‘Do you know what happened between them?’
Mel shrugged, staring at the bed covers with a distant look in her eyes. ‘Well Mum says it’s because he got shipped off to boarding school when he was a kid, but like, who knows. It’snot like he would ever talk to me about it. All he ever asks me about is school. You know sometimes I go and like hide in the cinema room like all day, just to see if he’ll notice? He never does. He doesn’t even know about Emily.’
Ore was getting out of her depth, but despite herself she felt a jolt of excitement for having verified the boarding school fact.
‘Who’s Emily?’ Ore asked softly. She didn’t want to spook Mel, but she looked up suddenly, that defiant expression returning to her face.
‘Emily is my girlfriend.’ Mel’s tone was combative, and Ore sensed that this was a sentence that had been practised in the mirror, rehearsed a million times in her head.
‘And you think he’d have a problem with that?’ Ore was having to tread carefully.
Mel rolled her eyes, ‘no, obviously not – he’s just never asked.’ Mel was quiet again for a moment. ‘Like isn’t it ridiculous that you basically know more about my life than he does, and like you’re basically a stranger? No offence.’
‘None taken,’ Ore reassured her, but Mel was on a roll.
‘I’ve literally wanted to go to the Barrier Reef for forever on this stupid boat and it’s only now that stupid Claude is here that Dad finally wants to go. He’s only interested in his stupid business, like now that Claude wants to go, all of sudden it’s got to happen right now.’
Ore felt a tingle run down her spine. Why would Claude want to go to the Barrier Reef so badly? And what did their business have to do with it? It could just be a red herring, but Ore had a gut feeling that it was at least worth adding to her bundle of notes.
‘Well, it might still be fun to go to the reef?’ Ore offered lamely.
‘I guess.’ Mel lowered her chin to her knees and sighed. After a minute or so of silence, Ore began to feel awkward.
In true teenage girl fashion, Mel’s own barometer for discomfort was pretty sensitive. ‘You can like, go, you know?’ Ore knew that the sneery remark was defensive.
Ore stood up from the bed. ‘You should tell Chuck about Emily. He might just be waiting on you to open up a bit; maybe he’s afraid of overstepping?’
‘Maybe, whatever.’ Mel was looking out the window, and Ore took her cue to leave. As she reached door, Mel turned her head, and almost inaudibly she said, ‘Thanks.’
Ore nodded, mirroring Mel’s own sad smile, and shut the door gently behind her.
