Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in updating this story. Many thanks to those who are still reading. I would like to dedicate this chapter to the memory of Dieter Brummer – long before the days of Charlie and Joey, he and his character, Shane were the first actor and character from Home and Away who ever stole my heart. Love IJKS xxx
Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy Three
It was early the next morning and Charlie and Joey had gone out for a run, eager to clear their heads and spend some time together before the onslaught of the day ahead. Charlie had a shift at work and Joey would hopefully be busy at the restaurant if The Pizza Oven didn't pull too many of her customers away.
"Is that Roo Stewart?" Joey noticed, looking ahead of her at a lone woman, standing and gazing at the sea.
She and Roo had had an up and down relationship but they had finally bonded before she had left for the US, probably to do something dodgy. Charlie had opted to look the other way for her old friend, Martha's sake. Not so much for Martha's boyfriend, Hugo.
"I think so," Charlie said. "I wonder when she got back."
"Alf didn't mention anything when we called him last week," Joey noted.
"Knowing Roo, she didn't even tell him!"
They looked up when a shadow fell over them, neither was happy to have their morning intruded upon by Brax, looking wet and cheerful after his morning's surf.
"Morning, ladies," he said. "Lovely day for it. I just thought I'd get a few waves in before a busy day at work."
They ignored him and he left. Joey sighed and leant against Charlie.
"What if he ruins our business, Charlie?" she fretted. "Everything we've worked so hard for?"
Charlie put her arm around her.
"He won't," she promised. "He won't."
Further down the beach, Romeo had also been out surfing. It was all he could do to clear his head. His whole world had imploded and if he had been tempted by Ruby for one stupid moment, he knew now without a shadow of a doubt that Indi was his soulmate and the person he was meant to spend the rest of his life with.
Dragging his board out of the water, he stopped short when he saw the love of his life sitting on the sand. Without a moment's hesitation, he dropped his board and rushed over. She had refused to take his calls or let him into her house. This was his first moment to talk to her since everything had happened.
Indi stood up quickly. She had come to the beach because she hadn't been able to sleep. She did not want to see her boyfriend. Her ex-boyfriend.
"Indi!" Romeo called. "Indi, please talk to me!"
"I have nothing to say to you and nothing I want to hear from you," she replied, storming back towards home.
It was both Watson and Kerri's day off and they were looking forward to sharing it together. But Watson was nervous about bringing up the conversation topic that had been on her mind for a while. Having dropped Danny off at school, she had returned home to Kerri who could immediately tell that her partner had something on her mind.
"Come on you," Kerri coaxed. "Out with it. You've been on a different planet for a while. What's on your mind? What's worrying you?"
"Nothing…" Watson lied.
Kerri frowned, reaching out and holding Watson's hands. She looked into her eyes.
"Watson, this is me," she said. "You can tell me anything."
Watson sighed, smiling shyly. It was true. They had no secrets.
"I love you," she said.
Kerri blushed and smiled.
"I love you too," she replied. "I definitely can't see a problem there…"
"I just… I was thinking about us and the future and everything and I started worrying."
Kerri dropped Watson's hands, beginning to worry herself.
"You're not having a crisis of commitment, are you?" she asked.
"No! Of course not!" Watson assured her. "I'm just aware that…"
"What?" Kerri asked, trying not to sound impatient.
"I'm aware that your ex-husband is going to be released from jail fairly soon," Watson blurted out. "And I just… I started to worry about what that might mean for us."
She saw Kerri visibly relax. She smiled.
"That's what you've been worrying about?" she almost laughed. "You are silly sometimes, Watson. It doesn't mean anything for us. Nothing at all."
"It doesn't?" Watson asked nervously.
Kerri shook her head.
"For starters, we're divorced. We're done. We're over," she said. "I've moved on. I'm with you. I love you. I want to be with you and stay with you and build a future with you. He doesn't mean anything to me anymore, other than that he is Danny's father and even that… I feel somewhat anxious about, considering what happened. I can't deny Danny access to his father when he's released but I can do whatever it takes to keep him safe still. And I will. But his role as a father doesn't mean I have to have any kind of relationship with him. Why would it?"
"I was just scared that you'd see him and old feelings might…"
Kerri gestured to the wheelchair she was sat in.
