For those that have been asking, no, I haven't forgotten the mention of history between Joey and Heath. I will come back to it in time. But I am waiting until the River Boys come into it properly (when they arrive in the actual show) before that story plays out in the timeline so we have a little while to go before that happens. At the moment, Brax is just dipping in and out (so to speak) but he and Heath etc. will become more prominent characters later down the line and we'll find out how Heath and Joey knew each other in the past then. For now, I hope you enjoy the other stories leading up to that. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty One
Bianca awoke with a start. Sitting up, her back twinged and her head swam, as she tried to figure out where she was. Suddenly, memories of the night before flooded her brain. Beside her, in as much a state of undress as she was, Liam began to stir. They were still on the library floor.
"All aboard the Buckton Express," Charlie hollered, standing by the front door, eager for her girlfriend and daughter to get ready to leave for work and school respectively.
"Nearly ready," Ruby said, hopping into the room on one leg, as she tried to put her shoe on the other foot.
"Ever organised," Joey remarked, gliding past her and grabbing her back.
Ruby toppled onto the couch and frowned at her.
"Like you're ever more ready than I am," she pointed out.
"I have my shoes on," Joey said, pointing at her feet.
"Would you two stop bickering and just hurry up?" Charlie scolded.
Gathering themselves together, the three of them bundled out the door, only to bump into Kerri seeing Brax out of her apartment.
Leah had taken VJ to school and come back to do housework before her shift at the Diner was due to start later that afternoon. Clearing plates out of VJ's room, she looked under the bed. There were usually things lurking under there that made her shudder. She had even been known to chuck things out rather than wash them if she hadn't caught them in time.
She froze when she spotted a shoe box she didn't recognise. Debating in her mind as to whether to look in it or not, she put the crockery she'd gathered, down on the floor.
"Please forgive me for invading your privacy," she said aloud before opening the box.
"I just don't understand what she sees in him," Joey complained from the passenger seat of the car.
"No, I don't get it either," Ruby remarked from the back. "I mean, it's not like he's gorgeous, charming all those muscles, tattoos…"
Charlie snorted. Joey turned around in her seat.
"You honestly think he's that good looking?" she asked.
"Joey, I know you're gay but seriously?" Ruby said. "You don't think he's good looking?"
"Not even a little bit," Joey said, pulling a face.
"What's unattractive about him?"
"His personality," Joey said, turning back around.
"That's not a physical feature!" Ruby protested.
"It can be!" Joey insisted. "You could be the hottest person on the planet and if you have an ugly personality, you become an ugly person, I think."
"I'd agree with you there," Charlie said, pulling up at the school in order to drop Ruby off.
"I think I get what you mean," Ruby conceded. "But Brax is still gorgeous. And his brother… that Heath guy."
She pulled a rather lusty face. Joey was horrified but in a less comedic way than before.
Having put their clothes back on in a rather hurried fashion, Bianca and Liam were trying to find a way to sneak out of the library. They'd thought they would have time but Gina had arrived early for work and every time they tried to escape, she seemed to appear. Now, the bell had rung and students were starting to pile into the corridors.
"Right, I'll slip into the flow to students," Bianca said. "Then a few minutes later, you do the same. Nobody will be any the wiser. Right?"
Liam nodded nervously.
"Right," he said.
Bianca took a breath and crept out of the room.
"Do you think Brax is attractive?" Joey asked, as Charlie pulled away from the school and round towards the restaurant in order to drop her girlfriend off at work.
Charlie chewed her lip thoughtfully, concentrating on the road.
"He's okay, I guess," she said.
"Does that mean you do?" Joey asked, trying not to sound insecure.
Charlie glanced at her.
"I'm not attracted to him myself," she said. "But if I was to look at him, I guess I'd class him as a good looking guy."
"Really?" Joey said, scrunching up her nose.
She really couldn't see it.
"Yeah," Charlie said. "But at the same time, I do agree with what you said before about an ugly personality making you an ugly person. So I think his personality makes him less attractive. When I look at him, although I think he has quite a handsome face and I can appreciate the muscles and stuff, but mostly all I think about is the fact that he's a thug. And that he leads a gang of thugs."
"So, you're not all hot for him and going to run off and leave me?" Joey teased.
Charlie giggled, swatting her playfully on the arm.
"Nothing in the world could make me run off and leave you," she assured her.
"Well, that's alright then," Joey replied.
