Chapter 12

"Hey…(Michael) … Dad, I am calling on behalf of Brody; he was wondering if you would want to come to the barbeque that mum has organized." I feel like I am turning a hundred waiting for his response. Brody is still beside me, watching my expressions with so much hope that he will come.

Please don't disappoint him, dad!

"Brody wants me there?"

"Yes"

"But do you want me there?" I don't know how to answer, so I just say how I feel.

"If it makes Brody happy then... yes." This is the first time we have spoken since the argument; it's really awkward, and I am trying not to hang up and punch a pillow and hide my face in it.

"…okay then. I will see you both in an hour." You could cut the tension with a knife.

"Yeah... see you then."

"I do love you both. I always have and always will."

"Good-Bye, dad." I hang up.

I look to the side of me and see Brody wanting to know what he said.

"We will see dad in an hour."

"Yay!" he jumps on me, and I fall over onto the bed. Our laughter filling the air. Boy, how I've missed my brother. I hear the bell go again, its probably just another guest so I don't think much of it, that is until I hear my name shouted from downstairs.

If she screams any louder, she will wake up Australia.

"Yeah, coming!" I yell back, as well as ruffling up Brody's hair. As I head to the door, I can see Brody rushing to me and taking my hand as we walk down the stairs, one behind the other. It is hard, but we managed.

I look to the door and notice my mother staring Caden down, and I immediately want to jump to his rescue, but Brody beats me to it with a yell.

"CADEN!" Caden looks at us, and he opens his arms for Brody to run and jump on him and he lifts Brody in his arms like it is natural and my heart warms at the sight.

"Hey buddy, are you okay?" He has this smile on his face, and I can tell it's a special smile he only has for Brody, as he reminds him of his Rosie. He looks over to me and the smile is more softer as we look at each other.

"Hey," I say, looking down because if I look at him any longer, I will get more nervous.

"Hey Lacey" I think that's the first time I have ever heard him say my name. I think my heart just stopped. I look at his outfit, and I can tell he took a long time on his appearance. A clean white t-shirt, black jeans, and a black like the night blazer on top. He is more smart, but it's nice to see him in something different. I look back into his eyes, and he is still looking at me. One word: butterflies.

I clear my throat and look at mum; she looks at us funny and concerned.

"Mum, this is Caden. Caden, this is my mother, Julia." He puts his hand out to shake hers, but she just looks at his hand and back at him with no hint of emotion. Caden looks slightly threatened, but it doesn't look as if it bothers him that much. "Why don't we go to the garden?" I smile at them. You could cut the tension with a knife.

Brody grabs Caden's still hand that was waiting for mum and drags him past her into the awaiting garden full of people.

"Oh, and before I forget, I invited Dad to help Brody's mood." I leave before I can hear her response.

I get to the garden door and see Brody sitting with Caden on the sofa swing. They are talking like brothers. It's good for Caden to be in Brody's life; they can lean on each other in the future. That's if Caden wants to stick around.

I step into the garden and head over to them; the boys notice, and Brody budges up. I sit on his right, and Caden is on his left. I look past him and at Caden, and we both smile at each other. He mouths 'hey' to me, and I smile even wider back at him.

Caden makes the mood much better, we talk about many things for the next hour: football, music, and the most recent thing: video games.

Then all of a sudden, me and Caden get startled by a gasp and Brody running off. We both laugh, and Caden moves closer to me. We both look to where Brody ran off, my smile vanishes when I see him. I suddenly get scared to be in his presence. A warm touch holds onto my hand, I look to see Caden with a small smile back to show I am okay enough to be around him, just not talk to Michael.

"You are going to be fine and I'm not going anywhere." Those words warm my heart, and he leans back, and I put my head on his shoulder. It feels so natural for us, and it's not uncomfortable anymore.

It just feels... right.

I close my eyes. I feel at ease with Caden tracing his thumb over my hand. He stops for some reason, and I open my eyes to where he is looking, and I see my father looking at us with such confusion that I don't feel the need to explain anything to him.

"Hello, I'm Michael, Lacey, and Brody's dad." Unlike my mother, he actually wants a handshake from the boy I'm cuddling up against.

"Hello sir, I'm Caden," and he shakes my dad's hand. I can tell without looking it's very awkward, but thankfully, Brody says for our dad to go and get food with him, and he drags him away.

"I would do anything to be away from him right now; I am not ready to talk to him yet."

"And nobody is forcing you to. Don't stress yourself too much over it. Look, do you really not want to be here?" I look at him and nod with every bit of energy that I have not lost from being here with my god-awful parents. Honestly, if it weren't for Caden and Brody, I wouldn't be down here.

"Want to get out of here?"

"Where would we even go? I don't really want to go to the park, to be honest."

"It's a surprise" I look at him extra long; what kind of surprise is he planning? So I express my thoughts in words so he can hear me.

"Well, it has already been planned, and there's no way of getting out of it... I just hope you like it." I notice he looks more nervous since this 'surprise' has been mentioned.

I take his slightly shaking hand "I'm sure it is going to be fun"

He still looks unconvinced but nods anyway, the worry still on his face. He is so cute, it's hard not to squish his cheeks together, but I refrain myself.

