Puppy for Sale 3.19 - Life After Greenstone - 11. Chapter 11 - One Day at a Time

"Ahh, man, I'm stuffed," Steven said, belching, and throwing the last pizza crust into the box. I had long since finished, only managing three slices; due to a pit in my stomach, I couldn't shift.

"I got it," I shouted, slapping a notepad down on Steven's desk and throwing the pen at him.

"Got what?" Steven asked, ducking. "I thought you were drawing."

"Princess Glia, Princess Bloody Glia!"

"Oh that, humph, I gave up wondering what that was about. Dunno why Mum and Dad have to be so weird!"

"Alice Springs, It's an anagram. Fucking hell, why didn't I see it. Wonderland Catapult. Alice in Wonderland... catapult... springs. Get it?"

"Alice Springs? Is that like another anagram then?"

I looked at Steven, scolding him with my eyes on his stupidity.

"Steven, It's a place. It's a place in Australia."

"And?"

"Duh, that's where we're going... that's where they are taking us."

"Australia? Ahh man!"

"What? What's up?"

"It's like miles away. Like six days on a plane or some shit like that."

"Really? No, surely not."

"Yeah it is, look it up."

I logged on to Steven's Mac and brought up Google maps. "Hmm, lets see. So we are at this address, and uh, lets type in the... okay... directions... by plane... right!"

"So? Am I right?"

Again, I looked at Steven with disgust. "It's about 23 hours, Steven, not six days."

"Not far off then, was I?"

I swivelled back around, not even tempted to respond.

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Around 7 pm, Mum and Dad could be heard pulling up into the driveway, and I got up and ran downstairs. Steven followed, albeit more slowly, to the front door, a little after me. As the door opened, I pulled on it hard.

"Alice Springs!" I shouted. Dad burst into laughter, and Mum smiled as they both walked past me, saying nothing.

"You guys are so lame," Steven called as we followed our parents into the kitchen. Mum threw some bags of groceries on the kitchen table, and Dad leaned against the worktop, his arms folded.

"Took you long enough," he said, grinning from ear to ear. He looked at Steven, who didn't seem impressed. "Anyway, now you worked it out, are you excited?"

"Do you really have to ask? Like I have never been on a plane, let alone to another country," I replied, gushing.

"Steven?" Mum asked, no doubt looking at her son's rather anticlimactic expression.

Steven shrugged. "It's a bit far, ain't it?"

Dad shook his head, also looking down and smiling. "Always the same with you Steven. Listen in my day..."

"Yeah, yeah, in your day... here we go."

"Well you could at least show a little gratitude Steven, your dad has worked hard all year to pay for a trip like this."

I often wondered if Mum deliberately set herself these traps that she knew would rile Steven. I have learnt the worst thing you can do is try forcing him to be happy about a situation he didn't choose. But, judging by the fact he threw her an angry look before walking out of the kitchen with her following to goad him more, I was not sure.

"Steven?" She shouted, going after him.

Dad looked at me and smiled softly. "Nothing changes," he said, as if not really knowing what else to say.

"He does need to grow up. Sulking at his age is rather silly," I responded.

"Meh, he'll still be sulking at forty."

Dad pushed off the worktop and began to put the groceries away. I saw it as my cue to leave the kitchen and head home. Not that home would be home for too much longer.

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After saying my goodbyes and getting in my car, I pulled away with a wave quickly descending into my thoughts as I drove, instantly on autopilot. Perhaps Steven was right. Perhaps at nineteen, we were too old to be told we were going on holiday We had our own lives now... our own commitments. I mean, sure, it was a lovely gesture of our parents to include us, but it seemed they just assumed we would both be available or desire to go. I got into a pickle thinking about that as I pulled into my road.

As I got closer to my apartment, I saw what looked like a young guy standing below the upper flat where I lived, looking up at one of my windows. I slowed down to crawling speed and squinted my eyes. Whoever it was was wearing a hoodie so that I couldn't get a look at his face, but his movements seemed familiar. Shit!

"Hunter?" I called out in my car as if to expect him to answer, but he couldn't hear me. Immediately I started to tremble a little. Adrenaline rushed through my shoulders as if I'd just seen a real live ghost. Mustering all my willpower, I tried to act normal, pulled into my reserved space, and switched off the engine. He must have noticed my car because his attention switched to me as I viewed him through the rear mirror. He started to walk over to where I was sitting; my hands clamped to the steering wheel. It was like I was holding on for dear life.

