Driftwood

[Ludub]

On 10/15/2016 at 7:02 PM, pembie said:

Loved the idea of Brody's in the dark kinky restaurant

4 hours ago, hward said:

A friend went to one of those blind restaurants a little while ago - in London I think - and to put it one way it was an experience he won't forget in a hurry, lol!

Thanks Guys! I read a number of reviews of one of those restaurants, and in one that sticks out in my mind, the reviewer said that it was certainly an 'experience', and something that everyone should try 'once'. In other words she wouldn't be going back but she was glad that she'd tried it. She said that she spoke to some of the other diners and that there were a few people there who'd actually come with blind relatives to try to experience what mealtimes were like for them. Interesting idea but they did say that everyone made an almighty mess of themselves, and that picking up other people's food smeared wine glasses kind of became the norm. She said that what it did do was break down barriers and everyone ended up talking to everyone else. It was nearly impossible to have a private conversation because you felt like the people sitting beside you were right on top of you. Without visual barriers, there were none. So cool that your friend has actually been, hward! I'd be really interested to know more about his experience. I think I'd find it really daunting!

On 10/15/2016 at 10:48 PM, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

So sad about Roman

True. I always liked Roman so I'm not completely sure why I killed him in this and gave him such an unpleasant death. I am weird sometimes, lol!  (Shhh... [whispers behind hand] I do kinda need it for the storyline... I'm not completely bonkers! haha!) Thanks for the feedback Jarlie! 

[pembie]

2 hours ago, Ludub said:

Thanks Guys! I read a number of reviews of one of those restaurants, and in one that sticks out in my mind, the reviewer said that it was certainly an 'experience', and something that everyone should try 'once'. In other words she wouldn't be going back but she was glad that she'd tried it. She said that she spoke to some of the other diners and that there were a few people there who'd actually come with blind relatives to try to experience what mealtimes were like for them. Interesting idea but they did say that everyone made an almighty mess of themselves, and that picking up other people's food smeared wine glasses kind of became the norm. She said that what it did do was break down barriers and everyone ended up talking to everyone else. It was nearly impossible to have a private conversation because you felt like the people sitting beside you were right on top of you. Without visual barriers, there were none. So cool that your friend has actually been, hward! I'd be really interested to know more about his experience. I think I'd find it really daunting!

 

Sounds the prefect place to take a blind date mind the pun

[Ludub]

Thanks again to everyone for the kind comments  and sorry for the wait on this one. Just been very busy! Hope you like it! x

 

Chapter 16

 

 

“So how did this really happen?” asked Nate, as he gently turned Matt’s face to look at the cuts on his cheek again, “These look pretty nasty”. They ran on the left side of his face from just below his eye to the side of his mouth. His eye had swollen up into quite the shiner too and Nate had applied a number of small paper stitches to pull the edges of the wound on his eyebrow back together. There wasn’t a lot that he could do for the wounds on his cheek but he had washed them out with some saline solution and applied some antiseptic cream to them. He glanced at Roo, as she sat on the side of the treatment bed with her eyes fixed on the floor in a very downcast kind of way. He eyed the bandages on her fingers that the triage nurse had applied and began to put two and two together. “Was this more of your sleepwalking, Roo?” he asked.

Roo nodded, hugging her arms around little Alfie as she began to cry again. She’d been doing that all morning. She glanced up at Matt with eyes full of tears. “I’m so sorry, Matt”

“I told you” said Matt, giving her a little smile, “It’s okay…” He looked at Nate and gave him a shrug, “It was… It… Roo didn’t know what she was doing when she did this… She was in another world.”

Nate gave a little sigh and sat back in his chair. “This is getting a little out of hand, isn’t it?” he said, nodding slowly as he began to pull up Roo’s medical records on his computer screen. “Something needs to be done about this before you hurt yourself… or someone else.” He gave Matt a little half smile, and added, “I mean hurt someone for real… maybe more than a few scratches and a bruised eyebrow next time…”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that” said Matt, glancing in an embarrassed way at Roo and wondering how to avoid telling Nate about the handcuffs, “We’ve worked out a way to stop Roo wandering off… I mean… We’ve got it under control.”

“It doesn’t look like it” said Nate., shaking his head and looking back and forth between them with a frown on his face. He turned back to the computer screen and began reading her notes. “Now Roo… I see here that the sleep clinic has referred you for a follow-up appointment here next week but they’ve sent through some preliminary results… Has anyone spoken to you about them?”

“No” sniffled Roo, trying to hold a very wriggly Alfie on her knee as he got progressively restless, “No-one’s been in touch.”

“You didn’t get the letter?” asked Nate, furrowing his brow in a disappointed sort of way, “That’s strange… I can see a letter here that was sent out… about a week ago.”

