‘Are you okay?’ I frown, worry seeping into my voice.
He sees my expression and tries for an easy smile. ‘Ah, the tumble was just a bit more painful than I originally thought, its nothing. Sorry our road trip got cut short.’
I snort. ‘To be fair, it wasn’t that much of a road trip, just a day at the beach and a lot of driving, but it was great. I really appreciate it.’ We smile at each other and fall into comfortable silence.
The drive is a good couple of hours and we both drift in and out of sleep, me resting against Jay since my only other option is the beefy mechanic. I wake up again when Jay prods my arm and I blink a few times in order to regain a sense of my surroundings. We’re back in town, but not the part I’m used to.
This street is dotted with fancy houses, the rich side of town, holding at least five bedrooms per house. My mouth gapes open.
‘This is where you live?’ I gasp. Jay grins.
‘Yep, problem?’
Silently, I shake my head as we pass. These are the sorts of houses with columns in front of the doors and white picket fences and fancy plants climbing up the brick walls.
I don’t fit in here, what with my bright red hair and converse. Not to mention that we look a complete state, given that the mud had now dried, coating our skin and clothes like clay.
‘So you’re like… rich?’ I raise an eyebrow.
‘Sort of,’ Jay says sheepishly. ‘You look worried.’
‘Of course I’m worried, I’m meeting your parents like this,’ I murmur, pulling on a piece of messy hair to make my point. Jay rolls his eyes.
‘Relax, they’re cool okay?’ he laughs. ‘They’ll love you.’
I make a face, which he continues chuckling at, my insides going squishy. To make matters worse, the tow truck pulls up at the biggest house on the end of the street. We come to a stop but I stay glued to my seat.
Jay gets out and stands by the open door.
‘Red, you’re gunna have to get out of the truck at some point,’ he says with amusement.
‘Nope, I’m gunna stay right here,’ I decide. Or rather I would have if Jay hadn’t literally dragged me out of my seat. He hands me my bag and coaxes me up the driveway after waving goodbye to the mechanic.
‘Mum’s been after this house for ages,’ Jay informs me. ‘You wouldn’t believe how happy she was when she found out it was on the market.’
‘She’s been to this town before then?’
‘We all have, to visit my aunt and uncle on occasions.’ He rings the doorbell and I start quivering in my shoes. What on earth would his parents think of me? I bet they have a butler too.
The heavy door opens and a petite, brown haired woman with a friendly smile stands behind it. She looks with amusement between the two of us.
‘Harold, the homeless have come looking for shelter again,’ she shouts upstairs, leaving the door open and ushering us both inside. So no butler then.
‘Harold, you lent me a dodgy car again,’ Jay shouts up mockingly, dumping his bag on the ground. ‘Nice to see you too, Mum.’
I step inside, gawking around the space I’m in. The floors are a light wooden colour with a grand staircase directly in front of me. To the left are two closed doors but the right side of the ground floor has been opened up into one large space, wooden support beams dotted around the room. A large fireplace sits at the back of the room, embers burning away and giving the place a homey feel.
One wall has been replaced by floor-length windows that let plenty of light grace the room, and since they don’t have neighbours on that side, the view extends to a small wooded area.
‘Oh sweetie, you know I love you,’ his mum smiles, giving him a peck on the cheek despite the mud. ‘What on earth happened?’
‘The countryside happened,’ Jay replies dryly. ‘Mum, this is Neve.’
His Mum’s face lights up and her eyes finally land on me.
‘It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, we’ve heard so much about you,’ she reveals excitedly, engulfing me in a surprise hug. I raise an eyebrow at Jay at the comment and this time he’s the one to turn red.
‘Jay, Dad wants to know how you broke the car and when you’re going to buy him a new one?’ A male voice belonging to a guy just a bit older than Jay bounds down the stairs. He stops at the bottom, looking at me and then smirking. ‘I see the mysterious red-haired girl finally has a face. You were right bro, she is cute-’
His face looks familiar, but I can’t seem to place it.
‘You said Dad wanted to see me?’ Jay cuts him off a little too loudly, slapping his brother’s back and forcing him back upstairs.
