The Secrets of Cedar Creek

33 : Betrayal

I call in sick to school. Again. I'm surprised Auntie and Uncle haven't noticed. Funny how I've done every thing in my power to avoid Sylv and somehow I'll be spending the weekend with him. I'll have to tell Auntie Helen and Uncle Pete that I'm sick. Or I can tell them that I have an exam on Tuesday that I need to study for.

I think of this as I make my way over to Adrian's. Thank God Uncle Pete picked up my moped with Auntie Helen this morning. I shoot Adrian a quick text to warn him that I'm coming over. No more sneak attacks. No more drunk conversations.

I try not to think about what he said when I fainted. I don't always treat him as the enemy, do I? I'm not... mean. Am I? Maybe I should be nicer to him.

I bring my small fist to the heavy wooden door. For once, he answers.

"Rose, what a pleasant surprise," he says, flicking his hair from his eyes. "I must say, I wasn't expecting a call so early in the morning."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Don't you have... school?"

"Don't lecture me about priorities," I grumble, then shake my head, "I mean, I just couldn't face Sylv... ok? Not like it's going to matter soon anyways."

"Come inside and we'll talk about it."

Adrian leads me through the house to the kitchen. It looks different in the daytime. The yellow walls look golden in the sunlight. "Would you like a drink?"

I raise my eyebrows.

"I meant juice. We have pine-mango, orange and apple. Want a virgin pina-colada?"

"Pine-mango sounds good," I laugh uneasily.

He sifts through the fridge and pulls out the carton. He pours me a glass and hands it to me as he asks, "why is it so hard for you to face that boy?"

"It's complicated."

"As is much that concerns you."

"Accurate," I sigh, taking a long sip of juice. "It's a really long story."

"I believe I've guessed most of it."

I sigh and bite my lip. "I was with him first, ok. So don't give me that look." I look down. "Ok, I deserve the look. Worse than the look. I'm an awful friend. I'll never forgive myself."

"Why didn't you tell your friend – this is the dead one I assume – why didn't you tell her about him?"

"Because she was finally happy! I couldn't take that away from her. And it was over."

"But it wasn't, was it?"

"Alright – that's not the point. The point is, he means a lot to me. And finding out this secret of his is... world shattering."

"I get it."

"And guess what – our families take annual holidays together and it's that time of the year. So I'll be stuck with him for the long weekend. That's what I came to tell you. I won't be able to help you this weekend."

"Rats," he grumbles. "It's ok. We'll reschedule. How are you... are you going to be ok?"

I do a double take. I don't know how to respond. "Uh, I'm still going to try and get out of it. But if I can't... I don't know. I still don't know what to say to him."

"Getting rid of her would solve a lot of problems for him. He gets rid of the baby and can finally be with you. I think you should think of him as a suspect. All of your friends, even."

"What?" my jaw drops. I almost drop the glass out of my hand but I steady it on the counter. Adrian walks around the kitchen bench to sit beside me.

"I think you know exactly what I mean. You didn't show them her diary because you don't trust them. I haven't been in Cedar Creek that long, but it doesn't take a genius to know that everyone here has secrets."

My lips purse into a thin line as I think about this. Guilt stirs in my stomach. I can't just treat all my friends as suspects. I love them. I know them. Sure, they've got secrets. As do I. That doesn't make us murderers.

"When I was twenty one, I lived in a house. It was a wonderful house, abundantly large, luxurious. It was my dream house. I'd spent almost all of my money on it after The Impossible Dilemma was a major hit." He looks to me for a compliment.

"Oh yeah, my favourite book."

"It was a movie."

"Never heard of it."

"Anyways, my best friend, Jonas, and I went boating for the day. Jonas brought women. I was... distracted. We stayed out on the water for hours – all day."

Something twinges inside me when he says women.

He looks straight into his glass and doesn't glance up at me. "When I returned home, the house was completely destroyed. All the furniture was smashed. My mothers jewellery – which was few - was stolen. Everything was stolen. I knew it was Jonas. I knew he had orchestrated it. He was my childhood friend – had grown up in the same rough neighbourhood that I had. When I confronted him, he took a knife to my throat and said he'd kill me if I reported it to the police."

I bite my lip. Adrian finally looks up at me, caramel strands of hair falling in front of his eyes.

"Point is, Jonas betrayed me. Jonas took advantage of me and I had known him my whole life. Don't trust everyone, Rose."

"Did you report him?"

"My friend in the FBI helped me bag him for another unrelated crime. He'll never know I had anything to do with it." A sad smile splays across his lips. His very pretty lips.

Heat rushes to my cheeks. "I'm sorry that happened to you," I say quietly. "But I better get going, Adrian."

He walks me to the front door and leans on the frame. "I'm going to miss you," he says.

The heat returns to my cheeks. Too quickly. I force out a laugh. "It's only three days."

"Three Rose-less days. A tragedy, really." He steps forward. "Call me if you need someone to talk to."

I nod.

"Bye, Rose."