by Ford, Brenda
“Yes, that’s right. It’s nearly your birthday, isn’t it? And a big one as well.”
“Eighteen isn’t that big a deal.” I try to play it down. “Not so much.”
“Well, it is if you’re going to move out.” Rosie taps her chin thoughtfully. “And it’s also your first birthday without your mom. I know that things have been a little strained between us, but we could do something if you want? Hang out? Maybe go out or something. Celebrate it a bit.”
Shit. I do want that, it would be nice to repair the relationship with Rosie and this would be a good start, but Oliver has offered to take me out now and I really want a date with him as well. I want it so bad it hurts. And I can go for it as well if Rosie isn’t mad about me and him together.
Still, I shouldn’t rub my happiness in her face while she’s going through turmoil.
“Auntie Amelia has already offered to cook a nice meal. She wanted a family dinner for my birthday.”
“But she does that every night. We could do something different. Just me and you, you know?”
“I…” God, I can’t crush her spirit. Not when she’s looking at me like that. “Maybe.”
There. I have answered her vaguely. I haven’t shut her down completely, but I also haven’t committed to anything either. In the morning, she might change her mind anyway. Particularly if she makes up with Tristan and it seems like they do go up and down all the time. She may even forget.
I have to avert my eyes though because right now she seems to think that I don’t trust her, or maybe that I can’t forgive her for our argument before and it’s hard for me to move passed it. That isn’t the case at all, if I didn’t have plans already, I would be all for it. But I can’t tell her I have plans or she will know who with since I don’t know anyone other than some of the Smith brothers here.
“We can go speed dating,” she cackles, trying to make a joke out of her tragedy. “Meet some nice guys.”
“Do you think nice guys go speed dating? I don’t know if they do.”
“I don’t know. I have spent so long with Tristan that I don’t know what it would be like to be with someone else.” Her face falls. “Maybe that’s why I have stayed with him for so long.”
I reach out and rest my hand on top of hers. Even though we have been having a perfectly nice evening, it’s still a shock when she doesn’t snatch away from me like she’s been electrocuted.
“That’s why speed dating probably isn’t a good idea. Some single time would be for the best. You need to get to know yourself a little bit. Make sure you get treated how you want to with the next guy.”
God, I really do sound wise. Like I know exactly what I’m talking about. Sex a couple of times with Oliver has turned me into some kind of a guru. It’s crazy. I have grown up lots. Thank goodness I don’t really have to give him up because that would be soul crushing. I can keep him for another day.
“Well, I suppose I need to go and have a think.” Rosie scrapes her chair back and rises to her feet. “Make some serious life decisions. You know how it is.” She laughs again, but it’s still as if she doesn’t find anything funny. “Thanks for the talk, Ellie, I really appreciate it. And I’m sorry for… you know…”
“I’m sorry too. I was acting ungrateful. It won’t happen again.”
Her mouth opens ever so slightly, and I can’t help but wonder what else she has to say. I mean, she must have her suspicions about me and Oliver, she might even know for sure, I don’t know, but she hasn’t even mentioned it. This conversation has been awkward enough when it came to the chat about my birthday, I don’t want it to end that way. Not when me and Rosie could actually have a friendship here.
“Well, okay then.” Whatever she was going to say, she decides against it and she nods. “See you in the morning. Hopefully, I will have sorted something out then.”
I watch her walk away hoping that my advice was good. If it gets her rid of Tristan, and even if it makes her feel bad for a while, it will still be the right thing to do. I got a bad vibe from him right away, I get a bully impression from him, and Rosie needs to escape that. My cousin is far too good for that sort of shit. She needs to get away from him to find better for herself because better is out there.
Chapter Fifteen
Oliver
“I can’t believe I have never seen this movie before!” Ellie declares happily. “This is exactly the sort of thing that I like. I can’t stand all the main stream stuff with no real plot and too many clichés.”
I smile at her wondering if she can get any more perfect than she already is. She even enjoys the same things that I do which means we don’t even need to argue over what movie to watch. It’s just obvious. Every moment that I spend with her, my heart yearns for her more. I have never liked anyone quite like this.
“This is my first time watching it as well. I’m glad I saved it to watch with you.”
I throw my arm around her shoulder and tug her closer to me, loving the warmth of her body as she crashes in to me. She tilts her head towards me and gently presses her lips to mine. It’s a soft kiss at first, but it soon becomes deeper and more passionate. She twists her body around and wraps her arms around my neck and hooks her leg around my waist as well. My hands slide up her chest and I cup her breasts. The feel of her nipples poking against my hands makes me groan with excitement. All I want to do is tear every scrap of her clothing off.
“Oh sorry,” she teases with her mouth all over my throat. “Am I distracting you from the movie?”
“I don’t mind being distracted by you. You are a million times better than the movie. Any day!”
Her hips roll against me, she grinds against my steel rod cock, making my head spin. She’s delicious, exciting, she has me thrilled to the bone. I kiss her harder, my tongue massages hers, I can’t wait to see where this heads. I want to be inside of her already, she makes me impatient and needy, like an animal.
