โWell?โ Hugh asked, when I joined him at the edge of the pool after my interview. โHow did it go?โ
โOkay, I guess?โ I shrugged, feeling slightly disheartened by my earlier meeting with his boss. โShe said she would get back to me.โ I looked to my brother for some much-needed emotional support. โIs that a bad thing?โ
โNah, if Kim didnโt like you, trust me, youโd know it.โ Setting his mop down, he patted my shoulder and walked back to his deckchair. โI bet you a tenner youโll get the job.โ
โShe was sort of terrifying, Hugh.โ
โYeah, Kim can be a fair bit of a ball-buster,โ he agreed, eyes focusing on the bodies splashing around in the water as he spoke. โShe has this hard, take-no-shit approach, but sheโs fair.โ
I wasnโt sure about that. My brotherโs boss, from our brief encounter, had given me some serious Mr. Twomey vibes. I was half-hoping that sheย didnโtย call me back. Sure, a paying job would be super, but I enjoyed volunteering at the community pool, and I was a firm believer in life being about more than just a paycheck.
โOh my god,โ I choked out when a familiar blonde shimmied into my peripheral vision. โWhat the hell happened to you?โ
โI fell,โ Lizzie explained, joining us at Hughโs deckchair.
The fact that she was here wasnโt surprising. Her family had been members for years, same as ours, but it was the scar she bore that took my breath away.
Iโd seen similar cuts on Lizzieโs body in the past, but not for a very long time. The faint scars that adorned her inner wrists had appeared in the months that had followed her sisterโs passing. After her parentsย put her in counselling, it seemed to stop. I thought she had it under control. Apparently not.
โOn what?โ I demanded, gaping at the huge, jagged, freshly scabbed cut going the entire length of her thigh. โA chainsaw?โ
โNo, on a barbed wire fence I was climbing over, actually.โ Clad in a white bikini, Lizzie pulled her hair up into a makeshift ponytail, and offered me a half-hearted smile. Scars or not, Lizzie was ridiculously beautiful. Like for real. She looked like some sort of angel, with a halo of messy blonde hair. โItโs all good, Claire. It happened ages ago. It doesnโt even hurt anymore.โ
โAre you sure?โ I squirmed in discomfort, eyeing the horrendous-looking cut. โBecause it looks recent and itโs hurting me just to look at it.โ
โYeah,โ Hugh agreed, tone hard, as his eyes locked on her thigh.
โDidnโt know you were working today,โ she replied, folding her arms across her chest.
โWasnโt supposed to be,โ Hugh replied, not taking his eyes off her thigh. โWhat happened?โ
Ignoring my brother, Lizzie moved for the edge of the pool, not stopping until she had eased herself into the water. โIโll see you later, Claire.โ
โYeah, okay,โ I called after her, worrying my lip. โAre you coming to the beach campout?โ
โIs Thor going?โ
โYou already know the answer.โ
โThen you already know my answer.โ
โAre you sure you donโt want to come?โ I asked, forcefully cheerful. โItโs going to be super fun.โ
โIโm sure Iโd rather drown than voluntarily spend time with him,โ she called back and then she disappeared beneath the water.
โOh crap.โ I turned back to my brother, feeling a surge of anxiety fill my chest. โThatโs weird, right?โ I gestured to where Lizzie had disappeared beneath the water. โSheโs not okay, is she?โ
โHow am I supposed to know?โ my brother bit out, tone thick with emotion. โIโm hardly her confidante these days, am I?โ
โYeah, but you used to be,โ I blurted out, uttering the words Iโd vowed many years ago to never repeat. Seriously, speaking about it was as taboo at Tommen as saying the wordย Voldemortย at Hogwarts. A big no-no.
Their fractured relationship was one that was stored in the memory vault labeledย never bring up again for the good of our friendship circle.
My brotherโs eyes flashed with pain, and I felt like the biggest jerk in the world.
โYikes.โ Squirming in discomfort, I reached out and patted his shoulder. โSorry.โ
โI donโt know,โ he repeated in a low tone โ I presumed to hide the tremor in his voice. Because Lizzie affected Hugh badly, and she always had.
For some reason, my brother had been infatuated with my prickly bestie since the beginning of time. And for some even stranger reason, the feeling was mutual for Lizzie.
