Who You Say I Am (A Jai Courtney Fanfic)

Chapter 26-Jai

Jai

I bring Meg to my room and have her take a seat.  She chooses the chair which is fine.  I get out my lappy and sit down on the bed.  I can see her grinning. 
"Laptop," she says nodding and I realize she didn't understand me. 
"Thought you spoke 'Strayan," I tease. 
"Let's just say my ability to understand you is on par with my Japanese skills," she responds grinning. 
"Is that good or bad?" I question hesitantly.
"I've been told I'm fluent by some and a stupid foreigner by others.  It depends on the conversation," she explains. 
"Do they really insult people like that to their face there?" I question in surprise as I ready my computer. 
"Um... I think it depends entirely on the person.  There are nice people and rude people, just like in every country," she shrugs. 
I email the files to myself and have her enter her mum's email. 
"So... if I were to go there, what do you think someone would say to me?" I question curiously. 
"There was a large guy in our group—Elton.  Several people said Wow every time he walked around in public and stared at how he towered over them.  I heard a couple people asking if he was a sumo," she says.  "I think with your size, you'd probably receive similar comments—unless they recognized you, then probably what you're used to."
I nod in understanding and send all of the files to her mum.  "I think we're done here," I tell her closing it up.  I put it away and we head out. 
We walk towards the reception and I see the attendant still there. 
"Thanks for not giving us away, mate," I say to him. 
"Nah mon, guy's rude," he tells us.
"Yeah," Megan nods. 
"He called her by name of Blaze.  Not the name on my list, mon," he replies. 
"He's already acting like we're married?" Megan says questioningly under her breath. 
"Thanks again, mate," I say shaking his hand. 
"Anything for you, Mr Courtney.  Big fan, mon," he replies. 
I smile in disbelief, "Remind me when I come back, I owe you something, mate."
He nods his head smiling. 
We step out of the reception and walk round back to the jeep.  I know everyone must be dying to know what happened but they all greet us fairly quietly. 
"Welcome back," Gale says.  "Did you find your inhaler?"
"Yeah, I got them," Megan says raising her carrybag. 
We get into the vehicle and I start it up again.  I check around for her ex just in case but he's nowhere to be seen.  I can't believe what he was mumbling.  I hope Megan didn't hear that.  I'm actually surprised she didn't cry, she just seemed nervous.  She was shaking in my arms.  Perhaps she's shifted from heartache due to the relationship ending how it did to fear of him.  I'm not concerned one bit.  In my opinion, he's a flamin' galah, a hoon, a bogan, feral, a wanker, and a root rat.  I don't like him and I hope to never come face to face with the bloke or there might be a bit of a biffo between us.
I glance to Megan as I drive along the path to the mountain base.  She looks like she's actually doing alright.  I'm a bit surprised by that but I'm glad.  I continue to focus on the road.  I drive us along the path before we arrive at a freeway.  We drive a bit out and get off at the proper exit.  I realize we're heading out to the bush.  I didn't realize this would be so remote.  I hear my phone ring and I pull it out of my pocket. 
"Could you answer that, love?" I ask Meg.  "And put it on speaker?"
"Sure," she says sliding it over as I turn. 
"Jai?" Mum says. 
"Yeah, Mum," I reply.  "What's the triple zero?"
"Sorry, I just couldn't wait to tell you the John Dory," she says. 
"What's the goss?" I wait for it. 
"Your sister is finally getting hitched," she tells me.
"Is she preggers?" I ask. 
"No, she's not.  Don't you dare say that to your sister," she replies laughing. 
"You know it was a joke," I grin. 
"Yeah, I know," she says. 
"Tell her I said congrats," I reply. 
"I will.  I'll talk to you later, love," she says. 
"Bye, Mum," I tell her. 
"What's preggers?" Valentina whispers to Gale.  I can see them in the rear view.  She shrugs. I can hear them saying they didn't understand a word. I smirk at that. 
I look over to Megan to see she's trying to hold in a laugh.  "Let me guess... fluent?" I say to her. 
"What gave you that idea?" she chuckles. 
"That right there," I nod to her trying to keep my attention on the road ahead. 
She just keeps grinning at me. 
Everyone chats quietly as we make our way through the mountains here.  I thought this was the bush but now I'm thinking we're in the outback.  I wasn't expecting to be out in whoop whoop.  I check the map once more and realize we're just about there.  I guess this is it since I can see a clearing up ahead on a dirt road at the top of the mountain.  I pull off of the bitumen and drive up there, grateful my vehicle is good for off road.  The bus is parked there and everyone is getting out.  I pull up beside them and raise the parkbreak just in case since I'm on an incline. 
"Thanks for the comfortable ride, Jai," Gale says.  "It looks like we got here at about the same time."
"No worries," I tell her.
"That means no problem," Meg translates.
"Okay," Gale says raising her voice in intonation and nodding.
"Thanks, mate," Izaak says fist bumping me.
"No wakkas," I tell him. He looks confused. "Same meaning," I say motioning to Gale.
He nods, "Still learning."
I open the boot and hand everyone their bags. "Thanks again," Valentina waves to us running over to join the group. Gale and Izaak join them thanking me once more as well.
"So... your sister's engaged. That's big news," Megan says besides me. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," I reply handing her her bag.
"Why'd you think she was pregnant?" she asks.
I shrug, "They've been living together for two years. I figured something had to get him to commit."
She nods in understanding but doesn't say anything else. I grab my things but I leave the guitar case as it is for now. We start walking over to the congregation side by side.
"Were you being serious?" she asks me.
"Partly," I admit.
"You... may want to not teach them anything with swear words in it. They won't intentionally say something like that that they don't understand," she tells me.
"Alright," I nod in agreement.
She smiles up at me and I'm totally enchanted by that look.  I watch her walk in front of me and I can't help but follow her, hypnotized by her movement.