"I think he sufficiently killed any feelings I might have for him," she said. "I'm at peace with my situation. I appreciate it, even. You know me. I see every day as a gift, everything that happens to me, the good and the bad because everything is a moment for teaching and learning. But it doesn't mean I would ever go back to such a destructive, unhealthy relationship. Especially when I'm already in such a happy, joyful relationship with someone I love with all my heart."
"Is that me?" Watson asked with a little grin.
Kerri leant closer.
"Yes, that's definitely you," she promised.
They kissed.
Angelo paused on his way to The Pizza Oven when he spotted Joey outside the Surf Club chatting to John, both of them presumably about to start work. He felt unsettled after the incident the previous day and he wished so much that he had got off his high horse, apologised and found his way back to Bucktons'. He knew he was in over his head with Brax. He knew he was being used.
"Hi," he ventured, approaching Joey and John.
"Hi," Joey said stiffly. "How are you?"
He shrugged and told them he was fine.
"How's life with those River Boys?" John asked, getting right to the point. "Honestly, I don't know what you were thinking joining that gang!"
"I haven't joined their gang," Angelo said quickly. "I got fired and I needed a job."
"You were offered your job back within about half an hour," Joey pointed out.
"Well, I didn't know that before I took the job so…"
"Well, you still had options," Joey said curtly. "You didn't need to take a job with them. I have no idea what you were thinking. Or what you were thinking yesterday, sending Charlie into a fake drug deal. You made her lose all credibility with them. How's she meant to enforce the law if you're helping them pull the rug out from under her like that?"
"They set me up on purpose," Angelo snapped.
"And those are the kind of people you want to work for?" Joey snapped.
"No," Angelo snapped back. "I wanted to work for you but you replaced me pretty quickly."
"Maybe I should leave you guys to it," John said, backing away.
"No," Joey said, feeling herself getting stressed and anxious. "I think I should probably walk away myself. I'll come on in with you, John."
Angelo sighed heavily, watching her walk away.
Ruby's face was burning. Today, at school, was even worse than yesterday. People were gossiping about her even more than the day before and openly laughing at her. It hadn't taken long for her to discover why. Xavier had somewhat proudly showed her a graphic cartoon someone had created of her, Casey and Romeo on the backseat of the Mad Max car. She felt utterly humiliated. She glanced up at Romeo, who was stood quietly by his locker. He had clearly seen it. He wasn't being mocked. If anything, he was being cheered on.
"What the hell is this?" Casey demanded, snatching Xavier's phone from him.
"Hey!" Xavier protested.
He protested louder when Casey angrily threw the phone on the ground; it split in half.
"You're meant to be Ruby's friend!" Casey yelled. "Why the hell are you spreading this shit around?"
Ruby hung back, still hurt by the video but touched that Casey cared enough to stand up for her.
"It's nothing to do with me," Xavier shrugged, scuttling around to try and fix his phone.
"It's everything to do with you," Casey insisted, stepping on the piece of the phone that was closest to him but being careful not to crush it. "You're her friend. You should be stepping up."
"She was Indi's friend," Xavier reminded him, glaring past him at Ruby. "What did she do?"
"And what the hell has that actually got to do with you?"
"She destroyed Romeo's life!" Xavier insisted.
Romeo wished he was invisible.
"Oh and Romeo was the innocent victim, was he?" Casey mocked. "Had no say in the situation? What's wrong with you? Why are you getting involved, shaming Ruby and hero worshipping your mate? He's the one who cheated on his girlfriend. Why isn't he accountable for his actions?"
Romeo hung his head, sighing heavily. How had everything become such a mess?
"Look, you're pretty new here, okay," Xavier said. "You don't know what she's like. When Ruby wants a guy, she gets the guy. He doesn't usually get much say in it."
"Bullshit," Casey snapped, putting his full foot down on the phone.
Xavier cried out in frustration.
"All of you should take a hard look at your own behaviour before you start laying into the girls," Casey told him.
He turned and invited Ruby to go for a walk, leaving Xavier with his broken phone. Romeo and Dex looked on.
Brax looked cheerful when he approached Angelo at The Pizza Oven, as if the events of the day before had been long forgotten. Angelo had not forgotten them. And he was still smarting from his earlier encounter with Joey. He wondered if they would ever be friends again. He wished he could redo these past few weeks and days.
"I have a promotion for you," Brax said. "Now that you and I understand each other properly."
Angelo looked up in surprise and cautious optimism.
"What kind of promotion?" he asked.
"Well, as you know, I have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies," Brax explained.
Angelo wondered how many of those pies were legal.