Hunter approached the driver's side door, and I let down the window. A brief image of him losing his shit and dragging me out of the card popped into my head, but as the window stopped and it had gone down as far as it could, he sighed gently.

"I got out early, how are you?" he asked sheepishly and rather monotone.

"Uh, erm, good, yeah. I um, I didn't expect to see you."

"Can we talk? You know, inside?"

"Uh, yeah sure."

I let off my seat belt and closed my window before slowly getting out of my seat. I smiled awkwardly as I locked the car, and we headed towards the apartment, me slightly leading.

I jogged up the stairs and opened the front door, leaving Hunter to follow and close it again. "You look almost packed," he said, looking around.

"Yeah," I replied, standing in the kitchen area, my hands in my pockets. I knew Taylor would have been filling Hunter in on my progress of untangling myself from our former relationship, and that was fine; it was no secret.

"You wanna drink?" I asked, opening the refrigerator and pulling out two bottles of cheap supermarket lager.

"Yeah, why not?" Hunter stepped forward, his mouth beginning to say something, but he stopped, appearing to gather his thoughts. "Erm, I..."

"What is it?" I asked softly, taking the top off his beer and passing it to him.

"Just so much I wanna say, it's all in here," he said, tapping his temple. "Loads of time to think you see, and since I haven't seen you, it's just been building up. But I think I should start with the fact I have learn't my lesson. I mean in terms of the anger and all that. I've had sessions."

"Sessions?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Talking and stuff. Counselling I guess you could call it. We talked about everything. You know, like all of it."

"Your brother?"

"All of it," Hunter repeated, taking a swig of his beer. "It's been hard. I kinda found out that most of my life I have been running. Running from my past. In my head I mean. The anger was the parts where I had to stop and my past caught up subconsciously."

"I know."

"Yeah, so erm, I think I got that bit worked out. I feel calmer, at least."

"You look it, too."

"It's hard to break up, because I know I fucked everything. I'm not going to get into that conversation where I am going to ask for your forgiveness or ask for you back because I know just by the look on your face it's gone past that. I don't want to cause you any more pain. I just wanted to see you and pick up the last few bits I had here."

"You staying with Taylor?"

"What? Oh, yeah." Hunter replied, having just zoned out.

"You need a haircut," I said, smiling, trying to lighten the mood.

"In prison? Well lets just say it was not my top priority. But yeah, I'm gonna get that fixed. I missed you though. I understand your reasons for not visiting. Luckily Tay let me know you were okay and safe."

"He's one in a million your brother; look after each other."

"Yeah, I'm gonna make it up to him somehow. So are you going back to your parents?"

"Yeah, this place has sold and just going through the final bits with the solicitors and then yeah I'll be moving back. We're also supposed to be going on holiday to Australia soon. Just when I thought I was entering a new quiet period in my life, huh?" I said, smiling, more to myself.

"It will do you good, you know, to get away and see some of the world. You deserve it."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go and do that and then I'm going to get my head down with my studies, pay off some debts and pay mum and dad back the money I owe them."

"Like I said, it's all yours, I don't want anything from this place. Call it compensation for my behaviour."

The comment irritated me slightly but seeing Hunter smile his... well, Hunter smile. That feeling went away.

"Look, I will say this. I wish things could have been different, but those anger episodes you were going through acted like a blade to my love for you and our relationship. I felt like I had to work hard to love you, which is not a nice place to be, Hunter.

"Don't explain, you don't have to. I know what I did, I've had it talked out of me inch by inch. You don't owe me any explanations, it's the other way around. But listen, I think for the good of whats left, it's best not to start any debrief because I don't think it will help either of us."

"No, you're probably right," I said lazily.

"Anyway erm, Is it okay if I grab that bag? I see you've already collected those items up for me, thanks."

"Yeah, sure. I erm, I just put in there what I thought you'd want, and if you think of anything else that's not in there, it might be in one of those boxes, and I'll drop it round to you.

"Thanks, well uh, I better be going."

"Yeah sure, erm, thanks for coming by."

Hunter forced a smile through an otherwise sad expression. He grasped the bag I'd pointed out and stepped into the communal hallway.

