What's Needed - 2. Starting Again

There's a few things in life I think I've been genuinely trusted with. Not the small things like how my sister would always trust me to grab the milk for her when we went shopping. Or how she'd always trust that I'd be home at the specified time whenever I went out. Nothing like that, that's kid stuff. I mean like the time when we got a dog. His name was Sammy and we had him for a whole three and a half weeks before we had to get rid of him because of our landlord. I think I cried every night for an entire week after that but Sammy had been the first real thing in my life that anyone had trusted me with. I had to walk him, feed him but the one time I bathed him, she regretted asking me to do it. Now of course I find myself sat in front of a dirty plate and an empty dessert box. I know she didn't “trust” me with the dessert exactly but she did put it in front of me. Close enough right? Besides I wasn't entirely heartless, I'd saved her a piece and this was her peace offering to me, an offering she nearly took back after seeing my phone. In all fairness I hadn't eaten since the day before, a sandwich doesn't exactly fill me up for an entire day but I hadn't been hungry again until now. Now I was the opposite.

It's not the usual thing I eat for breakfast, granted that but anything with peanut butter is a quick way to gain my affection. I've never sold out for cheesecake before, first time for everything right?. She predicted this though. She knew that the minute she set it in front of me, gave me that “You're going to cave in” look. Cheater.

By now I was ready to give this move a try though. I'd had a lot of time last night to think things over. There's a lot more to the world and life than one town and in the grand scheme of things I'd love to see more places and get to know more people. That being said I'd still want to go back to my old town, see my old friends. Nothing would change that, ever. All that being said it didn't change for a moment the horrible sinking feeling in my stomach the more and more nervous I became.

So we pack what little we took to the apartment up around midday after taking about ten minutes to clean the place up, not that we made a mess really, then handed the keys back. We would've been on the road again except Hannah wanted to work out how to get to her new workplace before she started the next week. We'd lost nearly an hour walking in more and more convoluted circles before giving up only to stumble across the place on the way back, typical right? I'd spent most of the time hiding behind her as a human meat shield, petrified that someone from yesterday would spot me. Of course nobody did but that wasn't the point. Just a little bit of paranoia, by now I'd be entirely forgotten so what did I have to worry about? Nothing.

I'll give my sister one thing, her timing is usually pretty damn perfect. I mean it would have taken the twenty minutes she'd claimed to get from the apartment down to the village we'd be living in if not for the fallen tree on the road as we approached the place itself. It give the place a little bit of a Silent Hill vibe and truth be told I couldn't decide whether that made it any better or worse. I decided on the latter. That being said this place seemed to be nestled deep within a large section of woodland, I loved the woods. Just the sensation of being deep in nature, away from all the troubles and sounds of modern life made a welcome relief, especially when I had my camera with me. I got the feeling I'd be spending a lot of time in here within the next few days, well I hoped I would be. After all the unpacking and learning where everything was in our new home would be the first steps, and meeting neighbours. That's if I even had neighbours. If I do then please please please don't let them be some boring old couple. I'd be bored enough as is not knowing anyone and having very little to do.

My butt goes numb a little before we make it to the village and I'm thankful the moment the first line of quaint little cottages rear their way into my view. Thankful that is for a few parting moments before my gut wrenches and another pang of nervousness hits me like a ton of bricks. Maybe nervous is too light a word, I'm fucking terrified. It shows, I'm fully aware of the way my nails are sinking deep into the rough material of Hannah's car seats, the way the force is turning each one of my fingers white and the pain that's beginning to course through them. Gladly she doesn't notice, she's too distracted by the ass hole in the red van that's driving ten miles under the speed limit, ten miles too slow for her road rage. The last time we had moved had been entirely for the purpose of getting away from our parents, well the people who should have been our parents. There's no way I could really attribute such a title to those people, they were scum but now for whatever reason that was all my brain could think about. My parents. As if they were coming back to get me, I knew that period of my life was over though, I shouldn't be worried about something that had ended. Legally I was Hannah's responsibility, I was safe now.

As much as her rage can get a touch out of hand it's not down to bad driving it's just that she's incredibly impatient, either way I still feel safer being in the car with her than outside of it. Definitely a whole lot more when she actually slows down to take on the blind corners and the tighter roads of the village, my stomach however still feels like it's taking a dive into an abyss. I can't decide however, whether or not I'm actually going to be sick or not, I wonder if my cheeks are turning green?

