Chapter 11: I, You, We
The truth is that you and I would have given up long ago, but We won't let us. It is too wise. "Look into your hearts," it says. "What do you see? Not you and I, but only We."
~ Michael Jackson
Rikki and Stella quickly reached the café.
"Wow." Was the only think Estella managed to say.
Rikki smiled and they entered in. Stella was curiously looking around while Rikki helped the stuff to open the café on time. Just before the beginning of her shift, Rikki took Stella in the office.
"You can stay here and play on the computer or do something else. When my shift is over I've got a few things to be settled, but once I'm done we can go to see a movie or do something fun together."
"Great!" Stella exclaimed.
Rikki then started making out the first drinks when she ran to the bathroom again. She hated that stupid morning sickness.
When she walked out she saw Nate walking inside the cafe with some of the other members of their band. Nate quickly walked over to her and whispered "Be careful!" in her ear. She gave him a look of shock and annoyment, but he didn't seem to notice, walking into the bathroom.
The curly blond walked behind the bar and started working. Stella was walking out of the office from time to time, to take a better look at the cafe. When Rikki's shift was finally over, Estella was sitting at one of the tables waiting for her.
Rikki went to the office to take her stuff. She wrote a note to Zane, pulling off the ring he gave her and putting it on the note as a weight. She then walked through the office door and closed it behind herself, never turning back.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Rikki's voice said behind Stella.
She stood up from her table.
"I want to meet Zane." She told Rikki.
"No way, that's not going to happen." Rikki said immediately.
"Why not?" Stella raised her eyebrows.
"Because I hate him, he's a total jerk, and I don't want to see him ever again!"
"Ok." Stella said. "So, where are going then?"
"I don't care. Anywhere's better than here." Rikki said and left the cafe with Stella.
Outside they ran into Cleo, Bella, Emma, Lewis, Will and Ash.
"Oh, great, just who I wanted to see!" Rikki said and before anyone else had the chance to say something, she added, "Would you mind take Stella with you, because I want to go..somewhere."
"Where?" Stella said quickly, but the others understood and nodded.
"Sure thing." Cleo gave her a smile.
"But, Rikki, are you sure you want to go there alone?" Bella asked her.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine." Rikki said and waited for the others to get Stella back inside, so she could dive in the ocean.
Inside the cafe Lewis asked the others who wanted what and went to buy drinks for everyone, just when Zane entered the cafe. He saw the small group and went straight to their table.
"Do you happen to know where Rikki is?" He asked them. "I need to find her."
"Why, so you can cause her even more pain?" A voice echoed behind him.
Lewis had come back with the drinks. He gave them to their owners and sat next to Cleo.
"What do you mean?" Zane asked.
"What he means", Will began angrily, trying not to shout, "is that you and my sister already broke Rikki's heart and hurt her enough!"
"What?!" Zane said. "Me and.." Suddenly realization hit him and his heart dropped in his stomach. "Rikki knows?"
"Rikki saw!" Bella corrected him raising her voice. "Tell me Zane what did she ever do to you, beside loving you, to break her heart like that?!" She shouted at his face.
"No, you better tell us, why not only you cheated on her with Sophie", Cleo started yelling too, "but you wanted her to see you?! She came to me that night crying, Zane! CRYING! And everybody in this town knows Rikki Chadwick NEVER cries!"
"But I didn't.." He tried to say, but Bella interrupted him shouting.
"DON'T! Don't you dare to say you didn't want her to see! It was you who sent her a message to come to your house, because you had a surprise for her!" With that she stormed off the cafe.
"Now go away and don't you dare to go near her again!" Cleo shouted at his face.
Zane couldn't take it anymore. He ran to his office, locking the door behind him and broke off on his chair behind the desk, burying his face in his hands.
He was shaking and breathing hard.
He couldn't believe Rikki saw whatever happened between him and Sophie that night. He couldn't believe how everything turned into such a mess and how he could lose the woman who he loved with all his heart.
He never knew it would be so hard to fight for their relationship. He thought they'd be happy together, he even couldn't wait for they when they would finally get married and have kids. He realized he would love to have a child, and he smiled not being able to put his finger on it.
He lowered his hands from his eyes and saw the engagement ring he gave Rikki sparkling in front of him, with a note under it. He opened the note, immediately recognizing Rikki's handwriting. It read:
First your drinking problems renew, and now I saw you having sex with Sophie. How could you do this to me, Zane? I thought you really felt something for me, but obviously I was wrong. I quit Rikki's and I'm leaving the town. Don't try to find me, I don't want to see you ever again!
