Chapter 28: Making Amends

The next day brought three very hurt and upset teenagers with it. Kane had gone straight home, hoping his aunt would be asleep so he wouldn't have to explain why he was such a mess. Luckily she was and he was able to slip up to the bathroom and clean himself up a little. Just seeing himself in the mirror horrified him. His face was a bloodied mess and even when he wiped away the drying blood, it didn't look much better, his lip swollen to twice its size, his left cheek badly grazed, bruises just below his right eye and on his jaw, his nose still sore. And a quick inspection of his side revealed a fresh line of bruises developing, at least three or four, though some of them seemed to be merged together.

He had a bad night, partly because of the pain and partly because he was cursing himself about how stupid he had been. Things had been going so well for him and he had risked it all because of one stupid, meaningless kiss. He knew that he didn't want Kirsty, so he should have told her to stop it or pushed her away instead of letting the memories of the things they had shared in the past influence him. Well this was it as far as he was concerned, from now on he was just going to stay well away from her. He didn't blame Benny for doing what he had; he had only been trying to look after his sister and Kane had no intention of reporting him to the police or doing anything else to try and get revenge. All he wanted to do was convince Emma that it had been a stupid mistake, but he knew that it wouldn't be easy. Still, he was determined not to let her go without a fight.

Over at the Sutherland house, Kirsty wasn't doing much better. She had gone straight home to bed and cried herself to sleep before either of her sisters came in. She woke up during the night, and lay staring up at the ceiling for ages before finally going back to sleep.

When she got up, her parents and Max had already left but Dani and Jade were sitting at the table eating their breakfast. When Kirsty entered the room, they immediately stopped talking and ignored her completely, even when she greeted them.

"Don't do this," she pleaded. "Things are difficult enough as it is without you ignoring me as well."

"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you started throwing yourself at Kane!" Dani said sharply. "What's wrong, don't you want him to be happy?"

"We were happy!" Kirsty insisted. She could feel the tears coming again. "We still would have been if people hadn't kept interfering. And we can be again, as soon as he realises that he really wants me!"

"No, Kirst." Jade didn't sound angry, just sad. "As much as you want that, it isn't going to happen. I'm sure he's fond of you, but he loves Emma. You know this and pretending otherwise is just going to hurt you more."

"I can't pretend I don't love him!" She wiped her eyes and looked at Dani. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. Not you, not Emma, but I can't just turn my feelings off. I need him."

"Stay away from him, Kirsty," Dani said gently. She was torn between being angry with her younger sister and feeling sorry for her for it was obvious that she was upset and confused. "Just stay away from him. It'll be the best thing for everyone."

Kirsty looked at them both stonily for a minute and then turned and left. They watched her go in silence.

"Do you think she'll take your advice?" Jade asked finally.

"I don't know, Jade," Dani shook her head. "But I hope she does. For her own sake."

Surprisingly, Emma seemed to be holding up well. She had said little when she and Benny had got in, briefly telling her mum and Jess what she had seen, but insisting that she didn't want to talk about it. And she said nothing about Benny's revenge on Kane, not wanting to get him into any trouble. She just took Jordan from her mum and took him up to give him a bath. Lucy got in soon after and went right up to see her sister.

"Don't you worry, Em," she gave her big sister a hug. "You are much better than Kirsty and if Kane can't see that then he's just a loser."

"Kirsty is so much prettier than me."

"And she's also selfish and shallow and a complete cow! If Kane really prefers her to you, then he's not worth it."

"I still love him, Lucy. I hate him, but I love him too."

"I know, Em," Lucy held her tightly. "I know."

As she promised, Dani called later to see how she was and Allee phoned just after. Emma told them both that she was fine. It wasn't strictly true, but she wasn't upset, she was far too angry for that. Though it was late, Allee wanted to come round, but Emma persuaded her that all she wanted to do was go to bed and that she would see her the following day.

She had a brief cry that night while seeing to Jordan, taking care to keep as quiet as she could so as not to wake her family, but the next morning she was strong, ready to face up to things. Picturing Kane with Kirsty still hurt and she wondered if she had been a fool for ever trusting him, though that didn't stop her loving him. But if he wanted to just throw everything they had away then that was his choice. She was determined to waste no more tears on him.

Since it was a Sunday, Benny, Jess and their mum had all left for work or to see friends. Lucy had decided to spend the morning with Emma and Jordan and meet up with Jade, Nick and Dylan in the afternoon. While Emma was getting Jordan's shoes on, Lucy opened the front door to let some air in to the house.  

"Emma!" she called her sister, sounding both excited and a little annoyed. "Come here and look at this!"

After removing Jordan from his chair, Emma went to see what was wrong with her sister. On the doorstep was a huge bunch of red roses. She picked them up and searched for a card, though she had a pretty good idea who they were from. I love you, it said simply. Please can we talk?

"What are you going to do with them?" Lucy asked her. "I wish someone would send me red roses. He must really love you."

Emma's heart melted just a little as she looked down at the roses in her arms. Her last boyfriend would have never done anything as romantic as buying her flowers and she knew that Kane could barely afford to make such a gesture. But then she remembered how he had been holding Kirsty and her anger returned. "He should have thought of that before he started kissing that little tart in the middle of the street. Is he really stupid enough to think that flowers will make everything better?"

She pulled the all the heads off the stalks and scattered the ruined flowers across the lawn, before storming inside and slamming the door shut.

Kane, who had been walking the whole thing from behind a tree, sighed and shook his head. It was really beginning to seem like he had blown it, but he wasn't going to give up. 

Next Chapter: Kane's persistence gets results.