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Dedication: Couture2540 for the awesome cover! Thank you!

Recap:

"Who's that?" Becca asks me and I stare down at the wedding invite, stunned.

"Miles' father," I murmur.

"No shit?" Finn asks, peering around my shoulder.

"You have one, too," mum says, passing over the invite. "We all do."

We all share a look with each other.

This is going to be interesting.

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As I walk up the driveway towards Miles' share house, the sun beats down onto my skin and I tilt my head back. My hair is wrapped in a loose bun on the top of my head, allowing the humid air and the heat of the sun to brush my face.

I sweep my eyes over the overgrown lawn, where four cars and Miles' motorbike are spread messily across it. I recognise Damon's truck and Emily's Mazda. The other two vehicles I have never seen before.

Like always, the front door is ajar. I step inside and am engulfed with hipster music blaring from one of the speakers in the lounge room and a stench of stale cigarettes in the musky air. I make my way down the hallway quickly, trying to move as fast, but as quiet as possible.

I arrive at Miles' door with no incidents and step inside without knocking. Miles is perched at his splintered desk, one of his long legs scooped under him, the other folded to his chest, his chin resting on his knee. He has a blue bio in his left hand, as he jots something down onto a piece of paper.

Wordlessly, I wander over to him and wrap my arms around his neck. He jumps and snaps his head up. A relieved look floods his face as he meets my eyes. He kisses my hand softly, grazing his teeth across my thumb.

"Hi," he smiles.

"Hey. What are you working on?" I ask him.

"That stupid English assessment," he sighs and pushing back from the desk, leaning his head onto me. "I could use a distraction."

He quickly spins and hoists me up. He throws me back onto his bed and I let out a squeal. He collapses on top of me, tickling my sides. I begin to squirm underneath him, letting out a series of giggles.

Suddenly, his warm lips are on mine. I tangle my arms around his neck as his fingers graze the exposed skin on my hip. They move together fluidly and he hooks his thumb around the belt notch on my denim shorts.

"I booked the cabin," he tells me quietly, in between kisses. "You and me. This Friday night."

"Okay," I whisper up to him, a goofy, blissful smile etched across my face. "I can't wait."

"Me either," he groans, submerging his fingers through my dark hair, playfully twisting them through.

He reels back into sitting position and throws his hand through his messy hair.

"What are you up to today?" he asks, leaning back onto his hands.

I drag my thumb across my bottom lip. "I came to talk to you about something."

He quirks an eyebrow at me. "Oh?"

"Yeah," I sigh as I lean back into his worn out pillow, averting my eyes to my lap, wishing I wasn't about to ruin the mood. "Have you received anything in the mail lately?"

"I never get mail," he shrugs. "Why?"

"Nothing at all?" I probe, chewing at my lip.

"No..." he trails off. "Why?"

I pick at a loose thread in my shorts, feeling uneasy.

"Is," he sits up and places his fingers underneath my chin. "What is it?"

"I got an invite to your father's wedding," I whisper.

His eyes widen. A look of shock forms on his face. He opens his mouth a few times, but no words come out.

"They sent out wedding invites?" he gulps. "And you got one?"

I silently nod.

"Did your mum?" he chokes out.

I nod again.

"Finn?"

My face answers him.

"And I didn't? His own son?"

I see the liquid quickly pool in his eyes and he jerks his face away. I feel my heart splitting inside my chest as I stare at the broken boy in front of me. I'm silent as he attempts to compose himself, his breathing shallow. He gets to his feet and stomps towards his bathroom, before slamming the door shut.

When I hear things begin to break, I draw my thighs up to my chest and bury my face into them, blocking out the sounds of his grunts as he throws his belongings around.

After a minute or so, things go quiet again. I crawl out of his bed and edge towards the door. When I open it, Miles is on the ground, his face in his hands. Deodorant cans, tooth paste and other containers are strewn across the floor.

I drop to my knees beside him and rest my hand on his arm.

"He kicked me out of his house and now I'm not invited to his wedding," he breathes and I can feel him shaking.

"I'll talk to him," I whisper. "Mum and I. We will go see him."

"He clearly doesn't want me there. He knows I'm a fuck up," he says, his voice muffled behind his hands. "He still doesn't forgive me for your father."

"You did nothing wrong," I plead at him. "I know we hurt you. Everyone turned on you when it wasn't your fault."

I feel pain in my chest when I see his tears.

"I fucked up," he whispers. "I left you. If I was there, you would never have called Richard..."

"No one could have predicted that would happen," I urge. "I know everyone handled it badly, but we were hurt. We blamed you, because it was easy. It was wrong of us."

"Your entire family has moved past this, but my own father can't."

"We will talk to him," I say, reaching out and rubbing his hair soothingly. "If you're not allowed to go, then we won't either."

He peers at me through the gaps in his fingers. "Really?"

"Really."

He leans his head back into my hand as he sighs.

"Thank you."

I plant a soft kiss on his cheek, before leaning my head onto his shoulder.

We stay on the tiled floor of his bathroom for quite some time. We spend most of it in silence, thinking. But the last twenty minutes, or so, we spoke about a lot of things. About us. About the past. It was nice to say things I always wanted to say. It was interesting hearing his point of view.

In his own messed up way, he did love me. He was just hell-bent on proving himself and everyone else, wrong.

We can't change the past. What's done is done. All we can do is move forward and hope to never repeat the mistakes that we both have.

"Miles, that time I found you beaten on my porch... what happened?" I eventually ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

A sigh leaves his lips. "It's nothing."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like it was nothing. Don't block me out. We're past that."

"The less you know, the better."

"No," I reply firmly. "That's not good enough. You tell me and you tell me now."

"I pissed a few people off when I was living with mum. You think I was a mess when I lived here? Things were worse there. I just... I didn't belong there."

"And they found you? Here?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Who are they?"

"I don't want to go down this road," he sighs, rubbing his tear-streaked face. "We will talk about it. I promise. Just not today. Please."

I let out a breath of air, feeling unsatisifed. "Okay."

I scramble to my feet, feeling stiff. I extend my hand to Miles and help him up. He brushes my hair back from my forehead and kisses me.

"I love you."

"I love you," I reply.

"I'm tired," he whispers.

I bead my hand through his and lead him to his bed. He flops into it. I pull the blankets over him. He snuggles into his pillows.

"Stay with me?" he asks.

"I'm going to go see your dad," I tell him. "Mum and I will."

"He's not worth it."

"It's okay. Trust me. We all need to have a conversation."

"I should be there."

"Stay," I tell him with a smile. "Rest."

He sags against his mattress, looking defeated. He nods, closing his eyes. I kiss his temple, before exiting his room, shutting the door behind me.

When I walk down the hall, I see Eli Mathews leaning against the door frame of Emily's room. I narrow my eyes.

They're friends?

"How's Finn's leg?" he asks with a smirk.

"You're a piece of shit," I tell him, my voice monotone.

"Oh," he grins. "Ouch."

I walk past him. I hear his footsteps behind me.

"Aw, don't leave it like that," he pouts.

I flip him off, before I walk out the door, slamming it shut behind me. As I walk to my car, I hear his laughter behind the wooden door. I grit my teeth, my fingernails biting into my flesh as the curl at my sides.

Eli is going to pay for what he has done.

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Thoughts?

Thank you to everyone who has read my story Downright Delinquents (either lately or a while ago). Even though I wrote the story many years ago, it's sitting in #1 in action! Thank you so much for reading my other stories! <333

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