No Problem

Chapter 19

                 

"Thank you for letting me know," The sarcasm in my dad's voice was stronger than his welsh accent. I sat at the top of the stairs, twisting a piece of my long, blonde hair around my finger over and over again, trying to listen in to another one of my parents' arguments.

"Keep your voice down, I don't want to upset Kadie." Mum whispered so loudly she might as well have spoken at normal volume. "It was a last minute thing. It's been really busy at work at the moment, and they asked me to take the night shift."

"But why didn't you call me?" Dad persisted, his voice desperate with emotion. "I've been worried sick all night! I didn't know what I was supposed to tell Kadie."

The kitchen door opened, and I quickly scrambled, behind the side of the wall in the hallway, out of view from the staircase. It was like I was playing some war game, hiding from the enemy. "Are you honestly telling me you didn't have any time to call, at all?" Dad emphasized. I peered around the wall and saw that he was following mum into the living room. She put the TV on, turning the volume up to try and drown out dad's questions.

Then dad yelled. He cursed at her and was ready to storm out, when mum yelled back.

I leaned against the barrier between my parents and I, and hugged my knees in close, resting my head on top. I was only 10, and had no siblings for company, so I just let the tears dribble down my cheeks, and put my hands over my ears to shut out the fight.

"Jay?" The American voice flooded the entire cabin and my senses came promptly back. I glared at the guy holding me close, and he soon released his grip. "Jay, honey, I thought we were going back to my place. Jay? Are you here?"

Madison.

I shuffled away from him, my eyes as wide open as my mouth was. His cheeks went bright pink as he slowly got up, not daring to lose eye contact with me, and opened the door. "Jay!" The angel's voice was sprinkled with delight as she hugged him from behind. He still couldn't look away from me.

Madison hadn't noticed me, and that was becoming more and more clear as she began kissing his neck. He didn't flinch, or move at all for that matter. "Come on, Jay, you were in the mood a minute ago- Oh, Kadie, what a... pleasant surprise."

"Maddi, do you mind leaving us alone for a minute?" Jay asked her timidly, his eyes were practically chained to my face, as he still didn't look away.

"Um..."

"No, Maddi, it's okay, I'll go. You'll probably want the place to yourself now, won't you?" I shook my head at Jay, but stood up confidently: my posture open, and, my strides long. I shoved passed the two of them, ignoring Jay's pleading for me to stay.

As I smacked open the front door to the cabin, out of the corner of my eye I saw Liliana, Scott, Mitchell and Sinead sat on the huge log that Jay and I had sat on when we first had a proper conversation.

I didn't stop to talk to any of them, I just carried on walking purposefully into the woods, because walking, or running, seem to be my only solution for these things.

I could hear Mitchell's footsteps jogging to catch me up, but I didn't even hesitate, I had nothing to say to any of them.

"Kadie!" Mitchell called after me. Without realising, I had started sprinting and it was only when I popped myself down onto the hot sand, that I realised I was still in my pajamas.

Mitchell sat down next me. He didn't say anything. He just sat next to me and picked up a smooth pebble. Although the beach was sandy, the odd pebble hid itself in the sand like eggs are hidden in bushes during Easter. He turned the grey pebble over in his hand a couple of times, smoothing his thumb over it. The next thing I knew, the pebble was no longer between his fingertips, but was hopping along the surface of the water quicker than a frog.

He carefully twiddled another one between his fingers, and passed it over to me. I looked at his perfectly proportioned face, and took it gratefully.  I didn't waste any time, as soon as the positioning between my fingers was correct the pebble took flight and did two hops before safely descending into the depths of the ocean, a thought that wasn't quite as scary as when I had first arrived.

"Jay's not going to sleep with her, you know."

"I wish everything wasn't about Jay and I. We're not a couple, I don't care what he does with her. End of conversation." I picked up my own pebble this time, and threw it with a lot more force, unfortunately, when it comes to the art of pebble throwing, force is not a good technique, and my pebble plopped straight down into the shore.

Mitchell nodded, but didn't give up, "He was pretty annoyed when you didn't even say one word after your nearly-kiss. You hurt him. After we had breakfast he was pretty worked up and obviously went to see Madison. I was waiting outside the cabin with Sinead and we saw them walking together holding hands, Liliana ran out straight away and dragged Jay inside to see you."

"Liliana 'dragged' him, did she? Oh, I'm glad that he went willingly."

"I don't think Mitchell is telling the whole story actually." The deep, warm voice tickled my ears. "Liliana dragged me into the cabin, told me what was going on, and then I came to see you; very willingly. In fact, one could say, rather urgently."

Mitchell got up to leave, but I reached for his hand and pulled him back down. I didn't want to look at Jay, so I kept my eyes firmly set on the wide ocean, which surrounded our island.

"I'm sorry, Kadie. Nothing happened between Maddi and I – I swear. My go-to way of dealing with my emotions is to hook up with people; I still haven't broken that habit yet. Even if we had gone back to her place – nothing would've happened. I wouldn't have been able to go through with it. It doesn't matter how mad I am at you, I like you too much to ever hurt you."

That was all I needed.

The last line he said meant more to me than anyone could ever imagine. I had witnessed hurt too many times in my life out of anger: mum cheating on dad, Robert hurting me because I disobeyed him, and the awful way I treated Lance, leaving Liliana for a year, and the fight between Michael and I just a day before.

So, as soon as the wind picked up the words and delivered them to my ears, I leaped up from my stationary position on the sand and pressed my lips against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, one hand tangled into his hair, and his arms stayed at my lower back supportively.

I could hear Mitchell whooping with delight and flopping down into the sand and shouting: "Finally!"

The patters of my friends' feet came into ear shot too, as Scott, Liliana, and Sinead all whooped down onto the beach, joining Mitchell in celebration.

Jay and I finally broke apart, and I let my head flop into his chest, it rose and fell faster than usual – catching his breath back, but the beat of his heart stayed steady and rhythmic.

Then I stepped away from him. "I don't want to keep you in the dark anymore. I think I can finally tell you what happened." He didn't need any more clarification: he knew what I meant. So he lifted me up and carried me back to the cabin.