The Best Thing for Me

by Lauren Jackson

  "Do you think Miranda does?" he asked, the look of concern not leaving his face for a second.

  "Yes. She said so on the phone."

  "But what if she has forgotten?"

  "Write her a damn letter!" I cried in exasperation.

  He frowned at me, not appreciating the outburst. I tried to remain calm, since he was letting me go at all but it was hard not to get frustrated with him.

  "Come on Dad, its one night."

  "Yeah and you're my baby girl. A lot can happen in one night."

  "Dad. I'm not silly. We're honestly just going to the movies and we'll just crash. In separate rooms. Miranda will be there."

  "Should I go in with you?"

  "Dad."

  He sighed, setting his mouth in a line. "I don't like this."

  "I know. You've made it clear. Can you please let me out of the car now?"

  He has put the locks on some auto-lock settings, meaning the driver side controller is the only one that can unlock the doors. I gave him a hard look.

  "Okay, okay."

  "Love you." I said, kissing his cheek.

  "Love you too," he said glumly, unlocking my door.

  I took my chance, fetching my bags and hauling them with me out the door. I gave him a quick wave before scuttling toward his front door. I knocked once before the door opened and I was swept inside. His lips smashed against mine. He then grabbed the bags out of my hands. I laughed at how ironic this was. I just spent the last ten minutes arguing with Dad that I would not get myself into any dangerous situations with Jason tonight. Not even two seconds in and we were passionately making out. I had turned into a compulsive liar.

  "Hey babe."

  Heat flooded to my cheeks as I stepped backwards, breathless. "Hi."

  "Why were you in the car so long?"

  "Dad locked me in."

  "Seriously?" he asked. The more he thought about it, the less surprised he seemed. “Actually, I can see that.”

  "Don't get me started."

  "Okay. Well are you ready? We should leave."

  "Yep."

  We dumped my stuff in his room and I glanced in the mirror before I ran back down the stairs. I chose to wear a pretty floral dress. It wasn't too tight, or too short. Jason adored it, so I thought I would show off in it a little. My hair fell in natural waves down my shoulders and I had make-up on. I felt done-up which was unusual for me, as sad as that is.

  "Did I mention you look beautiful?"

  I rolled my eyes. He was so cheesy, but I loved it.

  "Nope. I don't think you did."

  He grinned, opening the door for me.

  Miranda appeared. "Hi dear."

  "Hi!"

  She wrapped me in a quick hug. "How've you been?"

  "Good thanks and you?"

  "Not bad." she gave me a small smile. "You ready to go, then?"

  "Yeah Mum." Jason answered, locking the door behind him.

  "Okay, well I'll drop you guys off on my way. I'm going to have dinner with Jenn tonight. Are you okay walking home?"

  "Fine."

  "Excellent. Hop in."

  I loved how chatty and easy-going his Mum was. You wouldn't think so. She dressed so proper and her make-up and hair was always flawless. My first impression had definitely altered now. She was lovely, just like his sister. I would have said his whole family, but…

  We soon arrived and I thanked her before exiting the vehicle. I waved as she took off down the street.

  We bought our drinks, tickets and popcorn, settling in a back seat.

  "Do I need to do the yawn thing or can I just put my arm around you?"

  "Um." I said, tapping my chin, pretending to think. "I think you need to do the yawn."

  "Really?" he asked.

  "Yeah!" I grinned.

  He rolled his eyes but did an overly dramatic yawn, placing his arm around my shoulders. I giggled like a child, snuggling in to him. I slapped his hand away when he reached for the popcorn.

  "Hey, what gives?" he asked, grumpily, like a child. He reminded me faintly of Bart Simpson.

  "My tradition is to not eat the popcorn before the movie."

  "Seriously?"

  "Seriously."

  "Lame."

  "You’re lame."

  Before he could retort back, the ads began and I snuggled closer, happiness welling inside of me.

  Life was so perfect right now.

  "That was so good!" I exclaimed as we threw out empty drinks and popcorn into the bin and exited the cinema. His arm was still around me, and I had mine around his waist.

