Homecoming

[honeychild]

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Justin, Milo, Louey and Rachel heard steps coming towards them and looked up to see Roman Harris, sans Aden.

'Is he okay?' asked Justin anxiously, rising from his seat.

Roman looked at him grimly, 'Well i' managed to calm him down and he's gone back to the house, but he's not happy. He asked me to tell you that you can go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under, his words not mine, and to tell you to remember the last thing he said to you before he left...he said you would understand.'

Justin hung his head, 'Unfortunately i do.....and we might have a bit of a problem.' he looked at Roman nervously.

Roman folded his arms, ready to hear the explanation.

'You see,' Justin continued, 'We weren't planning on this being a quick visit, in and out. We're moving here....we bought a house and Louey's meant to be starting at the high school soon. We packed up our whole lives to come here, we can't just turn around and go back.'

'Where are you going to be living anyway?' Roman asked, 'Maybe i can try and persuade Aden to see you.'

Justin gave him an odd look, 'You're kidding, right?'

'No,' said a puzzled Justin, 'Why?'

'Aden's been living with me since his accident....and you just bought the house next door.'

Justin groaned. This was going to be harder than he had ever imagined.

'Don't worry...to be honest i just think Aden needs time to come to terms with the idea that you're here. He should come around,' Rachel reassured him.

'Yeah i hope so,' Justin sighed.

'What was it he said to you when you left anyway?' Roman asked.

Justin shook his head, 'He said if i left he would never forgive me.'

.............

They decided to go to the house. The removal truck would be there already and they all agreed that Justin and Aden had to work through it, to mend the rift between them. Even though they knew it wasn't going to be easy or pretty. Roman handed over to Irene and went with them, knowing that if Aden totally blew up at Justin again someone would be there to calm him. They arrived and started to unload boxes and furniture into the house. Aden heard the noise of them unpacking and looked out the window at them. He stormed outside to confront Justin again, 'What the hell are you doing here?' he yelled in his face, 'Huh? Why are you still? Not got some other place to run off to, huh?''

'Aden,' Roman warned, but Aden was having none of it.

'Why are you defending him Roman? After everything i told you?'

'No, i'm not...'

'Why are you here anyway Justin? You made it very clear 7 years ago that you don't want anything to do with me. And who the hell are they?' he waved vaguely at Louey and Milo.

Justin took a deep breath, 'Milo's my boyfriend and Louey...'

'Your WHAT???!! Jesus Justin, i knew we were a pretty messed up family, but there is seriously something wrong with you. Stay out of my life! Is that not what you wanted in the first place?!' he shouted and shook his head, starting to walk away. He couldn't even bear to look at his brother right now.

'Aden i'm sorry,' Justin called after him.

Aden turned on his heel and said, anger purely evident in his voice, 'You lost the right to be sorry the moment you walked out the door and left me there.'

And with that he stormed off. Justin started to go after him but Louey stopped him.

'I'll go,' she said softly, 'He'll talk to me.'

As she left, following Aden, Roman turned to Justin, 'Does she seriously think Aden will talk to her? It's taken me months to gain his trust.'

'Oh i think he'll talk to her,' Justin said, 'Regretfully, they're more alike than you could ever imagine...'

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read! review! enjoy!

[ezaz8]

good update

but poor aden quite a tricky situation for them all

good old louey...i really like her...

[maccaz]

Louey and Aden more alike then they imagine...?

Updaye soon.

[MissOlivia22]

I hope you don't take sundays off from writing XD

This is just to good. The description, the overall plot Is just amazing.

Let me guess, your an enlglish professer or an A* English student. Lol XD

[honeychild]

every day is a writing day! sundays are the best days for writing actually....and thats just what i've done for all yous lovely people!! ok, just to warn yous, this is a really really really ridiculously long chapter! enjoy!

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Louey found Aden leaning against a fence overlooking the beach. He was staring, unblinking, out at the wide expanse of blue, willing it to swallow him up. He didn’t even look up as she joined him.

‘Look,’ he said matter of factly, ‘Firstly, I know you probably want me, that’s okay, I understand, but I have a girlfriend. And secondly, if he’s sent you to try and talk me round you’re wasting your time, it’s not happening.’

Louey laughed, ‘Ok, first you seriously need to get over yourself. Not all girls, and by that I mean me, are as into you as you automatically assume. And second, he didn’t and I’m not going to. I just wanted to see if you were alright.’

‘Yeah, well, you’ve seen. Now just you run along back to him and report that I’m fine. And I’ll be fine. And I don’t want him here.’ Aden added viciously.

‘Fine, fine, all fine. Got that.’ Louey sighed. ‘But, let’s face it; you’re not really fine are you?’

‘What the hell is wrong with you people?’ Aden gestured wildly. ‘Get off my case! Who are you anyway? And what are you doing with a loser like him?’

She turned to face him, ‘Louisiana Wilder…Louey for short.’

‘What kind of a name is that?’ he couldn’t help smiling at her.

‘Mine, you jerk!’ she said hitting him gently. ‘And as for your loser of a brother…he saved my life.’