She bites down on my bottom lip, growling and giggling as she does. She’s cheeky, fiery, incredible. I slip my fingers downwards now and head for her panties, needing to feel her comforting warm wetness. My heart throbs and pounds, growing louder and more violent by the moment. Her head lolls back, desire floods her face, she looks stunning. Space dust fizzes all the way through me as I pull the cotton of her under wear to the side.
“Oh fuck, Oliver, stop teasing me,” she moans. “You’re taking your sweet time and driving me crazy. I can’t take it.”
“Oh, you want me to speed up, huh?” I feel myself twinkling all over. “I can get on board with that.”
Ring, ring… Urgh, is that necessary? Can’t the world tell that we don’t want to be distracted right now? Ring, ring… I choose to ignore it, slowly rubbing my finger over her clit and enjoying the way that her body bucks and rides as the pleasure grips her and shimmies through her body. Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…
“Are you going to get that?” Ellie whispers. “Someone wants to speak to you.”
“I don’t want to think about anyone but you right now,” I growl while sucking on her throat.
The phone clicks through to the voice mail, thank goodness, because it means we can carry on without being distracted. But it soon rings again. By the time it gets to the third time, it’s angering me… but worrying me too. No one calls me over and over again unless it’s some kind of emergency.
“I better pick that up,” I rasp regretfully. “Sorry. I don’t want to upset you, but…”
“It might be important.” She gets it. Of course she does, she’s absolutely perfect.
But as I grab my cell phone and my slightly blurry eyes latch on to the name ‘Rosie’, I don’t know what to think. Why the hell is she calling me like this? This is weird, now I really am panicked.
“Hello?” I turn away as I pick up the phone, too scared to look at Ellie in case it’s more bad news from her family. The sobbing sounds I hear on the other end of the line makes that worse. “Rosie, what’s going on?”
“I…
I… oh my God, Oliver, I need you right now. I can’t stand this. It’s too much for me…”
“What is it?” I rake my fingers anxiously through my hair. “Rosie, tell me?”
“It’s T… Tristan.” Oh, fucking hell. I’m kinda glad that it’s going to be more boyfriend drama. It’s preferable to anything worse, although I don’t like my best friend being upset. “He’s a dick. I hate him so much.”
“Tristan? What did he do to you?” I turn to see Ellie who looks more worried than she should do.
“I want to talk to you face to face. I need my best friend right now. I need to talk to you. I can’t stand it.”
“Face to face?” Normally I would jump at the chance, but I don’t want to leave Ellie. “Right now?”
“Go,” Ellie whispers, showing me the way. “She needs you. You go.”
“Are you sure?” I mouth, hating myself for the pickle that I’m in right now.
“Yes, go on. I will watch the movie.” She smiles reassuringly. “Rosie needs you.”
My heart swells, she is such a good person. Honestly, so mature and great. I haven’t had a relationship that feels this way before, like such a partnership, like we are in it together all the way.
“Okay, Rosie, you wait for me here. I won’t be long.”
“Thank you, Oliver, that means a lot to me. I will see you soon.”
I hang up the phone and kiss Ellie quickly before I pull some sweat pants on. I will go and see how Rosie is, hopefully pull her out of her funk and send her on her way then I’ll be back with Ellie soon. We have been through this a number of times, I’m sure it will be fine soon enough.
“See you in a while,” I call out to Ellie as I go. “I won’t be long, I promise.”
I bolt out the door and across the yard to Rosie’s house. She’s at the door waiting for me and as soon as she spots me, she flings her arms around my neck and sobs in to my shoulders. Instantly my top is wet, which shows me just how upset she is. This might be worse than I thought it was.
“What happened?” I ask as she pulls me inside. “What has he done to you?”
“I… I wanted to make it work with him, I really did. I thought that we could just get things back to where they were. I tried and we had a conversation so I thought that we were on the same page… but then I went to his for our date, which by the way we’d arranged mutually, it wasn’t like I turned up without him knowing, and he had another girl there. The same one as before. The one that he left me for. Or didn’t leave me for. I don’t know. Now it seems like he’s been with her the whole time. He’s been playing us off one another.”
“Oh my God, are you sure?” I demand. “I will kick his ass if he’s done that to you.”
“Oh, believe me, I kicked his ass. After everything I’ve been through… after swallowing my pride and trying to make it work, he still did this to me. He still cheated on me. I don’t understand why. Am I not good enough?”
“Rosie, no.” I pull her to me and hug her. “Of course you’re good enough. He’s the one who isn’t.”
“But if he wasn’t good enough for me then why was he the one who cheated? Why wasn’t it me?”
I don’t have an answer for that because I don’t know what the hell has been going through Tristan’s head. I haven’t ever had any kind of conversation with him so I can’t judge… but I can guess.
“Because he’s an asshole. Because he doesn’t know how good he has it. I can’t believe someone who treat you that way because you are amazing, Rosie. You deserve the world.”
She looks up at me through watery eyes, her heart breaking clearly. I hate that I can’t take this pain away from my best friend, it isn’t right. She shouldn’t be made to feel this way because of someone else. I know that Ellie is waiting for me, but I’m also sure that she will understand and wait for me if I need to stay here for a while.
