All That's Been Said

by Doherty, Emma

  “Yeah,” Matty breaks in. “And if we did, we’d change them. This smells awesome.”

  “Are you doing something tonight?” I ask hesitantly. There’s not a chance these guys don’t have plans for a Saturday night. There’s definitely a party going on somewhere.

  Ethan looks at me for a minute. A whole minute goes by as he weighs up my question. “I don’t know about these guys, but I’m gonna stay here and watch movies with my twin.”

  Something inside me sings.

  “Yeah, I’m in too,” Finn agrees.

  Logan nods as Matty winks at me. “Sounds like fun.”

  I smile as he and Logan go to the table and lay out cutlery. Finn heads towards the plates of food, and as he passes, he gently rests his hand on my arm, giving me a small squeeze. I try to pretend my heart doesn’t skip a beat. I glance over at Ethan, and he’s just staring at me.

  “What?” I mutter, feeling self-conscious.

  He shakes his head, turns towards the table, and then turns back to me. “Thanks, Biz. I mean it.”

  I nod. “Thank you,” I tell him, my voice low so only he can hear it. “For this week.”

  Our eyes meet, and for once there’s an understanding there. For once there’s no bitterness or resentment. We’re just little kids again who know what the other is thinking without us even having to say.

  He grins back at me, his whole face lighting up, and he grabs the joint of beef and takes it over to the table, making a big deal out of carving it. I join them with the gravy and slide into my own seat, checking to make sure I haven’t left anything on the counter.

  “So,” Matty starts curiously, “this is what English people eat on a Sunday.”

  Ethan snorts. “Bro, you’re about to have the best meal of your life.”

  Logan looks at us dubiously. “I don’t know, man. I really like fried chicken, and this kind of looks like Thanksgiving dinner.”

  Ethan shakes his head, picks up the plate of Yorkshire puddings, and hands it to him. “I swear to you, this is gonna put Thanksgiving dinner to shame.”

  I smile at his certainty, at the fact that just for a second he’s not the all-star American athlete who seems so far away from the boy I know. He’s back to being who I remember, back to being my twin.

  Finn passes me the stuffing, his eyes telling me he’s pleased with me, and for some reason I like that too. For some reason I’m glad I haven’t disappointed Finn and let him down again. As the chatter dies down and they all dig into their food like that haven’t eaten in months, I realize something. I realize right now I’m about as close to happy as I’ve been since I moved here.

  I struggle to carry all the bags I’ve got in my car into the house, dropping one filled with balloons and decorations on the floor as I walk to the kitchen as quickly as possible, hoping my strength lasts until I can safely deposit them on the table.

  I barge through the door and just about manage it without the bags spilling open.

  Four sets of eyes look up from the food they’re shovelling down their throats.

  “Oh good, you’re here.”

  Ethan puts down his fork, looking at me suspiciously. “You’ve literally never once said that to me.”

  I frown, not because he’s wrong, but because if I want them to help me, it’s probably best not to focus on my past behaviour.

  Matty stands up, coming over to me, looking curiously as I pull packs and packs of crisps out of my grocery bags. “What’s this stuff?”

  Logan lopes over. “Awesome, chips.” He starts trying to open them up.

  “Hey.” I snatch them off him, slapping at his hands. “Get off them.”

  Finn and Ethan come over too, eyes narrowed as I pull more and more crisps and dips out of the bag. “Is Maria still here?” I ask just as she walks into the room.

  “You went grocery shopping?” she asks dubiously. It’s no wonder she’s surprised, really; I’ve never shown any interest in the food in the house. When I first moved here, she asked me to write out a list of my favourite foods so she could make sure she got them in for me, but I didn’t bother.

  “Can you help me make a chilli?”

  She looks perplexed as she takes in all the food I’m pulling out: onions, mince, rice.

  “Maria?” I ask, looking at the clock on the wall. It’s nearly 4pm. People will start showing up from nine. I really should have got back here earlier.

  “Of course.”