“I didn’t get it” said Roo, looking worried and wondering how it could have gone missing, “What does it say?”

“Well… In layman’s terms, they couldn’t find a physical explanation for your sleepwalking… which is good news… Nothing that showed up on the scans anyway… No brain tumours, no clots, no evidence of epilepsy or any other neurological condition that requires any further follow-up…”

“So… they basically don’t know what’s wrong with me?” frowned Roo, looking across at Matt with big worried eyes, “So, they can’t help me?”

“Well, no… What they’re saying is that everything points towards stress and anxiety…” said Nate, giving her a reassuring little smile, “They’re recommending that you see a sleep therapist… a sort of counsellor… and maybe start on some anti-anxiety medications as well.”

“Medications?!” repeated Roo, looking increasingly upset, “Like anti-depressants or something like that?!”

“Well, we’d have to figure out which ones might work for you.” said Nate, reaching out and gently ruffling Alfie’s hair. “It is good news, Roo… It might not feel like it, but I for one am relieved that they didn’t find a physical explanation… It’s not fun telling someone that they have a brain tumour or an aneurysm…”

She frowned and pursed her lips together. She wasn’t pleased at all, and she certainly wasn’t relieved, even if he seemed to think that she should be. She knew that she was being ungrateful here, but she’d wanted something tangible that could be fixed. This just felt like a brush off.

“Hey… it’s good news” said Matt, seeing that she was upset and moving to sit by her side on the treatment bed. He put his arm around her shoulder and leaned his head against hers, forgetting for a moment his swollen eyebrow, and wincing with the pain. “You’re just stressed” he said, giving her a sad little smile, “So it’s something we can fix… It’s something we can do something about!”

Roo nodded and leaned her head against Matt’s shoulder with a little sigh. “I know I should be relieved” she said, giving Nate a nervous smile, “but it just feels like I’m back to square one… and I’m just being told that it’s all in my head… Like I’m some sort of crazy person!”

“No-one’s saying that you’re crazy!” laughed Nate, rolling his eyes and shaking his head in a way that was supposed to put her at ease. “What they’re saying…” said Nate, leaning forward in his chair and making a steeple shape with his fingers, “…is that there are lots of reasons… lots of different things that could be causing your sleepwalking… Lots of reasons for stress and anxiety… It could even be a hormonal thing… We just need to figure out what it is.”

“Hormonal?!” she asked, suddenly looking a lot more worried and passing a very restless Alfie to Matt for him to hold, “It could be a hormonal thing?”

“Yes, it could” nodded Nate, “I think it might be a good idea to run some blood tests and see if they turn anything up.” He turned back to his desk and started to write out the paperwork for some bloodwork.

“Matt, could you take Alfie out and see if there’s a play area for him or something?” she asked, giving him a soft little kiss on the cheek, “He doesn’t need to be here for all my blood tests, does he? And he’s getting pretty fed up with all of this.”

“Okay, I guess…” said Matt, getting up off the bed and hoisting Alfie up onto his hip. He looked at Nate and said, “Can you get someone to come get me when you’re finished?”

“That’s fine” said Nate, making momentary eye contact with Roo as he realised that something was up, “I’ll look after Roo… Don’t worry.”

“Thanks” he said to Nate, giving him a grateful little smile. He leaned down with Alfie in his arms and let the little boy give his mummy a kiss on the cheek before giving her a light peck on the lips himself. “I’ll just be down the hall” he said. With that, Matt threw Alfie a silly grin, and said, “Why don’t we go see if there are any good runways here, huh Alfie?!”

Alfie nodded and made a high pitched squealy noise as Matt began to carry his sideways as though he was flying like a plane. “Aiwplane!” he shouted as they left the room, “Aiwplane!”

Once they were sure that Matt was gone and that he’d no longer be within hearing distance, Nate gave her a shrug of his shoulders, and said, “So what’s all this about?” Anyone could see that she was worried.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering how to put her fears into words. Saying it out loud made it seem so much more real and she wasn’t sure that she was ready to deal with all the ramifications of this being true. Having a toyboy for a partner was one thing, and usually she was okay with the age difference between them, but this just seemed like such a game changer. Having her own body betray her like this, as though to say ‘You’re old!... Just in case you forgot!’ and rub her face in it, was difficult. She was ashamed… and she really didn’t want Matt to know. She looked up at Nate with big scared eyes and gave a heavy sigh. “When you said that hormones could cause it…” she began, blushing a little red and feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment, “Do you think that… Do you think… Well… could the menopause cause it?”

 

*****

 

“I am so embarrassed!” squealed Maddy, covering her face with both hands and giggling like mad, “I am so sorry, Jett! You have to believe me!”