Goodbye!
~R
Zane curled the paper between his fingers. He was going to lose Rikki and he couldn't let that happen, because she was his life and he couldn't live without her.
Without hesitation, he stood up and left Rikki's heading to the place he knew he'd find Rikki: Mako Island.
{ * }
Rikki was laying in the moon pool, with her elbows on the edge and her head resting on one side with close eyes.
She was deep in her thoughts, thinking about her whole life. The curly blond then opened her eyes and one small tear rolled down her cheek, but she wiped it away, just when Bella's head broke on the surface. Rikki turned to look at her, just to see who came in, but didn't say anything.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Bella was the first to speak.
"I'm coming with you."
Rikki turned to look at her.
"What?"
"I'm coming with you in London."
"No, no way." Rikki cut her off. "You're staying here!"
"No, I'm coming with you in Europe."
"No, you're not!" Rikki started to get angry. "Your life is here, with your boyfriend and your friends! There's no way I'll let you come there with me!"
"Rikki, you're my best friend, the sister I never had! I won't let you go there all alone, especially when there's a new life growing inside of you! I love you and I want to take care of you and support you! Why can't you just let your best friend take care of you just this once?!"
Rikki looked at her ready to argue, but in the end she only sighed.
"Thank you."
Bella smiled.
"Always!"
That made Rikki smile a bit.
"Up for a race?" Bella playfully said and Rikki grinned.
"What do you think?"
And they dived underwater seconds before Zane rushed through the entrance of the moon pool.
He ran to the moon pool and looked around, but didn't see anyone.
"Rikki!" He shouted. "Are you in here?"
There was no response. He slid down to the edge letting his back lean against the nearest leaned his head back to look up to the piece of sky that could be seen.
He desperately needed a bottle or two right now. He knew it was wrong and it was what had pushed Rikki away, but it was stronger than him.
He sat there thinking about that for a couple of minutes when suddenly Bella's voice echoed in his mind, "Don't you dare to say you didn't want her to see! It was you who sent her a message to come to your house, because you have a surprise for her!".
He quickly took out his phone. He didn't remember sending a message to Rikki. The last thing he remembered was going home and falling asleep on his bed. Alone. He had no idea how Sophie had gotten in his bed. He scrolled down to the "Sent" directory and his heart fell seeing the one message Bella was talking about.
"Please, come at my place, I have a surprise for you!"
It was impossible for him to had written it, because he was sound asleep at that time. But who had sent it?! Finally the truth struck him and he stood up in a heartbeat. He took out the ring and put it in front of the moon pool.
"I'm going to make things right, Rikki." He said. "I promise!"
And with that he ran back to his boat and to the main land.
After racing with Bella for an hour Rikki went home.
She opened the door of her trailer and came in, bit seeing her dad, who was reading a newspaper, her heart fell.
How was she supposed to tell him she was leaving?!
He took a sip of his coffee, and carried on reading. Stella was lying on the couch chatting with friends on her computer. Rikki closed the door behind her and the noise made her dad look up. She smiled to him, but her eyes were giving away the sadness and the pain she felt inside.
"Rikki, are you ok?" Her dad asked her concered.
"Yeah, dad. Fine." She said and walked past him to make herself a cup of coffee.
Her dad however was not convinced at all.
"Are you sure everything's fine? You look a little pale." He insisted.
"Dad, I'm fine, stop worrying."
"It isn't Zane, is it?" Her dad questioned and her heart fastened a bit.
"No." She lied. "It's not Zane. Everything's fine."
She picked up her cup to pour the coffee, when she heard a sound of something breaking and turned around in a heartbeat. Her dad had dropped his glass and was breathing heavily.
"Dad?" She ran to him. "Dad, are you ok?"
He nodded and tried to smile at her. He reached to take the piece of tge broken glass, but Rikki stopped him.
"No, I'll clean it up."
She quickly cleaned the mess and turned to her dad again. He looked slightly better, but still very pale. She took his hand in hers and sat on the chair next to him.
"Dad, what's the matter with you, please tell me!"
"Rikki, I'm fine, stop worrying." He told her and gave her a small smile.
"Dad, I love you and I don't want to lose you." She said and he smiled to her.
"You've turned into amazing young woman, you know?! And I just want you to know that I'm so proud of you!"
She smiled to him and felt tears forming in the back of her eyes.
"Thank you. You're the best father in the world!"
With that she stood up and went to her room, just in time to hide the tear rolling down her cheek.
