Swell (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Five (Part One)

"Cause this is my favourite thing by far
And you defy everything I've ever known."

....

Will smiled as Tara left him in the hallway. He'd been to the garage, the kitchen and the bathroom of Brett's house before, but somehow he felt like an intruder standing outside Brett's bedroom.
He already knew Gus wasn't there. Tara had said he was at the hospital.
Will knocked on Brett's door.
"Yea?" Brett's voice came from within.
"It's Will." He pushed the door open and gave the other guitarist a small smile.
"Hey." Brett's tone dropped.
"Is it OK I came to visit?" Will stepped into the room and swallowed a lump.
"Yea, why wouldn't it be?"
Will looked down. He didn't know, he just felt a strange, unwelcoming atmosphere in the bedroom. "I dunno, you might not be up to visitors." He shrugged and sat down on the guitar stool beside the bed.
"How's the guitar going?" Brett forced a smile.
"Um, good. I almost have most of the solos down, but I didn't come here to talk about music." Will decided to get it over and done with. He had tried to push the suspicion out of his head after he and Marti had finished talking, but it had stuck like glue and he was sure Brett was the only person who'd be able to get the thought out of his head.
"Oh?" Brett straightened up slightly against his pillows. Something that looked harder to do than it should be because of the casts.
"Marti pointed something out yesterday, and I've tried but I can't shake it out of my head."
Brett frowned patiently.
Adora had told Will that she had visited Brett the day before, she had told him about Gus' reaction to their looming date, their surprise kiss. She'd even told him about Brett's secret crush.
Maybe that was why Will felt so awful with his friend now.
"Marti said that Gus tried to force himself on Adora over the weekend, and she started suggesting that maybe Gus sent the cards..."
"And did this?" Brett gestured to his heavy legs.
Would Gus attack his own cousin?
Will felt his shoulders slump. "I don't want to believe that anybody would do this on purpose, but someone did."
"For all we know it could have been you." Brett said, Will looked up in shock at the suggestion, but Brett's expression was slightly teasing.
An expression that showed Will he didn't really believe what he had suggested. Will smiled weakly. "Adora told me about the visit yesterday. I've already stepped on Tom's toes a little, are we stepping on yours?"
"Nah. I love Adora, always have, but have also always known she views me as a family member. I'd probably have gotten the same rejection Tom did."
Will felt relief rushing through him and closed his eyes for a few moments. "Thanks, man." He felt calmer with Brett's blessing.
"Marti really thinks Gus should be a suspect?" Brett asked.
Will shrugged. "Well, it was hard for us to imagine our brother was the first suspect, so, Gus is easier for us to believe I guess. I came over because he is your cousin, you know him, you'll be able to discount the thoughts." Will confessed. "I've barely seen Gus with Adora, let alone on his own to know him."
Brett sighed and looked out of his window. "Gus is intense, but I don't think he would do this, besides, he was still in the city at uni when it happened, and he knows how I feel about Adora, and he already had her, so he had no reason to think I was a threat."
"I was kind of hoping to hear that." Will nodded.
"You wanted me to tell you it couldn't be Gus?" Brett looked at him in confusion.
"Well, I hate the thought of a family member doing this over a girl. I mean, Tom and Marti come first for me, if Tom said he wasn't comfortable with me and Adora going out, I would have told her I couldn't do it. If I come between Adora and Marti, then I'll tell Adora the same thing."
"Do you even really want to go out with her?"
"Yes. I don't mean it to sound like I don't, I just mean..." Will stopped himself. He hadn't thought about how unwanting his words had sounded. "My first serious girlfriend was Marti's best friend, another who kissed me first." He chuckled slightly at the thought. "We managed to not let it come between us, and then when Liss left without a word... A note. Just a note, Marti and Tom were there for me. Marti needed someone too, but she tried very hard to make sure I knew she was there."
Will reflected on the confusion he'd felt when Marti had told him about Liss' note. He remembered Tom insisting it was Liss' loss not theirs.
"I see a pattern." Brett smirked.
Will blushed. "That I'm a shy bastard?"
"Something like that." Brett laughed. "But also that you're a good guy, a loyal one. Adora said she felt safe with you, and that's the only reason I managed to shake the suspicion that you did this."
"What?" Will looked up.
Brett laughed. "Well, when she told me she kissed you and you two were going out... You know, it was just really convenient timing."
Will felt his stomach flip. It was convenient timing. He knew he hadn't attacked Brett, he knew he wasn't sending Adora cards to scare her, but what if Tom was still a suspect? Tom had reacted angrily at the news in the car that morning.
Would Tom lie about being OK with Will dating Adora? Would Tom hurt Will if they did?
"You alright?" Brett leaned forward, waving a hand in front of Will's face.
"Yea, I just... The timing..." Will suddenly felt the urge to run. "I've got to get going, I just wanted to hear you say Gus wouldn't do it, and that you really were OK with Adora and I going out. I mean, if we make it past our initial date anyway." Will stood up and forced a chuckle.
"Yea, no worries. Just treat her good." Brett frowned as he watched Will get up.
"I promise." Will nodded and left the room.
Would Tom have really been that angry that Adora had rejected him?

Adora pulled at the sleeves of her shirt as she waited after school on Friday at the front steps. Part of her had thought about cancelling the date and asking Will to make it later in the evening, so they weren't going straight from school.
She had stressed about what to wear and everything the night before.
If they had made it later, it wouldn't matter what she had worn to school,because she could have gone home and changed.
But her jeans had made her feel self conscious all day, even during their single music class. Were they datey- enough? Was Will impressed? How could he be impressed with just jeans?
She felt stupid.
Was she really that worried about impressing him that she hated her favourite pair of jeans?
"Hey." His voice made her look up from the manufactured rip in the jeans and smile.
"Hi." She managed. He had trimmed his whiskers. The growth on his face looked thinner than it had yesterday. Was he just as worried about impressing her as she was him?
"So, I borrowed Mum's car, do you want to drop your bike off at your house before hand?"
"No, it's OK. Dodge said he'd take it home when he dropped Iain off later."Adora flushed nervously as a handful of students walked around them and stared.
"Iain's going to yours?"
"Dodge, Mum, and Uncle Stan worked out a heap of chores for him over the long weekend as punishment for punching Tom."
Will scoffed and it made her feel less nervous. "Oops."
"Yea, pretty much, but it gets me off the weeding." Adora jerked her head towards the front of the school. "Let's go."

______

A/N

this disappearing spaces thing is doing my head in!

BUT! The story has almost 1000 reads and 100 votes!

Yay! Thanks everyone!