Exposed: An Anthology

by Brooke Cumberland

  Now we were heading to the pub to meet Ava for drinks.

  “You look great,” I smile.

  “Back atcha, sista,” she grins as she takes in my outfit – another one of my new purchases. Tonight I’ve got on a pair of Wrangler jeans and a pink RM Williams shirt along with my cowgirl boots.

  We lock up and walk the short distance into the bar, spotting Ava right away. She’s already got us a table and she’s sipping a beer.

  “Ava,” I call as we walk towards her. She stands and gives me a quick hug.

  “Hey, Edie,”

  “This is my best friend, Jules. Jules, this is my new friend, Ava,” I introduce them.

  “What are you drinking tonight, Jules?” I ask.

  “Hmm, I might start with a beer and we’ll see where the night takes us,” she winks.

  “Ava, you need a refill?”

  “No, I’m good thanks, Edie.”

  I walk up to the bar and order two beers from Doreen. She’s on by herself until Bear arrives for his shift in about an hour and a half.

  I sit back down and join in the conversation Jules and Ava are having about the pros and cons of city living versus country life. Half an hour later the bar is packed and the jukebox is pumping. It’s unusual for the pub to be this busy so early but it seems the whole town is keen to tie one on tonight, starting early. I head back to the bar and Doreen looks frazzled. She’s racing from one end of the bar to the other trying to keep up with the customers. I walk behind the bar, grab my apron and tie it around my waist. I immediately start taking orders.

  “Thanks, luv. I’m not sure why but everyone is out tonight. Not that I’m complaining – good for business and pocket,” Doreen says as we meet up at the cash register.

  “No worries. My friend Jules is here but she’s with Ava so she’ll be fine. Bear’s due in about an hour isn’t he?” She nods. “I’ll stay on ‘til then.”

  “You’re a lifesaver, Edie,” she pats my back and races off to serve more drinks.

  “Jules,” I shout as I hang over the bar in the direction of where Jules and Ava are sitting.

  “Yeah?” She shouts back.

  “I’m just helping out in the bar for an hour. Okay?”

  “That’s cool. I’ll be up in a minute for a top up,” she calls as she waves her glass in the air.

  I give her the thumbs up gesture and get back to work.

  “Hey Bear,” I call as Bear walks in behind the bar. I’d met Bear when I was coming off shift earlier in the week and he was coming on. He’s a monster of a man – not in height but in width and muscle mass. He’s about an inch shorter than my five foot six but he’s at least two and a half of me wide. All bulk. He’s got the deepest, darkest brown eyes I think I’ve ever seen and he’s as black as a moonless night.

  “Hey Edie. She’s busy in here tonight,” he observes.

  “Yeah, it picked up over an hour ago so I came back to give Doreen a hand.”

  “Oh Bear, you’re here. Edie luv, thanks for your help. Go off now and enjoy time with your friend.” She turns and pours six shots out and sets them on a tray, along with three beers. Then she hands the tray to me and says, “On the house, luv. Go on now and have a good night.”

  “Thanks Doreen,” I say grabbing the tray. I find Jules and Ava where I left them, bopping away in their chairs to the music on the jukebox as they watch a couple of boys play pool nearby.

  “Here you go, ladies,” I say placing the tray down on the table.

  “Woo! Shots. Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Jules shouts.

  We each pick up a shot glass, chink and throw it back. The vodka burns as it slides down my throat and settles in my stomach. I shake my head and give a full body shiver then take a gulp of my beer.

  “Sorry about earlier, but Doreen was run off her feet,” I explain to the girls.

  “It’s fine, Edie. I’m sure Dory appreciated the help,” Ava replies.

  “Yeah, these are her way of thanking me,” I gesture to the shots and beers.

  Jules picks up another shot glass and raises it. Ava and I follow suit. “Here’s to friends – new, old and best.”