‘Its times like this I wish had three girls,’ Jay’s mum smiles and shakes her head. Then she turns back to me and holds out a dainty hand. ‘I’m Joy.’
‘Neve,’ I reply, shaking her hand back.
‘Well Neve, it seems you’ve had quite the adventure,’ Joy laughs. ‘If you like, you’re perfectly welcome to use our bathroom to clean up a bit. I’m afraid we don’t have any of my daughter’s clothes lying around but I’m sure Jay can lend you something.’
‘Oh no, I couldn’t,’ I smile thankfully. ‘In fact I should probably be getting back to Charlie anyway.’
‘It’s no trouble, honest,’ she replies earnestly. I bite my lip and look around me for a moment. It would be interesting to find out a bit more about Jay, and Charlie will probably flip if he sees me looking like this.
‘That would be great, thanks,’ I say at last. Joy nods contently before heading off.
‘The bathroom is just upstairs on the left and I’m just about to put on some dinner, you’re welcome to join us.’
‘Thank you,’ is all I can think to say. I creep quietly up the stairs, although the muffled sound of the two brothers arguing has me halting in my tracks. They’ve hidden in one room, the door slightly ajar and are talking in soft voices.
‘Have you told her yet?’ Jay’s brother asks, slight annoyance in his voice.
‘No, you know I can’t,’ Jay replies, his voice slightly strained. His brother says something muffled, so low that I can’t hear. Jay sighs heavily.
‘I know, I know. I’ll talk to Mum about it later. I hate this. I hate what this is doing to her,’ Jay mutters angrily.
‘I know, man. I know.’
Knowing it’s probably family stuff, possibly even to do with his aunt’s cancer, I quickly back away from the door and leave them to it. Hell, it’s not like I want to be caught eavesdropping in my new stranger’s house either.
CHAPTER 8
The Ellsworth’s shower is just as grand as the rest of the house and fires steamy, hot water at me from four different angles. Revelling in cleanliness as I wash the mud and grime from my body, I exit the shower and scavenge around for my leggings from yesterday.
Someone has also left out a jacket, presumably Jay’s, so I chuck that over my vest top and tie my wet hair up into a ponytail before emerging again. Not really sure where to go, I head back down the steps and find Jay and his brother lounging on the sofas in the large living room I had noticed when I first entered.
‘Hey, Red. Ted or The Exorcist?’ Jay asks, holding up two DVD’s. He has changed his clothes and his hair is also damp, which means that as well as many rooms, they also have many bathrooms. He probably has his own personal ensuite, the rich bugger.
Jay has a sort of pleading look in his eye, reminding me just how much he hates horror films, and lifts the Ted DVD that little bit higher.
‘Ted,’ I say, nonchalantly. Jay’s shoulders relax slightly in relief. ‘Besides, I’ve already seen The Exorcist. Only a child would be scared by it.’ Jay sends daggers my way.
Jay’s brother grins. His face is still bothering me; I’ve racked my brain but can’t put a name to it.
‘Red, this is Blake,’ Jay says in a huff, setting up the DVD player. Blake Ellsworth.
‘Yep, we’ve met before,’ Blake confirms, leaning back comfortably in his seat. Bla
ke is a year older than Jay, if I had been listening properly, and on his gap year. I half wonder why he’d spend his gap year just hanging around at home but decide that to delve into the mind of a boy would be a place of no return.
Although Blake has Jay’s green eyes, his hair is a few shades darker, albeit cropped in a similar style, and has a faint line of dark stubble decorating his chin. Blake is also a fair bit taller than Jay and more toned. He probably spends most of his spare time at the gym.
Blake winks and I groan, finally placing him as the stranger who had intercepted Martin and his gang of ghouls the other night. Typical that I would meet both of the Ellsworth boy’s in situations they had to pull me out of.
‘You have?’ Jay asks, confused.
‘The other night during my run in with Martin, the one I called you about. He got them to back off.’
Jay looks angrily at Blake. ‘And you just left her?’
‘She stalked off! What was I supposed to do, follow her?’
