“I think for now that’s all you can do. It’s never taken me longer than two hours to get someone to at least admit to me there was a problem, even if they wouldn’t say what. Oakley’s given me nothing that I didn’t already know.”
A metallic taste filled my mouth, making me gag. Pressing my hand to my mouth, I pulled it away and saw blood. As soon as I saw it, my lip began to sting. I stayed perfectly still as they spoke some more and then said goodbye, letting Sadie out.
“Oh God, I need to speak to her.” Mum’s voice made me jump up. She was coming up here.
“No, wait,” Dad called. “You need to calm down first, if you go up there in the state you’re in, you’ll push her further away. You heard what Sadie said. We need to do this properly, Sarah.”
“Okay,” Mum whispered, backing down and bursting into tears. I let out a big breath, sighing in relief.
“Something bad happened to her, didn’t it?” She cried harder, and I felt my heart breaking. You have no idea, Mum. I swiped away a tear with the back of my hands and got up to go back in my room. Jumping as I turned and came face-to-face with Jasper, I dropped my gaze to the floor.
“Whatever’s wrong, I’m here,” he whispered. He looked scared for me. His jacket on and keys were in his hand. Where the heck was he going? I raised my eyebrows and looked at his keys.
“Err, I’m going to see Abby,” he mumbled quickly. “Do you think I’m crazy?”
It almost sounded like he was embarrassed. I shook my head. Jasper wasn’t crazy. They hadn’t properly spoken about what happened and they needed to. Hopefully then he would be to move on and have a relationship rather than meaningless one night stands.
“Want me to stay here?” he asked, and wiped a tear from my cheek. I shook my head and gave him a little shove towards the stairs. “See you later then.” He kissed the top of my head and walked downstairs.
As soon as I was in bed, I curled up in a ball and buried my head in my pillow. What the heck was I going to do now?
“Oakley,” someone whispered, making me jump awake. Cole chuckled quietly and sat on the bed. I raised my eyebrows. What was he doing back here? There was no way my parents would have let him in at this time. He scratched the back of his neck, “Jasper just came over, said you were upset, and gave me his back door key so I could sneak in.” Damn interfering brother!
I rolled my eyes and pulled the quilt back. As I hoped, he got straight into bed and wrapped his arms around me. “Are you okay?” he murmured against my forehead. I snuggled closer, loving how perfectly I fit against him. I nodded and started to drift off, happy that I was now safe in Cole’s arms.
“I love you,” he whispered sleepily.
Jasper sat down on the end of my bed, and I sighed. I heard him come home in the early hours of the morning, just after Cole snuck out. We were now all back in my room after having a BBQ dinner. Oh well, I could find out all about it now. I nudged Cole lightly, prompting him to ask. “Ouch,” Cole shouted dramatically.
“Oakley, stop beating up your girlfriend,” Jasper teased. I grinned and pushed myself up, so I was facing Jasper. Cole rolled his eyes and sat up, pulling me onto his lap.
“What happened with Abby?” Cole asked bluntly. I gave him a flat look; he was supposed to do that a little more tactfully.
Jasper frowned and looked… Shy?
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “She wants to get back together. Part of me wants that too, but I don’t know if I can trust her.”
I couldn’t blame him for that. I doubt I would be able to trust someone after they let me down. I didn’t trust Dad anymore, and I couldn’t see me trusting him ever again.
“What did she say? Did she explain?”
Jasper nodded for a long time, lost in his own thoughts.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “She told me that after our argument, she went to the party and drank too much. She was hurt and angry, and just wanted to get wasted with her friends. She ended up in his room, and they… You know.”
He looked down, his face twisted in pain. My poor brother.
“I keep thinking that maybe we can try again, but is there really any point if I’m constantly thinking she’s screwing someone else?”
I shook my head.
“You just hate her!” Jasper said. I hated her less than I did since she properly apologised to him, but I could still remember how heartbroken he was, so I hadn’t forgiven her.
He shrugged. “In the end we decided just to try and be friends and see what happens. I don’t know if we can be friends or not, but I don’t want to be angry and keep hating her all the time, you know what I mean?”
I knew exactly what he meant. That why I was letting Julian into my life, sort of.
“Anyway, I’m not sitting around here moping all day. I have a date with a cute little brunette tonight. Later,” he called, looking over his shoulder as he walked out of my room. I smiled. Jasper was back.