Swell (Complete)

Chapter Forty (Part One)

"Cause every time I ran
I ran to you
I meant it every time I said I loved you
I kiss the thought of you and I."

....

Marti couldn't hide the disappointment when she waved goodbye to Dodge, Adora had decided she didn't want to drive them home, and the shock of seeing a car submerged in the falls destroyed any focus for studying she had.
Marti had wanted to stay and watched the police try and pull the car out, but Adora had refused to stay, and it was a long walk back home from the falls.
"That was a fast session." Will's confused voice greeted her from the kitchen.
She looked up with a grimace and nodded. "Yea, we studied for an hour then Dodge took us to the falls for a break, and we found a car."
"What?" Will put his pen down on the table, giving Marti his full attention.
"Someone's ditched a car in the lake part of the waterfalls."
"Wow."
"Adora was a bit shaken..." Marti sat opposite her brother and saw the worry in his eyes. "Are you ignoring her?"
He looked down and picked up his pen. "I guess." His answer was barely more than a mumble.
"Why? Cause of Liss?" Marti leaned over the table and looked at the business text book open before Will.
"A bit, more because of the doll." He was ashamed of his behaviour, she could see it.
She sighed and tucked some hair behind her ear. "She really needs us right now, Will. She got into trouble this morning for taking the dog for a walk alone. She's basically under house arrest."
"She went out alone?" His eyes met Marti's and Marti frowned.
"She feels like she's suffocating, she's hardly ever got any time to herself, between Dodge, Iain and her Mum. She isn't even sure if she'll still be allowed to go to the dance. Can you please stop being a bitch? Ask her, I really want to go, and I really want to have a good night with my friend. I need it."
Her hands reached over to Will's and she forced eye contact.
"Are you trying to guilt trip me into asking Adora to the dance?"
Marti smiled mischievously. "Well, you want to ask her anyway don't you?"
"Well, yea, but..."
"But what? We might end up having to go with Iain or Dodge too, but at least we could all go together."
Will looked at their hands and heaved a sigh.
"She needs friends she can count on, I need friends I can count on. God, Will, you need it too."
"I'll think about it." Will pulled his hands out from under hers and started to pack up his business studying. "She was planning a psychology study session, I'll message her and see if it's still on." He left Marti alone at the kitchen table and her shoulders sagged.
If she asked Iain to the dance after all would they all go as a safe group? Would Anne approve of that?

Brett didn't have energy to feel when the news had come Sunday morning.
He'd been propped up in his bed with his new plastic braces for hours now. Trying to figure out how Gus' car had gotten to the waterfalls.
He'd been angry with his cousin the week before about Adora, but he wouldn't have ever imagined Gus to drive into water.
Gentle knocks forced him out of his mind and he swallowed a lump before looking up to his bedroom door. "Come in."
Even he could hear the thickness in his voice. When the door opened and Adora's face popped into the space and then into his room he didn't know whether he was smiling or getting ready to cry.
She closed the door behind her and crossed the room. "I just got told." She whispered, moving onto the other side of his bed and putting an arm across his chest as she leaned into him. "I'm so sorry, Brett." Her voice broke at his name and he felt liquid blink from his eyes.
He was crying. Adora's love had been the button to his grief.
He could feel her crying against him and absently lifted an arm to wrap around her as he sniffed and wiped his face with his other arm.
"I couldn't see who's car it was, if I'd known, I would have stayed while they pulled it out."
"It's OK. It's not your fault." His words were the emptiest he had ever heard them.
"He sent me those texts, and I didn't answer, I thought he'd gone home."
"We all did."
How long had Gus and his car been in the falls? When had Gus ever thought about suicide?
"I should have checked to make sure he got home." Brett whispered.
"Have they told you what happened?" She pulled her face back slightly to look at him and he shrugged.
"Not anything certain. It looks like he drove himself in and drowned." He shuddered a breath and closed his eyes.
"What if it's my fault?" Adora put her head back down and he could almost feel the guilt emanating into him through their touch.
"Why would it be?"
"Not rekindling the fling from summer, not answering his messages..."
"Gus wouldn't have killed himself because of you rejecting him." Brett still felt sure Gus wouldn't have killed himself.
But how well did he know his cousin? They'd kept the summer fling a secret, and Gus had made Adora feel unsafe at the waterfalls.
Had Gus done this to him?
His eyes wandered from Adora's hair to his braces.
Would Gus almost kill him to get to Adora?
There had been no goodbye, unless it had been washed away.
"I'm so sorry."
Brett just stayed still, his arm around her shoulders as she snuggled his grief. He'd longed for moments like this, closeness like this with his best friend, but it felt wrong now.

