Chapter 10: Decisions

Rikki didn't cry for too long.

Furious at Zane for hurting and betraying her just like that and furious at herself for letting the tears beat her up so easily, she soon started pacing fast around Cleo's room.

Cleo and Bella both gave a promise to never go in Rikki's again, despite Rikki telling them they don't have to change their lives because of her. Emma however was just sitting silently the whole time.

"What's the matter with you, Em?" Cleo asked, pulling Emma out of her thoughts.

"Nothing." She said simply and sighed. "Nothing at all."

Her answer made even Rikki stop pacing and turned to look at her.

"You're lying, Em. I know you too well to know when something's bothering you."

Emma looked at her, but didn't say anything.

"It's almost 7.30 a.m. I have to go." Rikki suddenly said looking at her watch.

"Go?" The girls asked her with surprised faces. "Go where?"

"To work." She answered and seeing her faces she added, "What? I still am the manager of the cafe, ain't I? Besides I'll only go to work today to tell Zane I quit. Tonight I'll pack my staff and I'll go to Europe."

"What?" All the girls shouted at once.

"That's right. I'll go to London for a couple of weeks. It'll help me clear my mind and forget Zane. Then I can come back like a completely new person."

"And what about the baby?" Bella asked.

"Until the baby is born, I won't tell Zane. Then of course he'll have his chance if he wants to be a part of the baby's life. He may have hurt me, but I want my baby to have both a mother and a father. And if Zane doesn't want to have anything to do with the baby, I'll make sure to find another father for him or her. It'd be hard, and I'm not one of the people who trust someone easily, but I want my baby to have a father. Even if it has to be other than his biological one."

"So, that's your final decision." Cleo asked.

"Absolutely." Rikki nodded.

Bella took her hand in hers.

"So be it. Whatever you decide and whatever you do, we'll always be there for you, to love you and give you support on 100%!"

Rikki smiled to her.

"Thank you." She said and she hugged the three girls, then added, "I've got to go now."

"But Rikki, how will you manage to be around him all day after what he did to you?" Cleo asked concerned. "Your feelings don't have an on/off button!"

Rikki smirked like she had a plan.

"Just watch me." She said and stormed off Cleo's room.

Emma was still sitting in silence.

"What's up with you?" Bella asked her seeing she was again deep in her thoughts.

Now with Rikki not in the room she finally spoke.

"I have to tell you something, and I don't think you'll like it."

Cleo and Bella looked at her with their eyebrows up.

"I think Zane may be a victim of Sophie too."

"What? You mean you're on his side?" Bella said angrily.

"I'm not. It's just-"

"Just what?" Cleo asked her.

"I can't forget what Nate told me yesterday."

"Nate?" Bella asked shocked. "What's he got to do with that?"

"He warned me to be careful with Sophie." Emma began. "I didn't know what he meant, but what if he knew something about this? What if Sophie did something to Zane?! I mean Zane may have made many mistakes and may love himself a little too much, but he'd give his life for Rikki. He really loves her. And I don't believe he'll do something like that to her. I've known him since we were 3 years old. He'd never do something like that. Not to someone he loves the way he loves Rikki." She finished and looked at the other two.

"You know what? We need some fresh air. Let's call Lewis, Ash and Will and meet them at Mako. There we'll ask them what they think and the next thing we'll do will be to talk to Nate." Cleo suggested.

The other two girls nodded.

Meanwhile Rikki went home.

She took a bath and still wearing a bathrobe she sat on her bed. Her look fell over the picture of her nightstand. It was of her, Cleo and Emma not long after they found out they were mermaids.

Rikki looked at herself back then.

She felt like being that happy, smiling girl, was so long ago, and she missed it with all her heart. She put back the photo and looked at the other next to it which was of her and Zane. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress and his hands were resting around her waist. Suddenly anger filled her remembering what she saw in his house and she threw it in one of the drawers the same way she was going to threw him out of her life forever.

She then pulled out some clothes from the wardrobe and turned to the mirror.

She was still in the first 6 weeks and it was too early for the pregnancy to start showing up, so her body was still in a perfect shape. She put on a black, leather short shorts and a white shirt from those that you can tie under your chest.

She had decided to carry on with her life. She felt young and bold and wanted only to grab from life as much as she could. She straightened her hair, putting it up in a ponytail and leaving a few falling gently to her face. She looked sexier than ever. She put on some red lipstick and was ready to go, when she heard her father calling her name.

"Coming!" She shouted and ran downstairs.

