You head back into the living room, where Marlon is asleep on the couch. His face is still littered with bruises and cuts, his ribs covered in blotches of blue and black, but at least Poppy managed to clean up some of the blood.
She's kneeling on the floor next to him, resting her arms on the edge of the couch and her head on top. She looks tired, the effects of the alcohol wearing off at last.
"I think Bodhi and Wren have gone home," you say, not that she really needs that information – you just wanted to let her know you were in the room without scaring her.
"And the others?" she asks, her eyes not turning in your direction.
"Baxter's..." you trail off, not actually aware where Bax is. "...somewhere," you continue. "And Ari's in the kitchen," you say, sitting down next to her. She does nothing but nod slightly at the information. "Y'know you should really get some sleep too, Pops."
"I won't be able to sleep tonight," she replies slowly. "Not after seeing that," she murmurs, and you can't help but wonder what on earth went wrong tonight. What were Griff and Marlon even fighting about? You spare a glance at your injured brother, lying limp in front of you as his chest moves with laboured breaths.
"What happened?" you ask cautiously. "Between him and Griff?"
"I don't know," she says, a quiet sob escaping her lips. "We were out on the road, me and Mars, just talking, and then Griff came out," she pauses, as if trying to find the words. "One minute they were just talking, y'know like Griff and Marlon do when they're just insulting each other or whatever - I didn't hear what was said, I just turned around when I heard them hit the ground, fighting."
You know from experience that it doesn't take a lot to get Marlon riled up, but Griff must have said something pretty bad for it to end this badly.
"At least you saved me from Bodhi." you mutter, and Poppy narrows her eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"We...kind of had an argument." I say tentatively, realising how badly this whole night went.
"Don't take it personally. She's been acting so weird recently." Poppy responds, leaning back against the coffee table.
"Ever since Wren appeared." you mutter.
"Yep. And, by the way," Poppy says, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "I don't think Bodhi was the thing I pulled you away from earlier."
You narrow your eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I may have seen you and Baxter-"
You roll your eyes. "Seriously?"
"First Ari and now Baxter?" Poppy says incredulously, smiling widely now.
"Yeah, c'mon Y/n, save some for the rest of us!" Summer appears in the doorway, leaning in the threshold. "Although, from what I've heard, she's not the only one getting some action." Summer says with a laugh, and Poppy stands up immediately, grabbing your arms and dragging you towards the door, which she pulls shut carefully with the three of you on the other side.
"Woah, calm down, Poppy," Summer says. "Basically everyone knows you and Marlon are a thing now."
"We're not a thing," she replies. "We just..."
"Just what?" you reply.
"We just went longboarding this morning." she shrugs like it's nothing. Which it is definitely not. Marlon would never just randomly go longboarding. He's not the best at it, and so he'd never do it unless he was going for another reason...
You're not sure how to feel about Marlon and Poppy being together - it seems like he's only just moved on from Bodhi- "Hey, Pops, do you have any idea why he's been staying at Ari's?" You surprise yourself by your sudden outburst, but if Marlon and Poppy are a couple now, maybe he's spoken to her about it?
She narrows her eyes. "No? I didn't know he had been."
You just shrug, not wanting to go into detail right now. "Guys, you can go home, y'know. It's late. I'll be fine."
"Are you kidding?" Summer replies. "We're not leaving you and Brazil alone here!"
"Where are the boys?" Poppy asks, and Summer throws an absent hand over her shoulder.
"Out there somewhere. Probably standing around not talking to each other," she replies, raising one eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Ari's mad that Y/n made out with Bax," Summer replies casually, and I shove her in the arm.
"Summer, he has a girlfriend."
"So? He can still be totally jealous." She shrugs. "And he most definitely was."
________________
You spend the rest of the night camped out in the living room, and you must fall asleep at some point in the night, for when you next open your eyes light is shining in from the gap in the curtains.
You sit up and find the room empty, Marlon gone from his spot on the couch and Summer and Poppy nowhere in sight.
