Stanton Bliss(30)

Joshua drops his head sadly.

“And that’s ok! It’s ok to be slightly damaged version of yourselves.”

My eyes meet Joshua’s and I grab his hand.

“It’s ok to be imperfect. It’s ok to have down days and bad memories.”

I stare at him through my tears.

“What’s not ok, is pretending that it didn’t happen.”

I nod and Joshua drops his head.

“You two have a bond. You’ve both been through so much, yet you survived.”

Joshua smiles and puts his arm around me, softly kissing my forehead as I wipe my tears away.

“Rely on each other. Talk to each other. Support each other.”

Joshua nods. “We will.”

I smile but the tears won’t stop. I lean forward and pull a tissue from the box, blowing my nose loudly.

Nicholas smiles. “You two are going to be fine. You just have to be kind to one another and let yourselves have a moment of weakness every day. If you keep acting tough all the time, you’re going to crash and burn.”

I nod, smile and hold out my hand, grateful when Nicholas takes it in his.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“You are going to be ok,” he repeats.

“I know.”

Nicholas stands and pulls me into an embrace and we stay there for a moment.

“Come back for my friend,” I whisper.





Chapter 6

Lounging on the day bed by our pool, Adrian lies across me with his head high on my stomach. Bridget and Abbie are sprawled down the other end as we all stare at the sky. The mood is sombre with two of my friends down and out.

“What did he say at the airport?” Bridget frowns. Adrian took Nicholas to the airport last night, and we are catching up on the goodbye activities.

“That he loved me. That he would stay if he could.” He sighs sadly.

“What a load of shit,” Abbie snaps.

“I know, right?”

“Why is he f*cking leaving then?” Abbie snorts.

“Just wait to see if you hear from him,” Bridget replies softly as she puts her hand reassuringly on Adrian’s foot to reassure him.

“He rang me when he landed, then again this morning.”

“What did he say?” I ask.

“I didn’t answer.”

“Oh, man,” I reply sadly.

“I’m looking forward to getting home this week, actually,” Adrian murmurs.

I feel my stomach flip. I wish I was as excited. I’m dreading it.

“Guys, about that…” Abbie sits up onto her elbows to look at our faces.

“I think I’m going home to Australia.”

“Why, Abbs?” I frown, where is this coming from?

She shrugs. “I’m homesick. I miss my…” she hesitates.

“What?” Bridget pushes.

“My Tristan.”

I roll my eyes. Army guy. God, get off it. She hooked up with Brock two days ago.

“You don’t seem to be missing him,” I reply deadpan.

Adrian smiles and holds his hand back over his head for me to high five and I slap my hand against his.

“What are you referring to?” she asks, annoyed.

“Um, Brock. What else would I be referring to? He is our brother, in case it slipped your mind,” I answer coldly.

She puts her hands over her face in shame. “I thought you didn’t know.”

“We don’t want to know,” Bridget snaps. “How could you?”

“H-how could I not?” she stammers. “It just happened.”

“Is he why you are leaving?” Adrian asks.

She blows out a defeated breath. “I just want to go home and–”

Adrian cuts her off. “What about your finger prints?”

“As if I am going to get fingerprinted.”

“You might,” I warn her.

“Ben said the case has gone cold. Please remember this was a prostitute who was bribing copious amounts of men. They don’t finger print you for traffic offenses and I’m sure as shit not going to get arrested.”

We all stay silent for a moment.

“I have already asked Victoria, and we are going to take a commercial flight together on Friday.”

I frown. “You’re serious. You’re actually going?”

“What have I just been saying? Do you f*cking listen to me at all?”

“Not if we can help it,” Adrian mutters.

I smile, my hand falls to the top of his head and I run it mindlessly through his hair.

“Didge, you can stay with me,” states Adrian.

Bridget eyes the two of us. “I don’t want to impose.”

“You are not an imposition. I would love to have a housemate for a while.”

“Really?” She smiles as she rubs her hand on his foot. “I want to go home, too, if I’m honest, but I want to wait until Tash is feeling better.”

My stomach sinks. I want to tell her that I’m fine, but I’m trying to take Nicholas advice to stop pretending. And besides, the longer I drag out Didge staying with me, the more chance she has to patch things up with Ben.

Joshua comes out the back glass doors. “Murph, the scanner is broken,” he calls.