  I turn to Ethan and his friends. “Can you grab the rest of the stuff from my car?”

  Ethan narrows his eyes in confusion at me but nevertheless does as I’ve asked, and they troop out of the kitchen as Maria starts to pull out chopping boards and pots and pans. I hear clinking bottles and rush to the door before Finn and Matty can enter.

  “Wait,” I hiss, stopping them and pulling them over to the side. I don’t want Maria to hear the bottles. She definitely won’t approve. “Leave that stuff there,” I tell them, gesturing to a spot under the stairs that’s out of the way. Finn and Matty do as I say and carefully place the bottles of liquor I have in the bags out of sight.

  “How did you get all that?” Finn asks.

  “Someone bought it for me.”

  Finn narrows his eyes, but I’m not about to go into details about Leighton, one of the guys who frequents Marcus’s bar and who I talked into going to the liquor store for me.

  Logan and Ethan come in, both carrying more bottles, and they add them to the pile.

  Logan steps back and looks at the selection of vodka, gin, whiskey…basically anything I could get my hands on. He lets out a low whistle. “How much did you spend?”

  “Um…” A lot. A hell of a lot, but I want to make sure Pippa’s birthday is one she’ll always remember. “I have a keg coming too. Where do you think I should put it?”

  Ethan shrugs. “The kitchen?”

  I nod. “Okay. Do you think I should have gotten two?”

  Ethan blinks and then looks back at the bottles of alcohol on the floor. “I think you’re good.”

  Finn turns to me. “You really are planning a rager, huh?”

  “Yeah.” I glance down at my watch and turn to head back into the kitchen. “You guys have to help me get the house ready,” I call over my shoulder as I scoop up the bag I dropped and fish out the three packets of balloons I bought. “Can you blow these up?” I ask, throwing them in Ethan’s direction.

  He plucks them out of the air and looks at them suspiciously. “You want to put balloons out?”

  Obviously. “Yes?”

  He chuckles. “Biz, no one is gonna notice if there are balloons or not.”

  “Well I want to put them out,” I insist.

  “Is that chilli for the party?” Finn asks, looking towards Maria.

  “Yes,” I mutter as my phone pings and I read a message from Marcus.

  “You know no one will expect food, right?”

  I glare at all four of them. “Well Rachel told me it’s Pippa’s favourite and if she wants it then she can have it.”

  They all stare blankly back at me. “She asked for it?” Matty asks.

  “No,” I snap. “But she might get hungry and it’ll be there if she needs it, or if she comes early to line her stomach.”

  Ethan raises an eyebrow at me and goes to open his mouth.

  “Don’t,” I warn him. “She’s been really good to me since I got here and I want her to have the best time, so you guys can either blow up those balloons and help me decorate and get the house ready or you’re not invited.”

  Finn bites back a smile and reaches for the pack of balloons. “Okay then.” He rips it open, and Ethan and Finn both grab a couple of balloons and start blowing them up.

  “Um, Izzy? Can I speak to you?”

  I look distractedly at Matty.

  “It’s important.”

  I drop the banner I’m about to unfold and let him lead me out of the kitchen and into the only living room we ever use, frowning as he closes the door
firmly behind him. “What?” I ask, suddenly feeling nervous at the look on his face. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine. I just wanted you to know I told Finn…about me.”

  I’m shocked into silence. I didn’t think he was in a position to tell anyone voluntarily that he was gay, at least not yet.

  “That’s great,” I tell him slowly.

  “Yeah.” He pauses. “You were right. He’s a good person, and I knew it wouldn’t change the way he feels about me. I think he was surprised, but he’s still my friend and that hasn’t changed.”

  I nod my head. “Well, great then. This is good.”

  “I just thought you should know.”

  “Okay.”

  He smirks. “The main reason I told him isn’t because he’s my friend though.”

  I frown. “It’s not?”

  “No. I told him because I wanted him to stop being pissed at me.”

  My brow furrows. I haven’t seen Matty and Finn together much at all recently, but then I wouldn’t necessarily. Would I?

