Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

thirty-two. *

* This chapter contains drug use and mature themes.

"Holy shit!" Liv shouted with her hands clamped over her mouth in shock.

Tom was a step behind her, his eyes wide looking around at everyone that had jumped out from behind whatever hiding spot they'd managed to find. They started hugging the people who were in their immediate vicinity as they walked onto the boat. Josie caught my eye and waved manically as Liv turned, her eyes landing beside me first.

"Connor!" Liv screamed, Tom's head shooting around to look at us. "Oh my fucking god, Sully as well! What the fuck is happening?" She continued to yell and run over to us, launching herself into the arms of Connor who picked her up and spun her around.

Tom slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, my head immediately nuzzling into the crook of his neck. I placed a kiss on his cheek and brushed my hands up and down his back. Liv came up behind me and wrapped her arms around the both of us, creating a group hug.

"Is this really happening?" Liv's voice was muffled into my leather jacket as she clutched Connors shoulder again pulling him into another hug.

"Can't believe you're here," Tom whispered, bringing his hands up to my face.

"I promised you I'd be back," I said back quietly with a grin.

Connor grabbed hold of Tom's shoulder, dragging him into a long embrace while Liv went around and hugged the rest of her friends and family. After I gave Caleb a big hug, Josie was quick to wrap her arm around my shoulder in excitement, still unable to believe that she'd managed to pull off a surprise at this magnitude.

"You did so well making this happen, Jose," I complimented her and she beamed back, grateful that I'd said that.

"Happy Birthday mate," Marcus' spoke from behind us, placing a hand on Tom's shoulder.

Tom spun around and brought him in for a hug, thrilled to see his friends from the club that had made the trip to Sydney to celebrate with him.

"Thanks for coming mate. What a shock," He exclaimed, trying to catch his breath from the surprise.

"Josie managed to pull off the impossible," Marcus replied with a chuckle before Aaron and Josh pushed in to give Tom a hug.

I backed away slowly and thought I'd try and find Liv again or even Mitch who seemed to have disappeared with Connor. All of them had made their way to the front of the boat away from the chaos and into the fresh air. It was exactly what I needed since it felt like the life was being sucked out of my soul seeing Marcus with another girl. My dress felt uncomfortable all of a sudden and the jetlag was starting to mess with my brain fog so I thought I should just succumb and grab another glass of wine from the waiter who was zipping past me with a tray of drinks.

Everyone had settled down into light conversation around different parts of the boat and like always, the groups formed pretty quickly within the larger group. I had introduced myself to Tom's friends Luke Dahlhaus and Jack Redpath who were both ex-bulldog footballers; one now at a different club and the other I'd found out had retired at the end of last year. It was interesting hearing their stories about Tom because everyone else seemed to know the tame version of Tom Liberatore yet these two had seen the other side of Tom. The one Connor and I knew all too well.

"So we went on an end of season footy trip a couple of years ago and basically fucked our way through Bali. It was brutal," Jack joked earning a chuckle from Connor beside me.

"Living the dream," Connor responded taking a swig of his beer, encouraging Jack to continue with his story.

Josie had left the area once they got onto this topic, obviously not wanting to hear about her current boyfriends past sex life and I didn't blame her. I would've also left had it not been for the fact everyone else I knew was gathered around Liv, Marcus and his friend included and as stupid as it was, avoiding the situation was going to save me a lot of energy. Energy that I didn't have after the 24-hour flight I'd just been on.