Silence (14 page)

Jasper knelt down in front of me and leered towards someone. I thought he had gone out for the evening.

“The blonde girl over there.”

He gestured towards Jennifer from my class, the girl he’d just been
letching at. She was talking to her friends by the kitchen door.

“She over sixteen?” I nodded, confused. Jasper rubbed his hands together. “Fair game then,” he joked.

Suddenly I caught sight of Julian, dancing with Lizzie. I noticed how he moved her closer to where we were sitting, so they ended up right in front of us. I didn’t know how Lizzie could touch him. I would rather die than get that close to him.

With a sick feeling in my stomach, I turned back to Cole and our friends.

“She’s not pregnant, she’s just put weight on,” Kerry announced, looking at someone in the room.
Okay, what have I missed?

I walked upstairs to go to the bathroom. After six cups of punch, my bladder felt like it was going to burst. Just as I was about to open the door, I heard someone giggle from inside my room.
Oh, heck no!
Did I want to go in there? No, but I didn’t want whoever was in there to do whatever they were going to do in there either.

Maybe I should go get Cole to do it. No, I relied on him way too much already. Pushing the door open quickly, with the thought that ripping the plaster off was always the better option, my stomach turned.

Lizzie and Julian were lying on
my
bed, all over each other, and now I was going to have to burn the sheets. Lizzie gasped and looked up at me shocked as if it wasn’t my room! What on earth was wrong with her? Glaring at her furiously, I pointed to the door. Lizzie immediately ran out, sneering at me as she shot past me.
Sorry I stopped you making a huge mistake with a complete jerk…

“Well, well, well. Looks like we’re alone now, huh,” Julian sang. I stood my ground as he slowly moved off my bed and took one step towards me.
Don’t let him intimidate you.
Straightening my back to try to make myself appear taller, I stared him in the eye.

He stopped a couple inches in front of me and my stomach tightened. What was he going to do? Everything inside me was screaming to run away, but I refused to do that.

“Sorry you had to see that. She wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

I stared at him blankly. I couldn’t really care less what he did with Lizzie. I just didn’t want it in my room, or my house for that matter.

He cocked his head to the side. The way he was looking at me was as if he was trying to solve an A level maths problem or something.

“Stop playing hard to get, Oakley” he finally said and took another step closer. Playing hard to get? What did that even mean? I wasn’t playing anything.

“You think I don’t see how you look at me?”

My jaw dropped open in shock.
He’s drunk. That’s the only explanation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he growled. “I’ve had two years of you ignoring me and pretending you don’t give a shit! I have to fucking insult you just to get you to acknowledge me,” he shouted, stepping forward one more time. He was so close now.
Far too close.

Adrenaline was pulsing through my veins as his arms reached out to touch me. All I could think about was stopping him.
his arms stretched nearer, I balled my hand into a fist and punched him as hard as I could. We both stumbled back in shock.
Oh God.
The sound – like a thud – rang through my ears. Julian’s hand shot to his mouth, and he groaned in pain. My hand immediately started throbbing. I shook my hand and winced. Punching someone didn’t look like it hurt in the movies.

Julian stood up straight and looked at me. His eyes were tight with anger. Blood started to seep through a small slit on his lip. I did that!

“Stop being such a bitch,” he spat. I took a step backwards, and very slowly turned and walked out of my room. I half expected him to follow me, but he didn’t. Taking the stairs two at a time, I flew to the bottom.

“Whoa,” Cole cried as I slammed into him. “You okay?”

Yes, actually.
Cole glared, and I spun around to see at what. Julian was standing at the top of the stairs. He turned and walked off when he saw Cole. 

“What happened? Was he bleeding?”

I smiled and held my slightly swollen hand up. Cole’s jaw dropped, and eyes widened.

“Did
you
punch him?” I nodded, and watched his face slowly turn from shock to pride. “You’re amazing,” he said and stroked my sore hand gently. “But you need to get that seen to.” Shaking his head he guided me to the downstairs bathroom.

After Cole made me keep my hand under cold water for a few minutes it was starting to feel better, but that could just because it was turning numb! He kissed my temple and then wrapped my hand in a towel to dry it. “Let’s go get you a couple pills for the pain.” I threw the towel in the washing basket and reached for the door handle.

