Chapter 12
“C’mon, Kat! You can do better than that!” Finn called and I laughed, giving him a pointed look. Tempest was moving restlessly underneath him, desperate to go after the ball.
Pony Polo had been our favourite game since we first started to ride and I hadn’t won a game once. Finn had always ruled the fields, running around on Tempest like he owned the place. I didn’t mind loosing, but Harley was an awful loser, he’d flaunt about like a spoilt child until I gave him a mint.
“I can’t, Finn!” I whined and he laughed, pulling Tempest up beside me with no effort at all.
“Just lean down, you won’t fall off,” he assured and I sighed, shaking my head.
“You said that last time,” I countered but he grinned. Putting a finger out, he fiddled with the pendant on the chain of my necklace.
“What did I tell you that would do?” he asked, motioning towards it. I looked down at the four leaf clover on the end of the chain, pure gold. He’d bought it for me for my fifth birthday, telling me that no matter what happened, I would never fall off if I wore it. It brought me good luck and he promised it would always keep me safe.
“That I wouldn’t fall off if I wore it,” I droned, giving him a look. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek, patting my back as Tempest marched behind us, looking for the ball. Smiling, he cocked his head as we turned to look at him.
“And have you?” he inquired. I shook my head stubbornly, pushing at Harley’s sides to get him to move. “There you go then,” he said, grinning again. I sighed, trotting around, waiting for him to grab the ball.
“Kat.” His voice was soft as he watched me, his eyes warm with love. I offered him a small smile.
“What?” I asked, stopping Harley and staring back at him. His violet eyes mirroring mine, contained a fiery passion.
“I will always be here for you, you know that, right?” I nodded and he smiled.
“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” I teased and he chuckled, waving his polo stick in the air.
“You’re nearly double figures now, kiddo, you should be able to beat me,” he teased. I scowled, shaking my head.
“I’ve got five months and ten days, yet!” I called as he trotted off, his laughter filling the air at my annoyed tone.
I leaned back down in Harley’s stall, feeling the clover hit my breast bone as I straightened and hauled the dirty straw into the wheelbarrow. I wiped my brow, pushing my sleeves up and raising my eyebrows at my audience member.
Most people would complain about having to go outside and clean up after the horses. Me? I didn’t mind it too much. We only had one volunteer that stayed on through the half terms and she hated me. The feeling was mutual.
“You know that you can get put in jail for lying to the police, right? Mind you, it might teach you a lesson. At least in there, they’ll teach you what real rape actually feels like,” Diana sneered, leaning on the pitchfork, which as sitting comfortably in the straw. I ignored her, doing my usual as she started up again. She hadn’t stopped, not since her ‘boyfriend to be’ was put in prison and it was all down to me.
“He was a good kid; do you have a thing with ruining people’s lives or something? He was going to make something of himself, Kat,” she continued, looking down at her nails.
“She can fire you, you know. I’m pretty sure her mum runs the joint,” an unfamiliar voice said. I turned to see a blonde girl leaning against the doorframe of the large stable. I recognised her but couldn’t quite place her. Diana raised both of her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.
“What’s she going to do? Lie about how I raped her as well?” she asked. I heard a scoff from the doorway as the girl came closer, her blue eyes glistening in the light that was breaking through the cracks in the ceiling of the barn.
“God, girls are snide,” a male voice groaned, joining the blonde girl. “Look, just leave, alright?” Diana tried to flaunt out, but it was clear that the pair in the doorway had scared her off. As soon as she was gone, the girl turned and beamed at me.
“Hey, Price. Long time, no see,” she chirped, walking over. I recognised her almost instantly.
“You never called, Tirrans,” I teased and she laughed, shaking her head.
“If you want me to call, give me your number!” she retorted. Obviously knowing better than to try and hug me, she grinned again and gestured to the guy behind her. “This is my boyfriend, Josh,” she said and he nodded, greeting me with a ‘hi’.
The last time I saw Lisa Tirrans, we’d been running around the Primary School playground in plaid skirts, doing cartwheels. She was moved to the grammar school that her brother attended before we went into Secondary School. I hadn’t seen her since. When Jenna and I moved up into the same tutor groups, she said that she reckoned Lisa had gone like all the grammar school kids, posh and snobby but I’d always doubted it. I’d known a few people that had gone to the grammar school, Cooper included and they all turned out OK.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, stabbing the shovel into the straw and wiping my hands on my jeans.
