by A. K. Steel
“Maybe I will.”
“You finished in there? I want to get going,” Drew calls through my door.
“Yeah, be out in a sec.”
We stand back and admire ourselves in my full-length mirror. “We look good, Indie girl, let's go party.”
We walk up the three blocks from our house to the bar where we are meeting the others. Drew and Indie are chatting the whole time about Drew’s favourite subject, him surfing and how awesome he is at it. I tuned out a while ago. I’m so nervous about how tonight’s going to go. I haven’t talked to Blake since Monday, and Fraser and I have emailed back and forth, but it's just been purely professional about the townhouse project. I’m just hoping we can all have a fun night with no drama and maybe I can play matchmaker.
We walk into the bar and see the others already have a table. Drew nudges me in the arm. “Thanks, sis, for taking so long to get ready, the boys are already into it. I'm going to have to catch up.”
“I’m sure you’ll catch up in no time.” He takes off to join them, and I offer a little wave. I’m not ready to go over there yet. I need something to relax me. Everyone’s here—Theo, Fiona, Blake, and Fraser. Fraser has some blonde sitting on his lap. Nice, after the talk I got when I dropped into his office the other day, about hanging out with Blake. Looks like it's going to be just like old times. Fraser with his double standards, sleeping with everything that moves, and me a slut for going out for lunch with someone.
“Drink first,” I grab Indie’s arm and I head straight to the bar.
“Two beers, please.” I’m going to try not to get drunk tonight. I don’t want to make a complete fool of myself again in front of Blake.
“What’s going on, Elly?” Indie asks, looking confused.
“Nothing, it's just all got a little complicated already.”
“Ah, okay. Are we right to head over now?”
“Yeah, okay. You’ve got to meet Blake properly. He’s such a nice guy. I reckon you guys will hit it off.”
“Oh, he’s the builder you were with on Sunday at the café, right?”
“Yeah, don't play dumb with me, you know who he is.”
“Is something going on between you two?” she asks.
I shrug. “Nope, we’re just friends."
We walk our way through the crowded room, over to the others and say hi. Pulling up seats down the end of the table where Theo and Fiona are sitting.
“This is my sister-in-law, Fiona, and you remember Theo.” I gesture to them both.
“Hey, girls, drink up so we can dance. I want to go for a dance while I still can!” Fiona says, patting her belly.
I hate dancing, but sitting at this table feels so awkward, too many boys. I’ll gladly get up and dance to avoid the weirdness. The boys appear to be deep in conversation, laughing and listening to some story Drew is telling. Blake won't make eye contact with me at all, and Fraser has been giving me a filthy look since I walked in. I don’t know what his problem is, he's the one with some chick on his lap.
“How do you girls know each other?” asks Fiona.
“We went to school together,” Indie replies with a little smile. I forgot how shy she is around new people.
“And Indie has just got me a job at the café she's working at.”
“It's not my full-time job, I’m an artist. It's just hard to get enough work to pay all the bills, so for now, I have to work at the café too.” We finish up our drinks. “What do you do, Fiona?”
“I’m Theo’s partner, we met at work.”
“Wow, working as a police officer must be crazy,” adds Indie.
“Yeah, most of the time it's pretty uneventful, just filing reports, it's not a big deal.”
“Aren’t you scared now because of the baby, though?” I ask.
“You sound like your brother. He wants me to go on leave now. He thinks it's too dangerous for me to be working.”
“Don’t you think he’s right?” I ask, as she rolls her eyes at me.
“Not you too! He’s just being overprotective, you know how he is. I’ve been doing this job for long enough to know I’ll be fine.”
“Fair enough. You shouldn’t have to give up your job just so you can have a baby. I get it.”
“Come on, girls, you finished your drinks, let's dance.” Indie looks scared. She's not much of a dancer either. Fiona grabs our hands and drags us to the dance floor, so it looks like we have no choice.