‘If you’re just going to talk to me about what a great person he is then I’m out.’ Aden spat the last few words and started to walk away.

‘Aden!’ Louey called after him. ‘You think no one gets you, right? That no one knows what its like to be you. That you’re all alone in the world because no one had to suffer what you’ve been through.’

Aden stopped, listening.

‘I know…Aden….I know exactly what it’s like to be you.’

He turned around and marched right back up to her and said in her face, ‘What the hell could you possibly know about being me?’

She looked away, ‘More than you know.’ She said softly.

He folded his arms, ‘Go on then, enlighten me. Cos I think you’re a liar, I think you haven’t got a clue of what you’re talking about.’

Her eyes burned angrily at that, ‘Aden, whatever you think of me I am not a liar. Our lives…they parallel more than you would think…and not happily either.’

‘Just get to the point.’

‘Stop acting like an asshole and maybe I will,’ she took a deep breath. ‘Okaaay….I never knew my father. My mum and I lived out of an old VW campervan and we drove all along the coast, town to town. We did everything together, especially surfing…’ her voice took on a more wistful tone, ‘She taught me to surf…to love the sea…’ her eyes were drawn back to the sea before them longingly, ‘Anyhoo, she was my best friend and we didn’t need anyone except each other. It was just us and we were happy. We were happy. But then one day we arrived in a town near Brisbane, at my grandparents’ house. I was excited; I’d never met them before. But on the third day there I woke up to find she had gone. No note, nothing. She had just left me and I never saw her again. I was 10 years old Aden.’

‘Well, at least you had your grandparents,’ Aden pointed out.

‘You would think so, wouldn’t you?’ she replied, eyes fixed steadily on the water again, her hands gripping the wood of the fence so tightly that her knuckles were white. There was something in her voice, a steeliness, a pang of pain, which Aden recognised all too well.

‘Your grandfather?’ his guess was more of a statement than a question.

‘Was every bit as perverted as yours.’ She finished for him.

Aden was taken aback, ‘How do I know you’re not lying to get me to go back and talk to him?’

‘Why would anyone lie about a thing like that?’ her voice was barely a whisper and Aden felt ashamed of ever doubting her.

‘I always thought people would think I was lying if I told what he was doing to me. But in the end I told my grandmother.’ She hesitated.

Aden put a comforting hand on her shoulder, understanding from experience how hard it was for Louey to say all this to him, ‘It’s ok….what happened?’

‘What I had always thought would happen. She called me a liar and kicked me out of the house. Like, literally. I went to Brisbane, just because it was big. No one would notice me there and I could simply drop off the face of the earth. It was basically all I wanted at that point. I was 13 and living on the streets – alone. You can’t imagine how terrifying that was…especially after everything.’

‘And then?’

‘And then I met your brother,’ Louey broke into a smile and loosened her grip on the fence, ‘He was working heading street teams in a community outreach programme that summer. He made friends with me, the only person who bothered the whole time I was on the streets. Over the summer we got really close. Gradually he began to ask me to go to his house but I always refused, I wasn’t some charity case. We understood each other though…we talked…about everything. Him and me…and you.’

‘Me? Why me?’ Aden asked incredulously.

‘You really don’t know anything about your brother. You’re judging him off the mistake he made 7 years ago, when he was younger than you are now, even. You haven’t forgiven him and, believe me; he’s certainly never forgiven himself.’

‘Sounds about right to me, ‘Aden shrugged stubbornly.

Louey continued as though she hadn’t heard him, ‘He trained as a guidance counsellor and helped to create a foundation which was set up to help kids, but predominantly boys, who were victims of sexual abuse.’

Aden’s head snapped up at her, ‘What?’

‘Don’t you see Aden? He’s spent the last 7 years trying to make up for what he did to you by helping all the other kids like you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’

‘No,’ he denied stiffly, obviously lying.

‘Anyway,’ she went on with a sigh, ‘At the end of the summer he asked me to go and live with him and Milo. Realising that if I didn’t I would never see him again I accepted. I needed him badly, as much as, I think he needed me. He and Milo have given me the chance at a normal life which I wouldn’t have been able to have before.’

‘See, this is what I don’t get,’ Aden blurted out. ‘How can he be gay? Seriously? After everything…’

Louey ran a hand through her hair wearily, ‘Look, my grandfather raped me too,’ she forced herself to say it though it pained her to do so and both she and Aden winced as she said it. She went on, ‘But does that mean I should automatically become a lesbian and swear myself off guys?’

‘I see your point,’ Aden conceded.

‘Good. Justin can’t change who he is because of what your grandfather did. And for what it’s worth he felt very guilty about it until he met Milo and managed to accept who he really was.’

‘And they’re like your…what?’

‘My guardians I guess....they’re my family now.’ She looked at him cautiously, trying to judge how he would react to what she was about to say, ‘Aden, your brother is a good guy; he’s one of the best. He is not the brother you remember him to be.’

He leaned heavily on the fence and spoke with the voice of a person tired at having to deal with all the crap the world threw at him, ‘I just can’t look at him Louey. Every time I look at him all I see is my grandfather telling me he left because he hated me…that everyone hated me.’

