Silence (Silence #1)(21)

“So, what happened last night?” she asked me as soon as we were away from Cole. My mouth went dry. I hadn’t expected her to ask that. How could she tell that something had happened?

She laughed at me and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t look so worried! He hasn’t said a word to me. He was just really, really happy, so I figured something happened between you two.”

He was really, really happy? I bit the inside of my mouth to stop myself smiling.

“Oh my God, he was so annoying and wouldn’t tell me anything! He finally told you, then?”

Told me what?

“They’re bringing your burger over, Mia, since your order’s so awkward!” Cole said as he placed a tray of food and drink down in front of us. For the first time ever, I wanted him to go away! Finally told me what? God, he had the worst timing ever! Told me he liked me? It had to be that, right?

Mia laughed and grabbed her chips. She never had mayonnaise or lettuce on her chicken burger, but for some reason it took longer for them to prepare a burger that had less on it. Cole sat down next to me and immediately started stuffing food in his mouth. I ate at a normal speed, and tried to keep a straight face as Cole stroked my knee while having a stupid argument with Mia. She wanted her on/off boyfriend, Chris, to come on holiday with us, but everyone else hated him. I never got why Mia took Chris back every time he cheated on her, or why he did it in the first place. As they argued, my mind kept flitting back to Mia’s words: ‘He finally told you, then?’

Cole’s hand waving in front of my face made me jump and snap out of my obsessive thoughts.

“Welcome back.” He smiled. “Kerry and Ben are going to watch a movie tonight. Do you want to go too?”

I shrugged casually and nodded.

“Yeah? Great. I’ll pick you up at seven. We’re eating before. We should get going. Mia’s waiting at the car.”

Waiting at the car? I looked up, and sure enough, we were alone. Whoa, I really had zoned. I stood up and chucked my rubbish on the tray Cole was holding out.

We started to walk out of the building towards the car park, and he put his hand on my back again.

“Oh, we’re seeing that new paranormal film by the way.”

No way! I stopped and glared at him.

“Sorry, you’ve already agreed!” He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let the film attack you.”

“There you two are!” Mia exclaimed. “I was about to come find you.” She opened the boot so I could shove my bags in. “Let’s go, I’m going out with Chris tonight.”

You can do better, I wanted to say, but even if I did it wouldn’t change anything at all. Mia didn’t listen to anyone when it came to Chris.

“You get everything, Oakley?” Cole asked, poking his head between the front seats. Nodding, I turned to him and smiled. In a couple weeks, I would be in Italy, lying on the beach with Cole. Wait, on a beach in my bikini with Cole! I suddenly felt self-conscious. He had seen me wear bikinis a thousand times before, but it was different this time.

I did gymnastics regularly so that kept me fit, but what if it wasn’t enough? My body wasn’t womanly. I didn’t have proper hips, and my breasts were only a B cup. Now he was seeing my differently, would he notice that? Would it even bother him if he did?

Mia stopped outside my house.

“Now get your stuff and go,” she joked, making me grin.

Cole helped me get my bags out of the boot and walked them to my house for me. Dad came out of the house just as we had put all my bags down on the floor.

“How long do you think we’re going for?” he teased, shaking his head.

“You should see the amount of crap Mia got then!” Cole replied.

“Women, eh?” Dad picked up all the bags and turned to me. “Come on then, sweetheart, you need to spend some time with me and your mum if you’re out again tonight. We’ve barely seen you!”

How did he know that I was going out? Cole must have asked him before he asked me. I couldn’t wait until the day that I didn’t need to get his permission to do anything.

“See you later.” Cole smiled and headed back to Mia’s car. I waved to them both and went inside.

“Your mum’s making cakes and wants help. I’ll also warn you now that she’s planning your birthday party.” He put the bags down on the sofa and gestured for me to go in the kitchen. When Dad was like that, joking around, it made me hopeful. Perhaps now it was all over we could be a normal family again. I still loved the dad I remembered: I still wanted him to be who he once was. If he could just be that person then everything would be okay; our family would be okay.

Reluctantly, I went in and sat down at the table. A birthday party was the last thing I wanted.

“Oh, I’ve got so many ideas, honey! You want to have it here, or we could hire somewhere? How many people did you want to invite? What colour scheme?” Mum gushed.

I frowned and looked down at the table. Why couldn’t she accept that I wasn’t the popular, social daughter she wanted?

“Come on, love, it’s your sweet sixteen! We have to do something special. Please, please let me organise this party?” Mum pleaded, looking at me hopefully.

Groaning internally, I nodded in agreement. She squealed and leapt forward, squeezing me tight. I couldn’t say no to her. She deserved to throw me a party, especially after all the hurt and guilt I had caused her. Mum blamed herself for me not speaking, and I had heard her crying over me so many times. The very least I could do was give her this.