I end up lost pretty quickly but given how most of the roads are flanked either side by trees and garden walls it makes finding noticeable landmarks to use, pretty difficult. All I do note is that our house is nestled a bit away from the main bulk of houses and more towards the outskirts near the beginnings of farm land. We do eventually pull down a dirt road leading to a rather large cottage and not too far nearby I can see another road leading off to a farmhouse and barn. Unfortunately a lot of the dense trees a long the way block the view to the rest of the village, I'd been hoping to at least get some idea of the layout before venturing in too much but that didn't look like it'd be happening, maybe I'd have a better look from one of the upstairs windows.

Hannah didn't give me the opportunity to look around. The moment we stepped out of her car I stretched my legs like I'd been sat in there the whole day, it felt like I had at least. Hannah on the other day, ran straight to the car boot and pulled out several bags of food, unlocked the front door of the house and ushered me right through into the kitchen without even a tour of the place.

'Pots and pans are in the boxes' she motions to a large collection of boxes sitting across the kitchen counter and a few more that sat upon a spacious table adjacent to it 'The oven is gas so be careful.'

I stare at her half wide eyed half dazed. 'I'm starving.' she insists 'You ate nearly all of my breakfast.' She adds jiggling the bags in front of my face. Well she's not wrong, I did so I can't really object. It's just surprising that she's letting me, especially in this kitchen which looks new.

So I ask 'What do you want? Any requests?' she turns around with a grin on her face.

'Look in the bags, just chuck whatever together I don't mind.' then sniggers before adding 'just don't burn it this time'. This time? It's not like it happens often. I mean the last time only happened because I'd been distracted by a phone call and it's not like it was completely inedible. I still ate it.

I waste no time in finding the pans and a kettle, the bag contained some pasta, quite a bit of fresh vegetables and some cooked meat along with some essentials like milk and bread and quite a few non-perishables. I boil up some water and get the pasta cooking before slicing up some of the veg to fry up. Hannah's voice calls out from the hallway before long 'I'm just nipping to the farm next door, I'll be back in little while. That better be done by the time I get back.' She jokes but I don't reply, just roll my eyes and flip her off when she sticks her head around the corner to check on me.

The second I hear the front door open then close is the time I wonder why the hell I'm still cooking instead of looking around the house, I want to see my room, I want to know where all my stuff is. I want to know if she's given me the tiniest room of the house to live in or not. So I abandon the tomato I'm midway through chopping half out of curiosity and half because the knife wasn't sharp enough so the damn thing had just crushed spurting juice onto my white t-shirt, fantastic. I slip into the living room first, a mostly empty room facing out into the front garden which looked like it hadn't been maintained in years. Hundreds of weeds littered the couple of flower beds and the grass was pretty overgrown. The room it self had about two pieces of furniture in, an old red couch with a few marks here and there that looked familiar and our old TV from our last place. In my mind I imagined Hannah struggling to push the sofa into the room by herself. Shouting and cursing each time the sofa catches and gets stuck against the door frame, but I know she had our uncle help out. Poor guy, I dread to think how further ruined his back is after this ordeal. He's always had trouble with his damn back.

Upstairs is more of the same empty space and horrible old wallpaper that looked like the remnants of the seventies. I check out the right side of the landing finding the master bedroom practically full of all of Hannah's mountains of junk, mainly clothes and books and off to the side, its own en suite bathroom. Next to her room was a small closet like space containing a set of stairs leading up into the attic. I poked my head inside briefly after I failed to find the light switch deeming it a bad idea to go any further without it. It'd be a great start to go breaking a leg or something before I've even settled in. On the other side I found the bathroom which thankfully had a proper shower instead of just a bath like our last place and I prayed to God that the next room along would be mine. Thankfully when I walked through the threshold of the door I found most of my belongings on and around the bed. It was decent as far as rooms went, the wall colour would have to change, it currently being a horrible light sky blue that I pretty much detested instantly. The flooring was old wood, creaky in a few spot, which I just knew would be horrible to deal with barefoot as we got closer to winter, but I could deal with that.

Two large windows let a lot of light into the place, one of which looked out to our back garden which looked equally as bad as the front except this one had a large tree so close to my window I could easily reach out and grab the branches if I wanted. The other view unfortunately was the farm house next to us and while I'm not exactly knowledgeable about architecture I could still appreciate the work that had gone into it but I had wished for something a little more picturesque. Still I had to give it a chance, the place just needed a bit of cleaning up.

