How to Liv (27 page)

Closing the last of the space between us I stepped into him, melting into his body.  My hands wrapped around his neck and our kiss deepened.  His tongue ploughed into my mouth and stole my breath.  When our lips eventually parted
we were both gasping for air.

“C’mon we should get going.  We’ve got a whole ‘
nother party to get to,” I said.

I tugged on his hand and took a step in the direction of his car but he didn’t budge.  I turned to see a strange, kind of worried, look on his face.

“Joel?”

He took a step closer to me and opened his mouth but nothing came out.  He watched his own hand sweep my hair behind my ear before refocusing on my face.

“I love you.  Liv-”

“I love you too.”  I gave him a quick kiss before I pulled away, taking another step.  He still didn’t move.  “What?”  I tugged his hand again.

“I just… oh nothing, you’re right, we should go.”

When we arrived at Raelene’s party it was in full swing.  The backyard was crowded with people and Icehouse was pumping from the stereo.  We were a little overdressed for the party, having just come from Eric’s.  My eyes strayed from the crowd in front of me to the man behind.  Joel was the most handsome man, no matter what he was wearing, but I couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest woman here when he was dressed like that.

“
Yay!  Here they are!” Raelene squealed excitedly when she spotted us walking in the back gate.  She bounced over and threw one arm around each of our necks.  “Good to see you both!”

“You too!
  Happy birthday Raelene!” I said, thrusting her gift toward her once she released us.

“What’s this?  I said no presents!”

“We don’t care what you said.  Now open it!” I replied, while Joel remained quiet behind me.  In fact, he hadn’t said much since we left the field.

Raelene tore into the envelope that I had given her and gasped.

“What?  Oh Liv, are you kidding me?”  Her face lit up when she read the paper in her hands.  It was a voucher for a five star hotel in the city.

“It’s valid for twelve months, so you and Adam can go whenever.  Maybe you could go to a show or concert or something.  Just let us know when, and Joel and I will mind Chelsea for the night.”

She jolted when I spoke and I saw her eyes glisten.  She looked back and forth between my face and Joel’s.  I giggled at her reaction.

“What?”

“You sound like a real couple.  It just makes me so happy!”  She pulled me in for another hug.  “Thank you for the awesome gift.  And thank you for rocking my boy’s world!”  She rubbed my back before pulling away and throwing her arms around Joel’s neck.  “I told you she was a keeper!”

“And of course you were right,” Joel said with a roll of his eyes.

“Always am!”

“What you got there?” Adam asked, coming to Raelene’s side.  She moved the piece of paper closer so he could read it. 
“
Alright!
”  He fist pumped the air.  “It’s not even my birthday and I get a dirty weekend!  Woohoo!”  I burst out laughing and he turned to me.  “Was this your doing Liv?”  I nodded and he grabbed me around the waist, lifting me into a bear hug.  “Thanks babe!”

“Alright, alright, put the girl down!”  Raelene shoved his back, he put me down and she put her arm around my shoulders.  “Come on
Liv, let me introduce you to some people.”

“So good to see you again mate!”  A short pudgy blond man said, holding out his hand.  Joel stiffened beside me.

“G’day, Drew.”  Joel shook the man’s hand but he was a bit standoffish.

Adam, who was sitting on the other side of Joel, stood and put his arm around Drew’s shoulder.

“Drew my man, how about we go crack open a bottle of the good stuff,” he said leading him away.

“So how do you know all these people?” I asked Joel, while watching the two men
disappear into the crowd.

“I don’t really, only through Raelene and Adam.  Well, except for Drew.”  He put his beer bottle to his lips and took a swig.

“Oh, how did you two meet?”

Before he had a chance to answer his attention was taken by
a girl I’d noticed watching us a few times that night.  She was an attractive brown haired woman, slightly taller than me and very voluptuous.

“Hi, Joel,” she said with a broad smile giving him a hug.  “You must be
Liv.  I’m Rita.”

“Hi,” I said back.  She gave me a small wave and then took a seat beside Joel.

“How’ve you been Rita?  Adam was telling me you were moving house?” Joel asked turning to her.

“Oh yeah.
  I did.  Smaller but cheaper rent.  What about you?  Any closer to buying a place?”

“Getting there,” he said with a nod of disinterest.

There was an awkward silence.  My eyes travelled involuntarily toward her face and I noticed her glance at Joel before swallowing and looking away.  I saw Joel do pretty much the same thing before sliding his hand onto my thigh and giving it a squeeze.

“Well, I might go see if Raelene wants a hand with anything.”  Rita shrugged as she stood and quietly walked away.

“That was a bit awkward,” I said to Joel, once Rita was out of earshot.  “You know her intimately, don’t you?” I teased him, though for some reason I didn’t feel jealous.

“No!”

I gave him a pointed stare.

“I swear to god I don’t!  Not for her lack of trying though.  I’ve only ever turned her down.”

“Really?”  I was genuinely shocked at that.  I mean she was an attractive woman and, up until recently, Joel was very much single.

“Yes, really.”
  He chuckled and threw his arm over my shoulder.