  We chink and down our second shots. I gulp down most of my beer chaser trying to ease the burn of the shot. It works but I’m starting to get that warm feeling – you know that feeling you get when you know you’re on your way to drunkville? Well that’s me. Warm, fuzzy and a little bit lightheaded. I’ve always been a cheap drunk, but so has Jules so it worked out well for both of us.

  “For fucks sake,” I say, slurring slightly.

  “What?” Jules and Ava say in harmony.

  “Jackson, pain in the ass, Henley has arrived to piss me off. Again.”

  “Who’s Jackson?” Jules looks around wildly. Ava sits up straighter in her chair, tense, but trying not to look it. I wonder what’s going on there? Oh.My.God. It hits me hard and fast. Ava has a thing for Jackson. She likes him. Really likes him from the way she’s acting. All of a sudden I sober up, like a bucket of ice water has been poured over me. I don’t have any right to feel anything at all but I also know I feel outrageously jealous. And I shouldn’t feel like that. My mind spins with questions I know will never be answered, not least because it’s none of my business and I have no right to ask. But still, I can’t help but wonder – have they slept together already? Does he like her back? How long has she liked him for? What if they get together? How will that make me feel? I shake my head to clear my irrational thoughts. Really, I have no business feeling anything about Ava and Jackson. I don’t even like Jackson Henley. He’s a pain in the goddamn ass.

  “Edie,” he greets as he arrives at our table.

  “Jackson,” I grumble. “This is my friend, Jules, Jules this is Jackson. I’m sure you already know Ava,” my manners get the better of me and I introduce him.

  “Nice to meet ya, Jules. Ava, how you doin’?” He nods at both of them in turn.

  “Hi there, cowboy,” Jules tries for sultry and sexy but it comes out slurry instead.

  Jackson chuckles a little before turning his attention back to me.

  “Dance with me?” He asks, holding out his hand.

  “Uh, no. I don’t dance. Sorry.” I lie. I do dance. I love to dance. I also like to think I’m pretty fucking good at dancing. I beat Jules every single time we play Dance Diva on her Playstation.

  “Can’t dance?” Jules slur slash scoffs.

  I give a look that tells her to shut her trap.

  “C’mon, Ace. It doesn’t matter if you can’t dance, I’ll teach you,” he raises his eyebrows and grins a sexy grin.

  “Why don’t you dance with Ava,” I turn to look at her, “Put the man out of his misery, Ava.”

  “Uh, I don’t think-,”

  “Don’t think, just do. Go on,” I give her a shove in his direction. Jackson glares at me and then smiles at Ava before leading her over to the small dance floor near the jukebox. I have no idea why I did that. I refuse to watch them because I don’t want to know how it will make me feel if I see his hands on her, or worse, if they kiss.

  “What was that about?” Jules’ question pulls me from my confusing thoughts.

  “What? That? Oh, nothing. He just annoys the living shit out of me. He’s so damn irritating – he’s been in here every lunch and evening that I’m on shift, for the last two months, just to piss me off. I can’t stand him and he won’t get the hint.”

  “Riiggghhht. You can’t stand him. Eden Louise Cross, I happen to think it’s just the opposite. You like him!” She cheers.

  “I do not,” I snap. Just then I spot Luke walking our way. I haven’t seen him about for a few weeks. It doesn’t look like he’s shaved during that time, maybe just trimmed. His clothes are clean though, which is an improvement.

  “Hi there, Edie,”

  “Hey Luke. How’ve you been?”

  “Good thanks. I hear you been working here? Plan on sticking around then?” I nod to both questions.

 
; “Luke this is my friend, Jules. Jules this is Luke – he was one of the first people I met here,”

  “Well, hello,” Jules goes for suggestive again but has the same result as before.

  “G’day Jules, nice to meet you.”

  Just then a golden idea pops into mind. I will prove to Jules, and myself, that I have no feelings for Jackson.

  “Want to dance, Luke?”

  “Thought you’d never ask,” He takes me hand and leads me onto the makeshift dance floor.

