Losing Faith (Surfers Way) (2 page)

---

I strip off my bra and underwear and toss them on the pile of clothes we’ve created. Goosebumps roll over my skin and I start to shake. Am I trembling from nerves or of being seen naked?
Nothing to hide behind, here
.

I close my eyes and then open them as a whoosh of air leaves my lips. I turn to Faith, who is also as naked as the day she was born.

“Are we really going to do this?” I ask her, trying to ignore the painful way that goosebumps ice over my skin, despite being semi-numb from all the tequila.

My BFF smiles and gifts me a look laced with mischief, reminding me that she’s not just the good girl that everyone thinks she is, that her parents are always harping on about.
They were never around for the pool parties
. Faith can be trouble when she wants to. It’s good to see her relax a little and not take everything as seriously as she does her studies. I worry about how she’s going to cope with her parents getting divorced, though. I can’t imagine what that must be like for her.

We sprint through the trees and run straight for the party. My heart pumps hard and fast in my chest as a cast of heads turn our way.

“Shit,” I curse under my breath.
No one better have a phone ready to record this
.

I cover my beaver with one hand and try and shield my poor excuses for boobs with the other. Jamie looks up. His square jaw drops.

“Nudie run!” Jake yells, alerting the rest of the footy team. Whistles and howls call out into the night.

The three of us scream as we scramble towards the house.

“We did it!” Mack yells as we circle around the residence and run back to the party before heading to the shelter of the bush again.

“This is amazing,” Faith yells over the ruckus of party-goers.

We dive into shelter of the trees, the shadows protecting us from view. In record time, I pull my underwear on.

“Are you okay?” Faith says to Mack who’s leaning over, her hands on her knees.

“Yeah,” Mack gasps.

I zip up my dress and move my head around a tree. That’s when I see them.

“They’re coming!” I cry out as the soccer boys run towards us. I toss Mack her dress, and do the same for Faith.

The girls pull on their outfits just in time. We stroll out into the moonlight towards the bonfire, as if we didn’t just bare all to our entire class. Faith walks in front, reaching back for us. We each take her hand, the three of us, united. The way it’s always been.

“Best friends forever,” Faith whispers.

Those three little words draw a tear to my eye and wrap around my heart like a big squishy hug. I will treasure this moment for the rest of my life.

---

After milling around the fire for the last couple of hours, I set my sights on Mack, who’s walking towards the house. I jog to catch up to her and link my arm around hers.

“You feeling better about the move?” I ask her, and nudge my shoulder against hers.

“What’s that?” she says, shaking whatever thoughts are bombarding her. She’s been quiet tonight. Maybe she’s stressing about leaving us. I can’t say I’m happy about her going.

“The move. You ready for it?”

“Yeah. I know I wanted to stay before, but leaving’s the right thing to do. Tonight’s just been a big night.”

“I’m gonna miss you like crazy. Like loopy, wear-underpants-on-my-head crazy,” I tell her and swoop in to kiss her temple.

Mack throws back her head and laughs. “Yeah, well I’m gonna miss you like a woman with PMS needs her chocolate.”

Laughter bursts from my mouth. “Aw! You’re gonna miss me that bad? Wait, let me think for a second. I’m gonna miss you like …” I huff out a breath. “Nope. I’m out of ideas. Crazy-underwear lady about covers it. Thank God we have Byron Bay at Easter. Don’t you dare forget about that.”

“I doubt you girls will let me,” Mack says and laughs.

We look at each other and smile. “Road trip!” we shout in unison.

Quade’s car creeps down the driveway, sending my heart into a mad flutter. Butterflies awake in my stomach.
I need to tell the girls
. He parks the car and walks toward us. Eden appears out of nowhere.

“Quadie!” Eden shrieks and jumps on him, hugging him like a koala scrambling for higher ground. Man, she must have had way more jelly shots than I thought. Maybe she had a secret stash to herself.

“Hey,” Quade mumbles. “Good party?” he asks, holding Eden’s shoulders to stop her from swaying. Ever since we started experimenting with drinking, she’s been the life of every party.

“Great,” Eden says and makes a weird noise with her mouth. She cups her hand over her mouth.
Spew alert
.

“Hi Lacey, Mack,” Quade says, drilling me with those eyes … eyes I get lost in every time he looks at me. By the look of his heated gaze, I know exactly what he’s thinking about. It sends a shiver right through to my bones. My lady parts tingle with anticipation.
Can we go already?

I line up for a hug after his cousin. When I lean in, his fresh aftershave tickles at my nose. Did he just get out of the shower or did he smell this good earlier?

“Guess what?” I ask him.

Mischief dances in his eyes. “What, Lace?”

“It’s later,” I whisper.

A cheeky smirk toys with his dimple, and then his smile meets his eyes. “You’re right. It is.”

Boy, are you about to be kissed stupid.

I peel my arms from him, instantly suffering withdrawal from his warmth.

“So where’s Faith?” he asks.

“Her and Byron are having a talk out back,” I say, waving towards the back of the property, where the gardens meet the scrub.

Quade’s brows pull together. “Oh. Everything okay?” he asks.

I shrug. “I think so.” I turn to Mack. “Mack, do you know anything?”

“Uh, no. Everything’s fine,” she says and shakes her head. “I’m sure they’re just discussing … things.”

And they’re taking their time. Probably making out.

Not thinking about my friend having a pash-fest right now. Urgh.

I shake off those thoughts and lead Quade over to the porch. We sit down and I tell him about how popular Eden’s jelly shots were as well as the throat-burning tequila that’s had me teetering on the edge of drunk all night. Quade laughs when I tell him about the horrifically bad top-forty songs we danced to. I leave out the part about the nudie run, because I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be happy that the three of us had been naked in front of our entire grade. I don’t know why I let Faith talk me into it.
Who am I kidding? As if I would’ve said no.
Not only would I not want to, but I never say no to Faith. She’s too good to me.