“Come on, Indie. We have to get out there if we're going to fuck our exes out of our systems.” She just gives me a little shrug.
“How are you so perky, Fiona? I thought pregnant people were supposed to be all tired and boring,” I laugh as she drags us through the crowd. As we get closer, the music gets louder. Maybe a dance is just what I need.
Fraser
I see her as soon as she walks through the door. She's fucking gorgeous as always in a leopard-print skirt and a black singlet, with her tits on full display. Why does she have to wear such sexy clothes? She's killing me already. It pisses me off, she must know it's going to attract the wrong type of attention.
Blake is sitting next to me and looks over to them as well. We had a little chat this week. Apparently, what she said is true and they are just friends, nothing else. He has his eye on someone else and I have to believe him. She and her friend head straight for the bar. She hasn’t changed a bit. She’ll need me to walk her home by the end of the night. She'll be blind drunk.
Sophie’s pissing me off tonight too. I don’t even know why I brought her. Why she insists on sitting on my lap like a little kid, I have no idea.
“Hey, man. So good to see you.” I reach over Sophie and shake Drew's hand. “You remember Blake, my flatmate from Newcastle, and this is Sophie.”
“Yeah, mate, how are you? I hear you're the builder working on my parents’ place. It should be a good project for you guys, hey?”
“Yeah, your dad’s a great guy. It'll be nice to bring his grand plans to life.”
“I’ll get the next round. What you drinking, Drew?” Theo announces.
“Whatever you are, bro.” Theo heads for the bar then returns shortly with a tray of beers. I don’t know how he’s getting served so quickly, no one else is. Must be one of the perks of being a cop in this town.
The girls walk back from the bar and sit down at the other end of the table, giggling and chatting. “Drew, who’s Elly’s friend?” I ask.
“It's Indie, you know, from high school. She looks different, hey, fucking hot! I had to do a double-take when she turned up on the doorstep tonight.”
“Yeah, I had no idea that's who it was! Wow.”
“Too bad I can't go there, since she’s Elly’s friend. You know, the pact,” he says.
“Yeah, that's right, the pact! I’m sure you’ll have found someone else to go home with by the end of the night.”
“I’m counting on it.”
The girls head for the dance floor and it's hard to see Elly from where I’m sitting. I don’t know why I care, but I want to know what she's up to. Having her in the same town again is messing with my head.
“Hey, Soph, why don't you go dance with the other girls?”
“No, thanks, they look like total bitches!”
“You don’t even know them.” Man, she's pissing me off. I need to get her off my lap.
“I’m going to take a piss.” That should work, that way I can see what the girls are doing on my way.
“Oh, all right, hurry back,” she whines with a pout. Then pulls out her phone to scroll through. She’ll be fine for a while, she's attached to that thing.
I walk through the crowded room. It's really busy here tonight. I have to push through people to get closer to the toilets. When I get through the crowd, I can see the girls on the dance floor. Elly’s dancing around with her eyes closed. She’s totally unco. I think back and I’m not sure I’ve seen her dance before, now I know why. I laugh to myself. She still looks sexy as fuck, though; I’m
in big trouble.
I walk out of the toilet and look for her immediately, where is she now? She's dancing with some guy. Who is that? What the fuck, I was only gone for a minute. I can feel my heart starting to beat faster and I crack my knuckles to try and ease the tension I’m suddenly feeling. Two guys have started dancing with her and Indie. One is all over Indie, and the other’s looking at Elly like he wants to eat her. He better just keep his hands to himself. If he lays a finger on her, he’s not walking out of here without a black eye. I slowly make my way back to the table.
“You all right, mate? You look pissed,” Blake asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I nearly bite his head off. Cracking my knuckles in my hand again, I pull up a seat where I can keep an eye on her. Sophie’s back trying to sit on me. I just shake my head and pull up a seat for her next to me.
“Drew, can you see this shit?”
“What?” He turns to look in the direction I'm looking.
