happy for your son?”

“No I can’t.
Tell him can’t have the car.”

“You lost the
right to tell me what to do when you walked out of here. Go home.
You’re drunk.”

“You’re an
ungrateful bitch, and you’ve raised an ungrateful bastard of a son.
I never should have given it to you. I’ll go home, and I’ll take
the fucking car with me. I’m the one who won it. I’m the one who
gets to say who drives it!” he slurred.

“This is a
joke. You're not touching the car. The least you can do after
deserting your son is to let him have it. It’s the first bit of
‘assistance’ you’ve given us in three years. Stop trying to cause
trouble.”

“The car’s
still in my name. I can take it if I want.”

“What happened
Dan? Is your winning streak over and you’re not feeling so generous
anymore?”

I stood up and
listened at the door, their voices becoming too low for me to hear.
I ventured out of my room to make sure everything was alright.