Cole grabbed my good hand and spun me around. “Have I told you how beautiful you look in that dress?” he whispered. Blushing, I reached up and kissed his lips.

He made me sit back down with Kerry and Ben while he went to get me some pills. Julian still hadn’t left like I thought he would. Why would he stay? He leant against the living room door as Lizzie pressed her body against his seductively.

“Here you go.” Cole handed me two paracetamol and a glass of water, which I downed gratefully, and hoped the throbbing pain would go away soon..

“So,” Cole said a little nervously and scratched his jaw. “You
wanna dance?”
Finally!
I nodded my head and grabbed his hand. We didn’t move very far from the sofa. Just enough so we were at the edge of the imaginary dance floor.

When I was in Cole’s arms, the party didn’t seem that bad at all. Nothing did.
This is going to end badly
, a nagging little voice in the back of my head said. Pushing away my inner worries, I stepped closer to him, but still kept a reasonable distance to avoid arousing anyone’s suspicions.

We continued dancing, changing our rhythm to match the song but always fitting with each other. A few times, I noticed Julian watching us, but I tried to ignore him. He was just trying to intimidate me. I was tired of being intimidated and scared. The only thing I cared about was the way Cole was looking at me, with so much love and adoration in his eyes.

Just as thought I could start properly relaxing and actually enjoy the party, the music was cut, and Mum tapped a microphone. My stomach dropped. She was going to make a speech.

Chapter Fourteen

Cole

I felt her body stiffen under my arms as Sarah stopped the music. Surely, she knew all that fuss wasn’t her thing? Why the hell were they drawing more attention to her? She pressed her side into my chest, looking so uncomfortable that I just wanted to grab her and run.

“Hello everyone,” Sarah said cheerfully, and smiled at Oakley, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was
hating this. “Sorry to interrupt but I’ll only keep you for a few minutes. I just want to say a few words about my beautiful daughter.” Oakley cringed and shrank back into me, so she was half-hidden.

I was pissed off with Sarah. Throughout the whole speech, Oakley stared at the floor uncomfortably, not daring to look at anyone, not even me. The things Sarah said about her were nice and all, but she really didn’t need that stress on top of a huge party.

“So, please say a very big happy sweet sixteen to Oakley. Happy birthday, honey,” Sarah cheered, raising her glass. The crowd joined in, with the exception of me, Kerry and Ben, who seemed to know her a shit load more than her own family.

“You okay?” I asked her, as soon as her Sarah handed the microphone back to the DJ. She nodded, still looking at the floor. Her cheeks flushed a deep pink in embarrassment. I groaned and grabbed her hand, pulling her through the kitchen and out to the back garden. Thankfully, we were alone.

“Sorry. You hated that, right?” I stroked her cheek, and she smiled. Finally, she looked up at me and nodded, biting on her lip. My pulse raced at the loving way she was looking at me. “Wanna sit out here for a while?” She didn’t answer me but did sit down on the bench beside the fence, so I knew it was a yes.

We stayed outside for a bit and tried to decide on the best way of telling everyone about us. It took me a while to realise that we were both playing with each other’s fingers as I came up with ideas and she dismissed them. How could something be so natural? It was as if she was made for me.

I turned her slightly swollen hand over to get a better look at it. Oakley had never hit anyone before in her life, well apart from me, but that was playfully. I was actually extremely proud of her for sticking up for herself, and the fact that it was Julian was just a bonus. We were going to need to talk about her punching technique though…

“What did Julian do? Did he try kissing you again?”

She looked a little taken back at my timing, but not surprised that I asked the question.

“Oakley?” I prompted. She sighed and half-nodded her head but looked a little unsure. What did that mean? He wanted to? He came on to her but didn’t try kissing her? I gritted my teeth together.
What the hell is wrong with him?

“Sorry,” I said a little sheepishly. “No fighting. I promise. Think I’ll leave that up to you now anyway! You okay to go back inside now?” I rubbed her arms, feeling the bumps on her arms from the cool air.

As soon as we got back into the lounge, I noticed Julian. He smirked and grabbed the microphone. I tensed. Shit.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he slurred. How did he get that drunk? Max and Dad were supposed to be checking everyone’s drinks… “I would also like to say something about the birthday girl. Firstly, she isn’t as sweet and innocent as you all think.”