  “Why was he pissed at you?”

  He smirks, pushing away from the door and taking a step farther towards me.

  “Because he thought something was going on with us.”

  What? “Finn thought we were together? As in really together?”

  “He thought something was going on.” The smile on his face tells me he finds this highly amusing.

  My jaw drops. Seriously? Just because you spend a bit of time with someone of the opposite sex, that means you’re with them?

  “And he was crazy jealous.” My heart thuds in my chest whilst he stares at me, watching closely for a reaction. “So whenever you’re ready to stop pretending you’re not interested in Finn Sullivan, just let me know.”

  My jaw drops.

  He sends me a wink. “I can set you up, no worries.”

  I pick up the cushion on the nearest sofa and throw it at his head as hard as I can.

  When Rachel told me people would come, she wasn’t lying. The house is packed full of more teenagers than I’ve ever seen in one place at one time. Drunk, loud teenagers—most of whom I don’t even recognise—all clambering over the food and helping themselves to the drinks, spilling things over and creeping on each other. I’ve had people coming up and trying to talk to me all night, shouting in my ear and taking up way too much of my personal space.

  But it doesn’t matter at all because Pippa is glowing.

  She looks gorgeous too. She turned up wearing jeans and a top, and I marched her straight up to my room and forced her to get changed. She was reluctant to put on a black slip dress I got over a year ago, but after some encouragement, she gave in, and it looks incredible on her. It’s long on her, but it works, and paired with her Vans, it gives off a laid-back but sexy vibe that she’s totally working. Then I did her makeup and took her hair out of her ponytail, and she was like a new person.

  Everybody who has spoken to me has been redirected to Pippa and told to wish her a happy birthday, and I told Ethan and his friends to do the same. And it’s worked. She’s been surrounded by people all night, chatting to her and making her laugh. Whilst she was looking around shyly at the start, her confidence has grown and now you can tell she’s enjoying herself.

  The guys are definitely noticing her in a new way, and whilst Paul was hovering around her at the start, he seems to have disappeared in the last hour, and I make a mental note to find out exactly what is going on between the two of them. I honestly can’t figure out if it’s just a close friendship or something more. Really, they probably don’t know either.

  “This chilli was a good idea.” I turn and see Ethan’s appeared beside me. “It’s so good.”

  I smirk. The second Pippa got here, she told me how nervous she was and said she’d already eaten dinner. Because she’s so nice, she was going to have a bowl of chilli just to keep me happy, but I told her not to be ridiculous. I know she appreciates it, and even if she didn’t, Ethan’s teammates definitely do. They’ve devoured the food I had set out in the kitchen. Pippa’s been so nervous about the whole thing that she’s only sipping the water I handed her an hour ago. She’s not even looked at the alcohol, but that’s okay. I know she’s happy there’s plenty for everyone who wants anything.

  I think she’s proud, too. Her cousin turned up with a bunch of her friends from Burdown, and I can tell she’s impressed at Pippa’s turnout and the fact that it’s in Ethan’s house. In fact, she seemed pretty interested in finding out exactly where Ethan Carlington was, which I could tell Pippa wasn’t particularly happy with. Jessica also came with Pippa’s cousin, along with a couple of her friends who I met that night when I was in Burdown, but luckily there’s been no sign of Craig McGarretty or his teammates. I guess it would be stupid of them to try anything here, at Ethan’s house.

  “She’s having fun, huh?”

  I look back at Ethan. He was really helpful earlier—massively. Logan got bored of helping pretty early on and Matty had to go watch his little brother for a bit, but Ethan and Finn stayed and helped me set up for hours. We hung up balloons, banners, and streamers, shifted furniture, and set out food and drinks. It took way longer than I thought it would, and I couldn’t have done it on my own. Finn actually only went home to get changed as the first guests were turning up, and I haven’t seen him return.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I tell Ethan. “Do you know what would be awesome? If you went over there and asked her if you could get her anything.”