Once in her room she closed the door behind her and wiped the tear away. She opened the drawer where she had thrown the photo of her and Zane. She removed the frame and ripped it up in two pieces, throwing it into the bucket. She then pulled her backpack from under the bed and started throwing almost everything in it.
She put all her clothes, the pictures of her and her dad and of her and her friends. With that her wardrobe was now almost empty. Only the red dress that Zane once had given her as a present, was still hanging in it. Under it was also the mp3 player he'd given her. That things she wouldn't take with her.
She then pulled a small box from under the bed. It was, as some would like to call it - her treasure.
Inside were a picture of her mother, the last gift she gave her before she left (a beautiful crystal ball with a little kitty in it) and a picture of her mother and her father on their wedding. There was a picture of Rikki, Cleo and Emma too, along with one of them with Bella and the guys, there was her red gem locket that once had belonged to Julia, and in the end a photo of Rikki and Zane in the moon pool. Rikki took that photo and wanted to rip it up, but she changed her mind and just left it at the bottom of the box.
She put the box in her backpack and with that her luggage was ready. She hid the backpack in the wardrobe and went to take a bath.
Meanwhile back in the kitchen Stella told Rikki's dad.
"She lied you know?"
He looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Something did happened between her and Zane, because her friends were yelling at him for hurting her, earlier at the cafe. I don't know what exactly, but it seemed pretty serious." Estella said and continued writing something on her laptop.
"I have to go out for a while, you stay here with Rikki, ok?!"
"Yeah, yeah, no problem." Stella nodded absent-mindedly.
Terry hurried out of the trailer. He didn't know what Zane had done to his daughter and how exactly he had hurt her, but hell he was going to pay big time for it!
Rikki had just finished her bath when she heard someone knocking on the door.
"Coming!" She said and wrapped her towel around her body, before going out of her room to answer the door.
It turned out it was Bella.
"Bella? What are you doing here?!"
"I came to.." She began, but she froze when Rikki opened the door a little more to let her in.
The curly blond was with a dangerously short towel around her body that was revealing her beautiful legs and her hair was still damp from the bath. She looked so sexy. "No!", Bella told herself, "You have to stop thinking about her in that way!".
But still she found her eyes wandering all over Rikki's body.
"Earth to Bella." Rikki snapped with fingers in front of her face.
"Oh, sorry." Bella responded. "I came to see if your luggage was ready." She said finally.
"Shhh!" Rikki stopped her. "Not so loud! Stella's in the next room!"
With that she grabbed Bella's hand and led her in her room, closing the door behind her.
"Everything's packed." Rikki whispered to her pointing under the bed. "I just have to get dressed and we can go."
"Ok." Bella nodded. "I'll wait for you outside."
"No, stay, it's ok." Rikki said.
Bella opened her eyes wide open.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rikki asked. "We're both girls, there's no reason why you can't stay. Me, Cleo and Emma used to dress up together in the same room all the time when we were having a sleepover."
With that she turned around to take the clothes off her chair and let the towel gently slid down off her body.
Bella caught her breath in her throat. She had never seen someone more beautiful than Rikki. She let her eyes travel all over the curly blond's body; the perfect curves of her body, her breasts, her tights, everything.
Bella suddenly felt anxious to just go and touch Rikki, to slide her hand all over the other girl's soft skin, to kiss her cherry lips. She just stood there, watching Rikki dress up and allowed her imagination run completely wild.
That's when Bella finally realized her real feelings. She was in love.
Rikki's dad quickly reached Zane's house and started knocking on the door, but no one answered. He then suddenly heard a voice behind him.
"Mr. Chadwick?!"
He turned around in a flash.
"You!" He shouted. "What have you done to my daughter?!"
He could smell the stench of whiskey coming from Zane.
Zane stopped dead in his tracks.
"She told you?"
"No. But you will tell me everything right now!"
"Let's get inside." Zane said and pushed the door open.
He immediately wished he hadn't done it.
Sophie was coming downstairs, dressed only in one of his shirts. Actually she was dressed in Rikki's favorite shirt of his that she always used to wear when she was staying in his house. That made him want to kill Sophie with his own hands.
Suddenly Rikki's dad grabbed his neck.
"You son of a bitch! How DARE you do this to my daughter?! How.." But he suddenly closed his mouth and Zane felt his grift on his neck was growing weaker.
Rikki's dad slowly released Zane and suddenly fell on the ground.
"Mr. Chadwick!" Zane shouted and kneeled down to him to check his pulse.
He then jumped and ran to the phone calling the emergency line.