It's about then that I remember the pasta cooking in the kitchen and nearly trip over myself rushing down to check on it. Thankfully it's not too badly overcooked, it's far squishier than It should be and I have to hack at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to un-stick it from the surface but I figure if I cut the vegetables thicker, she might not notice. I finish chopping up the vegetables and start frying them whilst finding some stuff to start cleaning up the mess I've made.

I'm finished eating long before she finally walks through the door, hell I've even washed my bowl out in the sink, this is impressively pro-active for myself. So I sit with Hannah as she eats, honestly she spends more time talking than actually eating but that's nothing out of the ordinary for her. I get what feels like a brief history of the village, mainly the people she's met so far like our neighbours who's names I don't catch and hope she doesn't quiz me on any of this. My head is spinning by the time she slows down enough to take another mouthful so taking the brief opportunity I grab the reigns of the conversation. 'So where's the rest of our furniture?'

'Round the side of the house, in the van' she says biting into the remainder of red pepper, perfectly cooked I might add.

'The van? Paul's still here?' He's one of few family members we actively keep in touch with, out of the ones we actually tolerate that is. She shakes her head though.

'Nah, I sent him back early after he put his back out lifting the sofa. He was going to stay the night but he really needs that special mattress of his, you know how bad his back is.' She says not missing a breath. 'Can't get him to see a bloody doctor for love nor money.'

'What about the van?' I guess we'd be keeping it although I couldn't see why, Hannah has no use for it having her own car to drive. Not knowing a thing about cars I couldn't really say if it was a decent one or not, I mean it looked good if that counted for anything.

'That's going to Angie and Kevin.' I didn't want to ask who, I really didn't because I just knew that she'd probably already told me exactly who they were but for the life of me I couldn't recall it. She sees it on my face though and before I know it she sighs, rolls her eyes with annoyance 'The Petersons, our neighbours?'

'Right, neighbours' I say agreeing. 'How come?'

'Paul's been wanting to get rid of it for awhile now and the Mr Peterson and his son did the work on this place for us and just so happened to be in the market for one. Seemed like a simple solution but first, it needs emptying.' And stares expectantly my way. Of course it would be me doing it, who else? 'You brought this on yourself Danny, you shouldn't lift all those weights if you don't expect me to exploit you once in awhile.' Laughing she throws me the van keys, I recognise them instantly from the tiny blue alien key chain my uncle won when he took me to a carnival many years back.

Stepping outside into the sun had been the first time I'd actually realised how cool it was inside the house, outside however was an entirely different matter. Rounding the side of the house I find a large garage set a little way into the back yard looking totally out of place, standing beside a long waist high hedge row between our house and the farm next door. Uncle Paul's van sat outside facing the garage door, sliding the key into the lock it takes me a few tries with a lot of frantic jiggling of the latch to get the key to turn all the way. Once I hear the click it takes further effort and hassle just to pry the right hand door open, the dodgy one with the stiff hinge. What the hell the Petersons would want with this thing I don't know, I wonder if they've even seen the vehicle at all. They mustn't have if they're still interested, It feels like they're getting the short end of the deal on this one but I suppose they could hack it up for parts.

'Holy shit.' I end up saying out loud as the door swings open revealing a cluster of furniture. The van is packed so tightly with junk that it reminds me of what a game of Tetris looks like when someone is losing badly, really badly. Chairs and tables interlock with each other and various other pieces of furniture so much that I think if I remove even one piece it might collapse. It takes a while of pulling and moving back and forth between the back of the van and the driver's seat to dislodge the first couple of bits. After they're out I find getting the rest of the junk in the van is considerably easier.

Halfway through unloading the van I feel the muscles across my back and arms aching so I stop for a short break, by now my t-shirt is soaking with sweat and I'd resorted to sweeping my blonde curls back across my head. Eventually the heat is so unbearable I strip down to just my shorts, regretting it almost immediately when my bare feet touch the gravel outside and feel like I'm walking on broken glass. As relieving as it is it becomes a little unbearable quite quickly but I keep on with it. I'm a couple of boxes away from completing my task when I hear a sharp whistle from the hedge beside me.