Leah was sat, still rather stunned, on VJ's bedroom floor. In the box, she had found dozens of letters from Elijah. It appeared that her son had been keeping in regular contact with her ex-fiancé while he had been away in Africa. She had no idea how, although she knew that somebody must be helping him. But the letters were full of love and emotion. They were overwhelming. Leah was more confused and distressed than ever.
Charlie arrived at work to find Watson looking rather miserable at her desk, not to mention overwhelmed by paperwork.
"Hey," she greeted gently. "I bought you a coffee and a pastry."
Watson looked up gratefully. She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Charlie knew she was still upset over having missed her chance with Kerri.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," Charlie said. "How are you doing?"
"Okay," Watson lied. "Just annoyed with myself. I wish I'd… you know."
Charlie patted her shoulder.
"I know," she said. "And if it helps, I don't think it'll even last with Brax. And if it doesn't…"
"She still probably won't want me," Watson sighed glumly.
She looked up at Charlie and managed a proper smile.
"But I promise I'll try," she said.
Xavier flopped down into his seat for the first class of the day. April sat down beside him. Ruby was on his other side, although they didn't talk much anymore and Dex was beside her. Xavier surveyed the growing friendship between Ruby and Dex with vague interest, wondering if something might happen between them. In his experience, Ruby never seemed to stay platonically friends with boys for very long. But then, Dex was very strange so maybe it wouldn't turn into something more this time. He couldn't actually imagine a girl falling in love with him.
"Are you with us, Xavier?" Miles asked, the teacher snapping him to attention.
Xavier sat up a little straighter.
"Yes, Sir," he said apologetically.
"Good," the curly haired man said. "Then we'll begin."
John had been running April's bottle ban campaign more like a military operation than a community event and it was exhausting both of the teenagers. But for April, Xavier thought it was worth it.
Outside the classroom, at the entrance to the library, Gina was perplexed to find a scarf on the floor. Picking it up, she recognised it as the one Bianca had been wearing the previous day. She remembered it, having thought it pretty. Next to it, was a book she had seen Liam reading, bookmarked with a guitar plectrum. Thinking back to when she had seen Bianca and Liam a few moments ago, they had both been flustered and not acted quite right. The Head Teacher was immediately suspicious.
Taking the box with her, Leah headed over to the restaurant to see Joey. She needed to talk to someone she trusted and that she knew was good with advice. She was grateful when her friend took a break from work and invited her into her office so they could talk properly and privately.
"Have you read them?" Joey asked.
"Sort of," Leah admitted. "Well, some of them I've skimmed but I felt kind of wrong. They're private between Elijah and VJ. But at the same time…"
She sighed heavily.
"I don't know what to do," she said. "And I don't know how they're even communicating. I mean, someone must be helping him send the letters and receive them. Who would do that? They're going behind my back…"
"I don't know," Joey said. "I promise it's not me."
"I know," Leah assured her.
Liam and Bianca were anxious when they were summoned to Gina's office. They stood in front of her desk feeling like teenage students, as she demanded to know why they were in the same clothes as yesterday, minus Bianca's scarf, of course.
"Um…" Bianca faltered.
"Uh…" Liam struggled.
"When I punished you with library duty for arguing in the middle of school, I did not expect you to use that time to fornicate," Gina said crossly.
Liam suppressed a smile at her use of language. He really did feel like a teenager.
"Gina, we're not…"
"Don't lie to me!" the Head Teacher yelled.
They were stunned into silence.
"I think you need to tread carefully," Joey said. "VJ has very obviously been affected by Elijah's departure. He was really happy about him being his step-dad and everything and you were such a happy family."
Leah nodded unhappily.
"And you've also been affected by him leaving and VJ has been very aware of that," Joey added. "He's been worried about you..."
Leah nodded again, feeling very down.
"So maybe writing to him is VJ's way of processing all that's happened," Joey suggested. "Maybe what you need to do is sit down with him and really talk everything through?"
"Yeah," Leah agreed. "I'm going to put them back and… talk to him. I just hate that he felt he had to keep secrets from him me."
Joey put her arm around her.
"He's growing up, Leah," she said. "And I don't think it's about secrets. I think he's trying to protect you. He loves you."
After school, Xavier went straight to the Surf Club to meet John, as requested. He didn't really want to but it was for the campaign and, as John kept reminding him, the whole thing had started because John was doing Xavier a favour. And that was because Xavier loved April and wanted to make her happy.
Charlie and Watson had finished work and Charlie had coaxed Watson into coming to the restaurant with her for dinner in a bid to cheer her up. Watson stopped walking when she spotted Kerri also making her way towards the restaurant.
