Chapter Eight
"Look, Jojo is my main priority, not you not the band and definitely not Frankee" She remained silent listening for Mel's response "Well please do tell her, I don't give a damn, and by the way you have no right to ask me something like that?" Waiting again for a response when she got one she began to speak again, feeling her temper beginning to slip away from her "After what you did to me, you're lucky that I'm not leaving Fifth Element, let alone that I'm talking to you" As she listened to Mel speak, what Mel said seemed to burn away what Patience she had left "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT" With that Brooke hung up on Mel, and pulled her arm back ready to through the phone as far as possible, breathing in a few times she slowly lowered her arm and placed the phone back in her pocket, her arms and upper body shaking with rage.
After a couple minutes she regained her composure, deciding to go back inside as she turned around she saw Charlie standing a couple of meters away from her, she weakly smiled at her then seat back on the bonnet of the car, a few seconds later Charlie joined her lightly sitting herself down careful not to damage the car, After a couple awkward minutes Brooke started up a conversation with her,
"So how much of the phone call did you hear?" Slightly nervous that Charlie may have seen her lose her temper
"Enough" Charlie replied simply
"Just so you know, I don't usually lose my temper so quickly"
"I know"
"Okay...But how?" Confused slightly has to how Charlie would know
"When you hung up you calmed down straight away"
"K but how do you know from that?"
"Well it indicates that the reason you were angry was on the other end of the phone" Charlie paused looking at the impressed look on Brookes face "It comes with being a police officer"
"Do they help you with anger issues too if so then I think I better join up" Brooke replied making both herself and Charlie laugh at the comment
"So I take it that Mel was the problem?"
"Yeah, she wants me back" Brooke explained looking out at the horizon
"And do you want her back?"
"Yeah, but things aren't that simple in life, you know that"
"Yeah, but sometimes love concurs all"
"Not this time it doesn't"
"How comes not this time?"
"She cheated on me, I know you probably think that doesn't mean anything to me but I grew with my mum and dad always cheating on each other, I swore that I would never cheat on any woman I was with, and like most things it didn't plan out"
"So you cheated on her?"
"Kinda yeah, it's the whole 'Friends' debate"
"You mean you were on a break" Charlie replied understanding the analogy
"Yeah, but never the less she classed it as me cheating, after that I got lectures left right and center, from Joey Frankee Carl, from everyone that knew what had happened even the woman I slept with told me I was wrong, the funny thing is I don't remember her complaining at the time" Brooke paused laughing slightly to herself "The thing I know and nobody else does is that, on that night I cheated she did exactly the same thing"
"What do mean you and nobody else knows?"
"The reason I slept with that woman was because a few minutes before I meet her I went to see Mel in her hotel room, and I saw her going at it with one of the fans" Brooke paused the sadness showing in her eyes "I didn't tell her I saw her so she didn't feel guilty"
"Why didn't you want her to feel guilty?"
"The reason we were on a break was because of me wanting to go out to a club, if I'd have listened to her and stayed in for the night then none of it would have happened" She looked at Charlie and saw a look of slight confusion "I know it's weird, I mean I never made her sleep with the woman, but I could have stopped myself with the barmaid but I never because I knew that the one way I could hurt her was to have sex or 'make love' with someone else"
"How comes you stayed together then?"
"I guess the fact that she loved me no matter what I did or how childish I acted made me wanna give her everything we had before and more, but nothing turns out like you plan does it?"
"And it's definitely over between you and her"
"Yeah definitely, I mean after you catch your girlfriend cheating on you on your birthday it turns things upside down"
"She cheated on your birthday?" Charlie asked unsure that she heard right thinking to herself at the same time 'How could someone do that on their girlfriend's birthday'
"Yeah, that was a birthday I won't forget in a hurry"
"So you've been over for a while?" Charlie said hesitating not knowing then Brooke's birthday actually was
"No, my birthday is 11th of April"
"Wait that was ten months ago, and your still with her?"
"Yeah, I was probably stupid to think that she wouldn't do it again, but there I was nine months down the line and there she was cheating on me again"
"How comes you told Joey that you and Mel, her name is Mel right" Brooke nodded that Charlie was saying the correct name "Just checking like I was saying, Why lie to Joey and say that Mel ended it because of you coming to the bay with her?"
"I didn't lie, Mel wanted me to stay there but I wanted to come here and support Jojo, so she gave me a choice, stay and work it out or come to the Bay and its over"
"And is that what you wanted?"
