Maverick

Chapter 2

"Reece? Is that you?"

Who else would it be? I thought to myself irritably. I slid my slip slops off my sandy feet and peered into the kitchen, where my dad was sitting on the counter gulping a mug of coffee. His face was worn, drained; his hair tousled and knotted. The grey sweatpants and paint-stained soocor shirt he was wearing smelt horribly like beer. Altogether, I decided he hadn't slept in a good few days.

"Hi, Dad. It's me."

He peered at me for a second, like he couldn't quite believe it. "You're home?"

I looked down at myself, pointedly. "Yup. I think I'm home."

"Why?"

I laughed wearily, grabbing some fruit from the fruit bowl before plugging in the blender to make a smoothie. "I thought you wanted me to come home. You said so in your text."

He belched, patted his stomach. "Of course I want you home, Reece. What I meant was, why? Where have you been staying?"

"At Ezra's."

"That's kind of Gabby, you didn't mention it when I called."

"I know, I'm sorry."

Ezra and Gabby, long term friends of our family, lived in a house by the beach, surrounded by green seaweed rocks and tired grey pebbles. Ezra was seventeen, and my rock; having been there since the day I was born and not leaving my side ever since. I guess he was what you could call beautiful, with his beach blonde hair sweeping over his shoulders appearing radiant next to his attractive tanned skin. Every girl I have ever met had lusted over him, though with no avail; everyone knew that Ezra was homosexual. That's why he was safe. Gabby was his older sister and also his mother; having taken care of Ezra since he was seven years old when their real mother was killed in a surfing accident. Gabby was the spitting image of Ezra and they were always recognised as siblings, even twins sometimes as Ezra was so tall, and she had equally pretty skin and luscious hair reaching right down to her shoulders. They had spent the majority of their childhood bouncing from care home to foster parents and back again, but as soon as Gabby turned eighteen she had put her foot down and moved herself and Ezra away from the care system and into the beach house left to them by their grandparents. Gabby was now twenty, and had welcomed me into their home as soon as I turned up at their doorstep, the rain pelting down behind me.

"Reece come in, is it Oscar?"

I thought she must have been psychic. But after, I realised she was just being human. Gabby had never been a fan of Oscar, and had made her feelings towards him crystal clear whenever they were within muttering distance between each other. She was the only one who could see through him, and for that I was grateful. Everyone else thought his winks and harmless flirting was friendliness, joviality; he was a nice guy who made friends with everyone. That's what I thought of him. That's why, that cold February morning at the beach breakfast barbecue, I fell for him.

Everyone fell for Oscar.

But now I knew the truth behind those gorgeous, hypnotic eyes. Oscar was a predator. And only Gabby saw it. That evening, after I had dried off and was sitting in front of their beautiful flickering log fire, Gabby told me the truth, with Ezra holding my hand, keeping me with him. Gabby had told me of all the times Oscar had went for her; the seductive glances, the wandering hands, the amount of times he had left flowers at her workplace. I hated the fact that at first I wouldn't, or couldn't believe her. Oscar was my everything.

Oscar was the person I relied on, though not anymore.

The weeks that followed became sort of dream-like. In the mornings, Ezra and I would spend endless hours walking on the beach, just talking. Then we would venture into town and sit in the French cafe, eat pastries and drink coffee until we were full. The afternoons varied; sometimes it would be me working free shifts in Gabby's homemade jewellery boutique in town, sometimes it would be surfing with Isaac. My weekends were quite, productive; away from my dad and everyone else who reminded me of Hanna or Oscar. I had a specific schedule, and I was grateful for that. At least my mind was always active and I was always thinking of the next thing that I would be doing. There were no empty gaps that thoughts could fit into.

School was slightly more complicated though. Oscar was in most of my classes, and although I could ask the teachers if I could switch places, I couldn't escape his slightly amused gaze wherever I was sitting. Hanna avoided me too, so normally I was wondering around aimlessly in any free time I had, which meant I liked to keep myself busy. I joined the soccor team, the swim team, the library as a monitor. When I wasn't doing school activities I buried myself in my school work, and sure enough my grades shot up. Dad wasn't sure whether he should be pleased or worried. Surfing had always been such a massive part of my life there wasn't normally enough time to focus hugely on my homework, even though I always got it all done.

In June, my exams came and went like a sparrow fleeing the nest. I had prepared so much for them over the past few months that I hardly had time to notice them. While everyone else was stressed out, I was surprisingly calm, and managed to get A's in almost everything. My teachers were delighted, though dad was spooked out of his mind. He knew it was to do with Oscar, but after I explained what had happened in minuscule detail he figured I didn't want to talk about it, so he left it there. 

Now, looking at him over the rim of his coffee cup, I realised for the first time how much I had put him through. I reached out and put a hand over his.

"It's over now, Dad. Things are going to go back to normal."

"Good girl." His blue eyes crinkled at me. "I'm glad you're over it. Now, why don't we wax your board up?"

As he slid off his stool and ambled towards the garage, I couldn't help but swallow a few tears back.

'I'm not over it, Dad. I'm so not over it.'