Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy One

April remained stock still in shock as Ruby's revelation flowed over her and Indi. Indi turned to Romeo, hurt in her eyes. His look of horror and fear only confirmed that what Ruby had said was true. Running away from him, she charged up the beach, catching up with Ruby and calling her name. Romeo darted off in hot pursuit. April stayed where she was.

"Ruby!" Indi called.

Ruby turned around her.

"What the hell do you mean, he was with you the other night?" Indi demanded.

"Do you need me to spell it out to you?" Ruby said unkindly. "We had sex. Your perfect guy cheated on you with me."

Indi looked between them, close to tears.

"But… why?" she wanted to know.

"Well, for me, it was about having feelings for him," Ruby said honestly. "He… used me. You can ask my parents if you don't believe me."

She walked away. Indi turned to her boyfriend.

"Why would you do this?" she demanded, torn between heartbreak and fury.

"I'm sorry," Romeo said. "I'm so sorry."

"That's not an answer!" she yelled.

He tried to step closer, to take her into his arms but she pushed him roughly away.

"Get away from me!" she yelled. "I don't want you to ever touch me again!"

Charlie and Joey left the Diner hand in hand. They had reluctantly decided to get to know Casey and if they agreed that he was indeed a good kid and nothing like either of his brothers, they were prepared to let him and Ruby make a go of things, if that was what they wanted. But they would be watching them like hawks.

"Hey!" shouted an upset and angry voice.

They turned to find Indi hurtling towards them. They both reached the same conclusion very quickly.

"What do you know about Romeo and Ruby?" Indi demanded.

Charlie and Joey exchanged anxious glances.

"She told me!" Indi said. "She told me they spent the night together. And that you knew."

Charlie sighed heavily. She was furious with Ruby all over again.

"We didn't permit it, if that's how it sounds," she said. "We found them together. And we were furious. We threw Romeo out. And things have been very difficult ever since."

"But you didn't bother to tell me?" Indi accused.

"It wasn't our place," Joey said. "We told Romeo to tell you, Indi. We're so sorry."

"Sorry isn't really good enough," Indi said, walking away.

She stopped and turned back, tears in her eyes.

"You really saw them together?" she said. "Like, after or…?"

"During," Joey admitted awkwardly. "We interrupted."

Indi closed her eyes, disgusted and heartbroken. Joey had eradicated any doubt that it could be some horrible mistake. She nodded and left. Charlie and Joey hugged, both upset and guilty.

Romeo arrived home to find Nicole drafting a text to Angus, a boy from University who had asked her out on a date. She was feeling hesitant, being that she was pregnant but she did also want a life. And she did like him.

"What's up with your face?" Nicole asked, going for it and pressing 'send'.

"Indi knows about me and Ruby," Romeo said.

She realised that he was close to tears.

"Did you tell her?" she asked, finding her friend's number in her phone.

"No," Romeo admitted. "Ruby did. And she did it in the bitchiest way she could. I just don't know what she was thinking."

"Well, you broke her heart and now everyone is gossiping about her and Casey, which likely would never have happened if you hadn't used her and you weren't now parading around the Bay with Indi like you're like you're in some kind of rom-com," Nicole said flatly. "I'm really not surprised. And I have no idea why you're moping. You're not the one that got cheated on."

She hauled herself off the couch and called Indi, asking her if she was okay, leaving Romeo on the sofa to sulk.

Ruby had only been home for a few minutes when Charlie and Joey arrived back.

"Before you even start, I've done something really bad," the teenager confessed.

"You told Indi about you and Romeo," Charlie replied.

Ruby looked startled, wondering how they knew when it had only just happened.

"We bumped into Indi on our way home," Joey explained. "She was pretty upset."

Ruby sighed and sank into a chair, her head in her hands.

"I didn't even mean to say it," she admitted.

Charlie and Joey came to sit with her, aware that she felt very guilty.

"I just… she was being so patronising about me and Casey, lording it over me about how damn perfect her relationship with Romeo was and I just… I snapped… I…"

"You wanted her to know the truth," Charlie said. "I get it."

Ruby sighed.

"But it was really wrong of me," she said. "I've hurt her twice. Once by doing it and once by telling her so cruelly. I think she should know but not like that. I've hurt her and I've hurt myself."

"Well, I can't disagree with you," Joey told her. "But I do understand.."

"Me too," Charlie agreed.

Sid hardly knew what to do with himself as he watched his partner fuss over his heartbroken daughter. Marilyn seemed to know all the right things to do and all the right things to say. She spoke to her with such gentleness and provided hugs, tissues and chocolate. But Sid was torn between fury and genuine tears of his own. His heart was broken at the sight of his daughter in such distress.

Charlie and Joey had got the emergency ice cream out and were sat on either side of their distraught daughter. They had been honest all along about their disappointment in her behaviour but they also felt desperately sorry for her. She had got herself into a mess and the more she had tried to bail herself out of it, the worse it had become.

"I need to apologise," Ruby said desperately.

"You do," Charlie agreed. "But not yet. Give Indi some time before you try and speak to her."

Ruby nodded. She took a big spoon of dessert.

"How long?" she wondered.