“Well, Ally and Cooper were going to come around with invitations to their wedding,” she squealed before sobering. Josh just gave her an amused look.
“But she wanted to see you,” he finished for her. He looked exactly like I’d expected as a boyfriend of Lisa’s. She’d always had an obsession with dark hair and blue eyes; she said it looked hot because not many people had it.
“Because I haven’t seen you in centuries,” she added as she thrust the invitations into my hands.
“Aw, look at you two,” I cooed and Josh raised his eyebrows. “Finishing each other’s sentences already!” Lisa grinned as Josh groaned, leaning on the wall of the barn.
“You’re sounding like Cooper,” he complained but Lisa ignored him. She started to tell me about her bridesmaid dress and how she was doing in college. It was nice to catch up, but Josh seemed to be getting impatient so she gave me her number and said that she wanted to meet up sometime over a coffee.
I wasn’t alone for long, because my mum came out to replace Diana, who apparently, had stormed off saying that Lisa had bullied her before trying it on with Eli. According to Mum, he politely declined and carried on working with Tempest. I couldn’t help but laugh, it was nice that she was finally getting her head back down to Earth.
“He’s nice, Kathryn,” she said when she started to help me shovel. I just gave her a pointed look, not even bothering to satisfy that with answer. My mum playing matchmaker was never a good thing. As cool as she could be sometimes, that was one of her low points.
“With those eyes and that hair,” she continued, a mocking tone becoming clear in her voice. I shot her a look and she chuckled, shaking her head.
“Mum, I have a shovel of horse poop here, don’t make me use it,” I threatened and she scoffed, grinning.
“Darling, I have some of Blue’s here and trust me, that stuff is toxic. You do not want to start a fight over this,” she said triumphantly and I sighed, blowing a strand of my fringe out of the way of my face.
We continued to work until every scrap of straw was out of the way and the floor had been scrubbed. Mum told me to go and speak to Eli as she finished up, saying that she loved to see me getting out there. I put up a pretty good fight, but in the end, I went in search for him.
The night before had been pretty good. After the pony auctions, Eli had insisted that he take me out for some food and we ended up down the road in a small cafe, eating some bacon butties. He told me a bit about Australia and his old school before asking about my hobbies. I didn’t have much to say for myself; apart from that I was rubbish at everything but writing and riding. He used to surf in Australia and had said that he wanted to teach me one day.
“Hi,” I said when I’d approached the fence. Eli smiled in greeting, putting his hand out towards Tempest’s muzzle. She backed off a bit and he sighed, leaving her alone. Striding over to the fence, he looked down at me. He had a few inches on me, anyway, but standing at the bottom of the small bank just made me feel even more insignificant against his height.
“Hey, you alright?” he asked, gesturing towards my mum. I frowned, turning to look at her. Unsurprisingly, she was staring at us, leaning on the shovel.
“I’m good, thanks. My mum, on the other hand is slightly delirious,” I replied, causing him to chuckle. Scratching the nape of his neck, he grinned, nodding back at Tempest.
“She’s getting better, she’ll let me close enough to touch her now,” he said and I nodded. Surveying the bay horse as she watched us, ears pricked. Scrabble was on the other side of the field, obliviously grazing. Harley was over there with him, scuffing at the ground the way he always did when he wanted to play.
“She looks happier as well,” I commented and he nodded, looking over his shoulder.
“She nuzzled my chest yesterday, I think she was a bit confused,” Eli said with a chuckle and I cocked my head.
“She is making progress.” I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice and he turned back to me, grinning. It wasn’t long before he pushed himself over the fence so that he was standing next to me, on my side.
“What was up with Diana? She sulked off,” he asked and I chuckled, unable to stifle the amusement. Eli watched me with his beautiful eyes, both eyebrows raised in slight surprise.
“She just got what was coming. I’d hate to sound bitchy, but yeah,” I trailed off. He just shook his head, breathing out a laugh.