‘Yes. That’s what girls do! They stalk off and then you’re supposed to follow them!’ I roll my eyes as the brothers bicker and play the film, enjoying the strange normality of it all.
They continue their bickering, the topic changing every now and then during the film, yet I notice that no matter how he tries to hide it, Jay has that same look of pain flashing across his face every so often. But when I ask him about it I get the same response.
‘Tumble?’ Blake asks, his brow creasing with worry.
‘We were at the top of a hill, Jay thought it would be a good idea to race down it and ended up tripping and sort of rolling down it,’ I laugh. Although Blake doesn’t laugh with me, he just looks at his brother with concern.
‘Go get some painkillers,’ Blake tells him, sending him a meaningful look, which Jay ignores.
‘Dude, I’m fine. Stop getting your knickers in a twist,’ Jay replies lazily, paying extra attention to the TV to avoid his brother’s gaze.
Blake rolls his eyes and gets up, muttering something under his breath about Jay being a big girl before reappearing a few minutes later with two white pills in his palm. Jay takes them begrudgingly and then they move on as if nothing ever happened.
Must be male pride or something, I decide.
Dinner isn’t as awkward as I had imagined, the boys make sure of that. Joy and Harold certainly aren’t what I expected them to be, although I’m not sure what I had been expecting, maybe a stuck up pair who would take one look at my converse and demand I be escorted off site immediately?
I have to admit, though, I’m a bit disappointed about the no-butler thing.
But they aren’t, and you can instantly tell the love between them; the tenderness that Joy greets her husband with, the stealing glances Harold keeps taking of his wife. And they welcomed me too, engaging me in constant conversation, asking me about Charlie and my life here.
I mostly skirt around those topics or interject white lies. Jay keeps throwing me looks of apology but I don’t really mind. I’m not used to people taking an interest in me. The conversation then moves on to my love of art.
‘She’s ridiculously good,’ Jay boasts and I scowl at him.
‘I’m not that good,’ I retort, ducking my head.
‘She is! Hey, I reckon she could even make you look good, bro,’ Jay laughs.
‘Please, everyone knows who got the good genes out of the Ellsworth boys,’ Blake smirks, running a hand through his hair.
‘It’s just a shame I didn’t pass them onto you two boys, eh?’ Harold chuckles, flicking his hair back in a dramatic fashion. Harold is a tall, imposing man, who I’m sure could scare the hell out of most of the kids around here. Currently, though, he wears a boyish smile that wrinkles the corners of his eyes. Quite the opposite of scary.
Whereas Joy and Jay share the lighter colouring of hair, Blake has obviously received his darker shades from his dad. The only difference is that Harold has light blue eyes as oppose to everybody else’s green ones.
Joy sends me a look of mock exasperation.
‘This is the shambles I have to put up with everyday,’ she sighs, shaking her head, a small smile on her lips. I grin back at her while the boys all make faces.
We finish up and I send a quick message to Charlie to tell him I’m on my way back before getting into a different car this time. I’m familiar with this car; it’s the blue Ford Focus that had almost run me over the other day.
‘So let me get this straight, you guys are stinking rich, and you drive around in a Ford Focus?’ I laugh. Jay smirks.
‘Would it help to tell you that this is only my temporary run around?’ he raises an eyebrow. ‘Plus, I want to fit in. I don’t want people thinking any different of me just because I can use a twenty as toilet paper.’ He says it so solemnly that I slap his arm.
‘I thought it was your Dad’s anyway?’ I ask instead.
‘Technically it is; I haven’t paid him for it yet. It’s on my to-do list. If anything happens to this car, I can say goodbye to any future one.’
I roll my eyes and before too long we are pulling up outside my house. Charlie is leaning against the doorway and I’ll be damned if he isn’t holding that stupid nutcracker, tapping it casually against his palm.
‘Charlie put that bloody nutcracker away or I swear to God I’ll use it!’ I snap, as I get out of the car. Charlie winks, obviously satisfied that I’m alive, well and haven’t been kidnapped or murdered etcetera, before nodding and disappearing back into the house.
