Miss Braxton: Home and Away Fanfic

Chapter 13

Mid-morning rolled on into a sunny, sultry day, best spent by the sea. Brody and I squandered a couple of serene, untroubled hours on the beach together, remarkably getting along. Though I sometimes came close and was really tempted to, I managed to not kill him, which, in my opinion, was a good start to our temporary alliance. As unbelievable as it was, I might even go as far as to say that we were both enjoying each other's company. I was an intriguing diversion from school to him. Meanwhile, he stopped me from stewing over the morning's unpleasant events by being a source of entertainment.

After a lot of pestering, I surrendered into revealing my life story to the River Boy. Amazingly, I felt as though I could tell him since he was actually a really good listener when he wasn't going out of his way to tease me or make me smile and laugh, which he did on numerous occasions. I told Brody a bit about my background without going into too much detail about how drab and miserable my life used to be back in Melbourne. In return, he told me a little about his. Brody came from Mangrove River, where he was mainly raised by his mother. He didn't know what had happened to his father exactly, but his mum had implied that he'd run out on them. When Brody was just a kid, his mum met someone else called Adrian and had two more sons with the ex-crim. They were both Brody's younger half-brothers, Lee and Dale. Unfortunately, Adrian was a drug dealer who got busted and sent to prison, so ultimately, it had been up to Brody to pick up the pieces and look out for his family, since he was the eldest. Recently, his mum had started seeing another man and was now pregnant with child number four. His life story and family were pretty much as bad and messed up as mine. Which was definitely saying something.

"Ah. So we've both had great, straight-forward, lucky lives then, eh?" I remarked wryly when he'd finished telling me about his background. The two of us were walking side by side down the beach, our feet sinking in the sand.

"Yup. Looks like it." Brody sighed. "What more can you expect from two family's that come from Mangrove River?"

"Good point." I commended.

"So, we've talked about almost everything." Brody said, rubbing his hands together. "But I still have one more question for you."

"Yeah? What's that?" I asked.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

I nearly choked on my tongue. "Wow. Could you be much more forward if you tried?"

"I'm great like that." Brody winked. "So, do you?"

Grinning, I narrowed my eyes. "Why are you asking?"

"Wondering if there's anyone I need to scare off before I make my move on you." Brody said seriously. I stared at him in astonishment, under the impression that he was being totally sincere up until I caught the spark in his teasing eyes. "Easy, Braxton. No need to freak out. I'm just messing with you and making conversation."

"Right." I nodded, shaking off the stunned expression of disbelief on my face. "Not that it's any of your business, but no. I'm not with anyone at the moment."

"At the moment?" Brody repeated with lighted interest. "So there was someone in the city?"

For half a second, I hesitated. For some bizarre reason an image of Flynn flashed into my mind. I relived a distinct memory that I'd thought about often before; it was a moment when my best friend and I had scaled one of the city buildings and somehow successfully snuck into a posh VIP party that was being held on the roof. Flynn and I dabbled in free-running and parkour, so climbing walls and ascending fire stairs was as easy as breathing. The invited-access-only party was full of trays of delicious refreshments unlike anything I'd tasted before (I stuffed my purse full to the brim so that I'd have something to put in the empty fridge at home) and strings of pretty fairy lights and easy-going music. Flynn found a secluded little seating area where comfortable cushions and bean bags had been placed over the soft fur spread on the floor, with candles dotted all around it. It had been decorated like a scene out of a cheesy, expensive, romance film. Flynn and I laid out over the cosy pillows and drank the free champagne they'd been handing out until we were dizzy and stuffed ourselves with the finger food appetisers, watching as the sun sunk over the Melbourne skyline and laughing at our good luck. At the end of the night, Flynn had leaned forwards and he'd kissed me. It was one of the first and last times that had ever happened. Every time I revisited the memory, I could vividly remember the unforgettable touch of his warm, soft lips on mine and the tingling taste of citrus sweet lemon that they'd left lingering behind, imprinted like a tattoo onto my mind and heart. That night, I had gone over it again and again. Two days later, I left for Summer Bay.