Friendship on Fire (10 page)

She put her hand gently over mine and asked, ‘How is the big year twelve going?'

‘Fine. Busy, but I can handle it. How are you?'

‘Alive,' she smiled, and then she reached out to touch my hair. ‘Hmm.'

‘Dad's fault,' I said.

‘Right. I'll tell him he has to fix it. It makes you look washed out.' No one could say no to Nanna.

‘Thanks, Nanna. It's kind of growing on me. Being a ranga isn't so bad.'

‘A what?' Her eyebrows knit together in confusion.

‘Never mind. So, what have you brought me?' I nodded at the bag at her feet.

‘Things for a beautiful girl. Hope you like them,' she said, as she handed the bag to me and let me rifle through it in peace.

In the past she would contentedly smile as she watched me pull clothes and trinkets out of the bag. I never understood how it could give her so much joy to be constantly giving. I wondered how much giving I had in me.

When the others got home, we sat around the dinner table and ate pizza and salad. Family dinners on a Friday night were a tradition in the Brooks household. It was a time where everyone shared their news for the week, brought up issues to discuss and made future plans. Tonight we predominantly heard about Josh. He had another new girl he was pursuing and we gave him heaps for it. He changed girls so often it was hard to keep up with who he was actually with at any point in time. Not that he meant to be like that. Josh got bored of them real easy and would not settle down with one girl for longer than a month. He would rave about a girl and we might miraculously meet her once or twice, but then we'd stop hearing about her. He liked the conquest.

Shane thought he saw a shark in the surf yesterday. He swore black and blue it was coming for him, but we think he's going crazy from not enough hard work since finishing school at the end of last year.

Treston complained about his many assignments for uni in his science course. He was considering taking up engineering as an extension of his study and wanted all our advice. Mum talked about the latest studies being done in the health and diet world. Having a dietitian in the family came in handy for the most part, except when us kids felt like eating junk for a day. The lectures started when she caught us.

All eyes turned towards me.

‘Well, Daisy? Who is he?' Dad was glaring dangerously at me; I'd tuned out of the conversation while he was hogging the time talking about his latest potential car deal.

‘He's an astronaut from outer space,' I said wearily. ‘Who is
he
?'

Treston grabbed a slice of pizza off my plate and smirked. ‘My friend Nate? The guy who went into your room the other night? Don't tell me you've forgotten already.'

I nearly choked on some garlic bread. Dad's face went a perfect shade of red. He put down his knife and fork delicately on either side of his plate and folded his hands.

‘Excuse me?' I managed to squeak. Everyone had gone dead quiet.

‘At least tell us you have a boyfriend, Dais, and we'll make sure we don't interrupt next time,' Shane shrugged.

‘I very much do not have a boyfriend. Not that it's any of your business. Look at you, like vultures. I'd rather not have this discussion over the dinner table.' Sliding my chair out roughly, I got up and went into the kitchen.

Mum came to join me not long after, pretending she was getting a glass of water. I was aimlessly banging around in the cupboards, shifting appliances to illogical places and cursing to myself. She placed one hand on my shoulder.

‘Don't mind them sweetheart. They're only teasing. I know you'd never get a boyfriend without telling me all the gory details first,' she said, sounding confident.

I said nothing. There was nothing to tell, so I didn't have to feel guilty either way.

Her parents left early. We had sat on the couch smiling at them innocently, and waved as they walked out the door. I felt sorry for them, in a way, but they weren't meant to find out. I definitely didn't feel guilty enough to give up this party.

Our first plan of attack was to move any valuables into their bedroom upstairs and lock the door. We cooked snacks, cleaned the party area and set up Rach's backyard with lanterns and her older brother's sound system. It was a perfect house for a party; I couldn't deny it. With two storeys, a large front and back yard, pool and outdoor bar, we were all set.

At eight, we got dressed into our well-planned outfits and waited for everyone to arrive. At eight thirty, Roman showed up, carrying beer and some strobe lights. He was wearing light blue jeans and a white dress shirt rolled up to the elbows. Roman brought a few other guys from school with him, including his best friend James, and they immediately went outside to find the keg.

As more people arrived, we started bringing out food to soak up some of the alcohol.

Roman turned to me in the kitchen and said, ‘You girls have done a great job of the house. Looks like everyone loves it.'

I beamed. ‘Thanks, it only took us the whole day.'

Rach groaned at the memory.

‘Really? That's a fair effort. I bet people can hear the sound system from China,' he joked.

‘I hope so,' said Rach. ‘Here, Roman, eat some food. You're wasting away.'

Roman chuckled and reached for the food platter as we heard a loud scream accompanied by several other screams. Rushing to the front door, we swung it open to discover Skye, in all her glory, lying on the front step, short skirt ridden high up her legs, blonde hair in her face, drink leaking out of the can in her hand. The big scream was hers. With her were five girls from Grammar, as drunk as she was, standing like penguins around a flapping fish.

The blonde bimbos were covered in fake tan; faces caked in orange make-up, and dressed to the nines — like Skye. Hell, they may as well be sisters.