“You don’t sound bitchy, couldn’t even if you wanted to,” he replied, peering at me. His eyes were so open, so trustworthy that I couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s a month, today,” I said and he turned to face me, seemingly knowing what I was on about. A month since the case, a month since I’d last seen him. He offered a small smile and nodded.
“Think of it as a month of freedom.” I grinned, looking out at the house, the silence of it. The peace. Exactly what my grandparents wanted.
We stayed quiet for a while, just bathing in each other’s company. I enjoyed the feeling of knowing that someone solid, someone understanding was next to me. He didn’t think I was filth or stupid, which was definitely something new. Something I wouldn’t mind getting used to.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said out of the blue. Eli peered down at me and shrugged.
“As long as you expect one back.” I smiled despite myself and took a deep breath.
“What’s wrong with your mum?” I asked and he sighed, rubbing his palms on his khakis.
“She’s got bipolar disorder. I don’t know how much you know about it,” he trailed off. I’d heard of it, but never really looked much into it. I merely shook my head, which he took as a signal to carry on talking. “It’s a mental problem. It used to be called manic depression. She has these mood swings,” he paused, grimacing. “A lot. They’re sometimes violent, she gets aggressive and sad. Different moods at different times, I guess.”
He looked up at the sky and then chuckled to himself.
“She’s reasonably okay when she takes her medication, but she misses it a lot, says it makes her feel empty inside. One minute she’s fine and then,” he took a deep breath, looking at me with a pained expression. “For a few days she’ll be too miserable to leave her room, her bed, even. The next she’ll be angry, so angry that she can’t have me around. It wears off eventually and I’m used to it now, it’s just hard to deal with sometimes. I love her to bits, I honestly do, it’s just.” He stopped and I nodded.
“Difficult,” I finished for him. He shot me a grateful look and then smirked.
“It’s genetic, you know. I might get it,” he said quietly and I frowned, jumping down from the fence. He stayed sitting there, looking at me with a level, calm gaze.
“And if you do? So what? Imperfections make us unique,” I said, mirroring my mother’s words the day Finn was arrested. Eli gave me a small smile, meeting me on the floor beside the fence.
“This is disease, not a scar,” he said and I sighed.
“So? Beethoven was deaf, look where that got him. And as for you being there for your mum, Eli, you’re amazing,” I whispered and he offered me a smile, leaning back on the fence.
“Yeah, well, so are you,” he said quietly and I felt another blush threaten to swarm my cheeks.
We stayed silent for a moment until Eli tapped the fence and looked at me for a moment, seemingly taking in every feature, every pore. When he snapped out of his gaze, he smiled.
“Why don’t you ever stand up for yourself?” he asked. I rolled my lip into my mouth, chewing on it until I let it go and shrugged.
“What’s the point, I mean, really? They’ll have their opinions, nothing that I can ever do to change that so I don’t bother trying.” Eli shook his head, looking over at the horses.
“Even so, you shouldn’t let them walk all over you.”
“And if I don’t, I’ll just be the mouthy rape victim, it won’t change what they think,” I said. He physically flinched at the word and blew through his lips.
“It might make you feel better, though.” I shrugged, not denying it, nor accepting it. My therapist said that it would be best to keep a lid on things, as well. Not to rise to their level, so I never did.
“Can you do me a favour?” I asked and he frowned a little, nodding.
“Sure.”
“Stand very still, whatever you do, don’t move,” I said and he nodded, leaning back on the fence.
I reached forward, tensing just before I got to his forearm. He watched me, silently egging me on with his eyes. Taking a deep breath, I tried to get past the barrier of fear and place my hand on his arm. He took to his word, not moving, not saying anything when I placed my fingers on his warm skin. His pulse was racing when I put my hand flat on his arm.
I tried to calm my own pulse, replacing it with a slight smile as I moved my hand down to his balled fists. He still watched, cocking his head. The reminder of being forced to touch Finn like that rushed back and I took my hand away faster than I thought a limb could move. Eli grinned proudly like a father as I sighed and rested on the fence next to him.
It was only for about five seconds, time seemed to move slower when I finally felt his skin, but it was progress. It was more than a brief touch and if I could do that, maybe I could make it longer without freaking myself out too much.
A/N: Story's nowhere near over, neither is she anywhere near trusting him properly yet, but I would still like to know what you think, so please let me know :) Vote and comment, thanks!:)