Braxton House
"Have the girls gone to Angelo's already?" Casey asks as he walks into the living room, where his brothers were watching the TV.
"Yeah, told them we would wait for you before meeting them there." Heath says, not bothering to turn his gaze away from the TV, but then a knock at the door got their attention.
"You boys going to let me struggle with my bags or what?" Victoria grins from the doorway.
"Vic, you're back!" Kyle beams as he gets up to embrace her, them both kissing each other passionately.
"Alright, calm down the PDA!" Heath jokes.
"How come you're back so soon?" Kyle asks his girlfriend, although he wasn't complaining, he'd missed having her around so much.
"Our flight got in early and there was barely any traffic on the roads. Why, have I interrupted something?" She lightly smirks.
"No, they were just going." Kyle smiles before pulling her to his room.
"Right, that's our cue to leave." Casey laughs as Brax turns the TV off.
"Why?" Heath frowns.
"They haven't seen each other in like a week. I think you know what they're going to get up to today and knowing how much Kyle has missed her, neither of them will leave each other's sides for a while. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to listen them having sex to make up for their time apart." Casey says as they walk out.
"Fair point. I guess we're going to meet the girls in Angelo's now then?" Heath asks.
"We were anyway, we were just waiting for Casey." Brax says, wondering how Heath's brain worked when he seemed to forget things almost instantly.
"Oh yeah, well let's go then." Heath says.
Surf Club - Angelo's
"They're madly in love, we were the same at the start of our relationships." Ricky says, finding it funny how the boys were reacting.
"It's not like they've just got together, they've been together for well over a year now isn't it?" Heath says, the girls nodding.
"But some things are still new to them like not talking to each other properly for a week. Just look at us two, better than ever even after your stupidity." Bianca says to him, and he just muttered something under his breath as he faintly shook his head.
"Anyway, who wants another beer?" Heath asks to change the subject.
"We were going to go into Yabbie Creek for lunch, so count us out." Casey says as Denny grins at him, loving when he did last minute things on their day off.
"Well let's go then." Denny says, saying bye to them all before leaving with Casey.
"Before you changed the conversation away from you a minute ago, I was going to mention that I've got a work's trip coming up soon." Bianca says as she stares at Heath, noticing him roll his eyes.
"When, who with, and for how long?" Heath asks, hoping he'd be able to get out of it, although he didn't want to cause more arguments between them.
"It's in the city with a few other teachers, and it's for a week." Bianca says as Brax goes up to the bar to get them some more drinks. "And yes, Zac will be there, but he's taking Leah. I expect you'll be ditching me for Kyle or Casey during that week?"
"Nope, I'm not allowed to use them as excuses any more." Heath says. "I guess I could come with you to the city if I'm free that week. I would just need to find cover for my shifts at the gym."
"Good, do that." Bianca says.
Meanwhile, Ricky went up to the bar to talk to Brax, noticing he'd been quiet during some of the conversations, so wanted to find out why. She hadn't really noticed anything the last few days, but knew he'd spoken to Heath about something that he was trying to keep between them, but they both knew Heath wasn't the great at keeping things a secret. She just wanted to know what was bothering him to see if she could help, so pulled him into the office for a quick chat.
"Talk to me. You've been distracted all morning and I don't think I'm the only one that's noticed." Ricky says.
"It's just that conversation I had with Heath the other day, it made me realise a few things." Brax says, not thinking he'd noticed it before.
"What things?" Ricky asks.
"You can't tell anyone." Brax says, and Ricky nods, knowing she'd never break his trust when he sounded so serious. "It just got me thinking about some stuff about Kyle, and I don't know how I haven't noticed it before. Does that make me a bad brother for not seeing it sooner, even though I knew how tough he had it before?"
"Brax, you're not making sense. Are we talking about Heath or Kyle here?" Ricky asks, not catching on as she was confused with what he was meaning.
"I'm talking about Kyle. He opened up to me a lot when he first moved here and I did take in everything he said, I even thought I had paid attention to it enough." Brax says, starting to pace the small office. "So if I listened to him back then, why am I only noticing now how broken he really is, or was. Maybe he still is, I don't really know. He doesn't talk to me about it as much as he used to."
"Why would Kyle be broken?"
"I can't say, it's just some stuff from his past that he trusted me to keep between us." Brax says, and Ricky understood that, so didn't press him for more information. "He's doing so much better now, he's different and it's great seeing this side of him, but what if I should have done more when he first told me?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know." Brax says, shaking his head, he really didn't know anymore. "But that panic attack, and then Heath asking all those questions, it just got me thinking that maybe I didn't do enough to help Kyle like I should have. I don't want to talk to Kyle about it in case he thinks I've been talking to other people about it, or that I think he isn't coping."
"Maybe he was broken when he first moved here. We all saw how quiet and dejected he was for the first couple months, but you helped him through so much. If it wasn't for you getting things out of him, and being the person to get Danny out of all of your lives, I don't think Kyle would have come out of his shell like he did. He's got a lot more confidence now, and he's with the girl of his dreams, I don't think you need to worry. There are going to be times that Kyle is going to be less confident, or even have panic attacks, but he's obviously gone through a huge trauma that won't ever leave him." Ricky explains. "I've seen how much better Kyle feels after talking to you, and he trusts you so much that he opens up to you. I think you're the best brother to him, and you shouldn't go thinking otherwise. You can't control everything."
"I know." Brax sighs, stopping in front of her. "I just hate knowing what he's been through knowing it wouldn't have happened if we knew about him sooner. Life just doesn't seem fair sometimes."
"I know. But you remember that this family wouldn't be where it is today without you."
"No, they'd probably be in better places. I've heard what people say about me, how this place would be better off without the River Boys around. Maybe that's the same for the boys. It's no doubt that Heath wouldn't have a criminal record if he had a good role model growing up."
"Brax, where is all this coming from?" Ricky frowns, not having seen this side of him before, and she was clueless on how to help without more of an explanation as to why he was now feeling like this.
"Nowhere." Brax sighs. "Maybe all of this family is broken and I just wanted to ignore that."
"This family is more together than I've ever seen, and you need to stop putting yourself down. You've said yourself that Kyle was broken from his past, and you're the one person that has helped him through it." Ricky says. "Now I think it's time you took a break from alcohol and take in how great your family is."
"I never said they weren't great, I just think they can do better."
"And I don't think they can. You've never second guessed yourself like this before."
"And I won't be again. One too many shots of bourbon has always been bad for me." Brax lightly smirks.
"It's not even midday." Ricky shakes her head, having thought she saw him drinking just after the three brothers met them there.
"It is somewhere in the world." Brax says before they both walk out of the office to join Heath and Bianca again.