A laugh floats in from the kitchen, and you rub at your eyes to clear them as you stand, your head pounding.
You squint at the light pouring into the kitchen from the large bay windows, and see Poppy and Marlon sitting opposite each other at the table, Summer making herself a coffee at the counter top.
Your brother looks much better than he did last night as he laughs at something Summer says, although there's still bruises marring his skin, and his eyelids are drooping slightly.
"Good morning," Summer smiles wryly as you enter. "You want coffee?"
You shake your head, cursing internally at the way it makes the room spin. "You okay?" you ask your brother.
He shrugs with a grin. "Fine."
"The only thing that's really hurt is his pride." Summer shrugs with a smile, and ducks when Marlon throws an orange in her direction.
"I can't believe Griff did that," Poppy mutters, slightly more subdued than Summer is. Maybe the alcohol last night is getting to her too, you think, as she rests her chin on her fist.
"What the hell was it even about?" you ask, pushing yourself up to sit on the countertop as the smell of coffee drifts to your nose.
Marlon just shakes his head a little. "Doesn't matter. Just something that got out of hand."
"Out of hand is right," Summer throws a hand over her shoulder to the window overlooking the garden. "Have you seen the mess out there from last night? It's going to take years to clean up."
"Yeah, years we don't have. Mum's coming back tomorrow," you say, biting your lip as you survey the damage to the back yard.
"She's going to be so pissed if she finds out you threw a party." your brother says, not even attempting to hide the sneer in his tone.
"Let me guess, you'll be going back to Ari's to avoid helping clear up?" you shoot back.
He shrugs. "I'll help for a bit. But Thommo and Abbie said I can stay at their place as long as I want, so..."
You turn to Summer, who pauses mid-sip of her drink as she takes in your expression. "It must be getting pretty crowded at the Gibsons', right Summer?" you say pointedly, and she seems to get your hint.
She hesitates, then places her cup on the counter. "Right, yeah, and besides, you're still healing or whatever, Brazil, so maybe you should just stay here from now on."
"I'll stay tonight," he says, rolling his eyes. "But when mum comes back I'm leaving."
"Why?!" You feel like you're going in circles the more you talk to him about this. He's not giving in. He doesn't even give you an answer now, suddenly finding his plate incredibly interesting as he stares down at it, avoiding your gaze.
"It's fine, we're going to that surf camp next week," Poppy adds. "So you won't have to be home then."
"Ugh, don't remind me. A whole two days with Wren," Summer groans.
"Yeah...I was thinking maybe it's best I don't go," Marlon says tentatively, and Poppy pushes herself up from where she was lying on the table. "It might not be a good idea with this whole Griff situation hanging over us."
"What?" Poppy's eyes flare with alarm. "But I want you there."
Your phone suddenly vibrates in your pocket, and you pull it out to see a text from Baxter.
Hungover this morning?
You send a quick thumbs up in response, letting him interpret that how he wants, and turn back to your brother, who is still arguing his case to Poppy.
"It's embarrassing enough going to training as a sub!" Marlon says. "And now this thing with Griff..."
Poppy's eyes fall to the table, and she crosses her arms.
"Pops, it's fine," Summer jumps down from the countertop. "You've got us. And we can still have fun even though we've got to spend two days with Wren."
"And I've got to spend two days with Bodhi," you mutter.
"Why? What happened with Bodhi?" Marlon narrows his eyes. You forgot he hadn't been there for the argument last night.
Summer raises an eyebrow at you, and Poppy purses her lips as Marlon waits for you to respond.
"Nothing," you say, and Summer scoffs.
"Yeah, and I suppose that thing with Bax was nothing, too," she murmurs, and Poppy nearly spits her drink out.
"What the hell happened?" Mars glances between the three of you, looking as though he doesn't know whether to laugh or be alarmed.
"It doesn't matter," you grit out, shooting a warning look at the girls. "I better start cleaning up the garden." You make a beeline for the door.