Tonight, I learnt something new. It only took three drinks to get Oakley drunk. She clung to the bar and laughed at god knows what. We had lost Kerry and Ben a while ago. Chelsea was dancing with some random guy, and Jasper chatted up everything with a pulse.
“You’re such a lightweight,” I nudged Oakley in the ribs, gently.
She gasped. “Let’s do shots!”
What? I shook my head.
“I’ve never been this drunk before. Can we do Sambuca? I haven’t had that one.” She waved her hand to get the barman’s attention before I even had time to reply.
I made eye contact with Jasper and gestured for him to come over. He was beside us in seconds.
“Jas, we’re doing Sambuca,” Oakley announced to her brother
His mouth dropped open. “You’re doing shots?”
Oakley nodded enthusiastically. “We all are. Three Sambucas please,” she said to the barman.
“Is this a good idea?” Jasper asked.
She handed him a shot. “Yes. Drink.”
I tipped the disgusting liquid in my mouth and swallowed. She may not have had it before, but I had, and it tasted like piss! Oakley slapped her hand over her mouth; her face scrunched up in disgust. It was worth it!
“I don’t like that,” she slurred, slamming the shot glass down on the bar.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Jasper suddenly shouted at some guy who was standing beside us. What’s that guy done?
“Jas, don’t.” Oakley pushed him towards the exit, and I followed. What the hell had I missed?
Outside they had a quick argument, and I barely picked up one word.
“Watch her,” Jasper mumbled and walked back inside.
Huh? I looked around in utter confusion.
“Err, what was that about?” I asked.
Oakley glared in the direction Jasper disappeared in. “Jasper gets ridiculously overprotective if someone even looks in my direction.”
That guy was looking at her? I wanted to go punch him.
“Anyway, forget about him. Wanna do another shot?” She raised her eyebrows and smiled, but she wasn’t fooling me.
“You don’t want to do another shot, Oakley.”
“Yes I do. The next couple of months are gonna be really hard. I want to get drunk.” So that’s what this was about. She was drinking away her problems. Not happening.
I shook my head.
“It’s going to be okay.”
Reaching out, I touched her arm, and she started crying. Shit! I stepped into her, wrapping my arms around her beautiful body and held her tight. It made me feel sick seeing her upset. I just wished there was something I could do to make it better. Some way of turning back time and protecting her from those sick bastards.
She buried her head right into my neck and clung onto me. This was going to happen at some point though. She was trying to be strong and pretend everything was fine but it wasn’t. Even if they got the maximum sentence, it wouldn’t be fine. This was never going away.
“I’m scared, Cole,” she admitted and sobbed on my shoulder. I held her tighter and kissed the side of her head. I’m scared too.
Chapter Seven
Oakley
Cole held me tight, and I felt safe. It was a huge relief to get it all out rather than holding it in. I couldn’t do it in front of Mum and Jasper. Well I could. They would always listen, but I didn’t want to make any of it harder for them.
I took a deep breath and pulled away from him. It was time to be strong again. If I was with anyone else I would have pulled it together much sooner, but Cole always could drag my true emotions out of me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and swept my tears from under my eyes. Thankfully, I had waterproof mascara on, but I had cried a lot – no doubt I looked like a panda.
Cole kept one of his arms around me. I liked that too much.
“Don’t be sorry. You’re not the one that has to be sorry. Not ever.”
I managed a smile.
“You okay now?”
“Yes.” I smoothed down my hair, hoping that would be enough to make me look human again. “We should get back inside.”
Cole shook his head. “No, we shouldn’t. You want to talk.” He was right to be confident. I did want to talk about it. A few years ago talking was the last thing I wanted but with time, I realised ignoring the problem didn’t make it disappear.
“There’s a crappy little cafe down the road, we can go there.”
“Crappy cafe? That’s not very gentlemanly. If that’s what you say to the ladies then no wonder you haven’t had any since—”
“Yeah, alright. Very funny,” he replied.
I grinned. My happiness was almost overwhelming. I loved being near him again, talking, joking around, and knowing that there hadn’t been anyone since me.
“Let’s go. I could really do with a coffee.”
“How crappy is this café then? I’m not going to get food poisoning am I?” I asked as we walked along the street.
“That depends.”
I raised my eyebrows. “On?”
“Whether you’re eating anything or not.”
“Okay that will be a not.”