“It’s okay!” laughed Jett, picking up his beer bottle and trying with everything he had to look casual. He hoped that she couldn’t tell how fast his heart was beating or how sweaty the palms of his hands were. Maddy Osbourne was sitting at a bar having a drink with him! Okay, so it wasn’t a date… and she hadn’t agreed to go for a drink with him or anything like that, but she hadn’t got up and left when he’d sat down either. So that was a pretty good sign! Maybe he hadn’t blown things after all! He gave her a little smile and said, “I really didn’t mind… except when you puked on me!”

“I didn’t?!” she gasped, turning to look at him wide-eyed in shock, “Oh my God! I didn’t, did I?!”

He nodded at her very seriously and did his best to keep his face straight. Just at the moment where it seemed like she was going to believe him, he broke, and burst out laughing. “Nah, you puked… a lot… but not on me.”

“That’s not much better!” she giggled, biting her bottom lip and elbowing him in the ribs a little playfully. “I am really very sorry that you had to see me like that… to deal with me like that… God, I must have been such a slobbering mess!”

He gave her a little smile and took a sip from his beer bottle. Neither of them had mentioned the fact that she’d tried to kiss him and he thought it was probably best not to mention it if she didn’t bring it up herself. “So, I’m getting the impression that you don’t handle your drink all that well?” he teased.

“Hey… I can drink with the best of them!” she replied, putting her hand on her chest and feigning outrage, “I admit that the evidence would speak to the contrary… but…”

“They were exceptions, rather than the rule?” he interrupted with a cheeky smile and held out his beer bottle to clink against her glass.

“Exactly!” she laughed, clinking her glass off his bottle and then taking a sip of her chilled white wine. She gave him a smile and set the glass back down on the bar. She couldn’t help thinking how good looking Jett had become over the last few years. She knew that this wasn’t the first time that the thought had struck her, and memories of that drunken evening were slowly flooding back through her mind in a hazy sort of way, but he looked particularly handsome this evening. She remembered wanting to kiss those beautiful soft lips of his and making a move on him only to be rejected. Still, she was ‘relatively’ sober now, so maybe things would be different this time around? “So… um” she began, suddenly feeling a little shy and wondering what to say to get the conversation flowing, “…How long have you been back in the Bay?”

He smiled again, hoping to give the impression of being relaxed. “I uh… I came back a few months ago…” he said, picking up his beer bottle again because he suddenly felt his mouth a little dry with nerves, “I transferred in so I could be a bit closer to John and Maz, and… I guess part of me just wanted to come home.”

“Yeah, I get that” she said, nodding and tracing her finger lightly over the edge of the wine glass, “After a while you just start to think that it’d be nice to be around people you care about… and who care about you.”

“True” he said, motioning to the barman to get them another round of drinks. “I just… I don’t know… The City was… I saw a lot of stuff there that just wouldn’t happen here and… I guess I always wanted to be a small community cop… to get to know people, y’know? …It was what I wanted when I signed up in the first place… I mean, I know it sounds like a cliché, but I really do want to… I guess… I want to help people.”

She turned and looked at him with a big smile. It was nice to hear someone talk in such a passionate way about what they did for a living. Dave had been like that, she thought to herself with a little pang of sadness. “That’s really nice” she said, meaning it sincerely.

He glanced at her, wondering for a moment if she was making fun of him, but realising from the expression on her face that she wasn’t. “Yeah, well” he said, blushing a little red, “I just didn’t feel like I was doing that in the City… It was like trying to hold back the tide... I just wanted to live somewhere where people weren’t so cruel to each other.”

“Yeah… but stuff happens here too” she said, tilting her head at him in a questioning sort of way, “I mean… Summer Bay isn’t exactly squeaky clean… Look where we’re sitting!”

He glanced around Angelo’s restaurant and shook his head a little. The Braxtons had brought a whirlwind of criminal activity with them when they’d arrived in town. Nobody could deny that! They certainly hadn’t been good news when you sat back and looked at it. They’d been part of a hardened criminal gang and gotten themselves drawn into all sorts of dodgy dealing time and time again. The cop in him knew that Brax should have gone to prison. No-one could really argue that, but despite everything, part of him couldn’t quite forget the hero worship that he’d had for Brax when he was little. He just couldn’t bring himself to fully dislike the guy. Brax had saved him from drowning after all! Surely he couldn’t be all bad?! The Braxton’s River Boy empire seemed like such a long time ago now though… Like another lifetime. And from what he’d heard, Brax had been keeping his nose clean, at least as far as the authorities in the City were aware, and simply become a restaurant owner and a family man. He was still under surveillance but there hadn’t been a snifter of any dirty dealings for quite a few years. Nothing that they could figure out anyway. He seemed to have gone disappointingly legit. Kyle Braxton also appeared to have become a model citizen over the last few years, much to everyone’s surprise, and hadn’t had even a brush with the law since Ricky had left town. It all seemed to have quietened down, and become comfortingly boring. It was exactly the kind of town that he wanted to police.