"When was the last time you heard from him?" Adora's voice was thick.
"When I told him to go home, you?" Brett rubbed her back and closed his eyes.
"A text message, when I was with the Taylors in Richieville, saying he missed me."
He felt her shudder and shook his head. "It doesn't seem right that he'd drive into the falls."
"He never said he loved me, during any of our dates, or anything..."
Was Gus the sort that would confess his feelings? Was Gus the sort that had feelings as deep as love?
Brett cursed himself; he shouldn't question his cousin's feelings, he hadn't even known Gus had an interest in Adora, how could he assume it wasn't more?
"We spent a lot of time together at the falls." Adora sniffed, her voice was higher than normal and Brett recognised the tone from times before when she had been trying to stop herself from crying.
Did he want to know more about the relationship between his best friend, the girl he had feelings for, and his cousin?
He felt selfish for not asking her to elaborate, was it wrong to not want to know more about the time she and Gus had spent together behind his back?
Would knowing more about their secret relationship shed more light on Gus' suicide?
Brett shivered as a gust of wind rattled his window. He never liked this time of the year, he might have always had to hep his parents and Tara with the pub during summer, but at least the weather was happier during those months.
Autumn and winter were too miserably cold and wet for him.
"I should have at least answered a text." Her voice was more a whisper now.
"Adora, Gus was a grown man, if he killed himself, he made the choice himself." It sounded colder than he meant it but it was true.
"Are his parent's coming down?"
"Yea, they're staying in an apartment, they arrived this morning and went straight to the hospital."
The thought of having to identify a dead body was sickening. Was it much like the TV shows made it out to be?
Had his Aunt and Uncle been led to some basement room of the hospital where Gus was laid out under a sheet? Or was he in a drawer on a metal sliding table?
Brett let go of a shaky breath and pulled his blanket up higher, flicking it over Adora's body as she rested on his chest.
Rain started to slam against his bedroom window and Brett squeezed his eyes shut.

The knock was gentle but still Brett's body jerked underneath Adora's.
"Adora?" Dodge's voice came from the other side of the wood. Brett opened his eyes and looked at the digital clock on his bedside. His eyes widened and he gently gave Adora's shoulder a squeeze.
"Come in." Brett spoke up, still surprised at the time that had passed. Had he been asleep for longer than an hour after Adora had settled on his chest?
Adora groaned and barely shifted as Dodge opened the bedroom door. A small smile crossed Brett's face as he realised that she had fallen asleep.
This was the reason he would never jeopardise their friendship. The safe moments of belonging and truth between them were irreplaceable.
Dodge smiled a little as Brett gently rocked Adora's shoulder. Tara stepped into the room after Dodge and Brett could see his older sister had been crying.
Guilt stabbed his chest as Adora finally sat up and wiped her face.
"We should get back to the Escape, you still have to prepare for your exam tomorrow." Dodge's voice was gentle; Brett knew the tone and absently imagined Dodge as a father. It was a strange vision seeing a little child running towards his principal and Dodge catching it as it jumped into his outspread arms.
Adora groaned and sniffed as she gave Brett a pitiful smile. "Sorry." She mumbled.
He shook his head. "Don't be, it's psych for you tomorrow isn't it? That's kind of an important one for you."
Her year 12 subject, her first year 12 exam with attacks, cards, and death haunting her heart.
"Don't remind me." Adora shuddered and leaned over to place a kiss on his forehead. "I'll check in tomorrow sometime." She said softly.
He wanted nothing more than to pulled her warm body back against his and feel her lips on his skin forever, but he just nodded.
"Good luck."
He watched as Adora walked towards Dodge and Tara left the room with them to see them out.
Suddenly his room felt a lot colder than it had been.