I frowned; he knew where to. Oh, he’s giving her the option of skipping, I realised. Sometimes he wasn’t as stupid as he looked and acted ninety-nine percent of the time.
“If you want to go back to Ali’s that’s fine,” I said. She raised her eyebrow, and I knew I was about to be in trouble. She didn’t want to be ‘babied’. I held my hand up. “Okay, just checking.”
For the first time in a while, there were no reporters outside my house, although they were probably on their way either here or to Ali’s from court. “Anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?” Jasper said.
Sarah snorted in disgust. “They’ll probably be here soon so we should get inside.”
“Untle Ole!” Leona screamed, running out of the front door at me. Shit. I managed to cover my area just in time. You only needed to have the collision once to automatically protect yourself forever more. I missed being greeted like that though. With everything going on, Leona had temporarily spent more time with Chris, and it was good to have her around again.
I ruffled her hair. “Hey, what ya doing?”
She flashed me her cheesy toothy grin. “Watchin’ Fifi.” What else! “Can Oaley watch it with me?”
“You’ll have to ask her.”
Leona leant across as if she wasn’t suspended in the air, only being held by my arms. Kids had so much trust. “Of course, I’ll watch it with you,” Oakley said, taking her from me. “You’ll have to tell me everyone’s names though.”
Leona’s face lit up. “Well there’s Fifi and–” I stopped listening to her. One, because I already knew them all. And two, because the programme drove me nuts.
I ushered Sarah into the kitchen where my mum had already started getting the fresh pizzas out of the fridge. Mia was getting the full report from Oakley’s grandparents and my dad. They didn’t waste any time. Sarah’s looked at me questioningly.
“She’s doing as well as can be expected, I guess,” I said, knowing what was going through Sarah’s mind. “She just wants to move on. She’s been under their control for most of her life, then had four years waiting around and preparing for the trials… I think she wants to be the one in control of her life now.”
“I have no idea how she does it. I feel like a mess most of the time. She’s so positive and always looking forwards.” Sarah said the words but it didn’t look like she believed them. Oakley was mostly always positive on the outside because she worried about the affect falling apart would have on everyone else. We all knew the truth though.
“She deserves the future she wants. And so do you.”
“Thank you, Cole. I’m so glad you two found each other again. You’re perfect together.” I grinned like an idiot, like an eleven-year-old girl that had just seen One Direction. It meant that much to hear her say it. “Well,” she said, exhaling deeply, “let’s do what Oakley wants and move on. I think we all deserve a bit of happiness now.”
If Oakley had heard her mum say that she would probably burst, she wanted her mum to be happy so much.
“Okay, so we’ve got about a hundred pizzas, garlic dough balls and crispy chicken strips. Anyone want salad too?” Mia offered, looking in the fridge for something.
“Who the hell wants rabbit food when we have pizza and meat!” Jasper said, rejecting with a look of horror the lettuce in Mia’s hand.
I nodded. “He’s got a point.”
Mia chucked the lettuce back in the fridge and closed the door. “Good, because I can’t be bothered to make it. But I can be bothered with this,” she said, holding out two bottles of champagne to Dad.
“Celebrating again?” Oakley asked from the doorway. She chewed on her lip.
“We’re celebrating new beginnings,” Sarah said.
I waited for Oakley’s reaction. She had been less than enthusiastic to celebrate before, and I understood why. Her lips pulled up into the faintest smile. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Can I have some too?” Leona asked, pointing to the glasses on the counter.
Mia smiled. “Of course you can.” She handed Leona a champagne glass that was clearly filled with lemonade, but from the goofy grin on Leona’s face, she thought she was drinking champagne too.
“To new beginnings,” Miles said, raising his glass.
The celebration was going well. At last we were all together and having a laugh rather than the serious talks and tension. People were laughing, at Jasper mostly, but still laughing.
“Come on, Oakley! You must remember those hot twins! They were at the Christmas beach party!”
Oakley sighed. “No, Jasper. You made them up.”
“I did not make them up. They were hot and all over me.”
“Yeah, that definitely sounds like a lie,” I said.
“Dude, why would I make that up?”
“To prove how big your balls are?”
He huffed. “I don’t need to prove anything. You all know.”
Oakley put down her drink. “Okay, we need to change the subject before I’m sick.”
“I’m so glad Leona dragged Dad and Miles outside,” Mia added.