“Yeah… but we’re not talking prostitution rings and the kind of depravity… the kind of disgusting things that you see in a big city… Stabbings on a day to day basis… rapes, assaults… It’s just relentless…” He shook his head and furrowed his brow a little at the memories of some of the more unpleasant things that were floating through his mind, “I mean… You lived in London… You must know?”

“I guess” she said, nodding and looking a little more serious, “There’s a lot of that in London… well, not that I saw it… but you hear about it.”

“Yeah well… I’ve seen it first-hand…” he said, grimacing a little and then giving the barman a little nod of thanks as their drinks arrived. “It isn’t pretty!” he continued, “I just wanted a break from it, that’s all!”

“I can understand that” she said, thinking how much of a man he’d become since she’d seen him last. There was something kind of hero-like about him when she looked at him now. She didn’t know why she’d never noticed before. She put her hand on his leg in a sympathetic way and tilted her head at him sweetly, “It must have been so hard.”

He looked down at her hand on his leg and he thought that he might have a heart attack. ‘Maddy Osbourne is touching me!’ he sang to himself in a nervous sort of way, ‘Maddy Osbourne is touching my thigh!’ He looked back up into her eyes and gave her a very nervous little smile. “Uh…uh…” he stammered, thinking about her choice of words and fighting the urge to burst out laughing. “Yeah, it was very hard” he said, trying not to laugh.

Maddy took her hand away, smiling a little to herself when she made the connection, and realising that he’d made it too. She blushed a little and lifted her wine glass to break the tension. “So uh… where do you live then?” she asked, hoping to sound like butter wouldn’t melt, “Is it far?”

“Oh… I um… I have an apartment not too far from here…” he said, trying to sound like his stomach wasn’t doing somersaults. ‘I think Maddy Osbourne is actually coming onto me!’ he told himself, wondering how on earth something like this had happened, “I don’t think I’m imagining this! I think she’s actually interested! Oh my God! Just don’t screw this up! Don’t screw this up, Jett! It looks like it’s on!’ He gave her a mischievous little smile and said, “I live with my partner, Kevin… but I don’t think he’s home this evening so we could have a few drinks back at mine, if you like.”

‘Damn it!’ she thought to herself, ‘They’re always either married or gay! Just when I thought I’d found a good one!” She’d never been more disappointed and she found it hard to hide that fact. She knew that he must have seen her face fall when he’d said the word 'partner' but she hoped that he didn’t think it was because she was homophobic or something. She was just a little sad, that’s all. Now his rejection the other night made a lot more sense though, and the fact that he’d been such a gentleman, and taken her home like that. She’d wanted a boyfriend, but maybe she’d just made herself a gay best friend! Every cloud and all that, she thought to herself. She leaned across and put her hand on his knee again, but this time with a very different demeanour. Less ‘come hither’, and more ‘aw, well aren’t you just the cutest?!’ “Yeah sure!” she said, flashing him a big cheesy grin, “Why don’t we grab a movie… and like a ton of junk food… and just make total pigs of ourselves?!”

‘Not the evening I was hoping for’ he thought to himself, ‘But beggars can’t be choosers! Maddy Osbourne wants to snuggle on a couch with me! The fourteen-year-old me would be thrilled!’ “Okay” said Jett, trying to hide his disappointment, “Sounds like a date.”

 

*****

 

“Who was that?” asked Aden, motioning towards the young blonde as she disappeared out through the door. She’d drawn quite a lot of attention as she left the bar, laughing her head off, and linked on the arm of a tall young man.

“Her?” asked Kyle, taking the lid off a bottle of beer and placing it in front of him, “Who wants to know?” He looked the young man in the suit up and down and wondered what he wanted with Maddy. Was he just sleazing onto the young local girl, or did he have some more official purpose, given that he’d rocked up here dressed like some big city hotshot? He didn’t like the look of him. But then he didn’t really like men who dressed in suits on their own time. It was one thing dressing in a suit for a funeral or for a court appearance, but wearing one in your day to day life just didn’t sit well with him.

“Hey, I was just asking!” said Aden, holding his hands up in a conciliatory sort of way, “I didn’t mean anything by it…”

“Yeah well, I don’t go giving out personal information about people” said Kyle, eyeing him with suspicion, “You want to know her name, you ask her yourself!”

“Oh-kay” said Aden, shrugging his shoulders at him, “This place has changed a bit…”

“Yeah… and what would you know?” asked Kyle, opening a beer for himself and leaning with his back against the counter to watch the young stranger.

“Well, I used to live round here… This is my home town” he said, taking a swig of beer and swivelling round on his stool to look around the bar, “And I remember a time when this bar didn’t exist… and I’m guessing that you were living somewhere else.”