He waved his arm around, spilling his drink of the floor.

“She’s a real little tease, gets you all worked up then runs away, hey Oakley?” he shouted, with a lopsided smile.

Oakley backed up. Tears filled her eyes, and she ran to the stairs. My blood was boiling. Not only did she not want this party, but also one of the dickhead guests had just embarrassed her in front of everyone.

“Secondly, she’s screwing her so called ‘best friend’.”

I froze and looked at Oakley. She was standing deathly still on the stairs. I started to feel sick. Max had grabbed Julian by his shirt and thrown him roughly out of their now open front door.

“Stay the hell away from my daughter,” he bellowed after Julian.

As he slammed the door, an eerily silence fell upon the room. Sarah finally broke it seconds later.

“Is that true?”

Oakley looked so scared. I wanted to wrap me arms around her and proudly tell everyone that we were together, but deny that anything physical had happened. We really didn’t need the whole world knowing we’d slept together. That was private. The look on her face stopped me admitting anything though.

“No, it’s not true,” I stated confidently. Oakley let out a deep breath as soon as I denied it. “Why would he say that then?” Max asked, raising his eyebrows.

“’Cause he’s a
psycho
!” Jasper shouted psycho towards the door where Max threw Julian out. “He’s the one that’s been giving her a hard time. Me and Cole have punched him a few times,” he said, with a shrug and a proud smile.

Sarah sighed
, her shoulder sagged in disappointment.

“I think it’s time everyone left.”

It was an order, and one that everyone obeyed. The whispering stopped as people gathered their things to leave.

Max stepped forward and switched the main light on.

“Thank you for coming everyone but the party’s over,” he said loudly, looking around the room as everyone filtered out.

Jasper was standing by the door, saying bye to everyone in several different languages and giving some girls his card. Yes, he had business cards. The idiot didn’t even have a job.

My parents stayed back. Oakley came downstairs and stood middle of the lounge with me.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Sarah asked her and brushed her hair out of her face. Oakley nodded but didn’t smile. Her jaw was tight, and I could tell that she was angry with Sarah for making her have the party in the first place. So was I. Everyone would be gossiping about it for ages. It was only going to make it harder for her when we had to go back to school.

“Why don’t you two go upstairs and watch a movie or something? We’ll sort everything out down here,” Max suggested and ushered us towards the stairs. Wow, he really did believe nothing happened, or he would never have let us go upstairs on our own.

“That went well,” I said sarcastically as we both flopped down on her bed. She ran her hands through her hair, fighting a smile. “So...” I wasn’t actually sure what I wanted to say, or how to word it. “You really didn’t want them to know?”

She shook her head. “Is that because of the way they would have found out?” I asked nervously, biting the inside of my mouth in anticipation. She lay down and stretched out. A nod gave me her answer.

“Okay. Good. You know it’s
gonna be harder to tell them now though. They’re gonna know we lied.” I frowned as I thought about how we were going to deal with this now. We came out of one awkward situation and were thrown straight into another one.

Oakley sighed and laid her head on my chest, playing with the buttons on my shirt. I tried to focus on the latest problem, and not how my body was reacting to her touching me. So I wouldn’t pounce on her I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on for a distraction.

“I think we should still tell them on Tuesday.” She did something I didn’t think she would. She nodded in agreement. I smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Okay, Tuesday we’ll tell them we’re together, but nothing’s happened?”

She nodded again, a little more enthusiastically. I knew she wouldn’t want to tell them the details of our relationship anyway. I hoped that everyone would take it well.

“Can I give you your present now? It’s after midnight.”

She sat straight up, making me jump at how fast she’d moved. Her huge smiled lit up her eyes. Her smile was infectious. I chuckled and reached for the bag that I had left in her room earlier.

I passed her the yellow gift bag and laughed at her bouncing up and down on the mattress.

“Happy Birthday,” I said, and kissed her lips. She grinned and reached into the bag, pulling out the card.

“So, what’s going on in here then?” Jasper asked, walking into her room without knocking. “You can’t open them now!” he screeched like a thirteen-year-old girl.

“Jasper, shut up! Technically it’s her birthday now,” I said, pointing to the clock.