  "Wasn't too bad."

  "Too bad? It was amazing."

  He chuckled, ruffling up my hair. "You're so cute."

  "So are you."

  "I'm a man. I can't be cute."

  "You mustn't be too much of a man then, if you're cute."

  He bumped shoulder with me. I sucked in air, as pain shot through my ribs. I staggered to the side, my eyes burning with tears. I ducked my head, not wanting him to see.

  "Sorry!"

  "It's fine," I quickly said, not wanting to kill the light mood.

  He stopped, inspecting me over. “I’m so sorry, I forgot. Are you okay?”

  “Yes, fine.” I muttered, not wanting this to affect how good the night was going.

  My arm was still in the ugly cast, but it barely hurt anymore, so that was awesome. Eventually, I managed to convince him I was okay and we made our way back to his house.

  "You want first shower?"

  "You can."

  I sat on the floor, reading on of his surf magazines as he disappeared into his en suite. He returned shortly after, shaking his hair out.

  "Is that necessary?" I asked as water droplets landed on my bare legs.

  "Yes." he nodded seriously.

  He scooped my up bridal style, kissing me. Pain gnawed at my sides, but it wasn’t body-gripping like the pain earlier. My heart stopped. I had always wanted a moment like that. Kind of sucked that my body complaining at me ruined it a little.

  "Shower time for me." I said when the kiss began to get deeper.

  We were home alone.

  In his room.

  I don't know if I was ready for any of that stuff.

  You know what I'm talking about.

  I slipped into the shower, letting out a shaky breath. I shed my clothes and stepped into the shower cubicle, which was no joke, about triple the size of mine. Even the faucet was better. I let the warm water run over me, my aching body feeling better already.

  "Ah," I murmured, gelling shampoo into my hair. After that, I plucked a soft, white towel and wrapped in around my head. I then wrapped another around my body snuggly. I checked myself in the mirror.

  I could see a brown stick-like thing, embedded in the towel wrapped around me head. I squinted at it. I pulled it and my breath caught in my throat.

  The most hugest, biggest, massivestestest spider in my whole entire existence crawled out of it.

  I whipped the towel off my head so fast I kinked my neck and possibly pulled a muscle in my arm. (The uninjured one, go figure).

  My chest was rising and falling as my breath quickened. DEAR LORD. You're okay, you're okay, I repeated soothing in my head. It then surfaced, running at me. I screamed loudly, jumping over it and sprinting away. I slipped, hitting my head on the door frame. The door snapped open.

  "Emma?" he asked.

  "SPIDER!" I screamed, pushing past him, running through his room, down the corridor, tripping down the stairs and into the kitchen. I perched high onto one of the chairs, shaking in fright. I was almost crying - I was that afraid. I know it seems ridiculous to be reacting like this, but I had a legit arachnophobia. I was hyperventilating by the time Jason lazily skipped down the steps, as if nothing had happened.

  "It's gone."

  "Oh my God." I whimpered. "I have never been so scared in my life."

  He looked at me blankly. "It was just a spider."

  "It was massive!"r />
  He shrugged. "Won't hurt you."

  "I’m not giving it any chances!"

  He chuckled at me in amusement. He came over to me, lifting me down slowly. And painless, thank goodness.

  I wrapped my arms around him. "That was so traumatic."

  He rubbed my still-wet back. "It's okay babe."

  He entwined his fingers with mine as he pulled me up the stairs. I had my remaining hand keeping hold of my towel. Once in his room, I slipped into my shorts and singlet.

  "Can you put my towels back please? I just can't face the bathroom yet."

  He rolled his eyes. "Yes your Majesty."

  I frowned. Whilst he was busy obeying my commands, I sprawled out on his bed. He soon did the same, pulling me close to him. We started kissing again. We'd been doing that a lot. More than normal. As things were getting a bit heated, and a bit almost too far for me, I heard the door open and close down stairs.

  "Guys? I'm home."

  Jason groaned. "Of course."

