All About You

Chapter Twenty Five

Past

I didn't come to visit Mrs. Morgan. It was just an excuse to see Oliver one last time, before he left Gargle forever. I didn't even know he was going to be home. He and his mother didn't get on. But I went around the house and stood on the porch. I was probably the last person Oliver wanted to see, after what I put him through at school.

I was just about to knock at the Morgans' house when I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I stood there, frozen, listening and thinking he wouldn't want to even look at me. His voice always comforted me, so when I heard him then, it was like we were back together before everything went wrong, before the party.

"Ollie, let's talk about it. You don't want to abandon everyone." Mrs. Morgan sounded desperate and broken. After Christian's death, she stopped talking to Oliver, but she wasn't bitter anymore.

I bit my lips, feeling like a coward. It was a bad idea showing up like that. I wasn't welcome in the Morgans' house. Nothing had been how it used to be. I knew he was leaving, but I needed to hear him one last time.

I'd been vicious towards Oliver, but his misery gave me the strength I lost when Christian violated me.

"Now you want to talk, after the insults, after all the drama?" he roared, and I heard something being smashed. Oliver must have lost his temper and thrown one of the dishes.

"I want to say I'm sorry, but even if I apologise, nothing is going to happen. I know I should be ashamed of myself for what—"

"Please don't pity yourself. You made me miserable. You favoured the dead boy and now you just expect me to forget that you hated me?" he asked. I knew I should leave, but I stood on their porch, unable to move, feeling maybe I was meant to hear everything.

I heard Mrs. Morgan's sobs. Oliver was right in some ways. She couldn't expect him to stay and forget he was treated like garbage when Christian was alive. Now he was old enough to leave. He didn't need her anymore.

"Where are you going exactly? I've seen the letters from Scotland. Is that where you're planning to study?" she asked.

"Stay out of my business and my life. You stopped being my mother when you chose him. Now leave me the fuck alone and die!" he shouted again. I heard steps and then I instantly knew he wasn't going back to his room, but he was leaving through the backdoor.

I turned around and started running away, my heart pounding with abnormal speed. Behind me, the door opened, and I knew it was already too late because Oliver probably saw me hurrying through his grass. I didn't look back. I just carried on running.

"Gretel! You will get what you deserve one day!"

That last sentence was meant for me, but I was too afraid to stop. I went there to see him, thinking he would want to talk to me. In that moment, I regretted that I turned my back on him. I wanted to jump into a time machine and fix everything that was broken.

Present

"Maybe she does, but I can't just forget. She didn't show me any care or affection. Instead, she abused me," he says, pressing his lips together. "Why did you run away that night? What were you doing outside on the porch?"

I drink some more cocktail, feeling like a coward for keeping so much important stuff from him.

"I wanted to see you. I knew you were leaving Gargle."

"But you ran away. I was confused because a day before that, you spread the rumour that I slept with the bloke from another school."

A hot flush rises up my cheeks. We promised each other we wouldn't talk about the past.