Throughout the course of our entire childhood, theyโd stuck together like peas in a pod. By the time weโd made it to fifth class of primary school, their friendship title had been upgraded to that of boyfriend and girlfriend. Not that any of us had a clue of what that meant. In our young minds, it simply meant that they were each otherโs favorite.
Either way, they were together for aย reallyย long time, even after everything had seemed to fall apart for Liz when her sister died. Hugh was the one sheโd leaned on back then. Come to think about it, he was the only one sheโd been willing to speak to forย months. It had been a pretty dark time in our lives that had followed us long into secondary school.
Over time, Lizzieโs grief had taken ahold of her in ways none of us were equipped or mature enough to handle, and by the start of second year, Lizzie and Hughโs relationship, along with a lot of her relationships with other friends, had completely unraveled.
I stuck in there with her, taking on her mood swings and erratic behavior, because I loved her like a sister, but it wasnโt easy. Especiallyย when she focused all of her pain on Gerard because of a rumor that involved his stepbrother.
It sucked because Liz and Gerard used to be really good friends before that. We all were. We had this tight little circle that had been shattered after Caoimhe died.
After the breakup, the rest of our close-knit circle mentally vowed to never discuss it or bring it up again. To this day, we were completely oblivious as to the inner details of their breakup because Hugh and Liz could hardly bear to spend more than a few minutes in each otherโs company, let alone talk about it.
Even though theyโd been together since primary school, the breakup didnโt seem to affect Lizzie too deeply because sheโd started seeing someone else within days of them calling it off.
Hugh, on the other hand, spent several months moping around the house like a dark cloud until he collided with Katie in the hallways of Tommen and the sun started shining for him again.
Deep down inside, I knew the reason Hugh tried to keep me away from Gerard was because he was projecting his own experience on me. When my brother said that he was afraid of me getting hurt, what he really meant was that he didnโt want me to get hurt likeย heย had.
โHugh, itโs happening again, isnโt it?โ
He flicked his gaze to me, and I could tell from one glimpse of his brown eyes that I wasnโt alone in my worrying. โI donโt know.โ
โSheโs still so angry.โ
โYeah, Claire, Iย know.โ
โShould we โฆ โ Shrugging, I chewed anxiously on my lip and flicked my attention back to our friend who was now swimming laps. โI donโt know, do something?โ
โLike what?โ
โI donโt know.ย Anything?โ
โIโm not the one, Claire,โ Hugh strangled out and I watched as a huge full body shudder rippled through him. โNot this time. Not anymore. I canโt keep saving โฆ โ Dropping his head in his hands, he sucked inย a sharp breath, shoulders slumped. โI have Katie now โฆ Iย canโtย do this with her again.โ
I got that, but I was scared, and he was my big brother who always seemed to know what to do. After all, Hugh was the one who knew more about Lizzie than any of the rest of us. Heโd been there, right there in the middle of her personal breakdown the last time. Before the shutters came down around her heart, blocking all of us out, he was the last person to be pushed away. He knew her better than anyone. The old her, at least.
โI could talk to her parents?โ I offered, feeling lost and way out of my depth. โOr Pierce?โ
โPierce?โ Hugh gaped at me like I had lost my mind. โLike heโs worth a fucking conversation.โ His eyes narrowed in fury as he spoke. โHeโs not blind, Claire, he just doesnโt care.โ
โHe has to care,โ I urged. โHeย hasย to see. Heโs her boyfriend, Hugh.โ
โHe only sees the parts of her he wants to see,โ Hugh spat. โHe wonโt do a damn thing, which suits Liz perfectly considering thatโs the only reason sheโs with him.โ
โThen we need to talk to Mam,โ I blurted. โSheโll talk to Lizzieโs mam and sort it out again.โ
โSort it out again,โ he repeated under his breath. โSheโs not a computer that needs resetting, Claire. Itโs not that simple.โ Muttering something unintelligible under his breath, he abruptly stood and rolled his shoulders. โFine.โ
โFine?โ Hope filled my heart. โYouโll do something.โ
โYeah, Claire.โ Another shudder racked through my brother, and he nodded solemnly. โIโll do something.โ