  I smiled. I was actually glad of her timing. I'd had enough of what we were doing. It was great, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to take it slow. He pulled on a shirt as we knew she would come up here.

  "Upstairs," he called back.

  Soon, she came up. I sat up, curling my legs underneath me.

  "How was the movie?" she asked us, entering in. She looked extremely nice with an elegant black dress wrapped around her. Her mouse-brown hair was piled neatly on the top of her head. Her bright, red lipstick was still perfectly smeared despite her having just had a meal. I stared at her in envy. It made me wonder what I would look like at her age. Surely not like that.

  "Great!" I beamed, hoping my cheeks weren't too flustered from our recent physical activity. "It was so good!"

  "Not bad." Jason muttered, not wanting to admit he liked a romance movie.

  She smiled. "Well I'm very glad you had a nice time then."

  "Oh and you will not believe what happened before."

  "Don't!" I quickly said, horrified.

  How embarrassing!

  He laughed. "Should have seen her face..."

  25

  "What?" he asked through gritted teeth, his voice low.

  "Don't make me repeat it..." I whispered, tears brimming at my eyes. Suddenly, his fist connected with the wall beside my head, causing me to flinch away. He punched it again, swearing loudly. I glanced at it in horror, seeing a dent. My stomach clenched painfully in my stomach at the thought I was putting him through this pain.

  "WHY?" he yelled.

  I cringed, tears rapidly falling down my cheeks now.

  "Because I don't love you."

  TWO DAYS EARLIER.

  "It's now or never..." Michael Scofield, the main star and hottie from Prison Break whispered to me. I nodded back vigorously.

  "Let's do it."

  We scaled the walls of the prison, trying to find our escape. Just as one of the guards jumped out, my world shifted slightly. The words, 'I'm not afraid' could be heard. My eyes then registered on the all-too familiar surroundings of my room.

  I dragged myself into sitting position. Music blared at an unnecessarily loud rate, causing me to grumble groggily. I shuffled into my bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face and ran my fingers through my hair. I exited my room, seeing Luke working out. I went over and turned the music down, extremely irritated that he ruined my dream.

  He paused, turning around. Sweat was lathered across his fore head and on his neck. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. He just stared at me like I was an alien, clearly expecting me to talk first. Sure, no apologies or anything, that’s fine.

  "Um... you woke me up." I said bluntly. "And by the way, I was having a great dream about Prison Break."

  He shrugged nonchalantly, much to my annoyance. At least he was listening to Eminem and I quite enjoyed his music. If it had been one of his heavy metal bands I would have been even more annoyed. "The music has been going for about half an hour."

  "Really?" I asked in surprise. I must have been out cold. "Where's Dad?"

  "Out on a job."

  "Oh. Okay then."

  "Yeah. Now that we've settled that, can you turn my music back on?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Yes sir."

  After obeying his wishes, I made myself some vegemite toast and settled into watching a show on T.V. After washing up, re-brushing my teeth and throwing on some shorts and a loose top, Luke approached me again, by barging through my bathroom door rudely.

  "I need you."

  "Firstly, you should never barge into a bathroom, what if I was naked or something? Secondly, the words 'I need you' should never come out of your mouth towards me and thirdly, what do you need me for?" I commented, brushing my hair.

  "You lost me at firstly." he shrugged and I sighed in annoyance. "But, I need your help."

  "What help do you require?" I asked, trying to sound professional. I threw my hair into a high pony tail, impressed that it now, even with my natural waves, it rested in between my shoulder blades. The cast was coming off soon and didn't affect me much anymore, but it was still a difficult task doing my hair properly. It could still wipe people out though and if Britney keeps approaching me, I must just have to do it. I laughed at the thought, imagine me doing something like that.

  "Can you be my dummie?" he asked. I tuned back, pausing my thoughts and exciting images of me hitting Britney.

  I groaned. "You know this never works out."

  "Come on, the last time was like a year ago. You'd be better now."

  I looked at him hopefully. "Really?"