  We dance throughout a couple of country songs – the first is a man singing about calling Baton Rouge, it’s an awesome song and I make a mental note to find out who sings it so I can download it tomorrow, and the second is ACDC’s You Shook Me All Night Long (of course I already have that downloaded – it’s a classic!). Just as that song is ending Jules makes her way through the crowd carrying three shots. She hands me one and I tip it back. She does the same with hers and then looks around for Ava. My stomach twists and I’m not sure if it’s from the shot of tequila I just had or because I can’t see Ava or Jackson. I grab the shot out of Jules’ hand and throw it back. Jules doesn’t have a chance to question me because at that moment Bob Marley starts to sing and Jules and I start jumping up and down, screaming and clapping.

  I’ve been watching you

  Alalalalalong Alalalalalong long lelonglonglong

  We (Jules, Luke & I) start dancing and are soon joined by Bastiaan and Zekia. Ava reappears as well so we form a circle and bust out our moves. I’m past being on the way to drunk. I’m already there. I close my eyes and wave my hands in the air as I swing my hips to the beat. I feel two hands grab my waist as a warm body presses hard up against my back. I don’t know who it is but I’m so far gone I don’t care. I grind my ass into his groin and match his rhythm. The song bleeds into another and the man spins me to face him. I open my eyes and come face to face with two of the clearest blue eyes I have ever seen. This close up he’s mesmerizing. I can’t tear my gaze away even though I know I should.

  “Thought you said you didn’t dance?” Jackson accuses.

  “I lied,” I say flippantly. What can I say; I’m smashed.

  “Guess you owe me then,” he grins.

  “I don’t own you anything,” I breathe. He’s too close. I need to get away. But oh god does he smell good. He’s hypnotizing.

  “I’m thinking we’ll start with a dance or two and see whether I’m satisfied,” he carries on like I haven’t said a word.

  “I don’t owe you anything,” I repeat, this time I give a shove to his chest as I speak. He doesn’t move. At all.

  He doesn’t reply. He just pulls me closer and wraps his arms tight around my waist. Did he just kiss my neck? Oh fuck, he totally just kissed my neck. My belly flips at the same time I feel heat gather between my legs and I feel myself melt into him a little. What can I say? Alcohol always makes me horny.

  I let myself enjoy him for one song and then I jerk back away from him. I need to get myself together.

  “That’s it. You had your dance, now we’re even. Let me go,” I hiss when he doesn’t release his grip.

  “Ace, while that dance was fucking amazing, I’m thinking you’ve not made it up to me. I reckon you have to have dinner with me and then we’ll call it even.”

  “You can’t be serious. I’m not having dinner with you.”

  “You’ll come to my house. I’ll cook. Check your roster and tell me what night you’re not working, I’ll cook for us that night,” he informs me.

  “Listen Jackson, I’m not having dinner with you. We had a dance, now we’re even so let me go.” I give another shove, harder this time but the bastard still doesn’t move an inch. Instead he leans in, brushes his lips against mine and says, “Dinner. Let me know what night you’re free. This week sometime, Ace.”

  He loosens his grip and I sway slightly, my heart thudding in my chest and my mind whirling. When I’ve recover, he lets me go and stalks away.

  “I guess you were right, you really don’t like him,” Jules’ voice drips with sarcasm and she grins smugly.

  “Shut up.”

  Chapter Four

  “Jules, can I ask you something?” We’re sitting on my little porch, sipping our instant coffees and nursing our hangovers.

  “Always,” she replies.

  “Do you believe that if you truly love something, you should, and will, fight for it?”

  “Absolutely,” she answers immediately. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Well, over the last few months I’ve had a lot of time to think and I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about Matt and me. I thought I loved him. I mean, I guess deep down I’d hoped that love felt differently to what I felt for him but I think I just convinced myself that I loved him because … well, I don’t really know why I convinced myself of that. But I realized in those first few weeks after leaving that if I really did love him, like real, true love, then I would have stayed and fought for him. But I didn’t. I left without blinking, without turning back and without ever really contemplating staying. At first I blamed that on my father’s infidelities, but then I came to realize that wasn’t it. Then I thought that maybe I left because I’m not a fan of confrontation-,”

  She cuts me off with a scoff so I raise my eyebrow questioningly at her.