“Well, I’ve been here for nearly ten years” said Kyle, furrowing his brow at him, “…and I’ve never seen you”

“I’ve been away” said Aden, nodding thoughtfully and picking at the label on his beer, “First time I’ve been back in a long long time… too long.”

“You been inside?” asked Kyle, tilting his head at him. He didn’t strike him as someone that had been in prison, mainly because he was so well groomed, but there was a tension about him that a lot of jailbirds had. He was certainly a bit of an enigma.

Aden looked a little confused for a moment because he didn’t understand the question. “Oh!” he said, as he registered what he meant, “Uh… no…” He glanced around wondering where Irene had got to. She was supposed to be meeting him here for dinner but it looked like she was running late. “No” he said, looking back round at Kyle, “No, I’ve just been working… busy… I haven’t had time to come back.”

“Overseas?” asked Kyle, finding himself more interested in this stranger than he would have expected.

“No… the City” he answered, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. He realised how ridiculous it must sound to someone who didn’t know him, that he’d been working for the last ten years in the City, and hadn’t come to visit. It wasn’t far from here at all, and yet he hadn’t managed to come back to visit, not even once!

“Aden!” came a shout from across the room, “Oh darl! I’m sorry I’m so late… I just got a bit tied up at the diner!” She bustled over beside him and set her handbag down on one of the stools. “Don’t even ask! Chris, who works for me, was busy yakking in my ear about some anniversary present for his girlfriend Hannah, and I could hardly get a word in edgeways… Honestly, I love that boy… I do… but he could drive Mother Theresa to commit murder!” She smoothed down her dress and gave a little sigh when she saw the bemused looks on both Aden and Kyle’s faces. “Anyway… I’m here now!” she said, putting her hand on Aden’s shoulder with a big smile, before turning to look at Kyle, “I could eat the leg off that table over there!”

Aden turned to look at Kyle and the two of them burst out laughing. “I’m Aden Jefferies” he said, holding his hand out to Kyle, “Me and Irene go back a long way.”

Kyle shook his hand and gave him a little smile. “Kyle Braxton… Good to meet you.”

 

*****

 

Roo sat on the couch, with Alfie snuggled in on top of her, and smiled down at his sleepy little face. He was beautiful, she thought to herself. He had such lovely golden skin, and a head of ridiculous curly brown hair that they’d avoided getting cut so far, but he had Matt’s stunning blue eyes. Sometimes when she looked at him she thought her heart might break. She knew that she was biased, just like any other parent, but she thought that he was the most gorgeous child on the face of the planet. She didn’t know how she could possibly love anyone more!

“Here you go” said Matt, giving her a little smile as he set a cup of tea down in front of her and then sat down on the arm of the couch. He had the evening off because of his face so they were taking full advantage of some family time together. He couldn’t help smiling as he looked down at his little family, so cosy on the couch together, all snuggly and cute. He didn’t really understand what had happened today. He’d left Roo with Nate in the examination room to have a barrage of blood tests done. She’d looked absolutely miserable, but when he’d come back an hour later, she’d suddenly seemed at peace with herself. He hadn’t seen her smile so much in a long time, and he couldn’t help thinking that she looked absolutely radiant.

“What?!” she laughed, looking up at the smile on his face with a quizzical look, “Why are you smiling like that?”

“I don’t know” he replied, “You just look happy… You’ve been smiling all day and you just look so… I don’t know… cute and snuggly… the two of you together.”

“I am happy” she said, squeezing Alfie a little tighter to her, “I’m just really grateful for what we have.”

“It’s the relief, isn’t it?” he said, giving a little sigh, “Knowing that you’re okay… I mean that there’s nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, it is” she said, nodding and giving him a big smile. She reached out her hand to him and pulled him down onto the couch beside her. He put his arm around her and she leaned her head in against his shoulder. “I love you, you know” she said, smiling softly to herself.

“I love you too” he whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head, “So much.”

She reached up to just by her shoulder, and took hold of his hand, interlacing her fingers with his. As she sat there, snuggled beside her little family, a lot of thoughts ran through her head. She was overwhelmed with wave after wave of emotion, and she wondered at how much things could change in just one day. She was certainly scared, she couldn’t deny that, but she was excited too. She had a lot to come to terms with, but the truth was that she was a very lucky woman, and she had to keep reminding herself of that. She had a beautiful little boy, and a man in her life that she loved very much, and who loved her, and there weren’t that many women who could say that. A lovely strong man had his arms around her right now and she was safe and warm in her father’s house. They’d certainly come a long way from that island and she had a lot to be grateful for. She’d been shipwrecked on an island for four years, which most people would say was a terrible thing to have happened to her, but she’d found the love of her life as a result. She looked at his hand, entwined with hers, and gave it a gentle little kiss. As she sat there, thinking about how lucky she was, she couldn’t help letting her mind drift back to when this all began…