"Nobody wants to give up on a relationship, but I guess it was, I'm just sick of not being able to go to a nightclub and have fun like I used to, when we were together every time we went to a club she would never leave my side not even when I went to the toilet"
"She was a little protective then"
"Just a bit yeah, that wasn't the thing that annoyed me, the thing that annoyed was that her doing all those things seemed like she didn't trust me because of my previous history with women"
"It is a hell of a history though"
"I know and I understood that, but when you're with someone you're meant to trust them one hundred percent and whenever she did that it chipped away at me more and more"
"Do you think that was the reason you came with Joey"
"More than likely yeah, but the fact of the matter is that even with the cheating and the over protectiveness I would've stayed and tried again but the fact that I knew who she was cheating with and that it wasn't a onetime thing I could never forgive that no matter how hard I'd try"
"Wait so you know who she was cheating with?"
"Yeah, she was one of my closest friends but I guess she never thought of me that way"
"So you don't talk to her anymore?"
"No not really" Brooke quickly replied
"And what about Joey are you gonna tell her that Mel cheated on you?"
"I don't know, all I know is that I don't want her to look at the same way I looked at her when she told me about you...you know?"
"You mean me cheating on her" Brooke nodded affirming that was what she meant "What do you mean the way you looked at her?"
"The same way everyone looked at her"
"How do you mean?"
"She means with sympathy" Joey answered for Brooke out if nowhere, causing both Charlie and Brooke to turn towards where Joey was standing
"How long have you been there Jo?" Brooke asked sighing after the question
"Long enough to know that Mel was cheating on you" Joey said moving over to where the women were sitting and stopped in front of Brooke "Just because she cheated on you doesn't mean I'm gonna look at you sympathy"
"Really, promise?" Brooke said raising her eyebrows at Joey
"Promise, plus even if I wanted to look at you with sympathetically I wouldn't"
"Huh, Why not?" Charlie asked looking at Joey
"Well look at her, she's more than capable of looking after herself, I mean she's got a six pack and biceps more impressive than The Glamazon and Chyna combined. The only problem with that is she could probably snap Mel in half, which wouldn't be good for business" Joey looked at Brooke who was half amused and half impressed at the description of her that Joey had gave of her.
"She has got a point, I mean you have more muscles than some men and any women I know" Charlie added looking at Brookes arms
"But as far as Mel goes I can't say for sure that you'll get a chance to snap her in half" Joey said a mischievous look in her eye
"And whys that then?" Brooke asked slightly confused again
"Well once I get my hands on her there'll be nothing left for you to snap"
"Jo don't please"
"Don't what Brooke? she hurt you therefore she hurt me"
"I know, but like you said I'm a big girl I can handle it myself, the last thing I want is to worry about pulling you of her every time you're in the same room, which might I add would be a lot"
"Okay, but if she thinks I'm gonna listen to her sob story then she's got another thing coming, and it's not just me she'll have to answer to"
"Sorry Jo, what do you mean not just you?" Brooke enquired
"Well, wait until Frankee and the girls find out let alone your Taylor" Joey said smirking happily at Brooke, she was confused when Brookes face showed a look of guilt and secrecy which wasn't a usual thing for her "Hang on, who exactly knows about Mel cheating?"
"Only a few people, but in my defense they only know because I kind of lost my cool after I saw Mel"
"So who exactly are the few of people that know then?"
"Kaliegh, Cassie and Carl..." Brooke paused then finished her sentence "And Frankee"
"Frankee knows why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because you were still dealing with your feelings and the only reason Frankee knew before you was because she had to stop me attacking one of the crew guys"
"And how did everyone else find out before me?"
"Well, you know how you were just saying how strong I am" Joey nodded in response to Brooke quote/question "Well, Frankee couldn't hold me off the guy and I kinda beat him unconscious, and the only way to make sure I didn't get kicked out the band was to admit to everyone why I snapped"
"Okay, but still why didn't you tell me after?"
"Carl told us to keep it to ourselves; Mel doesn't even know that I saw her, Honest Jo if I could've told you I would've"
"I know I believe you" Joey moved closer to Brooke offering her a hug, Brooke got up and accepted pulling Joey towards her.
"Are you two sure you've never dated?" Charlie asked after seeing the conversation and the love filled hug between Joey and Brooke.
Joey and Brooke pulled apart looked at each other and then in unison said "Hell NO"
"Why not you obviously love each other?"
"Firstly, Jojo's not my type" Brooke started only for Joey to counter act her comment with "And she's definitely not my type" Brooke glared at Joey then turned back to Charlie and continued, "Thanks for the input Jo, Secondly there might not be a law against it but it's still disgusting and completely wrong"
"Sorry there isn't a law against what?" Charlie asked slightly lost by what Brooke has said
"We are not and never will be Lovers or anything similar to that" Brooke explained looking at Joey "Jojo is me familia"
"What she means is that we are cousins"
"Wow, your related to each other" Charlie asked again wanting to be sure
"Yeah my mum was her aunt" Joey explained pointing to herself and Brooke as she did so
"But I thought you didn't have any family other than Brett?"