“Your sister!” I point to Elly on the dance floor.
“She's a big girl, Fraser, I’m sure she can look after herself,” he grumbles, irritated with me.
“What’s your problem tonight? You’re being a dick!” Sophie yells at me.
“You don’t have to stay,” I tell her.
“Whoa, are you serious? I came out tonight with you and your friends because I thought that’s what you wanted. You have been short and distant all night, what’s...” as she’s talking my head off, I see the bastard wrap his arms around Elly and start grinding up against her from behind. That's it, I’ve had enough of this shit. She may have no respect for herself, but I’m not sitting here and watching this. Why aren’t her brothers stopping her? I push my chair back and stalk towards the dance floor.
Drew calls out to me over the crowd. “Where are you going, man? She's not going to like you getting involved.”
But it's too late. I make it to where they're dancing, and she looks up to me with fear in her eyes. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” I yell.
“Dancing, Fraser, you should try it, it’s quite fun.” She laughs nervously.
“I think you're done, you're making a fool of yourself.” I grab her arm to pull her off the dance floor.
“Go back to your little girlfriend, Fraser, you're not needed here.” Now I’m pissed off. Not needed here!
“Hey, buddy, the lady says to leave her alone, you need to back off,” says the smug dick dancing with her.
“You’re the one that needs to back the fuck off, buddy. She's coming with me,” I snap.
Blake’s by my side. He's always got my back, and he looks pissed too. “Come on, girls, why don't you come and have another drink with us," he adds, trying to defuse the situation before it escalates.
"Nah, we’re having fun, Blake," says Indie.
Blake's got his serious dad face on and stands in between me and the girls. "Come on, Fraser, let's just leave them to it, they’re clearly happy dancing."
“I don’t care, this fucker thinks he can touch her like that,” I mutter to him angrily. Pushing past him.
“Who are you calling a fucker? You really should listen to your friend and sit down before I knock you down.”
I can feel Blake’s hand on my arm trying to pull me back and Elly is pushing me away. Then the fucker puts his arm around Elly, licking his lips. Taunting me. That's it, he’s gone. I pull out of Blake’s grip and push Elly out of the way before my fist connects with his face. His mate jumps in and thumps me in the jaw, then Blake grabs him, holding him back. The fucker gets up.
“Come on, man, these chicks aren’t worth it.” They take off before the bouncers step in.
“You four, out,” we hear someone yell, as a middle-aged, overweight man wearing a security uniform comes into view. Is he for real?
“What? We didn’t do anything, sir. It was all him,” Elly shouts, glaring at me. She's pissed.
“I saw what happened. You were a part of it, miss, you're all out,” he barks, pointing to the door.
She throws me a filthy look and Indie takes her hand, pulling her outside. We follow the girls out with the bouncer close behind us. Drew sees us and catches up before we make it to the door.
“Our bags, Drew,” Elly calls to him.
“I'll go grab them. Be back in a second,” he yells back, running back inside.
Once we’re outside, Elly turns on me, pushing me up against the wall, hitting my chest. “You fucking arsehole. Why did you do that! We were having a good time! What’s your fucking problem?” She's fuming mad. Her eyes bore through me with anger.
“You! You're my problem. You always have been.” I grab her wrist to get her to stop her lashing out at me.
“What? I didn’t do anything.” She's struggling to get out of my grip but that's not going to happen. If we're both going to live in the same town again, she needs to listen to me. Cause I can't do it again, watch every fucker around going for her. I can't just stand back and watch this time.
“You're out here dressed like this, you're looking for trouble.”
“No, Fraser, this is just what all girls wear when they go out. Take a look around. Even your girlfriend is in something much skimpier than me, and I bet you thought that was hot. You don’t get to do this to me again!” she yells in my face, she's so mad.
“Do what?” The way she's looking at me in such close proximity, I just want my lips on hers. No other guy should be able to put his hands on her. I should be able to protect her. The world should know she's mine and always has been.