I look over at Mack, who’s been really quiet since we came over here. She won’t hold my gaze and seems to be ignoring Quade. Is she thinking about the nudie run? Surely she’s not ashamed? She has a banging body, and besides, who cares? It’s done.

Did you tell the girls yet?
Quade mouths to me.

“I thought we could do it on the way home,” I whisper. I could have done it already, but I want Quade to be with me.

After about fifteen minutes or so of chatting and waiting with no sign of Faith or Byron, Quade stands and stretches his hands above his head. I gawk at the flash of skin at his hip as his shirt gives me the ultimate tease. I want to lick it.

Gulp.

“Okay, we’ve given them long enough. Let’s go find ’em,” he says.

Mack and I trail behind Quade as he walks around towards the backyard. There aren’t as many people milling about as there were before, and the fire is nearly out. We approach three people sitting on a log, staring into the flames.

Eden, Andy and Byron.

Wait a sec, isn’t he supposed to be with Faith?

“Where’s Faith?” I ask Byron.

In a quick move, his gaze darts from the fire to us. He frowns and shakes his head. “I thought she was with you.”

Then where the hell is she?

“No. Don’t be silly, you went and talked to her over …” I squint as I point to the part of the yard they walked off to earlier. “Over there.”

“That was almost half an hour ago,” Byron says, stringing out each word as if he’s calculating the time in his head. “Then she said she was going home. With you guys.”

“Why wouldn’t
you
be coming with us?” Quade asks, his brow wrinkling. Quade’s right. That was the deal. We all leave together.

“We broke up,” Byron says.

My stomach drops. Air is forced from my lungs in a whoosh.
Holy shit, it’s over?

“You what?” I shriek, unable to stop the words coming from my mouth. “But you guys are crazy about each other. You’re in love … Faith would’ve done anything for you.” She hadn’t said anything about leaving him. She would have told me, and we sure as anything wouldn’t have been out shopping for condoms earlier today if this was the plan.

Byron huffs out a breath as I draw air in deep. Why is he being so bloody quiet?

“Why did you break it off with her, Byron?” I bark at him.
I have to know
. I have to know how a relationship that seemed so perfect to me was somehow so flawed. “What’s your problem with her?”

“Look, I don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” Byron rests his head in his hands. Why is he acting all sad and mopey, as if she broke up with him?

“Well, that’s too bad because you’re gonna have to,” Eden slurs. “Nobody hurts my cousin and gets away with it. We love Faith.” Eden stumbles and looks around at each of us. “
Everyone
loves Faith.”

“We need to find her. Now,” I say, trying to hold back my anger. Byron must have really hurt Faith for her to keep her distance from us. I need to get to her now. My bestie needs me. “Byron, did she come back here with you? When did you last see her?”

“When we finished our … our talk, I went into the bush to take a leak. I didn’t see where she went. She just said she was going home.”

“She didn’t come back here,” Eden pipes in and shakes her head, her blonde locks getting stuck in her long lashes. She pulls the strands free from her face and tucks them behind her ear. “After I went and said hi to Quade, I came back around. Everyone was leaving. I would’ve seen her.”

I suck in a breath and force it out through my mouth in a long stream. Okay, so I need to calm down. Faith might be heartbroken, but she’ll be okay. She’s decided to go home. “I’ll call her,” I say, opening up my purse and grabbing my phone. “There’s probably a really good explanation for this.” When she answers, I’m gonna kick her arse for doing this. So not cool.

I go to favourites, where there are only two numbers saved. Mack and Faith.
My best bitches
. I dial my MIA friend and press speaker.

The rings echo into the night. Each unanswered ring has my heart beating faster. Just pick up the phone already.

“Hi, you’ve reached Faith. You know what to do.” Beep!

“I’ll try,” Mack says, trying from her phone.

It rings until it hits voicemail. The phone slips from her fingers onto the ground.

How much did she have to drink?

“I’ll call Mick,” Byron offers. I guess he was one of the last to leave. Maybe she got a ride with them.

“I’ll try Pia,” I offer.
Even though she’s been a bit of a bitch to me lately.

“This is so unlike Faith,” Quade says, running his hand through his hair. “I’m gonna to do a lap of the property, then maybe we should head home. She might have decided to walk.”

“Yeah, after some douche knuckle broke her heart.” Eden shoots a filthy look at Byron. He turns away.

Douche knuckle, alright.

I should grab Byron by the neck and make him talk, find out what the hell happened between them.
Maybe later
. First I need to find my friend.

Quade and I walk in one direction. Mack goes in another.

“I knew I should’ve come earlier,” Quade says and huffs. “Mum’s gonna be pissed. She carried on about getting here at a reasonable time so I could make sure Faith wasn’t too drunk.”

“Faith would’ve been pissed if you came too soon. You know that.”

“Yeah, but try explaining that to my mother. Besides, I had other things planned for tonight than chasing my sister. As soon as we find Faith we can finally tell her and Mack about us, and then tonight becomes all about you and me.”

I don’t miss the heated gaze he shoots me when he says the last three words, causing my heart to beat like a jungle drum.
You and me. Sigh
.

I close my eyes for a brief moment, envisaging naked skin tangled in cotton sheets. Then I mentally slap myself.
I shouldn’t be thinking of that now. I have a friend to find.

“Let’s find her and get out of here,” I say in a thick voice as we continue to walk around the property, calling her name out into the darkness.

We don’t find her.