"Well kinda, Brett is my only relative in Australia; at least he was until Brooke came here"
"Hang on, you're not the cousin that came out at her uncle's wedding are you?" Charlie asked laughing as she remembered the story Joey had told after she asked if she missed anyone in her family, anyone that she got on with that was.
"Yeah, I was a little bit tipsy" Brooke laughed remembering the day
"A little bit tipsy, you could barely stand up" Joey added in
"Hey I had a right to drink it was my uncle's wedding" Brooke said trying to defend her actions at the wedding
"Really and did you have a right to sleep with the bride?"
"Okay not so much on that one, but in my defense she came on to me"
"Do you even remember what she said to you?"
"Nope, but I remember enough to know that she wanted me, which honestly you can't blame her for can ya, she is only human" moving her hands from her head down her body as if to say 'just look at me'
"Yeah, but Uncle Fredrick didn't deserve it?"
"Really Jo?" Raising her eyebrows "He used to beat her up, he deserved everything he got"
"Yeah, but your wedding day is meant to be special a day and Ummm night to remember"
"Well if you'd been in the same room with her I was, you'd know that I made sure it was a night she'd remember" Winking at Joey, Charlie meanwhile couldn't help but laugh at Brookes statement, Joey looked at her sternly
"I'm sorry but it was funny" Charlie explained through laughter
"You know your only encouraging her"
"I don't need encouraging Jojo" Brooke said winking at Joey, before Joey could comment Brookes phone rang again, she looked at the caller ID seeing it was Frankee she answered it, "Hey Frank what's up?...Yeah I didn't mean to just you kno...yeah okay okay tell her I'm sorry...what do you mean you've been ordered not to...you are have you told Jo?...okay I will see you later"
"What did she say then?" Joey asked looking at Brooke intensely awaiting an answer
"Huh...Ow she said Carl's told her to come down to prepare for the gig next week, she's heading down in the morning" Brooke hesitated before finishing of "And she um she said that Mel's coming down to so I should apologize"
"Wait Mel's coming down; well she's not staying with us"
"Jo, I don't want her here or anywhere near me either but if they have nowhere to go we're gonna have to put up with it"
"Why do we have to put them up?"
"Because otherwise Carl is gonna go on and on at me and one night under the same roof as Mel isn't as bad as months and months of verbal abuse and being put at the back of the band"
"Fine on two conditions, one you don't apologize to her and secondly you stay in with me"
"Jo, you don't need to do that, plus I don't think I'm involved in Frankee's plans for" Brooke said secretly appreciating Joey thinking about her, then pretending to gag at the thought of Frankee and Joey together
"Are you sure?"
"Well I am, look I've gotta go get our stuff ...but if you want you can stay put then call me when you're ready to leave"
"Ummm" Joey paused thinking to herself, Should I go with Brooke and spend hours unpacking or Should I spend hours looking at and talking to Charlie "I'll stay a bit longer then give you a bell if Charlie doesn't mind keeping me company"
"Huh, Ummm" Charlie murmured slightly drawn back that Joey actually wanted to spend time with her "Yeah, sure no problem" She said letting her excitement control her voice
"Cool, now that's solved get of my car" Brooke laughed to herself when both Joey and Charlie immediately jumped of the car "I'll see you later Jo, goodnight officer"
"See you later B" Joey replied
"Yeah, bye" Charlie added half looking at Brooke and the other half fixated on Joey
Joey watched as Brooke stepped into the car, placing her seatbelt on, which she wouldn't normally, she started the ignition then reversed carefully turning the car around and driving off beeping the horn as she drove off, which pulled Charlie out of her fixation on Joey
"Soooo..."Charlie started not knowing what to suggest the do "Do you want another drink?"
Now that Brooke had gone, Joey didn't really fancy spending time in a crowded bar, she wanted to spend time alone with Charlie though she couldn't understand why it was so important to her
"Umm, not really" Seeing the dejected look on Charlie's face she continued "Maybe we could go for a walk on the beach...if you don't mind that is?"
"I don't mind at all, in fact it sounds more interesting than sitting in a bar" Charlie replied unable to hide the massive grin on her face
"Okay then lets walk"
With that they both followed the path down to the beach when they reached the sand they both sat down not saying a word and took of theirs shoes when they had done that they looked up at each other at the exact same time, both smiled broadly when they say the way the moonlight hit the others face, Charlie got up first holding her hand down for Joey, knowing that it was more than likely that Joey would struggle getting up, Joey accepted her hand and pulled herself up unintentionally pulling herself into Charlie so their bodies where centimeters away from touching, after a few seconds they both pulled back when Joey realized that she was still holding onto Charlie's hand she instantly and reluctantly pulled it back to her side then began walking, Charlie followed her quickly moving to her side, they continued walking their arms touching as they did so, both enjoying the peace and quiet that the moonlight brought to Summer bay...