"So I'm not going to be around all the time," he continued. "And I need someone reliable and with experience who can manage the place. And I think you're the best man for the job."
Angelo was thrilled.
"Oh, well, thanks!" he said. "I'd love that."
"Well, I mean, who else was I going to pick? Him?"
He nodded towards his younger brother, half asleep in one of the chairs. Angelo's pride in the compliment immediately deflated.
"Hey, no, seriously," Brax said cheerfully, patting him on the arm. "You'll be great."
Ruby was relieved to be outside and was very grateful to be with Casey. She immediately collapsed into his arms, willing herself not to cry.
"Thank you for standing up for me," she said.
"Hey," he said. "You didn't deserve any of that, the things they said and did."
She clung to him tighter and thanked him again.
"Hey, do you just want to ditch?" Casey asked. "Or will your parents be too mad?"
"I think they'll understand," she decided, leading the way off the premises.
Roo was happy to be back in Summer Bay, although she wished her Dad was around. The place just wasn't the same without him. Still, she was pretty close to her Auntie Morag. And she was very fond of Miles.
Wandering along the beach front, she noticed that a new bar had opened since her last visit. Feeling a little disloyal to Charlie and Joey, she walked past them and into The Pizza Oven. The first thing she noticed was the number of gorgeous, muscular, tattooed, predominantly topless men lounging around the place. For a moment, she wondered if she was in a strip club. Then she remembered it was Summer Bay, not Vegas.
Spotting an anxious but friendly face at the bar, she approached Angelo and ordered a glass of wine. It was the afternoon, after all.
"What kind of place have I just walked into?"
His face immediately lit up as he welcomed her.
"What are you doing back in town?" he asked.
"I have returned!" she grinned dramatically.
"For good?" he asked.
"For good," she confirmed.
"That's excellent! I'm really pleased!"
She eyed him curiously and watched him pour her drink.
"So… what on earth is this place and what are either of us doing here? I thought you worked at Bucktons," Roo prompted, handing over her cash.
"I parted ways with Charlie and Joey," he said awkwardly. "This place is owned by a new guy called Brax. He's part of a group called The River Boys. He just opened the place."
Roo nodded thoughtfully and sipped her wine. She looked around at some of the rather attractive surfers lounging around. Angelo frowned at her lack of interest in him. He had already been having a hard day, largely consisting of having to create tabs under fictious names. He was certain that the bar was a front for Brax's other 'pies', as he had referred to them. He had hoped the appearance of Roo, who he had been immediately smitten with when she had first turned up in the Bay some months back, would change things around. But apparently she was more interested in every other guy in the room but him.
"Well, it seems like I came back just in time," she said.
At lunch time, Ruby brought Casey to Bucktons' for lunch. Casey was nervous, especially as he had encouraged Ruby to skip school for the morning. And his nerves were not eased when he saw that Ruby's parents did not look pleased to see him.
"Hi, guys," Ruby greeted her parents. "Listen, before you say anything, I skipped school this morning."
Charlie looked set to immediately react. Joey put a hand on Charlie's arm to stop her.
"Someone made a really horrible video of me," Ruby continued, grateful to Joey. "Like, really horrible. And I just couldn't take it. I couldn't cope. I'm sorry. Casey stood up for me. He stood up for me against Xavier and everyone else and then took me for a walk and calmed me down. So I wondered if he could join us for lunch."
Charlie and Joey exchanged glances.
"That would be lovely," Joey said.
She looked directly at Casey who didn't think his heart had beat once during the whole exchange.
"Thank you for looking out for our girl, Casey," she said sincerely.
He smiled in sheer relief and sat down next to Ruby.
"Yes," Charlie said a little more stiffly. "Thank you."
"No worries," Casey said. "I just did what I felt was right."
"Are you okay, Ruby?" Charlie asked.
Ruby shrugged.
"Not really," she said. "I think this whole thing is going to take a long time. But hopefully what Casey said today will sink in. That's it's not fair to shame me. That Romeo has to take responsibility too for what happened."
Charlie and Joey exchanged quiet glances. Perhaps this boy really was different. Joey's phoned beeped, interrupting conversation.
"Oh no!" she said.
"You didn't get the video too, did you?" Ruby worried.
"No," Joey assured her. "It's Leah. Thabo, you know, Grace's son. He died."
Next time… Angelo has a proposal for Roo, Romeo attempts to make things right and Nicole has seconds thoughts…
