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“I’m sure he never will,” Courtney adds, her eyes sparkling with humour.

Marcus found out about his dad and Courtney before I did, and although he won’t divulge the story, I know it’s one that still traumatises him to this day.

It’s the only time our friendship has been tested, as Marcus didn’t tell me as soon as he found out. He gave Courtney a deadline and told her she had to tell me by then, or he would do it.

He knew for almost two weeks before I found out, and when I learnt that he knew and hadn’t told me, I was pissed. We argued, we got drunk together, and we hashed it out between us.

In the end, we joined together in our mutual disgust, not that it changed anything. Maximus and Courtney have been together for almost a year now, and I don’t see that ending anytime soon.

When we’ve both stopped laughing, I hit her with my best big brother stare, letting her see how serious I am. “All joking aside, are you happy?”

She doesn’t even hesitate before she’s nodding her head rapidly, that big smile lighting up her face. “Happier than I’ve been in a long time. I don’t need your blessing or approval, norwill I ask for it, but I really hope that someday you’ll give me it, anyway.”

I let out a sigh. “Of course, you have my blessing. Just try to make this work, because I’m pretty sure I’ll get in a lot of trouble for trying to kill Maximus if he hurts you. So, try not to get either of us killed, please.”

Court chuckles as she wraps her arms around me, pulling me in for a hug. “I promise not to get us killed, if you promise to talk to Jake.”

I groan and she pulls back, fixing me with a hard stare that she doesn’t back down from until I agree. “Fine, I’ll talk to him.”

She lets out a little whoop as she shuffles away from me. We stick to safer topics as we finish our food, both of us enjoying just being with each other. Once we’ve finished eating, Courtney asks for the bill.

“You should go. There’s no time like the present,” she says, pointing to the door.

“He’s on a date,” I grumble, but she waves me off like that’s irrelevant.

“You know where they’ll be when the date is over, so wait for him there,” she suggests as she pulls on her jacket.

She makes it sound so easy. Go to Caged, wait for them to get back from their date, have a conversation with Jacob about the past. When it’s broken up like that, of course it sounds easy, yet it’s anything but.

What do I have to lose?

After I’ve paid the bill, I give my sister a big hug goodbye, making plans to do this again soon, before we part ways. My mind is a blur as I drive, almost on autopilot, back to Caged.

Jake’s car isn’t back, and I breathe a sigh of relief. It would be so easy to go home now and forget all about talking to him, but I’ve never broken a promise I made to Courtney, and I don’t plan to start now.

With slow, almost sluggish movements, I drag my feet as I walk into Caged. I order a drink at the bar, but rather than grab my usual stool, I take my glass over to a table by the window. It overlooks the car park, and I’ll be able to see when they get back.

As I nurse another Whiskey and Coke, my mind starts to wander, and the memories that I fought so hard to push back, when Courtney brought them up, flash in my mind. I think back to the night when I almost got everything I ever wanted, only to lose it all.

- TEN YEARS AGO -

Idon’t even want to go to fucking prom,I think to myself as I pull on my suit jacket, not bothering to look at myself in the mirror.

Three weeks ago, it was a completely different story. I was so excited about going, because me and Jake were going together—as friends, obviously—but still, it was going to be just the two of us.

Marcus is being forced to go with the daughter of one of Maximus’ friends, and Jake has been avoiding Haley since that night at the club. I haven’t asked anyone, and when he found that out, he said we should go together, since he didn’t have a date either.

My stupid heart jumped at the chance, and I hate how fucking giddy I felt. I should have known something would ruin it.

Jake came back to school after spending the weekend with his family, and he blew all our plans out of the water. Heinformed me he was taking a girl called Tahlia to prom. She’s the year below us, and his parents had set him up.

Feeling almost betrayed by him, I kicked off. I tried to make it seem like I was angry, because I was the only one left without a date, but I knew he could see through my lies. He knew I was hurt. I wanted to go to prom with Jake, even if everyone just saw us as two mates with no dates.

My initial reaction was to insist I’m not going to prom at all, and that lasted for a good few days, until Marcus wore me down. He informed me that his date, Kate, has a sister called Maya, who is two years below us. He arranged for her to be my date.

Obviously, I declined. In fact, I shouted and swore, not so politely informing him I could find my own date if I wanted one. In the end, I knew Marcus wouldn’t back down, so I gave in. I put on the suit, and I made my way down to the car, where Marcus was already waiting.

“You scrub up well,” he tells me when I reach him.