The hours flew by and by the time Joey looked at her watch it was 2:30 in the morning and though neither of them wanted to they knew they had to call it a night, neither wanting to say anything for fear of upsetting the other, after a few more minutes Joey decided to say something
"Um, it's getting kinda late; maybe we should call it a night?" Joey asked meekly
"Yeah, it is pretty late, I'll wait with you until Brooke comes back" Charlie replied relieved that Joey had been the one to approach the subject of the time
"You don't have to; she'll only be ten minutes"
"I know I don't have to, but I wanna make sure your safe" Charlie replied blushing slightly
"Thanks, but only if you're sure" Joey replied flattered that Charlie cared about her safety "Okay, I'll just call Brooke then"
Joey called Brooke and within ten minutes she arrived to pick up Joey, she lowered the window as Joey climbed into the passenger's side,
"Are you gonna be okay getting home it has gone midnight after all" Brooke asked looking over at Charlie
"Yeah, I'll be fine; it's only a forty minute walk"
"Personally I think that's thirty minutes to long for a woman like yourself to walk in the dark"
"And what kind of woman would that be then?"
"You know, a beautiful woman, you never know who's lurking in the dark"
"I'll be fine but thanks for the compliment"
"My pleasure" Brooke went to drive off when she saw Charlie shiver slightly "I can give you a lift if you want...Ow" Brooke said after feeling Joey hit her slightly on the leg, seeing Charlie's confusion she explained "Twitch" Charlie nodded her head at the explanation
"You don't need to do that, I'll be okay"
"You sure...it's just that you live a few minutes away from where we are going"
"Oh, when you say it like that, as long as you both okay with it? "She asked looking over at Joey who nodded her approval, with that Brooke got out of the car allowing Charlie to get into back, when they all had their seatbelts on, Brooke set of towards Brooke and Joeys, when they got there Joey signaled for Brooke to give her the keys, as soon as she did Joey climbed out and entered the house, she went to do the same when she noticed in rear view mirror that Charlie was fast asleep, so she pulled the seat forward as far as she could and pulled Charlie into her arms so she could carry her inside, which she realized wouldn't be the easiest of all things to do
Joey stood looking around at all the work that Brooke had managed to do within a couple of hours of arriving there were only three boxes left that needed unpacking, one was marked PRIVATE JOEYS THINGS she picked it up and went upstairs she looked in the rooms until she found the one that had the rest of her things in it, she placed the box down and fell onto her bed letting her body get the sleep it badly needed.
The next morning, Charlie woke up in a house she didn't realize, she slowly pulled herself of the seatee that Brooke had placed her on, she looked around and saw pictures of Brooke, Joey and what she assumed was members of their family, realizing that she was indeed in Brooke and Joeys house, she looked around for any sign of them when she noticed a mirror she immediately walked over and checked herself to make sure she looked presentable in case she saw Joey, a mere seconds after she had done so Joey came bounding down the stairs stopping in her tracks when she saw Charlie.
Before either could saw a word the doorbell went, Joey quickly moved towards it looking back at Charlie as she did so, when she opened the door, she saw to woman standing in front of her with their bags in their hands, one a blonde slender English woman around 5ft 4in wearing a baggy pair of jeans and a baseball jersey the woman she knew to be Frankee, and the other was a Latin/English woman around 5ft 6in she was slender looking but had curves in all the right places she was the woman Joey knew to be Brookes ex, Mel.
Frankee pulled Joey into a hug lifting her of the ground then putting her down and kissing her passionately, then hugging her again but this time with more love and warmth than before, while she was hugging Joey, Frankee looked over at Charlie giving her a glare as if to warn her off Joey, Joey on the other hand shoot Mel a look as if to say she knew everything that had happened with Brooke and she wasn't happy after a couple of minutes Frankee released the hug looking at Joey then speaking
"So, I take it she's asleep?" Frankee asked Joey
"Sorry, who's asleep?" Joey asked confused
"Brooke, she was meant to pick us up"
"I don't know I've been up for an hour but I've been upstairs unpacking"
"Oh, so where is she then?"
"No idea maybe she's avoiding a certain someone, I wouldn't blame her"
"Babe, don't be like that please"
"Umm, Sorry to interrupt but I'm gonna make a move now" Charlie politely stated "Thanks for letting me stay"
"No problem" Joey replied "If you go out the back it leads to the main street"
"Thanks"
Joey watched as Charlie walked out of the living room and disappeared from view she turned to Frankee continuing to hug her "I missed you"
"JOEY, JOEY" Charlie called from the back garden
"Charlie, what's up?"
"JOEY CALL AN AMBULANCE NOW" Charlie shouted again from the back
"Why what's happened are you okay?" Joey asked slightly concerned she moved towards the back, Frankee and Mel following her
"IT'S NOT FOR ME ITS FOR..."
"Brooke" Joey said as she arrived where Charlie was to see her cousin laying on the concrete...