"Do you think she's meeting him?" Watson asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Charlie said. "But that doesn't mean you can't go in there too."
"I don't want to see them all over each other…"
Charlie touched her hand.
"Then just focus on us," she said.
Watson took a deep breath and followed Charlie into the Surf Club. They took the stairs while Kerri headed up in the lift.
Liam and Bianca had headed out of town on Liam's bike in order to talk things through. They were both embarrassed over what had happened that morning, although they didn't regret being together the night before. Everyone in Summer Bay knew it had been brewing for a while.
Kerri was already sat at a table when Watson and Charlie appeared in the restaurant.
"Hey, guys," Joey greeted when the police officers approached the bar. "How are you?"
She couldn't help but glance at Watson and then past her, at Kerri.
"Is she meeting Brax?" Watson asked.
Joey hesitated and then confirmed that she was, although apparently he was late.
"Maybe I'll just head on home…" Watson said awkwardly, looking awkwardly behind her.
"Please stay," Charlie begged.
Watson hesitated and then sighed.
"Okay," she said. "But he shows up and then start making out on the table…"
"We'll all leave, I assure you," Joey said.
Leah had hardly gone to work. She'd tried to do a few hours but then feigned illness and gone home. She put the box back under VJ's bed and left it there. Joey's voice echoed in her head, telling her to talk to her little boy about the letters but all through dinner, she stayed quiet, not wanting to confront the issue.
Ruby was subdued as she joined her parents and Watson for dinner at the restaurant. She had been aware all day and not least because of all the rumours and gossip, that Liam and Bianca had got frisky in the library overnight. She knew she was being unreasonable and that she had no claim over him. But it still hurt to think of him with her. There was still a part of her that just couldn't quite let him go.
"Do you think she's okay?" Watson asked, looking over at Kerri, who looked glum as she hung up her phone and caught Angelo's attention.
Never one to shy away from a situation, Joey headed over to her table.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"Brax can't make it," Kerri explained. "And he didn't think to tell me until he was already half an hour late so I've been sitting here like a moron."
"You know, Watson would never stand you up…" Joey said, trying to make light of the situation.
She succeeded in making her chuckle.
"Well, I'd better head home," Kerri said. "It was never going to be a late one anyway. Danny's at a birthday party. I have to pick him up in a couple of hours anyway."
She manoeuvred herself round towards the exit.
"Are you leaving?" Charlie asked, as her friend moved past.
"Yeah," Kerri said. "Brax had somewhere else he needed to be tonight."
"Why don't you join us instead?"
The words were out of Watson's mouth before she had really thought them through. Everyone was surprised, including herself. But she couldn't bear to see Kerri going home sad and let down. She wanted her to be happy.
"Oh, I don't want to intrude," Kerri said, aware that Watson was upset with her at the moment.
"You wouldn't be," Watson insisted, looking around at the others, who all agreed with her.
"Are you sure?" Kerri asked.
Joey immediately made room around the table.
On the way home from working on the campaign for the night, Xavier had to admit, if only to himself that he was impressed with John. There was a lot of interest in the bottle ban around the Bay, more than either of them had anticipated, and listening to John talk, Xavier would have thought he actually believed in the cause himself. He was almost warming to him. Almost.
"That was nice of Watson to invite Kerri to join us for dinner," Joey commented when she, Charlie and Ruby arrived home.
They'd take Kerri to collect Danny from the party in order to save her taxi fares and then all five of them had come back to their apartment block together. The evening itself had gone well and everyone had had a nice time. It had been a lot more relaxed than anyone had anticipated, considering the situation and a lot of laughs had been shared.
"Yeah, really nice," Charlie agreed. "And I thought Watson was particularly charming."
Joey nodded and plonked herself down on the sofa.
"If only she could have been so confident before Kerri and Brax got together," she frowned.
Charlie kicked off her shoes and came to cuddle up with her.
"I honestly don't think Kerri and Brax are going to last five minutes," she said, kissing her.
Ruby announced that she was going to her room before things got 'snuggly'.
"They've only been together for two seconds and he's already stood her up," Charlie continued once they'd said goodnight to their daughter. "How many more times do you think Kerri's going to put up with that?"
"Hopefully not for long," Joey said. "If she can figure out quickly what he's like then she can break up with him and be with Watson. Then all will be right with the world."
They kissed, immediately forgetting about everyone else's problems.
Next time… Joey gives Angelo a boost, Xavier and April compete for the same job and Miles has a confession for Leah…