'Well, well. Is it hot out here or is it just you?' I hear a voice call nearby, a tinge of an accent to it that I don't recognise at first but when I do I make it out as a slight touch of American. I turn to see right as a big droplet of sweat cascades into my eye and the stinging sensation causes me to drop the box. I expect to hear shattering but thankfully nothing breaks, unfortunately the edge of the box clips my big toe and I can't suppress the cry of pain I make.

'Bastard!' I yell to no one in particular only to be met by frantic laughter, when I turn to see my eyes collide with that of the guy I'd met the other day, grinning like a little brat. 'Hey. Please tell me you don't actually use that as a pick up line.' I remark trying to regain my composure. I'm positive I've failed at that considering I can still feel the frown that my face had twisted into.

'Hey. Not all of the time no, It's one of my best though.' he replies breaking into a smile 'I know you right? The kid from the other day, you got lost in town.'

'Kid? I'm seventeen.' I almost growl.

'Sorry.' he replies with a little chuckle, almost patronising and dripping with sarcasm. 'Didn't think I'd see you again. I take it your sister didn't break your legs then.'

'She was really pissed off.' I say kicking through the top contents of the box checking for anything damaged even though I was pretty certain nothing was, I'd just been too shy to keep eye contact. I do however find one of my old green towels inside and manage to clean myself up a bit. 'She still might though. It's still early, plenty of time to piss her off some more.' Not that I planned to, intentionally at least.

'Right. So your the ones moving in then? Nice to meet you.' he places something down on top of the hedge row that I can't see before holding out his hand for a shake 'neighbour.' He adds with a sly devious smile.

I shuffle over reaching out and awkwardly shake his hand, my hand is damp with sweat, I hope he doesn't mind. He doesn't seem though when he holds my grip for a little longer than I'd thought was normal. When we break he holds up the thing he'd placed on the hedge, a dish filled to the brim with what looked like steaming hot lasagne and with the biggest smile says 'My mum told me to bring this over for you.'

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He walks me into his house stretching out his arms on the way. I get the most perfect view of his muscles and ass on the way in that I can't help smiling about even as I enter the house and bump into Hannah who I'd only just met earlier on. I'm a little too distracted when she regards me and I do my best to cover the smile as some sort of facial twitch to not look too creepy in front of her. 'Hey Marcus.' I hear her call from behind the kitchen counter, the one that only last week I'd put together with dad, blondie still shirtless looks me over briefly.

'Hey Mrs...' she stops me with one of the fiercest looks I've ever seen. I mean fuck, I've seen Miss Brandon on a bad day, hell I've seen abused animals that didn't look that angry.

'It's Hannah, don't ever call me Mrs or I'll take your knee caps off.' I wanted to think she was joking, I honestly wasn't sure, the look that blondie gives me and his suppressed chuckling says to me that it is. I don't think I'd be testing that one though. 'You boys want a drink?' I nod, actually being quite thirsty.

'Sure. Hey my mum told me to bring this for you, she thought you'd be too tired from unpacking to cook.' I say placing the dish next to her as she poured several glasses of juice.

'Tell Angie I said thanks, she's too kind.' Hannah replies taking a huge whiff of the lasagne, eyeing it hungrily.

Before she could pour the third blondie grabs the carton from her choosing to drink straight from it instead earning him a smack round the head. 'Fuck sake Danny, have some manners.' Hannah rolls her eyes to him, he grunts in response but continues to drink until the carton is drained, crushed and binned. 'Nearly done out there?'

'Nah' he says shaking his head 'couple of boxes left to go. Are you sure they want that thing? It's a piece of crap.' I assume he's referring to the van outside that my mum had convinced dad into getting since ours looks and drives like it's older than my parents combined.

'It's better than what we have.' I chip in 'nothing we can't fix I'm sure. How's the kitchen?' I ask to Hannah who's unloading the contents of a box into the drawers by the sink.

'Perfect. Damn good job, if we need anything else doing we'll be sure to come to you.' Too right it was, I'm a DIY pro if I do say so myself.

I try not to get too big headed. Not very hard but I do try, however I do start blushing. I don't often get paid compliments for anything so this is kind of embarrassing to me. So this Danny guy, blondie, looks exhausted and Hannah looks pretty busy. There's the distinct feeling that I should leave them to it not wanting to take up what little time they'll have to rest on their first night here, moving is damn busy work I'm told. After all I do have plans tonight. I'm about to say my goodbyes when Hannah turns to me 'Mind giving Danny a hand with the last few boxes?' I don't feel obligated to help, not at all but I still turn to her and nod. I guess I'm going to be late meeting Tim then, he'll live. 'Sure.'