She blushed bright red and pointedly looked away. She knew that he was looking now! Worse than that, he’d caught her looking at him! She hadn’t just been looking, she’d been admiring every inch of his toned and tanned young body. Drinking it in with her eyes. He’d become quite muscular over the last few months. Not that heavy, gym-going look that all the young men aspired to these days, but the kind of lean and wiry muscles that men develop when they do hard physical labour. The kind of muscles that actually mean something. Muscles that are useful. She couldn’t stop looking at the shape of his shoulders and the veins that now stood out in his forearms. He’d become a man in her eyes in such a short space of time. No longer that skateboarding kid that she’d allowed to come live with her, and who she’d treated like a son. A man. A man with needs and desires. Maybe it was the beard, or maybe it was the more serious attitude, but there was something so undeniably sexy about him now. She could hardly take her eyes off him. ‘What am I doing?!’ she asked herself, tutting quietly and feeling incredibly embarrassed, ‘I’m 44 years old! I shouldn’t be looking at him this way!’ She told herself that it was wrong. She told herself not to look. She told herself that it wasn’t appropriate to be ogling a man who was young enough to be her son. Nothing about this was right. He’d been Maddy’s boyfriend for goodness sake! He was only 20 years old. They might as well have been mother and son! What on earth was she doing?!

She stared down at the strips of tree bark in her hands and began to busily twist them together, holding the end of the rope that she was braiding between her toes and pulling it taut. It was a tedious task, and it always hurt her hands and her feet, but it was her turn today. They always needed rope. No matter how much they made, they always needed more. It was surprising how quickly it wore through and broke. ‘Concentrate’ she told herself, desperately trying to stop herself from glancing sideways, even if she could feel him looking at her. Especially for that reason! ‘You’re a grown woman, Roo Stewart!’ she told herself sternly, channelling the voice of her father, ‘What on earth are you thinking?!’ She was going to have to get this under control somehow. When had she become this sex-starved cougar?!

Suddenly she heard a loud splash and couldn’t help turning to look. There he was, proudly plucking a large fish out of the water on the end of a spear. How had he become so good at this in such a short space of time?! She hadn’t been able to manage it even once! Even with him trying to teach her… He was going to be insufferable now. So proud of himself and puffing out his chest like the returning hero. She was grateful that he looked after her so well but part of her resented the fact that he was so much better at all this hunting stuff than her. She didn’t want to be the little woman sitting at home weaving and cooking. It was humiliating in a way. She’d always been quite the feminist, and she’d always firmly believed that women were just as capable as men. It annoyed her that she’d been wrong. She couldn’t do the hard physical things that he could do. Maybe it was partly because of her age, but it angered her that things came so easily to him, whereas she had to struggle so much. He could climb so much better than her, and there were places on the island that she simply couldn’t follow him. She’d nearly broken her ankle trying! As she gazed in his direction now, she couldn’t help feeling a little resentful when she saw him turn towards her with a huge smile. “I got one!” he yelled, holding the spear above his head triumphantly, while the large silver fish thrashed about, despite the spear having passed right through. “Dinner!” he shouted, as he began to wade his way back out towards her. “Someone’s having fish for dinner!” he sang, in a voice that he knew was sure to irritate her.

“Yeah, I guess that’ll do” said Roo, looking up at him with a feigned disinterest as he arrived by her side. She wrinkled her nose a little as she looked at his prize. “What is it anyway?” she asked.

He looked a little crestfallen and took the fish off the spear. It was a silver sort of fish, that looked a little bit like bream, but probably had another name that neither of them knew. The fish was certainly big enough for the two of them to have a decent enough dinner, so he was clearly disappointed that she didn’t seem more impressed. “It’s one of those silver ones that you liked the last time” he said, stalking past her to put the fish down on the piece of stone that they used for gutting and descaling. “I’ll go back out in a minute and see if I can get another.”

“Good” she said, turning her attention back to the rope that she was binding in an attempt to hide the red flush that was slowly creeping up her neck.

He went to find one of the plastic bottles that had washed up on the sand and that they now kept their water in/ He sat down in the sand to have a drink. It was an extremely hot day and he was clearly very tired and thirsty. He wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced across at her a little nervously. She knew why he was nervous and she wondered at her own behaviour. Why was she suddenly being so cold and distant with him? She couldn’t help it. The truth was that she just couldn’t bring herself to look at him for fear of giving herself away. Her heart was racing a little and she had that nervous feeling that you get on a first date. Her stomach all aflutter. What on earth was wrong with her. She glanced at him out of the side of her eye and blushed again at the thoughts that were running through her head. ‘Roo Stewart!’ she scolded herself, ‘You dirty minded thing!’ She would have liked nothing more than to climb on top of him and unbutton those ragged shorts of his. ‘Stop this now!’ she told herself, ‘Think of something else, anything else…’ She had to try to keep control of herself and be the grown up here. She could see the look of confusion on his face. For a woman who had barely been able to drag her eyes away from him a few moments ago, it seemed strange to suddenly blow so cold.