Louey closed her eyes, hating his grandfather even more than she had done before, ‘What your grandfather did,’ she said slowly, ‘What our grandfathers did was the most heinous crime a person can commit. They took from us something they had absolutely no right to. They betrayed us, hurt us, even destroyed us. They owned us. But now they’re gone and now we have a choice.’ She forced him to look at her, properly look at her, ‘You have the choice to stop letting him control you. You owe yourself that much.’

A small smile graced his face, ‘How does someone your age get so wise?’

She brushed this off with a flick of her hand, ‘What can I say? I’ve had a lot of life experiences.

It’s nice to know there’s someone else…who understands, isn’t it?’ she said as she looked back across the sea, noticing that the sun had begun to dip, sending a muted amber glow across the Bay.

His gaze followed hers, ‘Yeah…I guess it gets lonely living with what he did. Makes you feel as though no one really gets why you do things…and you just can’t tell anyone.’

She nodded, ‘But you’re not alone, not anymore, we should probably get back soon,’ she straightened up. ‘They’ll be getting worried.’

He hesitated, ‘I have to talk to him, don’t I?’

She shrugged, ‘It’s up to you. But it might help. C’mon, Aden Jefferies, stand up and be a man!’ She smiled at him and he found himself smiling back.

‘Right, Louisiana,’ he narrowly missed being hit around the head, ‘I can do this.’

‘You can do this,’ she agreed.

As they walked back towards their respective homes, Aden mercilessly teasing Louey about her name, they both failed to notice Nicole behind some trees near where they had been, standing in shock at what she had just overheard.

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[MissOlivia22]

Well seeing as sunday is a good day for writing....... UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

OMG Nicole knows, Ive been waiting forever to see Nicole find out and what her reaction will be

Your so good at writing, keep it up

[ezaz8]

OMG THAT WAS AMAZNG!!

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE UPDATE SOON!

[Frogg]

Wow that was best chapter yet!!!! Please update soon. I really want to know how nics gonna react.

[maccaz]

Great chapter!

Wonder if Nic'll tell anyone??

Update soon.

[honeychild]

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After Louey had gone off after Aden, Justin, Milo and Roman finished unpacking, resigning themselves to the fact that the two teenagers probably wouldnt be back for a while. After unpacking Roman invited them back to his house, where they sat and talked, mainly about Aden and why he was living with Roman. As they talked Justin came to realise that, thankfully, there was at least one person in his brother's life who cared about him. He was just musing on that idea when the door opened. They all looked up expectantly to see Aden and Louey looking muted, subdued, slightly pensive even. Milo hid a smile as Louey gave Aden a small nudge forward and gave Roman a 'told you so' look.

'Uhh...Justin...can i....can i have a word with you?' Aden said, scuffing his feet while inspecting the floor very closely.

'C'mon guys,' Louey nodded her head towards the other house, 'I'll make us some tea.'

Milo and Roman followed her out, leaving Aden and Justin behind. The door closed behind them with a bang, reminding Aden he had no way out, he had to do this. Several minutes passed though, as Aden tried to bring himself to just tell Justin how he felt...and get the courage to actually look at him.

Over these minutes of tense, empty silence Justin observed his brother from the other side of the room. He wasnt the person he had always imagined he would grow up to be. Aden had been the happiest kid alive, with a love for every little thing in life. He had been kind, gentle and sweet. But how times can change. What terrible things life can do to change a person. Suddenly it dawned on Justin, 'You can't look at me can you? Aden?'

Aden said nothing.

'Why can't you look at me?'

Aden said nothing.

He couldn't.

All he could hear through his head was his grandfather's voice, ringing loud and clear, his voice echoing incessantly around his brain, telling him that Justin hated him, thats why he had left. Telling him he was weak, thats why his mother had died, why he couldn't stop Justin from going, couldn't stop him. Telling him it was his fault, everything was his fault...he made his mum crash the car, he practically put the bottle in his father's hand, he drove Justin away. It was all because of him. He was poison. He destroyed people, he destroyed lives, he deserved everything he got. It was burning up his head and he could feel the weight of it all pushing him down, down, down. Then suddenly, like a light in a darkness he heard Louey's voice saying, 'You have the choice to stop letting him control you.' And he concentrated on that line...forcing himself to hear it over and over, louder and louder until it drowned out his grandfather's voice. He could breathe.

He forced himself to look up. To look at Justin. The voices didnt return.

Justin had watched as Aden fought his inner battle, knowing that it was one that only he could fight for himself. It hurt him so badly to see his brother have to fight with himself just to be able to look at him. It hurt even more that he knew it was all his fault as well.

And then Aden looked up at him.

Justin almost wished he hadnt. He couldn't bear to look into Aden's eyes because every time he did it broke his heart. Knowing what that little boy had been and all he could've been...and then looking at him now.....

In a hoarse whisper Aden forced himself to speak, 'You left me Justin...i begged you not to go....but, still...you left me...'

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okies i know its a short chapter and not much really happens but i didnt have much time to write today and i really want to move things along a bit, so tomorrow it'll have the full convo between Justin and Aden, good times all round!