Sure, I knew where he worked but I couldn’t exactly rock up at the swimming baths with my hands all bandaged up. They stung like hell at the mere thought of chlorine. If I turned up and asked for him without some kind of brilliant excuse, it would either make me look desperate or veer dangerously towards ‘friendship’ territory. No, it was up to Zac to make contact if he wanted to stay in touch.
Unfortunately.
One silver lining of the whole ordeal was that it gave me the ideal excuse to miss work. No way could I carry hot plates around, nor clear tables and I definitely couldn’t polish cutlery, so instead of having to beg for unplanned holiday to look after Charlie, I simply called in sick. A good thing too, it transpired. Mum called and informed me they’d be away an extra night, having been invited to another function.
She didn’t check it with me first, she just stated their plans and then left me to deal with the ramifications but I was used to it. Charlie didn’t seem to care either and I had a fabulous time chilling out at home with my favourite man.
Normal routine resumed within a few days, with Mum and Derek home from their trip and me back at work.
In a bid to lie low, I spent more and more time out of the house to avoid another run-in with Mum forever. On the morning of Hallowe’en, I found Mum waiting for me at the breakfast table and my good mood evaporated.
‘Didn’t you go to college with her?’ Mum tossed me a newspaper with a huge picture of Caroline smiling up at me.
I cast the paper aside. ‘Yes, I did.’
‘She’s pretty,’ Mum said, shoving the paper back under my nose.
I shrugged. ‘I guess.’
‘And smart too.’
Intrigued, I skimmed over the article and saw that Caroline had won a maths tournament. With me out of the way, she’d finally claimed my top spot. Whoopie-do. ‘Whatever.’
‘Why can’t you be more like her?’ Mum glared at me with her gaze set to maim or immobilise.
‘More like Caroline? Seriously?’ I shoved the newspaper back at Mum and watched it fall to the floor. ‘Why the hell would I want to be like that two-faced bitch?’
‘She’s going places, I can see it her eyes.’
‘And I’m not, I suppose?’ Caroline’s perfect profile mocked me from afar and I could just hear her whiny laugh.
‘Oh, Alice, just look at yourself.’ Mum dragged her gaze over me.
‘Why?’ I fought the instinct to shrink back against my seat and forced myself to sit up taller. ‘What’s wrong with the way I look? With me?’
‘Your underwear is supposed to be covered by your clothes, not an accessory. Your skirt is so short you might as well not bother wearing it.’ Mum’s lip curled into a sneer. ‘Perhaps the more pertinent question is “what’s right with you?”’
‘Fine. Whatever.’ My shoulders slumped and I dug my nails into my hand to quell the threat of tears. I couldn’t do much about Mum, god knows I’d tried, but I could wipe the smug grin off Caroline’s face. If revenge was indeed a dish best served cold, I was ready to eat the whole damn dish frozen, and the sooner the better before my conscience talked me out of it.
Dumped
Zac
Zac jogged on the spot at the entrance to the park, torn between whether to head home or keep running. Rain pelted his face, getting clogged in his eyebrows before dripping off the end of his nose, yet the miserable weather seemed fitting. The portentous grey skies suited his gloomy state of mind. Decision made, he set off for an extra loop around the park to try and run off his bad mood.
Some birthday this is turning out to be.
The blame for his grump lay squarely on his own shoulders and served him right for getting ahead of himself. More fool him for thinking his relationship with Lena had been going great and making plans on the assumption they’d still be together on his birthday. Instead he’d been caught out by the ‘it’s over but it’s not you, it’s me’ line and Lena had been long gone for weeks.
Romantically at least.
If he’d ever had her to begin with. Zac couldn’t be certain of that any more either, not when he’d lost out to another guy who didn’t even want her as anything more than a friend—the idiot—but why hadn’t he spotted the signs? Perhaps because there weren’t any, what with Lena living in a state of denial right to the end. Now he was saddled with two tickets for a jazz night and no one to go with any more.
Zac upped his pace and ran on, heading deeper into the park with nothing but the sound of his footsteps for company. He’d only bought the tickets in the first place to introduce Lena to the world of jazz and blues. A few more weeks and he might have invited the still-single Lena along anyway, but time had run out and he hadn’t quite reached the ‘let’s be friends’ level of acceptance yet.
The wind changed direction and brought an easterly gale whipping across the flat terrain of the park. Each gust swirled up the last remaining leaves from the ground and plastered them onto his legs. Beyond the canopy of bare trees, the sky darkened, more like dusk than day. Heavier rain soon followed, driving against his cheeks and lashing his eyes until they stung.
This is madness.
Running in rain and drizzle was one thing but this was monsoon weather, together with an icy chill that threatened hail. If he didn’t take cover soon he’d land himself in the hospital with pneumonia, which would at least bag him some ‘get well soon’ cards and maybe some more gifts to add to his birthday haul, however it still didn’t hold much appeal.
Too far from home to turn back, his best bet was to head to the pool where he could at least dry off and put on the spare clothes he kept in his locker. Zac changed course and followed the track that led towards the recreation centre, taking him beneath the denser trees. They offered little in the way of shelter and did nothing more than drop water bombs on him. His new route took him past the foot of the massive oak tree.
The memory of the girl hanging upside down from its branches burst unbidden into his mind and put an unexpected spring in his step.
Alice.
Now there was a girl with a sharp tongue. The banter had been exhilarating even when she’d been clinging onto the branch and scared out of her wits. For her to be up the damn tree in the first place revealed a fun, risk-taking personality. Back on terra firma she’d acted like two different people: the shy one Charlie got to hang out with and the brash one she clearly presented to everybody else.
But why?
Based on first impressions, Alice could definitely stand her ground so that wasn’t the problem. Money was clearly no object either, judging from her swanky mansion, her flashy car and her home gym. She had everything she could possibly wish for, yet instead of coming across as a spoilt little rich girl she seemed deeply unhappy. Disturbed, even. Why was she living with her sister anyway? Where were her parents?
Alice was a puzzle and the longer Zac spent in her presence, the more he wanted to know what she was hiding, and he had no doubt that she’d been hiding something. Bold and brash on the surface, she remained guarded and aloof underneath. She cloaked her emotions and never let anybody else see that she had a vulnerable side.
Any mention of her home life and the shutters