Anyone Else But You

Chapter 10 - Trouble at the McCarthy house

The Rosenberg’s – Birds of a feather

To say her parents were angry was an understatement, Maddie had hoped she could avoid them finding out and when they hadn’t mentioned anything before they came home; she thought she’d gotten lucky. Oh how wrong she was. They were waiting until they returned home and could see both their daughters face to face. As it turned out they had known about the incident all along, Jasper’s mum had called her mum and told her everything.

It had been gone midnight by the time they had got back to London and Jasper’s parents were waiting in the living room. Jasper had left a quick scribbled note explaining where he’d gone and they’d waited up until the four of them had returned. Jasper had told her the next day that they’d really laid into his sister and that she was grounded for the unforeseeable future.

It was Friday afternoon when the inquisition began, Maddie had finished school at 2:15 and had gone to Costa for a hazelnut latte after her Art lesson had finished. She was listening to Slow Club on her iPod when someone had come up behind her and covered her eyes. She tensed ready to karate chop the hell out of whoever it was – not that she knew karate and she’d probably do more harm to herself that the other person.

The hands uncovered her eyes and she swivelled her head to see who it was standing behind her. Jasper grinned as he put his arms down and slipped into the seat next to her. They chatted for half an hour about how his parents were really cracking down on his sister before walking home together. When they reached her gate, Jasper put his hand on her arm to stop her going any further.

Maddie looked up into his eyes and saw conflict flickering in them, his mouth opened but nothing came out. His lips pressed tight together as he tried to conjure the words before opening again. “Maddie, I . . . I don’t know how to say this so I’m just going to come out with it. I . . . I really l-“

“Madeleine Jane McCarthy, get in this house right now!” Both of them turned slowly to see Lara McCarthy standing arms crossed, feet shoulder width apart on the doorstep looking angry and ready to blow. Maddie’s eyes grew wide and dropped to the floor.

“Shit!” She whispered under her breath as she pulled her arm out of Jasper’s grasp and plodded slowly towards her own front door and her own possible death. Maddie kept her eyes glued to the ground as she filed silently past her mother and through the front door.

“In there.” Her mother pointed to the living room on the right as she closed the front door. When Maddie entered the room Kate was already stood in front of the fireplace whilst her dad was sitting on the sofa in complete silence. Maddie joined her sister as her mum sat down next to her dad. “Is there anything either of you would like to tell us?” Her mother sat forward with a straight back and crossed arms.

Maddie looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye, Kate had never been able to keep a secret and she could already see the sweat breaking out on her sister’s brow.

“It’s all my fault, Maddie had nothing to do with it she just came to fetch me.” Kate looked at her and Maddie saw tears threatening to spill out, she reached out and took her sisters hand. “I know it was stupid but we – Lucy and I – really wanted to go to the show and we knew you wouldn’t let us.

“Kate, it was a school night and you went to Watford without an adult. Anything could have happened to you, it did happen to Lucy. It’s lucky your sister and Jasper got there when they did, it could have been so much worse. I thought Amanda was joking when she rang my mobile. What the hell were you thinking?” Kate snuffled as she stared at her feet, she looked up slowly.

“I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted to see the show. I’m sorry mum, I really am. I’ll never do anything like it again. I promise.” She stepped forward dropping Maddie’s hand and looked at both their parents in turn.

“I know you bloody won’t, you’re not leaving this house again until you’re 21, not without a suitable chaperone.” It was the first time their father had spoken since they’d all been in the room, he stood up and walked out of the room without saying another word. Maddie wordlessly followed him out of the lounge and into the kitchen. He stood with his back to her, his hands gripping the kitchen worktop. His back began to shake as he sobbed silently.

Maddie had only ever seen her father cry once, when her grandmother had passed away. She walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling like she was in the wrong place; it should have been the other way around, her dad should be consoling her not her consoling him. He looked round tears rolling down his cheeks and smiled sadly.

“I could have lost her, I could have lost both of you.” He turned around and pulled Maddie into an enormous bear hug, crushing her against him. “And I wasn’t here to do anything. I’m never going to leave either of you again.” He squeezed her tighter making it impossible for her to breathe.

“Dad, dad. You’re crushing me, I can’t breathe.” She managed to wheeze out and her father immediately loosened his grip, not quite letting her go. “Don’t worry dad, I’ll look after Kate she’s safe with.” She pulled back to look at her father’s face and saw him smiling down at her.

“I know you will M&M, I know you will. I’m glad you were here to save her this time, if you weren’t . . . I can’t even bear thinking about it.” He gave her one last squeeze and then let her go, dropping his arms and clearing his throat. “So Arsenal played well the other night didn’t they?” Maddie chuckled and nodded, her father’s moment of vulnerability had passed and he was back to his normal stoic self.

“Your mum looked seriously pissed yesterday! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so angry and I thought my mum was bad.” Jasper shook his head in disbelief as he and Maddie walked home from school the next day. She chuckled to herself as she looked at his wide eyes, she had to admit she’d never seen her mum that angry before either however she’d cooled off a little since.

“I know, I don’t think my sister will be leaving the house anytime soon other than to go to school or gymnastics. I’ve never seen her this strict before.” They continued walking side by side, occasionally their arms would brush against each other and Maddie felt a shock of electricity course through her veins. The feeling was so powerful and unexpected she nearly stopped in her tracks, she couldn’t get used to the feeling of aliveness it brought her.

The two of them carried on chatting until they reached their houses, all that was left to do was say goodbye until tomorrow when they’d see each other again anyway to work on their project. However there was something pulling at Maddie’s insides that made it incredibly hard to go inside her house and watch Jasper go inside his. All she could do was stare and hope there was some way she could go back to the way the two of them had been before.