'Great. Before I forget can you tell your dad he can come round whenever to pick up the van too.'

I follow his lead outside not because I don't know the way out, I do. I just wanted to check out his ass some more before I had to go home, maybe I could take a picture on my phone. Not to say that the front wasn't unpleasant either, I'd have a picture of that too but he'd probably notice, I could happily look at any side of him. He leads me outside and takes a brief moment to stretch his back again before we make it to the van, I watch how each of his muscles move and flex as he does maybe a little too intently. 'Your not human are you?' he asks out of nowhere.

'What?' I say incredulously. He points to my jacket, the black faux leather thing I just threw on before I left. Honestly it was thinner than it looked.

'How the hell aren't you burning alive wearing that thing?' he asks sweeping his brow.

'Because I'm well adjusted.' I say with a grin, he flashes me one back letting me see his smile.

'Why don't I believe that?' he grabs the nearest box, the one that he'd dropped when I arrived and hands it to me before grabbing the next. 'These ones are for upstairs I think, those last ones are probably for the living room and dining room.'

I follow him back and forth with the last few boxes, naturally each time taking in the view until the van is emptied, job done we sit in the back of the van. 'Thanks for the help.' he gives me a tired smile which I return.

'No problem, figured you and your mum could do with a hand right? She's a fierce lady, and I thought those messages from your sister were scary.' I laugh but he doesn't, he just gives me a weird confused look like I'd just spoken in an entirely different language or something. 'What?' I ask.

'That's not my mum, that IS my sister.' I'm sure I look like a total idiot with the way he looks over me and breaks out into laughter. 'Oh man, if she heard you say that.'

'Please don't tell her' I whisper, wincing like I'd just sat on a nail, for the record I've done that before, hurt like a bitch. 'I like my legs.' instinctively I bring them close to my chest, resting my head on my knees.

'Ok, ok, how about I don't tell her as a thank you for helping me out the other day.' I can't help finding the way the dimples in his cheeks form as he smiles slightly adorable, that and the way there's a slight crimson blush creeping across his face.

For the second time today I reach my hand out to shake 'Deal' I declare, he grasps it firmly almost instantly. 'So why did you run off?'

'Probably because I made a total ass out of myself.'

'Come on it wasn't that bad, you just dropped your phone. It's not like you vomited on someone.' He shoots me an unhappy look that leaves me suppressing a fit of the giggles. 'You've done that before haven't you?'

'Who hasn't?' he raises defensively.

'Just saying, it could've been a whole lot worse, besides it looked like you we're enjoying the music.' That makes him look away again, Danny seems to have trouble with that, probably shy I figure, he just didn't look the type though.

'You we're ok I guess.' I barely hear him over how quiet he spoke, more like a mumble but I heard him nonetheless.

'Just ok?' I start feigning mock insult 'I was just ok.' I rise to my feet, fold my arms and try to do my best impression of his sister. I must get something right because his eyes widen a touch.

'I didn't mean...' I cut him off with a light jab to the arm, he regards me back with a confused glance.

'Joking, fuck man lighten up a bit?' he does by returning my punch a bit harder than I did but I'll give him that, just this once. 'Listen I should get going, how about I come around tomorrow and give you a tour of the village? If your not busy that is.' I ask in a mix of friendliness and because I need some reason to get out of the house these days, away from the farm. Any excuse would do really.

'Sure, if I can get away.' he says stepping up, once again stretching except I get the full view from the front this time. 'Is there actually anything around here?' I walk away laughing, giving him a quick wave over my shoulder.

'Nope.'

Slipping by the road up to home I wonder how many times today I can feasibly sneak around the house without being caught. It's unlikely mum or dad will catch me, I know mum has plans to go out at some point but dad will most likely spend the day around the farm. Maybe one of the guys in the fields might see me pass by but knowing them they won't say anything, they're pretty cool like that, always had my back. It's not that I don't like helping around the place. I do, especially when it's with the animals but I can't help feel they're pushing me into following the family business and that's the last thing I want. In life I just want to do my own thing, do something I chose for myself and in all honesty that's probably the reason I can't handle all this damn family crap.