Skye started laughing hysterically as the girls tried to get her back on her feet. Rach folded her arms in disgust. Roman laughed politely and told them to come inside before they hurt themselves any more. I wasn't so friendly.

‘This isn't happy hour at the local brothel, girls,' I said sharply.

One by one the girls turned around to look at the person who dared make them feel unwelcome at a party they had been invited to — by the host, no doubt.

One of Skye's friends clasped Roman's arm. She somehow managed to ignore me yet address me in the same sentence. ‘Thanks, gorgeous, we always appreciate a gentleman.' Stumbling through the front door, she added, ‘More than a size twelve red-headed girl who should know when to keep her mouth shut.'

‘Yeah,' Skye drawled, picking her hair out of her eyes. The others chimed in with laughter while yet again, Roman didn't come to my defence. He let himself be led to the slaughter instead. This girl didn't know him and she was already throwing herself at him. And he didn't shut her down. He was dropping his standards and I intended to tell him that as soon as I had the chance.

I was heading to warn the Brigade off our alcohol when I heard someone call my name from the front garden. It was hard to see through the darkness so I stood at the front door and squinted at the cars parked on the lawn. I waited for a minute but began to feel like I was hearing things. I might as well give up and close the door.

‘Where was my special invite?' Nate appeared on the porch and leant against a wooden post with his arms folded.

Heat tingled up my spine; he was the most gorgeous thing out of his school uniform. He was wearing tailored dark jeans with a fitted black t-shirt. His slip-on shoes matched his shirt and his dark hair had been messily styled. Nate was smiling at me now; a disarming smile that I wanted to look away from but couldn't.

‘Didn't think you'd want to come,' I said, trying not to show my excitement at seeing him. I stood nervously in the doorway, not sure what to do with my hands except fidget.

‘Why wouldn't I want to use any opportunity to see you again? This is your best friend's house isn't it?' His eyes were mocking me.

Still enchanted. ‘Yeah. But how did you know?'

‘I have my sources. As luck has it, you have a loudmouth at your school. She invited our whole class,' he laughed, and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

‘She does have a habit of opening it too often,' I agreed, ‘But you are more than welcome, if you think you will like it here.'

‘Don't be humble, Daisy. I can imagine you've set up an awesome gig. You can hear the music from down the street. You should have told me about this yesterday afternoon. Why didn't you walk home with me? Did I bore you that much in the morning?' he teased.

‘No,' I gasped, mind racing.

‘Then you could have called me?' His frown was unsteadying.

‘I kind of lost your number …' I stammered.

‘ “Lost”, hey,' he murmured.

‘I had to visit a friend. He needed my help,' I said too quickly.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh. Do I have competition already?'

‘Do you what?'

‘Aren't you going to show me around?'

He brushed past my arm even though there was plenty of room for both of us in the doorway. When I didn't immediately follow, he turned around and grabbed my arm. Dragging me through the house like he owned it, he addressed each room as if he was the one showing me through the house for the first time.

‘This is the lounge room where we watch DVDs on our flat screen and eat crazy amounts of junk food on these plush, white, leather lounges. The floor boards are perfect for sliding around in socks in the middle of the night.' He ran upstairs and stuck his head in each room and added his spiel about the furniture and its usefulness.

We came to a smaller room, less decorated and personalised, at the end of the hallway. The guest room; typically my room when I stayed at Rach's, was cute and sweet.

‘And over here, dear visitor, is one of the many spare rooms in our fancy house. Won't you come inside?' He swept his arm out to usher me inside the dark spare room.

I hesitated; I wasn't sure exactly how much to play this game. As it turned out, I didn't have to.

Quick as a flash, he pulled me round the corner and pushed me against the cold wall. ‘There's something I've been meaning to do,' he said, and leant in to kiss me. I froze. It was a soft kiss, warm. His lips were full, and the sweetness of his breath made my head spin.

His gesture surprised me; not because I didn't want it; I honestly didn't see it coming. His intentions were never clear-cut. My body soon fell into step after my initial surprise.

When I could take a breath, I murmured, ‘What's this about?' and smiled shyly at him.

He chuckled softly. ‘Sorry, won't happen again.'

And he kissed me again, this time more firm and searching. I felt the muscles in his back tense as I touched them through his shirt; it only made him kiss me more. My stomach was fluttering so much I felt nauseous. Up until now I hadn't felt this sort of attraction to any guy I'd kissed. I barely knew him, but his power over me so early was a little terrifying.

‘And what was that one about?' I demanded when he let me speak again.

‘It must be this room; it has aphrodisiacs all around it. Look, can't you see them?' He spun around the room pointing at the ceiling.

‘Maybe if I was on something …' I mumbled to myself.

‘Oi, I heard that. Take it back,' he demanded playfully.

‘No,' I said softly.

His eyes twinkled in the darkness, our only light shining from a distance in the hallway.

‘You are very cheeky, young lady,' he said in a low voice.

‘Ahh, but you knew that before you kissed me. So technically, you are the fool,' I bantered back.

‘So I am,' he nodded. ‘The fool who finds you completely irresistible, as a matter of fact.'