“Tell me all about it,” I say while settling next to her. “Start from the beginning and let me know.”
As Rosie launches in to a story, her brain clearly everywhere as she tries her hardest to get it in chronological order. I try my hardest to follow what’s she’s talking about, but I’m getting a full blown look at their relationship and it’s all complicated and convoluted. I don’t know how she manages to keep on top of it.
Every so often, I make agreeable noises, so she knows that I’m listening, but this roller coaster is far too intense for me. Personally, I don’t think a relationship should be that way. What me and Ellie have is so simple and straight forward, so easy, we both know exactly where we stand with one another, I wouldn’t want it to be complicated and hard. That’s what Rosie should want for herself as well. Something drama free. I wish I could find a way to express that to her, but I don’t think she will hear it right now. She’s too hurt to think of new love.
“What do I do now?” she eventually begs me for my advice. “I don’t want to lose him.”
“You still want him? Even after all of this?” I’m shocked, shaken to the core. “Are you serious?”
“I want him, I can’t just turn my feelings off like that. I don’t want her to have him either. I don’t want her to win. You should have seen her smug face, Oliver. She wants to keep him, she doesn’t want me anywhere near him. She knows about me. She knows that I’m with him and she’s taking him anyway.”
“Then maybe she and Tristan deserve one another, Rosie. If they are both happy.”
“No!” she wails. “No, that isn’t fair. They shouldn’t get to be happy and me miserable. They are the bad guys.”
“I know that it doesn’t seem fair right now, Rosie, but you will end up happy as well, trust me.”
She pauses, her tears slowing down a little, and she stares at me inquisitively. I can feel a million and one questions in her brain, but she doesn’t let any of them out. I probably should push for her to speak out, but I don’t. I’m a little nervous as to what she might say. With her head all over the place like this, she could say anything.
“Let’s get you a drink,” I say instead. “Have a laugh. Forget about this. I don’t want to see any more tears.”
“A drink, right.” She nods slowly. “Yes, I do need to forget about this, don’t I. Forget about him.”
“Exactly, he isn’t even worth one tear, one moment of sadness. He isn’t worth any of it.”
It will be hard for her, much more harder because he’s with someone else and not suffering for his actions, but if she just forgets about him and focuses on herself in making her own life happy, then she will be okay in the end. I have absolutely no doubt. Rosie is strong. She’s a survivor. She will be okay. We will all be around her anyway to support her. Me and my family, Ellie and her family. Rosie won’t be alone through her heartache.
Chapter Sixteen
Ellie
She should have called me. The thought keeps popping into my mind over and over again. It’s hard for me to get lost in the movie when I can’t stop thinking about my poor heartbroken cousin. I know that she’s known Oliver a lot longer and they are best friends, but we’re cousins. Family. I thought we were on a better page now. I don’t know why Rosie didn’t even try to reach out to me. I have no missed calls from her at all.
But maybe she wants to speak to Oliver because she doesn’t think that I have any experience with relationships. I do, I could offer her all kinds of advice, but she just doesn’t want to know. I just have to try my best not to be offended. I don’t want to get in to any kind of battle with her. Our weapons have been laid down, we aren’t fighting any longer, and I don’t see any reason to start that up another time around.
“Where are you?” I mutter while hauling my ass off of Oliver’s bed to peer through the window. My home can’t be seen from here, but I’m still searching for any sign of life. Any clue that Oliver is coming back, but he isn’t. Rosie must be seriously upset if their conversation is taking this long.
I suppose if I really wanted to, I could go home and act all innocent, preten
d I haven’t been at Oliver’s place and I don’t know what’s happening. That way, I could get some real insight into what I’m missing out on… but of course, I don’t do that because if Rosie wanted me there, she would have contacted me.
With a deep sigh, I flop back on the bed and I try to focus on the movie some more. But it isn’t the same without Oliver here. I don’t really want him to miss it, so I flick it off to wait in silence. He will be back soon, I’m sure of it, and I can have my man back in my arms again. Because he is mine, I’m sure of it. We might not have had a conversation about being boyfriend and girlfriend, but this isn’t high school. We don’t need to have that chat to know we’re together. Not when we spend every moment we can with each other. I’m sure as hell not dating anyone else and I’m sure he isn’t either. We’re a couple whether we have put an official label on it or not, which is just perfect because with Oliver I am the happiest that I’ve ever been.
My eyes flicker closed as I day dream about our future together, imagining what it will be like to have a happy ever after with this man, and it isn’t long before I feel a weariness over coming me. Maybe I should just take a nap while I wait for him to come back to me. There isn’t exactly anything else I can do to pass the time…
* * *
“Hey, Ellie.” A soft whispering drags me from my dream, shaking me awake. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, Oliver.” His face is angelic, like a shining light above me. “You’re back.”
“Yes, Rosie finally went to sleep.” He collapses on the bed next to me. “She’s really shaken up.”
“What happened?” I prop up on to my elbows to look at him intensely. “Did Tristan fuck up again?”
“Yeah, it seems like Rosie wanted to make things up with him after another rough bout…”
“She does?” Urgh, why? “I don’t get it. Why would she want to be with such a prick?”