That was confirmed later in the night by the woman herself.

“How did you do it?” Rita asked, standing beside me.  I was picking at a platter of bickies and dip at the food table.

“Do what?” I asked around a mouthful of biscuit.

“Bag the unbaggable.”  I turned to her, almost sputtering my food in her face.  She continued, “I’ve been chasing him for years and the most I ever got was a kiss one New Year’s Eve.”  The look on my face must have been murderous because she was quick to add, “It was only a peck I swear!”  She held her hands up in surrender and gave me a friendly smile which I returned.  “I cut my losses on that one a while back.”

We both turned to where Joel was standing in quiet conversation with Adam in the corner of the yard.  He looked over to us both and the serious look on his face morphed into a gloriously happy one.  He gave me a wink.

“I’ve never seen him so happy.”

I tore my eyes off Joel and turned to the woman at my side.  She gave me a genuine smile.

“I really hope it works out for you guys.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

God it felt good to hear that, especially from a casual observer – I made him happy.

Joel and I spent the night in the spare room at Adam and Raelene’s.  I awoke to an empty bed the next morning at a little after ten.  It had been a really fun night.  I’d made a new friend in Rita, she may have been interested in Joel once, but I knew she wasn’t a threat.  We actually got along really well and by the time I was crawling into bed, we’d exchanged phone numbers and organised a shopping spree, slash girls’ day out with Raelene in a couple of weeks’ time.

After using the bathroom, I followed the sound of voices out into the backyard.  It was a different atmosphere to the last time I’d stayed there.  For one, there was no Chelsea.  She had spent the night at Adam’s parents’ house.  Also, there were about a dozen hung-over people helping themselves to a barbeque breakfast.  I had no idea where they had all slept and silently wondered if they had slept at all when I noticed one of the guys drinking a can of beer.

Joel found me and gave me a kiss on the forehead.  He put his hand on my hip and gave it his favourite squeeze.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he murmured to me.  I rested my head on his chest and gave a yawn.  My stomach growled with the smell of delicious greasy goodness.

“I’m starved.”  I pulled from Joel’s embrace and took a couple of steps toward the table, coming to a stop beside the guy I remembered as Drew.  I picked up a plate and put a snag on it.

“Look at this spread!  Didn’t get a feed like this back in the clink, hey, Joel?” Drew kidded, looking over my shoulder at Joel.

“What do you mean?” I asked Drew, thinking it must be some kind of joke that I hadn’t been privy to before.

“When we were in jail-” Drew started to explain before Joel cut him off.

“Don’t say a-
fucking
-nother word!” he fumed.  Silence descended over the whole group.  My eyes flicked around and it seemed that everyone was staring at us.

“Joel?” I gasped at him, my heart thumping hard in my chest.  He was really angry.

“Liv, I-” he stopped short, unable to look me in the eye.

“What’s Drew talking about?” I asked, barely above a whisper, when it became apparent he wasn’t going to say anything else.  “You were in jail?”  I didn’t need to ask, I knew, right then I knew.  Joel had kept a very major part of himself secret from me.  I sucked in a breath.  I felt light headed and not really part of the scene. 
“How long?”

“Four years,” he replied, barely above a whisper.  I had trouble breathing.

“I didn’t know it was a fucking secret!  Get a grip Adam!”  I turned slowly in the direction of Drew’s voice, Adam had him by his shirt collar.  Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at all the people gathered around the table.  Some openly stared at me, waiting for my reaction, while others avoided my gaze completely.

They know!  They
all
know!

I silently put my plate down on the table and turned away.  I paused for a moment in front of Joel.  He had his head down and I so badly wanted to slap him, punch him,
shove him… something.  But I didn’t.  Instead I walked away.  In a daze, I made my way out the side gate and somehow ended up in the centre of front yard sitting on the lawn, sobbing.

Totally blindsided again.
  Four years of his life was spent locked up?  Why?  What did he do?  Why didn’t he tell me this? 
Everyone knew, except me.  His girlfriend.  The person he supposedly loved… 
Loved
.  Right.  He loved me about as much as Craig did.  Obviously.  He lied and cheated.  It was only a matter of time, I knew this, before the other shoe dropped.  I knew it was too good to be true.  Everything was just, too perfect between us.  I should have known something like this would happen.  That Joel couldn’t be real.  Now I knew he wasn’t.  He wasn’t who he claimed to be at all.  That other shoe well and truly fucking dropped! 
He’s a liar! 

“
Liv,” Joel said quietly from beside me.  I don’t know how long I’d been out there or how long he had been.  I couldn’t look at him.  I could hear the worry in his voice but I didn’t want to see it on his face.  I didn’t want to look at him and see him hurting.  I didn’t want to pity him.  He didn’t deserve any pity. 
He lied to me.

“When?”
I whispered eventually, wiping my cheeks of tears.  “When were you in jail and what for?”

“I got out two years ago.  I was charged for assault.”  He spoke so softly, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly at first.  His voice sounded strained and different to how I’d ever heard it before.  He didn’t sound like my Joel.