Drew arrives outside with the girls’ bags, Theo and Fiona following close behind him. I drop Elly’s arms as she takes a step back.
“You need to grow up, Fraser, and realise I’m not yours to protect,” she whispers angrily, as she walks to her brothers. “Thanks, Drew. I’m so sorry to ruin your night out.”
“It's all good, sis. It's not ruined, just added a bit of excitement. Let's go somewhere else and continue. Sophie’s gone, though, mate. She took off while you were fighting,” Drew calls.
But I don't care. Sophie doesn't mean anything to me, and she knows that, that's why she took off. It's Elly that has my stomach in knots every time I see her. She fucking drives me crazy and I don't even know why. We can't get through a conversion without ripping each other's heads off. “I’m done for tonight. Sorry, Drew. I’ll catch you tomorrow.” I can’t be around her anymore tonight.
Chapter Six
Elena
Mum is running around like a mad chook trying to get ready for the party and has sent Fiona and me out for flowers. She said the house isn’t ready for a party until there are fresh flowers throughout the house, and we're glad to get out of there.
We walk through the door of our local florist and I’m immediately hit with the beautiful fragrance of fresh flowers wafting through the air. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in a flower shop before. This place is like a tropical rainforest with plants hanging in pots from the ceiling, stunning orchids cascading from vases, and roses as big as my hand. “I could stay in here all day, couldn’t you?” I say to Fi.
“It smells amazing, hey. What are we supposed to get?” she asks.
I shrug. “I have no idea about flowers. I thought you were listening to Mum's requests.”
“She said something about fresh eucalyptus. That’s all I remember, Elly.”
“Ooh, I love these. They're so fluffy. We have to get some of these.” They look so cool I want to feel them, and as I reach out to touch it a voice calls from behind me, “Chrysanthemums,” making me jump and turn to see a lady behind the counter. I didn’t even see her there. The florist would be in her late 40’s with long dark hair running down her back and a T-shirt that reads ‘I’m a florist. I’m used to dealing with pricks.’ She’s staring at us from her place behind the counter where she’s stripping roses. She doesn’t look impressed that we have interrupted her work.
“Can you help us, please? We have no idea what we're doi
ng here,” I ask.
“That’s kind of obvious. Of course I can help. What do you need?” She fakes a smile.
“We have been sent by Mum for flowers to make the house fresh for a party. Maybe a couple of big bunches.”
“Including some eucalyptus, please,” Fiona adds, luckily. I nearly forgot that bit.
“Do you have vases to put them in?” the florist asks.
We look at each other and shrug. “I’m sure she would. She often has flowers in the house.”
“Okay then. I’ll make them up now. Come back in about ten minutes and they will be ready to take home,” she says with a flick of her hand, dismissing us.
“Okay, thanks.” She was kind of rude or maybe she was just annoyed we had no idea.
We wander up the street and Fi stops when she sees a baby shop. “Can we go in? I haven’t bought anything for the baby yet. I’ve been too scared to.”
“Of course, let's have a look. Theo is so excited, hey. He’s such a big kid himself. I feel sorry for you. You’ll have two children to look after.”
“He is excited! He's started acting really overprotective of me, though. I was glad to have a little space from him today.”
“You have to get this. It's so cute.” I hold up a little cream onesie with rainbows all over it.
“We don’t know what we're having yet. It's too hard to buy clothes until we do.”
“Yeah, true. When do you find out?”
“At week 20, so, like, six more weeks.”
“I’m pretty sure it's a girl.” I smile, I can see it already. I'm going to spoil my little niece.
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling. You’ve got to get something.”
She picks up a cute bunny rattle. “Maybe this little rattle. It's so tiny and cute,” she says in a cutesy baby voice.
“Yes, I’ll get it for you as your first present.” I grab it from her and walk up to the cash register. “We’ll have this one, please.”