  "Nah probably not." he shrugged.

  I gave him a flat stare. "You're not really winning me over here."

  He sighed. "Can you just do it?"

  "On one condition.” I negotiated, a smirk dancing around my lips. “You make an effort with Jason."

  He stared at me with a blank expression. I folded my arms across my chest, waiting, not backing down.

  He sighed again, throwing his hand out at me. "Fine. Deal."

  "Glad to be doing business with you." I replied with a smug grin.

  He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Come on."

  I was just glad we were speaking. Most of the time we barely acknowledged each other’s presence. But when you talk about kick boxing, he was a completely different person. I trailed behind him wordlessly as we entered our lounge room. Well, it used to be; now all the lounges were moved and mats covered the floor making it look like his own personal arena.

  "Okay so I'm going to run at you and you need to either attack or dodge, yeah?"

  "Okay." I nodded.

  "At least stand in the fighting stance."

  "What's that?"

  He sighed. "Put one foot in front of the other. This is so if I swing a punch at you, you have options in order to avoid it. If your feet are together, you don't."

  I did as he said.

  "Good. Okay, ready?"

  "Born ready," I joked.

  He charged at me. I didn't even have time to blink before I was swung onto his shoulder and flipped. I was on my back, staring at the ceiling. My head spun from the rapid movement.

  "You didn't even try." Luke frowned.

  I was in shock. I couldn't move quite yet. My head was still back where I was standing a few seconds ago. Slowly I got over it, using him to pull myself up.

  "Just warming up." I said dryly.

  "Let's go again."

  The exact same thing happened. I met the mats back on at a painfully quick rate. The breath was knocked out of me, causing me to gasp breathlessly.

  "You're hopeless." Luke commented in exasperation.

  "Told ya."

  We ran through it a few times, I got away twice. I was pretty happy with that. The third time, not so lucky. I was dangling, my head an inch from the mat, my legs flying up in the air.

  "Er- Emma?" A voice asked.

  I peeked around from Luke's leg to see Jason standing there, a mixture of co
nfusion and amusement etched onto his face.

  "Oh hey!" I grinned, feeling blood rush to my head.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Practicing some Judo-Kick boxing thing."

  "More like I'm trying to practice, but this one is making it hard." Luke grunted moodily, clearly not impressed with my ‘skills’.

  "Hey," I protested. "I avoided you twice."

  "Out of the seven times."

  "I didn't realise you kick-boxed." Jason said in surprise, his eyes lighting up. "I used to a few years back."

  "Really?"

  "Um, sorry to interrupt this bromance, but Luke, could you put me down?" I interrupted, my cheeks turning hot from the blood rush.

  "What?" he asked. "Oh, right."

  He gently put me down and I staggered backwards a bit. I knew my face would be bright red from hanging upside down.

  "Yeah. I could help you practice a bit, if you wanted." Jason offered.

  "Sure."

  I smiled at them both as they began practicing. I grabbed a drink, before collapsing on the now pushed against the wall lounge. I watched them for a while, feeling embarrassingly tired from practicing. Not long after, Dad came home. He dumped some groceries in the kitchen before coming out to greet us.

  "Hey guys."

  "Hey Dad." I smiled up from my sprawl on the lounge.

  "Kick-boxing?"

  "Yeah," Jason and Luke both replied.

  "Are we still good for the movies?" Jason asked, perching beside me. I put my legs in his lap, much to my Dad’s displeasure. I rested my hand on the arm of the chair, with my eye closed.

  "Mhm. What are we seeing again?"

  "Red Dog."

  My eyes snapped open. "Uh, I'm not so good in animal movies."

  Speaking of animals, Charlie wandered out of my room looking a little disorientated. I glanced at him in amusement. It was pretty sad when your dog slept in later than you did.

  "Morning sleeping beauty," I rolled my eyes.

  What a good life.

  "You'll be fine," Jason reassured me. "I don't think it's that sad."

  "Hm. Okay, if you say so."

  After we had some lunch, Jason left, having to go home for something.