  “Oh Puhleese. Not a fan of confrontation? Says the woman who tore our Year Ten Science teacher a new one because she didn’t want to dissect frogs,” she says giving me a pointed look.

  “Dissecting frogs is disgusting and besides, I was sixteen, young and stupid - that’s different.”

  “Okay then, what about the woman who stood toe to toe with a seven foot, two hundred kilo security guard at Mardi Gras because he wouldn’t let us into a VIP drag party because we weren’t drag queens. You argued discrimination, then you tried to plead with him, then you fed his ego and offered to let him cop a feel of your boob if he’d just let us in for an hour or two. When that didn’t work you called him all the names under the sun, shoved his chest and we stomped off. Now, you can’t argue that you were young and stupid then because we were twenty four.”

  I start laughing at the memory and Jules joins in. “That was a great night. The only downer was not being able to get into that party,” I say wistfully.

  “So tell me more about Jackson.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I say rubbing my hands over my face in frustration, “He drives me mad. He’s so … ugh, I don’t know what he is but he really gets under my skin. Did I tell you about the night I met him?” She shakes her head no.

  “He was sitting at the end of the bar with his brother – twin brother, Jules. Identical twin.”

  “Yummy,” she murmurs.

  “There’s no denying they’re both sexy as sin, but anyways, I went to serve them and he flirted and grabbed my hand. I felt tingles, Jules, fucking current like shocks straight up my arm. Then, this woman comes over and she’s all whiney and fake – fake hair, fake nails, fake tan – and she starts accusing him of always cheating on her and not being committed to make their relationship work.”

  “Then what?”

  “Well, I ripped my hand from his and walked away. There’s no doubt about it, Jules, that man is bad news with a capital B.”

  “That’s where I think you’re wrong, Edie, I’ve got to tell you, and honey, I know you don’t like talking about it, but I feel it’s time. Since your parents passed, you’ve been different. You changed, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing and that I love you any less because it’s not and I don’t, but it’s like you’re not you anymore. Everything became stable and predictable for you. Remember when we were growing up and we were foot loose and fancy free, living each day like it was our last, with no regrets? We were living, Edie. But your parents passed and all of sudden you started just existing. It killed me that there was nothing I could do to help you, except love you and support you and be there for you, but sweetie, I’ve got to tell you that last night w
hen you were dancing with Jackson, I saw some of my old Edie shining through – actually, I saw a lot of her shining through, and I fucking loved it. I love you in any way you come, you know that, but I’d really love to have my best friend start living again. You know it deep down, Edie, but you’re too scared to admit it. Jackson is the type of guy you could fall in love with. My best friend a couple of years ago would have jumped right in feet first, knowing that even if the ride turned to shit, she still enjoyed it with no regrets. You miss that ride, sweetie, you’re going to have regrets. It might turn bad, it might not, you’ll never know unless you try and from what I saw last night and from what you’ve told me, he’s got it just as bad for you. The only difference is, he isn’t afraid to admit it.”

  “What about the other woman? You can’t expect me to jump into something like that knowing what he’s like,”

  “I don’t know the situation with the other woman, and neither do you. You can’t just disregard him based on something you only know a small amount about. She could have been causing a drama for all you know. But you won’t know unless you talk to him.”

  “What do you mean I’ve been different since my parents passed?”

  “Sweetie, exactly what I said. Matt wasn’t even your type. You lost your parents and then a month later hooked up with Matt. You latched onto him in an attempt to stop your life spinning out of control. You were grieving and wanted anything constant and stable to become a permanent fixture in your life. You thought Matt was it, not because you liked him enough to maybe one day fall in love with him, but because he fit the profile you’d created in your head of someone who would last and offer you the security you were craving because you’d just lost your parents.”