"So when is this surprise supposed to be happening?" He looks at his watch and says two hours. It is now six p.m., so we have time to kill and do extra things until then. I'm so curious, but I will try not to ask too many questions in case he gets annoyed and calls it off.

There is only one problem: I need to convince my mother to let me go. I could tell her I am hanging out with Clara tonight, but mum will most likely call round to see if I am telling the truth.

"We could leave now and get food if you want."

"Anything to get out of here?" I reply with eagerness.

We start to head to mum to tell her the plan, but I see someone else there with her; of course it had to be my father, didn't it?

"Hey mum, Caden and I were wondering if we could leave for a bit. There is this thing we want to go and do, and we were hoping if you can let us go early and leave." She looks like she wants to say no and is about to answer when another voice cuts her off, and it shocks us all.

"Go and have fun." We both look at dad; she looks annoyed, and I look hopeful. Dad's eyes are trained on me, I can tell he is hoping that by his saying that he can mend some lost bonding between us. I can tell mum is going to have a talk with him once she lets me go. I look to her to see if she agrees, and I look at her to mentally say, 'Give me a chance' She stays silent, having an argument with her conscience.

"Yes, alright then, but be home before midnight or you get grounded." I hug her, and I look to my right to my dad.

"Thank you for helping to let me go" I smile at him, the smallest of smiles, but it's more than he's gotten from me in a while.

Me and Caden start to head to his car, and I can hear mum and dad talking, so I stay behind the wall to hear them a bit.

"Why did you let them go?" She whispers angrily.

"Julia, I can see you don't approve of him, but maybe he will be good for her."

"That doesn't give you the right to give her permission! You are never around."

"And that is my fault, and I am sorry, but remember when we were younger?" I remember my parents telling me when I was younger how they met in university.

He goes on to say, "Remember your parents and how they never approved of us, how I was the bad influence, and they would force us apart? I don't want Lacey to be unhappy; I saw how she was looking at that Carden boy." I lightly laugh at how he got Caden's name wrong.

"His name is Caden, you idiot, and I've heard stories about him, and I don't think he is good for her." I can tell she isn't backing down.

"Didn't you hear stories of me? And wasn't I not good enough for you? But you got to know me, and because you didn't listen to your parents, we had a great run together; Lacey and Brody came out of it, and they mean the world to me, even you." She scoffs a laugh as he continues, "If you don't approve of them, it's not your approval to make. She is eighteen; she needs to learn on her own because, at the end of the day, mothers are always there for their daughters, and they will come back to you no matter what. Just like I am here for Brody when he talks to girls for the first time. You know who you are starting to sound like, right?"

"Yes, my mum, she never really did like you did she" They both laugh at remembering the memories when life was before me and Brody.

"She 'accidentally' poured tea on me when I asked to have more, and I know for a fact she did it on purpose."

"It was probably you wearing your leather jacket and bike we came to theirs on," they both laugh. This is the most I've heard them talk civilly to one another in years, and I had no idea that was how they were when they were younger. Caden and I are like another version of them.

"I am going to see if I can catch Lace and give her some money in case she needs it"

"Lace" I haven't heard him call me that in so long; my eyes water. I never realised how much I missed him.

I am so caught up in my eyes watering that I don't see a shadow appear, and I see dad look down at me, shocked and slightly embarrassed that I was eavesdropping.

"Uh... here, you might need some money for-" He doesn't finish his sentence as I jump on him with so much emotion that it surprises not only him but me as well. He grabs onto me and doesn't want to let go just yet, so we stay in that position for a few minutes while my eyes are still watering. A tear did manage to escape though. We both pull back, and I see his eyes turning red; he must have been trying to keep it together too. We've both missed each other a lot.

"Thank you, dad," I sniffle out. Damn it, I did my makeup really well today, now it's ruined! But that's not the point.

"I love you, Lacey; I love you and Brody so much, and I'm sorry I don't show you enough; I'm trying to be better for you."

"You are already a great dad; I just wish you made more of an effort when you see us, and... I'm sorry for the things I said" I look at him through the ocean-coloured eyes I got from him and see the similar colour looking back into mine.

"Don't be sorry; I deserved it. I'm sorry I am a crappy father, but I will work on it. You and Brody are my top priority." Those words are the one thing I have always wanted to hear.

"Thank you for trusting me with Caden, even if you did call him something else."

"I can see myself in him, wanting the girl, but he has to get through the parents first, and because your mother and I didn't have it easy, I don't want that for you. You should have the freedom that we never had."

Mum's voice interjects. "We know how important first loves can be, and I don't want to hold you back; I just want you to be safe." She stands next to dad and links her arm with his. That's a first.

"You are my little girl, and nothing will change that. You may act like your mother at times, but you have my brain, and that's even scarier." We all crack a laugh. I want to cry again, so I say a quick goodbye hug to mum, and I turn to dad. I get on my tippy toes, and I kiss his cheek. He touches his cheek to say it means a lot that I am giving him another chance to be a father.

I turn around and run to the front of the house, where I see Caden sitting in the driver's seat. I open the door with a big smile and get in.

"Ready to go?" he asks me, mirroring my smile. I look back at the house and see my parents watching, with mum's head on Dad's shoulder and his arm holding her close to him.

"Yeah, I'm ready." I let out a satisfied breath, looked back to him, and gave the most genuine smile I've ever given someone in my eighteen years of living.