WATTPAD FEATURED NOV 2020 AND OCT 2021 - FROM OUR STARS LIST
WATTPAD MULTICULTURAL FEATURED SEP 2022 - AUSTRALIAN WHISPERERS READING LIST
It's difficult to save someone who doesn't want saving, particularly when they're lying to you.
...
Claudia and...
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The next weeks pass in a haze of sunny afternoons and lazy chats. Harper and Emmy spend every day together, Jake starts going to therapy, and Lewis and I keep sneaking around behind his back.
I keep planning to tell Jake about Lewis, I really do, but every time we're alone and the opportunity comes up, I become startled anew by the fragility of him.
Jake's therapist, Sanduni, recommended interpersonal therapy. From his scattered explanation, I've gathered it's focused on his personal relationships and how to improve them again. So, we've started spending our afternoons together, sitting out on the front porch and talking about whatever he feels brave enough to mention that day.
Jake struggles with it. Even more so than I expected. But when he does open up, it happens in floods. I hear about the fights, the drugs, the self-loathing and insecurity — each topic adding more complexity and confusion to the thoughts that are drowning him.
And I can't bring myself to add anything else to that list. I really can't. But I can't give Lewis up either.
...
"You know, you never talk about your life much."
I squint over at Lewis, shading my eyes from the sun as my thoughts of Jake dip below the horizon.
It's Wednesday afternoon and Jake's with Sanduni, so Lewis and I walked to Coogee Beach to sit on the headland, buying smoothies along the way. Lewis had been quiet most of the time, letting me direct the conversation, and it isn't until he speaks that I realise we'd been sitting in silence for a few minutes.
"What do you mean?"
"You just don't share much about your life before you moved here," he says.
My heart thuds. I know the question is probably harmless, but still, I'm uneasy.
"I didn't think you'd be interested."
Lewis gives me a lopsided smile, as if he knew I'd say that, and then he turns to face me.
"I dunno, I guess I am a bit."
I realise I'm fiddling with my paper straw, swirling it around so it's close to breaking, and I pull my hand away.
"There's not much to tell. Jake and I loved Bellbird, but the fire changed things. We both still play soccer and I still read a lot, but almost everything else is different. I haven't heard from anyone there for months."
"That's strange though, Claude. Don't you reckon?"
Danger. Danger. Danger.
The word flashes bright neon before my eyes and I let out a shaky laugh.
"Not really. I wasn't that close with anyone else there."
"But why not? It's not like you and Jake are anti-social."
