Braxton House
"No, I'm not helping you." Brax says.
"Please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Kyle is your boyfriend, not me. You two and Lucas are the ones who thought it would be a good idea to set Casey up on a blind date, so you two can get him there." Brax says.
"Please?" Emily pleads. "He likes you so would be more likely to turn up. I'm just the girl that cheated on Kyle and caused him to act 'pathetically'. So please help a girl out here!"
"No." Brax says.
"Of course he will." Ricky says as she walks to Brax's side, pinching him on the back. "He'd do anything to get his brothers being nice to each other again. I'm surprised he didn't think of something like this."
"Ricky." Brax hisses.
"So tell this girl that the date is going ahead because Brax will be doing everything in his power to get Casey to Angelo's tonight." Ricky smiles.
"Great, thank you so much." Emily smiles. "I'm glad we're on speaking terms again." She says before walking to Kyle's room.
"So am I." Brax rolls his eyes, turning to face Ricky.
"Come on, Kyle's happier knowing you're on good terms with Emily again. Just give him this, and give Casey this. Maybe a girl is what he needs to get past this. Emily was onto something with this." Ricky says.
"And what happens if this wasn't what he needed?" Brax asks, not even wanting to think about the fallout this would cause.
"What if this is what he needs?" Ricky asks. "Just give them this chance to try and make things right with Casey. You want peace between them again don't you?"
"Yeah, I just think there's better ways about it." Brax says, huffing as she puts her hands on her hips, staring hard at him. "Fine, I'll make sure he goes on this stupid date. I will not be involved if this backfires."
"Thank you, now go and tell him." Ricky says, grinning as Brax walks out.
Summer Bay Beach
"Five more sets of three then take a quick break." Heath instructs his bootcamp clients before turning to Tyler. "You can't keep coming out here to join me just because Casey is making life hard for you."
"I don't think you are quite understanding that I am so close to punching him." Tyler says. "I had to make a promise to Brax to leave my violent and full of attitude self behind. This is the new me, taking myself out of situations that could land me on the wrong side of the law."
"Why were you like that? Did your mum not care whenever you got arrested?" Heath asks.
"No. It was her fault I was getting arrested." Tyler says. "She'd always forget to stock the cupboards up, or cared more about getting stuff for herself instead of us. I had to shoplift just so we wouldn't starve to death. Got caught a few times, that's where Lucas came into it. He's so good at talking his way out of things, so he always gave sob stories to the cops and we'd be let off." He says, smiling at the memories. "We had fun with it."
"I don't think Lucas feels the same way." Heath says.
"Why, what did he say?" Tyler frowns.
"If you had so much fun together, why did he stay here and tell you to go back to Cairns?" Heath says, making Tyler think to himself.
"Because he wanted to know you guys."
"No, it's because he was fed up with you controlling his life." Heath says. "He didn't want you to think he was ungrateful for everything you did for him growing up, so he hid it from you."
"He said that?" Tyler mutters. "What else did he say? Does he want me here?"
"Of course he does, but you don't need to look after him by yourself anymore. Let him control where he goes in life." Heath says, knowing Lucas had a few fears about needing to choose sides if Tyler messed things up for himself. "I know you weren't expecting to find out you had three other brothers when you found Kyle, but you do. Brax has given you this chance to be a part of our family, don't mess it up because you won't get another one."
"What's his deal with needing the power of you all?" Tyler asks.
"It's not that he needs power." Heath lightly glares. "He practically brought me and Casey up by himself. He's trying to do the job our mum should have done, that's why he's gone easy on you. Lucas told us the things you sacrificed so you could have a decent enough childhood. He does respect that, you just don't need to do it anymore. If you feel the urge to go back to be an alpha and control everything, you tell Brax. He's good at dealing with that stuff and he'll know where you're coming from."
"What do you mean by that?" Tyler asks. "If I tell Lucas to do something or whatever, I'll be kicked out?"
"No, I just meant you don't need to be the big brother anymore. Let Brax be the big brother so you can be the younger brother without all the stress of needing anyone to worry about." Heath says.
"I don't know how to be the younger brother. It's just been me and Lucas for 20 years." Tyler says, feeling like he could be honest, even though he hated letting his guard down.
"You let me and Brax take over so you can relax. So don't feeling like you have to provide anything for Lucas, or feel like you have to do certain things like you used to. Get to know Kyle without feeling pressured into having someone else to look after." Heath says. "And I'm not saying don't look after him-"
"It just doesn't have to be as much as I'm used to. I've got it." Tyler nods in thanks. "I'll let you get back to your class. What should I do about Casey?"
"Just ignore him. Kyle mentioned some date thing Emily set up for him later, maybe that will make him less moody." Heath says.
"I'm not getting involved with that, the last thing I need is for Casey to hate me even more if it was to go bad." Tyler says, walking back up the beach to do some work in the gym.
Surf Club - Angelo's
"How's things been here this morning?" Brax asks Lucas as he walks around the bar.
"It's been really good. It's been really busy all morning like it normally is during lunch and dinner rush." Lucas says.
"That's tourist season for you." Brax says. "You haven't needed extra hands?"
"Nope, we've had a good system going. We've also got number cards for each table, which is why there's pinchers in the middle of the tables." Lucas says.
"What's a pincher, why have you numbered my tables and what system?" Brax frowns.
"The pinchers are holding the numbered cards above the table so we can see them. We did it to help our system which I'll tell you about." Lucas says. "Kayla and Rosie are taking orders, with the table number at the top, and taking them to the kitchen for them to prepare. The usual chefs are cooking the meals for Lewis and Nell to take out to customers, which is what the numbers are for. And I'm on drinks duty for Robert to take over to customers. I'm also taking payments for customers who order at the bar. Payments from the table are organised by the waitress that took their order." He explains.
"And who's crazy idea was this?" Brax asks.
"Mine." Lucas grins.
"Good work." Brax nods in please, impressed at how well it was working. "Keep going like this and you'll be in the run for manager."
"But Kyle's manager. I can't take his job from him." Lucas says.
"You can both be managers." Brax says. "Kyle struggles with it when he needs to cover a shift but has plans, so that way, it can be equal between you both. It would make it easier on him. But you don't need to worry about that yet." Brax says.
"Okay, thank you." Lucas smiles, knowing he wouldn't accept the promotion if Kyle didn't want him to.
"You've got more customers waiting." Brax says, gesturing to the door where some people were waiting.
"Robert is on door duty between taking drinks out. When he's busy with drinks, Kayla or Rosie go to politely ask them to wait until a space becomes available." Lucas says. "They can choose to wait on the balcony if they want to, and they'll be called to a table when one becomes free."
"That's actually a smart system." Brax mutters as he walks to the office.
"The couple that have gone to wait on the balcony would like a glass of red wine and a beer." Robert says as she walks to the bar.
"Coming right up." Lucas says, getting the drinks prepared.