Chapter Six

Josh had stormed off in a strop with his brother, something that had always seemed to happen far too frequently. He was older now though, he knew facing up to it and supporting Rhys' would've been the mature thing to do. But he thought the world of Gilly, he had to stick by what he thought, whether his brother was at breaking point or not. It was fair to say that he was incredibly upset about Gilly, but what made it worse was the way Rhys had been acting. He couldn't get his head around how Rhys could be so low, how he could chose some girl over his best mate. It wasn't as if he hadn't done it before, but this was different, this time Gilly was being made out to be someone he wasn't, someone he'd never be. He couldn't help but blame Rhys. After everything they'd all been through together, he just didn't think his brother's reactions were right.

Back at the flat, Rhys had been trying to gather his thoughts but wasn't being so successful with that. He knew that even attempting to speak to Jacqui right now would just be a stupid idea, so he began to think about one of the other many problems he seemed to have; his brother.

"Will Josh ever get over this? Why'd 'e even come 'ere anyway?"

"He's just upset, he'll calm down, in time," Suzanne replied in a soothing voice. Throughout everything Rhys had ever done, Suzanne was always the one in the family who'd stand by him. Part of her felt like she owed Rhys something, especially after bringing up to think his uncle was his dad and his dad was his uncle. What a mess that was.

"I'm gonna go and find 'im," Rhys breathed out after a brief silence.

"I don't think that's a good idea, love. You're just going to have to give him time."

"No. I need him to understand. I just can't deal with 'im bein' all moody like this right now. I've gotta sort this out," Rhys replied quickly, shaking his head as he spoke.

He knew exactly where his brother would be. Where he'd often run away to when they'd had a fight or when things for difficult for him. Well, there were two places; by the fountains or sat in the park. The park seemed like the more likely option since the current sixth formers often seemed to take over the area by the fountain these days. As soon as the park was in eyes sight he spotted his brother. He was sat on one of the swings looking as if he was away with the fairies. Rhys paused, staring at him from that distance; it made him remember times before when they'd all lived in Hollyoaks together, one big happy family. Neville, Suzanne, himself, Hannah, Josh... and Gilly.

Nothing had been perfect for years, but he'd never quite realised how much he really had back then, even when times did get hard. He slowly made his way up to Josh, his hands resting in his back pockets and a lively and hopeful look on his face. He sat down on the swing next to Josh, giving him a quick nod but saying nothing.

"Why have you followed me here?" Josh questioned, wanting to be alone, or at least not with Rhys.

"I-I need you to understand. You're me little brother aren't ya, we always sort things out," Rhys said with a sigh, staring straight ahead of himself. "Anyway, I dint follow ya did I, I knew you'd be 'ere."

"Why do you never learn, Rhys? You just keep messing up, over and over-"

"Not this time," Rhys butted in, shaking his head vigorously. "I don't see why the 'ell I should be the one getting the blame 'ere, not this time."

"You almost always say that. 'Oh, so maybe I messed up but it weren't all my fault and I'd do it all over again anyway,'" Josh murmured, stringing words together that he'd remembered Rhys say over the years. "For all you know, this could be all your fault. All your fault for not believin' your best mate."

"Gilly was lying," Rhys exhaled. He wanted to get along with his brother, but he too wasn't going to change his beliefs just because Josh thought Gilly was a saint or something. "I don't expect ya to understand then, yeah, but I have reason don't I. Ya think I enjoy hatin'me oldest mate? Course I don't."

"You keep doing this and you don't realise it! Beth would be alive if it wasn't for you. You almost killed India. And now Gilly? I really thought you would'a changed by now. You're twenty-five, but you're not acting it, even Jacqui's fed up with you," Josh relied, angrily, ignoring Rhys' previous statement. Everything that he'd thought of in his head just sort-of flew out.

"What the 'ell, Josh. You can't compare all that to now. That's all in the past ent it."

"So let's say Gilly raped Jacqui Mcqueen by accident, shall we? He didn't realise he did it. Yeah? Now, that's in the past. It happened. Why could you have not just moved on from that too?"

"'Cos it's not-" Rhys tried to interrupt, but Josh just kept on speaking.

"No, Rhys. You said to Gilly you'd never forget what he'd done for you. You'd probably not even be alive now without him, you'd 'ave drowned or done something else ridiculous and if he really was this monster ya make 'im out to be then you'd be locked up, because he wouldn't have been able to forgive you. You really need to get your priorities straight, because they've always been in the wrong order."

"IT'S NOT OVER. Even when he was alive, it weren't over!" Rhys shouted in an outburst of anger. "Don't ya think I remember all that stuff yeah? But I've 'ad to see Jacqui get through this everyday for months. It's torn 'er apart. It's torn ME apart. You 'ave literally no idea what he's put us through! ….I love 'er." The brothers kept quiet for a while, they both looked a mess. Passers by would just stare at them as they walked by; the park was hardly the ideal place for an argument, especially one that was this complex. Josh wasn't at all surprised by the way Rhys was acting, he really would do this every time. Despite this though, Josh was taken back a little by Rhys' sudden outburst of emotion, but he just still couldn't understand it.

"You know what? We need Hannah here. She always knew how to sort us out," Josh said in a much calmer voice, breaking the long silence. Rhys half-smiled at him and nodded, not quite knowing what to say. At that moment Rhys noticed Jacqui walking in their direction with Terry. They both watched as she gradually got nearer; she hadn't noticed them sitting there. "There she is, your wife. Go and speak to her then, tell her how your brother's sticking up for bad ol' Gilly."

"Josh, don't," Rhys mumbled, sternly.

"Is it me, or does she look happy with herself? Perhaps she's the murderer. Wouldn't put it past a McQueen."

"Will you stop it?" Rhys paused as he stared at his wife from afar. "Wish I could read 'er mind sometimes. 'N' before ya sat anythin', no, not to see if she killed 'im 'cause she didn't. I know my wife, yeah. I'm just…worried about 'er." He looked at his brother again, it was obvious he wasn't about to back down. "Ya know what, I give up tryin' to make ya see the unseeable. I'd get more compassion from a bloody brick wall."

"Was thinking the same myself," Josh shouted after Rhys as he got up and walked rapidly away. It felt as if they couldn't have more different opinions right now, they really were never going to agree.

Notes: Sorry I've started writing this rubbish at the end of each chapter, but I felt the need to say the next chapter's one of my favourite chapters so far.