Jasper ran over to her, grabbing her in a big bear hug. Oakley made a ‘help me!’ face and pushed him away.

“Happy Birthday, baby sis!
Oww, you’re so grown up now. I can still remember when you were all little and carried that little blanket around everywhere with you,” he cooed, probably trying to embarrass her, but she just pointed to the door.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go. I’ll let you two get back to
unwrapping presents
,” he said, doing those air quotes and winking.

Oakley shook her head and pulled the card out of the envelope. She smiled and kissed me before putting the card on her bedside table and reaching into the bag again. I watched a little frown appear on her face as she pulled out another birthday card.

“Just open it,” I said, gesturing towards the card. She practically pounced on me when she opened it. I laughed and hugged her back. Well at least I knew she liked it! I had bought her two cards, a normal one that I would usually buy her, and another one with ‘girlfriend’ on it.

“I really wanted to get you a proper card, but I knew you couldn’t just put it up with the rest, so I got two,” I said.

After a few more minutes, I pulled away while I still had some self-control left. We couldn’t risk Jasper walking in again, which was likely.

“You need to open the presents,” I whispered. I’d bought her all of her favourite things. A ‘Me to You’ teddy bear, the kind she collects,
Haribo sweets, chocolate buttons, some biography of a gymnast she was looking at when we were shopping. A crazy bright purple nail polish that she liked, and that made me look like an idiot when I bought it. And finally, a white gold necklace with a little heart pendant and a diamond set into it.

I got a little nervous as she opened the necklace. What if she didn’t like it? I could always take it back, and we could change it for something else if she didn’t. She gasped as she opened the box, her eyes filling with tears. At first, I was scared that she hated it until that beautiful little smile crept over her face.
Thank God she likes it
, I though, sighing in relief.

She pulled it out of the box and ran her hand over the heart, smiling at it lovingly. Finally, she looked up at me and moved the bag of presents to the side as she shuffled forward. We sat an inch away from each other, neither of us moved, and I didn’t say a word. It was strange how total silence could mean so much.

After a minute, she intertwined our fingers and kissed me. I had a hard time breathing when we kissed.

“You like it then?” I whispered, smiling at her rosy pink cheeks. She nodded, kissing me again as thanks for her presents.

Once she had finished looking at her gifts for the tenth time, we decided to put a movie on. About halfway through, I felt her head getting heavier on my chest. She was falling asleep. I wasn’t going to move her until I had to, so I stayed still and watched the rest of the movie, even though I was totally lost.

“She’s a lightweight.” I jumped a little at Max’s voice. Looking up, I saw him leaning against the doorframe, smiling at Oakley.

“Yeah, I know!”

“So, about tonight.” He started, walking over to her desk and sitting on her computer chair. “You would tell me if anything has happened between you two, wouldn’t you?”

Oakley would freak if I said anything, and there was no way I wanted to tell my girlfriend’s dad that we’d had sex…

I nodded, feeling crappy for lying to him.

“Nothing has.”

I didn’t like lying, especially to her parents. I didn’t want to lose the trust they had in me when it came to her. Oakley came first though, and she didn’t want to say anything just yet.

“Okay. Wake her up before you leave, she won’t want to sleep in her dress,” he instructed and walked out. The fact that he believed me so easily made me feel worse, but we needed to do this right.

“Oakley,” I whispered, stroking her hair once the film finished. She shook her head and threw her arm over my lap, not wanting to move. The odds of her parents letting me sleep here were not great, especially after tonight, so, as much as I didn’t want to, I had to go home.

I gently rolled her onto her back and tried not to laugh as she frowned.

“Do you want your pyjamas?”

She shook her head and then nodded. What was that supposed to mean?

“Oakley, which one?” She shook her head again and buried her head in the pillow, ignoring me. Okay, that was a no. I kissed the side of her head.

“Night, baby,” I whispered against her hair. She smiled sleepily.

Mum and Dad had already left by the time I got downstairs, so I said goodbye to Oakley’s parents and Jasper – who was currently eating the chocolate out of the fountain with a ladle – and went home. As soon as I got to my room, I stripped and climbed into bed and texted Oakley. I knew I wouldn’t get a reply, but I always sent the message, and I always would.