Maybe it had something to do with being adopted. I've never resented my parents for it, my adopted ones that is, my biological ones can go fuck themselves. All of that abandonment as a child is still totally fresh in my mind, always has been and god knows it probably always will be. Still I do try, mainly for mum but it's tough, I don't mind being alone, some days I like it.

So I move past the gate and follow along the hedgerow heading towards the village. I don't bother to crouch down or anything, I mean I'm tall but so are the bushes. I couldn't be any better off unless I dyed my hair green and stuck some leaves in it, that is of course unless mum or dad came driving up the road next to me. They don't but I do however catch Davey, one of the older farmhands working the fields near me, he's one of dad's oldest friends. I've known him since the day I first came here so he pretty much feels and acts like an uncle to me, the fun kind. Not the creepy weird uncle that every family seems to have at least one of.

Somehow the old bastard manages to catch sight of me just as I duck under the old oak, the one that looks about to tip over after the last big storm we had. Now that I think about it, that storm is probably the main reason why next door's house had been so torn up before, that and being empty for so long. Either way we salute each other as per usual since Davey is an old army guy and he waves me along figuring I'd be off to my usual spot. I am so before I make it close to the village I turn off left into the woods along the little creek by the old stone bridge.

I could follow this trail with my eyes shut. I'd tried that before and I guess you could say it didn't quite go to plan. I'd fallen into the river after tripping over a large gnarled branch hidden deviously among some leaves last autumn, but that's nature for you, constantly changing. Thankfully it had been one of the more shallow parts, a little off shooting stream. I'd spent the hour after freezing my damn ass off until Jase got the fire going. A decent walk down our hidden little trail I eventually come across the tree that looks a bit like an old man playing golf, I push my way through the holes in the surrounding bushes, snagging my hair as always since my growth spurts hit. Inside is our secluded hideaway, protected all around by the foliage. We keep a few lawn chairs here, cheap crappy ones that we got from old Foley.

Inside I see a shape, slouched lazily into the dull pink floral chair at the back, its head raises and pierces me with sharp eyes. 'Fucking late again!' Tim yells. 'Jesus how can you be so bad at getting somewhere on time?' I flash him a sympathetic look then move onto the half empty pack of beer sitting beside him on the grass. 'Nearly two hours before you ask, I saved you some. God knows why.'

'Sorry' is all I can manage, I suck at this, I never know what to say to calm him down.

'Right.' he musters up something close to a smile, it looks a little miserable but he eventually hands me a beer and points me to the chair opposite. 'So where have you been exactly? This better be a good one, not like last time. What was it?' he pretends to recall, he knows full well what it was, he brings this up all the fucking time. 'You tripped over a dog and broke your ankle?' Yeah I'm a little bit clumsy.

'It wasn't my fault.' I flash him a bitter look but he laughs it off unable to take me seriously. 'I have new neighbours I was helping them move in.'

I don't feel the smirk on my lips at all, It's only apparent when Tim starts grinning like a school girl. 'So he's cute then is he?' He asks as I'm mid sip of my beer, half of it ends up on the ground the rest down my t-shirt. Ass hole. 'That's the only reason you ever smile like that these days. When you get head over heels in love.' I almost spit out more.

'I've only just met the damn guy Tim. Can I get to know him before we plan the wedding?' he's still grinning, I have a brief moment of contemplation about throwing the bottle at his face. Tempting, very very tempting, it's the way his eyebrows are still raised that gets me. 'Fine.' giving in 'He's got a hot body, that guy is ripped.'

'So lover boy, when do I get to meet him?' It's not quite the bottle but I find a nice stick on the ground that soars perfectly into his chest eliciting a grunt as it strikes, Tim just snickers.

'Well I'm showing him around the place at some point, why not come with?'

'Sure, I'll be the third wheel. What exactly are you going to show him though? Lyn's mum's shop? The river?' I shrug, I hadn't thought that far ahead really.

'No idea, there's got to be something to see or do. If we run out of stuff we can just bring him here right?' He nods. 'I just didn't want him falling in with the wrong crowd.'

'Who's the wrong crowd?' I hear the soft feminine voice call from by the bushes, sure enough Lyn passes through with ease. I hate how she can do that, she gets through without barely messing up her hair, and with all the piercings she has it's a miracle that none of those get stuck on a rogue branch.