As petty as it sounds, I can’t help but notice how tiny mine looks now compared to the house I have just come from.
‘He’s so dead,’ I murmur under my breath as Jay helps me get my bag out of the car. I shrug off his borrowed jumper and hand it back.
‘Thank for doing this, Jay. I had a really great time,’ I say honestly, smiling.
‘It didn’t go quite to plan, but yeah, it was good,’ Jay laughs. ‘I’m thinking something a bit quieter next weekend though, the cinema maybe?’
‘Sounds like a plan, see you tomorrow.’ I wave as he drives off and walk back into the house. I see Charlie in the kitchen and dump my bag in the hall before marching in there.
‘The nutcracker? Really?’ I ask in disbelief, hauling myself up onto the counter and kicking my feet underneath me.
‘What? I could have done worse. If we were in America I would totally have been cleaning my shotgun,’ he grins goofily.
‘Like they would let you have a gun,’ I mutter, rolling my eyes as I leave and start heading upstairs.
‘I would have rights!’
‘We’ll see about that!’ I yell back, a grin creeping across my face. I make a mental note to never move to America with Charlie. Then I pause on the steps. ‘Charlie, would you be opposed to me maybe taking an art course next year?’
Charlie appears out of the kitchen, an uncertain expression on his features. ‘Like, continuing education?’
‘Yeah, a foundation course. Then I dunno, maybe Uni or something? I haven’t really thought about it.’
‘Are you asking if you can continue education after we had a massive blow out last month about you dropping sixth-form altogether? Are you feeling okay?’
‘Charlie!’
‘Okay! Absolutely!’ Charlie grins widely in disbelief. ‘Go for it, whatever you want. They have websites for this sort of thing right?’
‘Of course,’ I laugh. ‘Look, I know it’s a lot of money but-’
Charlie snorts, cutting me off. ‘Money can be sorted. Work out what you want to do first, and then we’ll figure that out. Whatever happens, I’ll be one hundred percent behind you, got it?’
‘Yes, Charlie,’ I nod and an odd feeling of excitement bubbles inside me. ‘Nothing’s for certain, I just want to look into it.’
‘No problemo,’ Charlie winks.
‘Thank you,’ I say before carrying on up to my room. After reaching it I pull out my old, battered laptop and type ‘art foundation cour
se’ into the search bar. It’s going to take while, but I decide to dive right in anyway.
Homework can wait.
‘So Charlie tells me you’re looking into a college course?’ Nadine asks in that neutral way of hers, her focus on her clipboard.
The weekend had quickly melted into Wednesday and I’m back in my counsellor’s office, answering the usual questions. Whilst a lot has changed since I was last here, including the colour of the nail varnish I’m currently picking off, the office doesn’t look much different at all.
It’s still a pasty grey colour and the atmosphere is as dull as usual. Nadine is even in similar attire; her blonde hair sculpted into a perfect bun and her trousers not a crease out of place. The only difference being that this time her blouse is a pale yellow.
‘You know, I don’t understand why you two don’t just have these sessions on your own. You seem to get a lot more out of him anyway and all you get me to do is repeat the things he’s already told you,’ I question, currently curled up on the comfiest of the chairs around.
‘What I get from Charlie are facts,’ Nadine sighs, falling into the same speech she gives me every time I question her. ‘What I want from you is your-’
‘Emotions and feelings,’ I finish, rolling my eyes and standing up to go by the window. The view hadn’t changed either. ‘Fine, I’m feeling… not better… just okay,’ I decide, struggling to put my feelings into words.
‘That’s good,’ Nadine smiles, obviously happy that we finally seem to be getting somewhere.
‘Yeah,’ I muse, thoughtfully. ‘I guess it is.’
CHAPTER 9
We had finalised our cinema plans for Saturday afternoon, since Jay wanted the morning for revising, but by Friday morning I can tell our plans may not go ahead after all.
‘Jay, you look like my grandma’s cat did just before it got up and died. And I mean that literally. It stood up, and died,’ I chastise Jay, sliding into a seat opposite him in the library.
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