"I'll erm; I'll see you around then?"

"Sure. Oh and Hunter?"

"Yeah?" he said, looking into my eyes.

"It's good to see you're okay."

Hunter nodded. "See ya, Puppy."

I watched him disappear down the stairs before closing the door. Then, slumping down on the sofa looking at his finished bottle of beer, the locked-in adrenaline I'd ratcheted up blew the valve on my waterworks, and I burst into tears, hugging a cushion.

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Three days Later

Standing in the Estate Agents, my foot tapping with impatience, I waited for the woman dealing with my sale to finish up some paperwork that had just come through from the solicitor. She'd been gone ages, and I promised I'd have lunch with Mum in the park. Through the chaos in my life, I was learning to keep to promises and arranged times, but today was proving tight.

"Excuse me?" I called over to one of the other young guys who was spinning a pen in his hand, not doing much else, I mused.

"Yes, Sir, can I help?"

"Would you see what's going on with the lady who was serving me, she's been gone a long time, and I have other places to be?" He just nodded and smiled before walking out of sight.

Another five minutes went by until, finally. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Mr Stibbings; I'm all done now. So if I can take the keys from you, the sale has gone through and the monies have been let."

"So that's it? It's done?"

"It's done," she repeated, nodding.

So that really was it. My flat was sold, I had the money, and a significant chapter in my life ended there and then. Was I sad? A little. Was Hunter now in every corner of my mind? Of course.

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I pulled up to a stop in the park and quickly got out. Then, walking briskly over to our usual seat, I could see Mum sitting there fiddling with her phone.

"Sorry, Im late!"

"That's okay Button, I haven't been here long. Everything okay?"

"The flat is done," was my response, wanting her to know straight away.

"Oh wow, that's great news, so all finished?"

"Yep, done and dusted. Did Dad find places for my boxes?"

"Everything is in the garage now; I thought Steven could help you unbox your things into your room."

I sat down and let out a sigh. Mum placed her hand on my knee, and we both just looked out towards the trees in a moment of silence.

"But something else is on your mind; I can hear you internally squirming," Mum said, causing me to look at her, shocked.

"How do you do that?" I asked, shaking my head.

"Call it Mother's intuition. So out with it."

I sat forward and put my head in my hands. "Hunter is out of Prison. He came to see me a few days ago. I'm sorry I should have called and told everyone, but I needed some time to digest things."

"Oh, oh, I see. And, and was it an amicable reunion?"

"You know, it went better than I ever expected. I'd played out in my head so many versions of how it would go when we saw each other, and to be honest, they were all bad. But actually, this went okay."

"I'm pleased to hear it. So how was it left? Are you two going to try and..."

"Oh, no, no. That is done and dusted too. I can't, Mum. I just... I just think I'm through with men."

Mum let out a cackle and ruffled my hair. "You know, that is almost something I can hear Steven saying."

"I love this place," I said, changing the subject. Thanks for asking me to come, it's so lovely, and I have many good memories from here. I think this place was like closing the door to my life at Greenstone and starting anew."

"Yes, I still remember that first time. But, then, you were a young, broken child, and I was a nervous new mother."

"New mother?"

"I mean, yes, it did really feel like that. I felt like I was learning all over again. But I had to convince myself that, having gone through Steven's teenage years, I could face anything. But the most important thing is that we quickly bonded, which made my life much easier. I dread to think what would have happened if you hated me."

I smiled and waved her comment away. "Oh shush, you are someone who cannot help be loved, and I adore you."

Mum pulled me into a hug, and we sat silently again for a few minutes, enjoying the afternoon sun.

"So, study."

"Yes, study, pay the car off, arrange my bedroom, ban all men from my life and eventually become a monk."

Mum laughed. "I don't think you need to go to those extremes, Button, but you always have been an impulsive soul. Perhaps live a day at a time.

"I'm going to. It is a lesson learned. I'm going to enjoy the trip to Australia, then knuckle down. No more clubbing or wasting money."

"Good boy. And remember, nineteen or thirty-nine, you'll always have your dad and me there for support.

"Thanks, Mum," I replied, leaning into her. Then closing my eyes I let the warm breeze wash over my face while the trees ahead rustled. "One day at a time," I muttered

The End