'You are.' I joke, she walks up and hugs me. It's not her usual full on bear hug, this one is softer, one that you'd actually expect from someone her size. I can sense how tired she is from it though. She catches sight of the beer like a hunting dog and stalks over to it angry and hunched. Cracking open the tab she downs half of the can before belching and smacking Tim in the side of the head.

'Fuck!' he yelps almost falling off of his chair, hand nursing the impact site.

'Your mum told me to do it. Take it up with her.' She plays innocent. Hah like anyone would fall for that.

'You know you don't have to do everything she says.' Tim whimpers nursing his head. 'Your such a brown noser.'

'I like your mum, she's nice. So wrong crowd?' I catch her eyes training on us both from under the black strands neatly hanging down over her eyes. 'What have I missed? Tell me!'

'Marcus has a new neighbour.' He states as a matter of fact, the way Lyn's eyes light up is concerning.

'Oh! So he's cute then?' As if she'd read his mind. I should have seen this coming really, I down the rest of the can, needing the buzz I'd get from the alcohol going to my head quicker.

There are times that I think the two of them are so alike, they can be annoyingly persistent then there are those times when they're just totally in sync with each other. I'd always wondered how long it'd be before the two of them actually hooked up with each other. Then again if they got together I imagine they'd be all sorts of aggravating to be around. I didn't want that to happen with my best friends, I didn't want any reason to not see them. If anything I wanted to see them more. All of them in fact, not just these two. We'd all been pretty busy so far this summer, not like usual.

'Piss off.' My response only brings about mocking laughter. I grab the final beer from the pack expecting protest from at least Tim, he did buy them in all fairness, but in all fairness it was his turn. It's not like we actually bought them though, being under age and all. It was just one of the perks of Lyn's mum owning a shop. She'd managed to sweet talk her into letting us buy alcohol as long as we drunk it responsibly, the only condition being if we got caught we had to say that we'd shoplifted it. As far as compromises went it was a decent one at least but I had always wondered if Mrs Clarke had actually discussed it with the rest of our parents. It always seemed like they suspected something but I had my doubts that they'd all be so accepting of the fact. What parent would?

'So when do I get to meet him?' Lyn asks with a face somewhere between serious and joking that I can't really tell if she's being serious or not.

'You can meet him whenever, I'm not his chaperone. But for arguments sake how about we let them get settled in first?' I offer, she sticks her tongue out at me, the little silver piercing glimmers.

'Well what are they like?' she pushes further draining her can and revealing a second case from her backpack along with some snacks. 'What? I bribed my mum ok? I said I'd work some extra shifts.'

'I don't know, they seem ok. I'll try bring him here tomorrow at the usual time if your free.' Lyn nods, mouth stuffed with chocolate.

'I don't know why your bothering Marcus, he's probably straight. They all are around here.' Tim cuts in eyeing up the food on the ground next to the small fire pit. We'd had a fire last night so the remains were particularly fresh today. Lyn stops eating to pick up a decent clump of half charred wood and throws it hard into his chest. The wood shatters and spits ash all over his t-shirt to which he recoils in shock.

'Shut up Tim, you don't know that. You don't have to ruin every one of his hopes and dreams.' A bit dramatic I think, sure the thought would be nice but hopes and dreams is a bit grandiose. Still I wouldn't say no to the idea.

'Come on, we're deep in bible land. The second that vicar gets near them you'll have no chance.' He did have a point on that one, I'll give him that. The vicar here certainly seemed a bit old fashioned. I couldn't picture either of them being in a church though especially not Hannah. No religious person sends text messages like that. I hoped.

'They don't seem like the religious type Tim, but yeah let's keep them away from that homophobic prick. So Lyn where are the others?' I attempt to change the subject and thankfully it works.

'Covering my shift. I told them if they covered for me then I'd set them up with some of my girl friends.'

'And are you?' I ask in disbelief.

'Fuck no. As much as I love all of you I'm not letting you anywhere near my girls. Sometimes It's nice to be a little bit ladylike you know? I don't want you ass holes ruining that.' she huffs at me.

Lyn ladylike? Hah. We've wrestled more times than I have with Tim. Hell back when we were younger she'd run around with stick pretending to be a knight hunting and slaying dragons, the dragons usually being Tim or Jase or one of the other guys. They'd always play along of course.

'We love you too.' I grin to her, she blows me a kiss in response.

'Besides, if I see one more customer today I'm going to kill someone.'