“Are we… are we okay?” he asked a little tentatively, as he pushed the stopper back in the bottle and offered it to her.

“Yeah, course” she said, waving it away and continuing to braid the strips of wood bark together. “Why?” she asked, refusing to look up at him. She knew that her body language was saying that she was angry with him. She didn’t really mean to make him think that, but she didn’t know how to act around him anymore. She just felt so confused.

“Cause…” he began to say, looking a little worried, “You seem a bit… quiet”

“I’m busy” she said, shrugging and picking up the pace. Her hands were going in a flurry now as she tried her best to appear engrossed in the task at hand. She got to the end of the rope that she was braiding and reached for some more of the tree bark that they’d gathered.

“I can see that” he said in a slightly sulky tone as he pushed the wood bark across to her with his foot. Climbing to his feet, he took the bottle back into their little hut. She could hear him moving around in there and she wondered how long it would take for him to notice. She smirked to herself. There wasn’t much entertainment on this island. You had to get your kicks somewhere! After a moment he came back out and looked at her with a sudden flash of anger in his eyes. “Where are those berries I was keeping?” he asked her.

She looked up at him, suddenly appearing a little shamefaced, and said, “I thought you wouldn’t mind”

He stood looking at her in silence for a moment and she thought that his head might explode. “You thought I wouldn’t mind?!” he repeated finally, shaking his head and smiling in a strange and angry sort of way, “You thought I wouldn’t mind you taking the berries that I was saving for after dinner tonight?!”

She nodded and went back to braiding the rope in her hands. “Sorry” she mumbled, “I was hungry”.

“Sorry” he repeated, imitating her voice and putting his hands on the back of his head, “You’re sorry?!”

“Yes, that’s what I said” she stated calmly, continuing what she was doing and trying her best not to smile. This was actually pretty funny.

“You thought I wouldn’t mind that you took them… You thought I wouldn’t mind?!” he asked, not really expecting her to answer. He had turned away from her and was obviously doing his best to get his temper under control. “Roo” he said, in a plaintive sort of voice, “I’ve been fantasising about them all day…”

“We’ll get more” she said, sounding unfazed by his obvious annoyance, “C’mon! Don’t you think you’re blowing this out of proportion?!’

“Out of proportion?!” he repeated, spinning around and shaking his head at her in exasperation, “Out of proportion?!”

“Stop just repeating everything I say!” she snapped, getting to her feet and facing off against him. “It really gets on my nerves!”

“Yeah, well you know what gets on my nerves, Roo?!” he shouted back at her, “You, taking my stuff! Those were my berries! Mine! You ate all of yours already… And there’s no ‘we’ in any of this! I’ll have to get the berries… Me! …Do you have any idea how far I had to go to get those?!”

“No…  I don’t Matt! Because you never let me come with you!” she yelled back at him, forgetting now that this was supposed to be a joke. Somehow it felt good to shout at him and something in his tone had struck a nerve. “I never get to go!”

“And why do you think that is?!” he snapped back at her, “You slow me down, and I spend all my time making sure you don’t break your clumsy neck!”

“I am not clumsy!” she shouted, giving him a big shove in the middle of the chest, “You just go too fast… and you have longer legs… It’s easier for you!”

“You are the clumsiest person I’ve ever known!” he yelled, stepping back towards her in a defiant sort of way to show that he couldn’t be pushed around. She tried to step backwards, but she tripped over a rock, and much to her own embarrassment she managed to lose her balance. He reached for her as she began to fall, but she pulled him as she fell, and suddenly they both found themselves in a heap on the ground.

“Not clumsy at all” he laughed, lying on top of her and shaking his head incredulously, “I stand corrected!”

She opened her mouth to answer him, but suddenly found herself laughing. She could feel the laughter coursing through his body too, his diaphragm shuddering, as he lay on top of her, but that wasn’t all that she could feel… She glanced down for a moment, making sure that she hadn’t misunderstood, and then as she looked back up their eyes met. She couldn’t help blushing a little as she looked up into his big blue eyes and it became clear that they both knew exactly what was happening. He gently stroked her hair out of her eyes and she felt herself trembling a little with anticipation. She wanted him. She’d never wanted someone more. He leant down and gently pressed his lips against hers before pulling away again and looking at her with a tinge of embarrassment. “Matt, will you just kiss me?!” she asked, putting her hand on the side of his face and giving him a mischievous little smile. Nothing had ever felt more right…

“C’mon” said Matt, lifting Alfie out of Roo’s arms and climbing slowly to his feet. “Let’s go to bed” he said with a little smile.