Romeo visited Liam at his tent down by the river. Normally, in a state of distress, he would have gone to see Joey but that wasn't an option now. He wondered if they would ever be friends again and the thought that they might never be broke his heart almost as much as losing Indi. Joey had been like a big sister to him for a long time now. He loved and relied on her. She was family to him. Perhaps it was one of the reasons he had grown so attached to Ruby.

"What's up, mate?" Liam asked, seeing how stressed his friend was.

"Indi knows about me and Ruby," Romeo blurted out.

"What about you and Ruby?" Bianca interrupted.

Romeo cringed. He hadn't realised she was there.

"Uh… well, you'll find out anyway," he said unhappily. "I cheated on Indi. With Ruby."

Bianca looked horrified.

"How on earth did she find out?" Liam asked. "I told you to keep it secret!"

"You did what?" Bianca demanded of her boyfriend.

Liam blanched.

"I uh…"

Romeo backed away from them. He had already wrecked his own relationship. He didn't want to destroy theirs too.

"You told him to lie to his girlfriend?" Bianca said.

"Only by omission."

"So, you'd lie to me?"

"Well, I wouldn't cheat on you," Liam pointed out.

"Thanks, mate," Romeo said.

Liam apologised.

"I just… Every time I think I know you, it turns out I don't," Bianca snapped.

Romeo left unnoticed.

"So, where do you stand with Casey now?" Charlie asked. "You seemed to like him."

"Well, after all this mess comes out, I doubt he'll want anything to do with me," Ruby said glumly. "And who can blame him? As if school isn't hell enough right now. Life isn't going to be worth living when everything about Romeo comes out as well."

She buried her head in her hands.

"Why do I make such stupid decisions?" she asked.

"Well, I kind of hold myself responsible there," Charlie sighed. "I think you have bad genes. But I did overcome the shitty decision making so there is hope for you. Unfortunately, I didn't overcome it until my late twenties so…"

"Oh God!" Ruby complained, burying her face in her mother's shoulder.

Nicole had been round to visit Indi but it had not gone well. First, she had accidentally let slip that she had already known about the infidelity and not told her. Nicole had tried to explain what an awkward position she had been in and that she had not given Romeo an easy time of it but he hadn't been enough. Then on her way out, Marilyn had disapproved of Nicole going on a date with Angus, which had topped off ruining her day.

"I just can't believe that Nicole wouldn't have told me," Indi sobbed. "How could she let me think that Romeo and I were happy like that when all along she knew what he'd done?"

"Oh, love, she must have just thought she was doing the right thing," Marilyn said. "It wasn't the right thing, of course but try not to be too hard on her. It's Romeo who's done wrong."

Indi nodded tearfully. They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Sid answered it. It didn't take a genius to work out who it was by the sound of arguing. Indi joined her Dad at the doorstep.

"Indi, please!" Romeo begged. "Please, can we just talk?"

"I've told you, she doesn't want to talk to you," Sid said firmly. "Now, get the hell out of my house!"

"Indi!"

"What he said," Indi said flatly, returning to Marilyn on the couch.

Ruby had exhausted herself with tears so Charlie and Joey had sent her to bed for a nap. She was devastated to have hurt Indi. She was terrified of going to school and being the subject to even more gossip than she already had been. And she had decided that she had lost Nicole too. There was no way she would choose her over Indi after what she had been done.

Charlie got up to answer the door to urgent knocking, hoping that it wasn't Indi or a member of her family coming to start a fight. She breathed at least half a sigh of relief when it was Bianca. But she didn't look very happy.

"Can I come in?" she asked, walking through the door.

"Sure!" Charlie said sarcastically, as Bianca threw herself onto the couch.

"Liam doesn't think cheating is a big deal!"

Charlie and Joey glanced at each other. They both sat down.

"Okay, talk us through it," Joey requested.

"He told Romeo to keep his affair with Ruby a secret!" Bianca exclaimed.

Charlie cringed, hoping her daughter was asleep and couldn't hear her.

"Well, it wasn't really an affair but… yeah," she said awkwardly. "I get how that might make you feel."

"What would he do if he cheated on me?" Bianca asked. "I mean, he says he wouldn't but what if he did? Would he tell me? Would be he honest? Have I fallen in love with a liar?"

"Well, I know Liam has a chequered past but he does love you," Joey tried. "That much is completely obvious. Maybe he was just trying to protect Romeo. It doesn't mean he would do the same thing. And it certainly doesn't mean he would cheat on you."

"It's not like he doesn't have history," Bianca said sourly.

"Is it fair to judge people by their history though?" Joey questioned. "Think about how he makes you feel now. How he treats you now. He worships the ground you walk on. You've been so happy together all this time. Trust it. Trust him."

Bianca sighed.

"I love your pep talks, guys," she grinned. "So, how's Ruby?"

"She's been better," Charlie said. "I'm hoping she's sleeping now. She's exhausted. Feeling guilty."

"I feel sorry for all of them, to be honest," Bianca admitted. "Indi, obviously. But there must have been a reason it happened. It's such an out of character thing for both Romeo and Ruby to do."

Next time… Angelo fails Brax's first test, Ruby suffers the consequences of his actions and Miles drops the charges against Heath…