  He frowns, confused. “I mean…I can? I guess?”

  There’s no way I’d sell Pippa out and tell Ethan about her crush on him, but I know that’s something she’d love. “Come on, Ethan. You hold serious power at school.”

  He smirks at this, clearly not hating my assessment. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “For whatever reason, they all think you’re hot shit. Make her day and just talk to her. Make her feel special.”

  He raises an eyebrow, but his eyes find Pippa. “You know, she is pretty cute.”

  Yes! Yes! Please let my brother fall for Pippa—or actually just anyone who isn’t Evie. Please let him see that there are other girls out there who aren’t Evie and he doesn’t have to waste his time on her.

  He doesn’t have to be asked twice, and before I know it, he’s striding over to join Pippa’s group and says something to her that makes her face light up.

  I bite back a smile as I watch them.

  “Are you playing matchmaker now?”

  I turn my head as Finn steps closer to me, and I have to force myself not to swallow at the sight of him. He’s wearing white trainers, a fitted white T-shirt that shows off his tan, and dark blue jeans that are just on the right side of loose. That’s it—white shirt and blue jeans and he’s the best-looking thing I’ve ever seen.

  It takes me a minute to remember what he’s said as he stares blankly back at me.

  “Uh, no. I just…um…I wanted to make sure Pippa’s having a good time.”

  “She likes Ethan?”

  I shrug.

  He grins. “Well she’s only human I guess. That guy cleans up.”

  “And you don’t?”

  His eyes find mine.

  “I mean, come on, Finn,” I tell him, looking away. His gaze is too intense for me. “I go to that school too. I see the way girls are around you.”

  And I do. Finn gets just as much attention as Ethan does. Girls stare at him and go out of their way to talk to him all the time.

  He doesn’t answer me, and when I glance back at him, he hasn’t moved.

  “I, um, I should go check on the drinks,” I mumble and start walking off, but he steps in front of me, blocking the way, crowding into my personal space.

  “Don’t run away.”

  He was crazy jealous.

  “Finn,” I mutter, refusing to look him in the eye. I don’t get him. I really, really don’t get him.

  “I haven’t dated anyone
since you got to town. Haven’t even looked at anyone.”

  I bite down on my lip, still staring at the ground.

  “Izzy.” His right hand moves forwards and gently brushes my arm. “What do you think that means?”

  I swallow hard, my eyes fixed on the area near my feet.

  “What do you think it means that I haven’t even looked at another girl since you got here?”

  I take a deep breath and take a purposeful step back, away from him. “I’m gonna make sure there’s enough ice for everyone,” I say before turning and striding straight out of the kitchen then taking the stairs up to my room. I still didn’t look him in the face when I said it.

  After forty-five minutes of hiding, I decide it’s probably time to return to the party, and the second I step out into the hallway, I can tell things have gone up a notch. The music is louder than it was when I went upstairs, and when I glance out the window at the end of the hall, I can see that the party has spilled out into the pool where people are splashing about in various states of undress.

  As I descend the stairs, I see the front door open, and in walk Evie and Lila. A look of disgust immediately crosses Evie’s face when she sees me.

  “You weren’t invited,” I bite out irritably as I walk towards them.

  “You can’t tell me what to do, Izzy. This is my boyfriend’s house.”

  Please tell me they’re not official again. “Does he know he’s your boyfriend again?”

  Her jaw tenses, and it’s all the answer I need. They’re not back together, at least not yet.

  “It’s only a matter of time,” she insists. “And Ethan will want me in his house.”

  “Yes, well, it’s my house too, and I am not having you here on Pippa’s birthday.”

  “Look, I don’t know what that little bitch has told you—”

  “Shut up,” I snap. I am so, so done with Evie. “Shut the hell up right now.”

  Evie’s eyes widen at my tone and she takes a step towards me. I match her.

  “Get out of my house,” I tell her. “Right now. And if I ever see you as much as look at Pippa or any of her friends again, I will come after you. I promise you that.”