“Okay” she said, getting off the couch and following him towards the stairs. Something told her that she was going to sleep well tonight.

[Guest]

Great chapter

I hope Roo gets the help she needs.

I can't help but wonder  is Jett gay.

Liked the flashback.

Update again soon

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Nice moments between Roo and Matt and she seems to be relaxing around him, nice to get a glimpse of their early days as well.Oh boy, Maddy thinks Jett is gay!She couldn't be more wrong!Mind you, Aden seemed briefly interested in her as well...

[Ludub]

5 hours ago, Kristen said:

I hope Roo gets the help she needs.

I can't help but wonder  is Jett gay.

Liked the flashback.

3 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Nice moments between Roo and Matt and she seems to be relaxing around him, nice to get a glimpse of their early days as well.Oh boy, Maddy thinks Jett is gay!She couldn't be more wrong!Mind you, Aden seemed briefly interested in her as well...

Thanks guys  glad you enjoyed it.

Bit of a misunderstanding between Jett and Maddy there, eh?!  Oops! Haha.

Thought it'd be nice to let you see where it all began, and how Roo and Matt made that leap. I liked the idea that they'd have a sort of love hate thing going on initially. They were stuck on an island with no-one else to talk to, so it makes sense that they'd drive each other mad too, even if they did have the hots for each other. Kind of like cabin fever. They've come a long way since then.

As always, thanks for commenting x

 

[KittCatt]

Great chapter!

Really liked Matt and Roo with Alfie in this chapter, just being a normal family. Really sweet. And i liked that we got some more information about how their romance started-  their yelling at each other in the flashback, then kissing. 

Wondering why Roo didn't get the medical letter..but I'm glad there's nothing physically wrong with her, though she has no easy fix as psychological issues can be really hard to overcome. Poor Roo, feeling guilty for hurting Matt. And poor Matt, who must be feeling a bit powerless.

Really liked Maddy and Jett  Pity she got the wrong idea though... And i liked Aden meeting Kyle. Yes, living in the city prevents a lot of people from coming back to Summer Bay doesn't it?  And i found it funny that Kyle thought he'd been in jail!

I look forward to more!  

[Inactive User]

Great chapter  

Hoping Roo will get the help she needs

And I liked the flashback

Update soon please xx

[hward]

Great chapter, love the flashback. Oh dear at Maddy getting the wrong end of the stick!

[Ludub]

6 minutes ago, hward said:

Great chapter, love the flashback. Oh dear at Maddy getting the wrong end of the stick!

Easily done, eh?! haha! Poor Jett! Not quite the evening he had in mind! He should probably be a bit more careful with the use of the word 'partner'.

Thanks hward! As always, appreciate the feedback 

18 hours ago, KittCatt said:

Really liked Matt and Roo with Alfie in this chapter, just being a normal family. Really sweet. And i liked that we got some more information about how their romance started-  their yelling at each other in the flashback, then kissing.

Thanks KittCatt, I thought this scene would be nice. They are pretty cute when Roo isn't going nuts!  I also thought it'd be nice for you too see a bit of their early days when they were figuring out their feelings for each other. I do think two people alone on a desert island would probably cop off with each eventually, either that or kill each other! Whether it became love would be another matter!

18 hours ago, KittCatt said:

I'm glad there's nothing physically wrong with her, though she has no easy fix as psychological issues can be really hard to overcome. Poor Roo, feeling guilty for hurting Matt. And poor Matt, who must be feeling a bit powerless.

14 hours ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

Hoping Roo will get the help she needs

They are having a really hard time, but I think knowing that it wasn't a physical problem like a brain tumour or some other illness would be a big relief. Certainly for Matt, even if Roo found it harder to accept. Psychological stuff can be harder to deal with too.

18 hours ago, KittCatt said:

And i liked Aden meeting Kyle. Yes, living in the city prevents a lot of people from coming back to Summer Bay doesn't it?  And i found it funny that Kyle thought he'd been in jail!

Glad you liked this too  I do think that Kyle and Aden might have butted heads a little bit if they'd been in the show at the same time. Aden's loud mouth attitude probably wouldn't have gone down well with the Braxtons so I imagine there might have been a bit of tension. I wanted a little bit of that. In this reality though, Kyle has gone legit, and isn't involved in any criminal activities, but he obviously still thinks like a Braxton! His first thought is that Aden might have been to prison! lol! I think that's only natural for him, considering... And yeah, I couldn't help poking fun a little bit at the fact that so many leave for the 'city' and never come back despite it just being down the road!

Thanks for reading, everyone! x