She then realized her father wasn't alone in the room. He was standing next to a fourteen-year-old black-haired girl with the same blue eyes as Rikki's.

"Dad, what is she doing here?"

"Estella is here because your aunt has some work and will be gone for a couple of days." Rikki's dad said.

Rikki groaned. She really didn't need something like that at this moment when she had so much things to cope with.

As much as she hated little kids, she couldn't hate Stella, because she was her favorite cousin. Their characters looked so much alike that even though they weren't alike at all outside, it could easily be mistaken that they were sisters. Since she was a little child, Stella loved hanging out with Rikki because that way she had a change to hang out with the grown-ups. They both loved each other, but haven't seen each other for more than 3 years and Stella had no idea about her cousin's biggest secret and about all the things that had happened to her in those few years.

That's why Rikki made a grimace when her dad continued speaking.

"Rikki, I have to go to work and I want you to take Stella with you to the café. I hope you and Zane won't mind for her to stay with you there for the day. I can't take her to my work place because it's dangerous and I can't leave her here alone."

Rikki sighed, but nodded.

"Fine, she can come with me. Even if Zane does mind, I don't care. I'm a co-owner of the café and I say she can come. So, let's go!" She said to Estella whose face immediately brightened up.

The moment the door closed behind them, Estella started questioning Rikki about everything she didn't know.

"So you own a café?"

Rikki nodded.

"It's not exactly mine, it's my b…it's Zane's, my ex-boyfriend." She said changing her mind in the middle of the sentence.

"What's he like?" Stella asked.

"He's a total jurk and I don't want to talk about it." Rikki said with a tone that ended the topic.

The rest of their way to the café they spent with talking about the past and with Stella exclaiming how much she wanted to be like her cousin when she becomes at Rikki's age, making Rikki smile for the first time from days. It felt so good.

{ * }

Zane slowly opened his eyes, feeling like his head was going to explode.

He felt someone lying next to him and in the first moment he smiled to himself thinking it's Rikki, but when he turned and saw red hair on his pillow, he freaked out. He jumped out of the bed and suddenly realized he had only his shorts on.

What the hell had happened last night?

He tried to remember something, but I couldn't. The last thing he remembered was that Rikki caught him with an empty bottle of scotch and stormed off the office saying she had had enough.

His heart skipped a beat. Rikki. He couldn't bear to lose her, I couldn't live without her. He loved her with all his heart, the way he'd never loved anybody else.

Zane quickly put his clothes on. He looked at Sophie still sleeping. What the hell was she doing in his house and more important, in his bed?

He remembered falling asleep on his bed alone. He didn't remember her being there or staying in his bed. Suddenly only from the thought of the possibility for him to have spent the night with her he felt so disgusted by himself.

Then, before he could try to stop himself he took the bottle of whiskey on her nightstand and drank the whole whiskey left in it, trying to calm down. He knew he had to stop, he hated that constant desire for alcohol so much, but he couldn't and wouldn't stop it, it just was stronger than him. He didn't want to lose Rikki either so I knew the first thing he had to do that day is to find her and apologize to her.

He didn't want to do anything with Sophie so he grabbed his phone and ran out, heading straight to Rikki's.

{ * }

Back at the moon pool the girls met the boys and told them everything that happened last night.

"I can't believe that guy!" Will said angrily. "How the hell Zane could do something like that to Rikki?! And my sister?! I know that she always gets what she wants, but I'd never imagine she was such an egocentric she turned out to be!" He started pacing around angrily. "I knew it was always all about Zane, but that is just…too much." He suddenly lost any words, because of the anger inside him.

Bella, Cleo and Ash nodded in agreement. Lewis stood silently until Emma spoke.

"I've known Zane since I can remember. I don't think he's capable of hurting Rikki like that!"

Surprising everyone and most of all Cleo, Lewis said.

"I agree with Emma. I've seen the way Zane looks at Rikki, he's mad about her. He loves her more than anything. I can't believe he could do something so reckless."

"Lewis, you're supposed to be on Rikki's side, your best friend's side." Cleo said rolling her eyes.

"Cleo, if I am on anyone's side it's the side of the truth. That's why I can't judge Zane so quickly."

Cleo couldn't help but sigh and nod quietly at his arguement.

"We should go and talk to Nate." Emma said breaking the silence.

"Nate?" Ash lifted his eyebrows. "What's he got to do with it?"

"Maybe more then all of us can even know." She answered him and then added, "Come on, let's go."

And they all left Mako heading straight to the café.