'Why do you work in your mum's shop if you can't handle the customers.' I ask, Tim looks as if he'd been about to ask the exact same question.

'Oh I can. The ones from around here at least. It's the ones that drive through the village that piss me off. They think they're so entitled.'

We spend a couple of hours in our spot just the three of us until we've drained all of the beer and are all feeling pretty damn fantastic. I don't touch the food, I know if I fill up now then mum will only get annoyed when I don't sit down to dinner with them. I do however snag some chocolate to eat later though. It's usually not a problem but she does insist that at least once a week we sit down together to eat, talk about our day and all that crap. So when the sun looks like it's about to start setting we pack up and make our way home. Lyn and Tim live in the village itself so as soon as we follow the trail back to the bridge we separate after Lyn gives me a tight hug.

When I make it home it's a little after eight and still pretty light out and truthfully, I'm slightly tipsy. Any by slightly I mean I'm having trouble walking in any form of a straight line. I can handle my liquor, a lot of it, it's just been awhile. Walking towards the road to our farm I face a difficult decision, whether to climb over the old iron gate or to try to open it. I'd long since known that either option happened to be increasingly difficult when I'd had a bit of a drink but thankfully when I round the corner I find the gate wide open and set back against the fence. Well that solves one problem. Now my dad is pretty strict when it comes to that gate, he likes work finished before the evening and when work is done, that gate shuts. That is in theory but there's always those nights where the guys are busy till the evenings or one of dads friends needs a hand with something. I can recall plenty of times he's called me out on not shutting it.

As I approach the house and find an unfamiliar truck outside, my parents on the porch looking less than happy. 'Did you think I wouldn't find out?' I hear a older man's voice yell out from the other side of the truck near my parents, unable to see who exactly it was. I certainly didn't recognise the voice at all. 'I own the damn place.'

'Owned. Hasn't been yours for a long time Mick, it's time you remembered that.' my mum's voice, calm as ever. She crosses her arms like she always does when she gets angry or frustrated.

'I take it you had something to do with this then? Went behind my back did you?' I figure the man is talking to my mum, I'm still not close enough to see but my suspicions are confirmed when she responds.

'Yes. You could say I had a lot to do with it actually, it was my idea and it's still got nothing to do with your worthless self.' I can hear her getting riled up, she doesn't do it often, it takes a lot to knock the composure out of her. 'This is between me and your wife, she agreed to it.' She's slightly calmer now.

'My wife isn't in any fit state to be deciding anything Angie. You'd know that if you saw her anywhere near as much as I do.'

Dad takes a step forward, he gets between the two pre-empting either one of the two doing something stupid although I didn't think mum would be capable. Sure she could get angry, who couldn't but I didn't take her as the violent type. 'Well what do you think Kev? You've been pretty damn quiet.' Dad takes another step towards him, gives him some pretty damn stern looks, by now I've rounded the truck and can see the guy. Before I get a good luck mum grabs me by the arm and drags me around to just behind her to the side. The man, Mick gives me a few short looks before returning to my dad, the guy looks a mess. Greying hair and a week old beard in need of a trim, tired eyes and a red shirt creased to hell. 'Well?' He demands.

'I think she's right. I think it's about time one of you does something good for those kids.' Mick's nostrils flare, I can see the anger rising in his throat, the fire in his eyes is a little unnerving. As big as I feel being as tall as I am, taller than Mick, I still feel intimidated. 'Now I think you've overstayed your welcome, get out of here before I call the boys.'

There's a moment where I think he's going to hit dad. The way that Mick's knuckles have turned a shade of white that beats the colour of the clouds on a good day, the way his veins are pretty much popping out of his arms, but he doesn't. How can dad stand there and not be even a little bit frightened by this? The moment feels a little close to eternity but Mick turns and enters the truck, the driver side door already open, and switches the engine on. He says nothing. 'And you can stay away from them too. Don't go causing anymore trouble, they don't need it.'

Mick doesn't look at him, doesn't acknowledge my dad in the slightest as he speeds off down the road and into the village. 'Mum?' I find myself asking, feeling like an inquisitive toddler again 'Who was that?' She holds my arm tighter, gives me a weak smile that I don't find genuine or consoling for one minute.

'Trouble son. You don't need to worry about Mick honey. Just some guy who used to live around here. He's old news.' She says pinching my cheeks gently.

I did though, I really did.