Chapter 18

Pepper had arranged for a limo to take us around everywhere, but I convinced her to cancel it and I hired a car for us instead. The first thing we did was have breakfast with Keira and sally. I could see Pepper was a bit more wary of her now, but at least they were both more than civil ... well Keira was more than civil since she didn't know anything was wrong in the first place.

It was nice to sit out in the sun with familiar accents everywhere, good coffee, good food. I even recognised a few faces. Keira finally convinced me it was time to see people again, so we were heading out to one of the bars in a group. Her friends and mine. I felt somewhat cheated that I had moved to the U.S just as I turned eighteen, which was the drinking age in Oz. Well I could make up for it on my holiday I guessed. Pepper and I went back to the hotel after that, had a bit more butt sex and chatted for a bit.

We always had odd conversations, half the time we would accuse each other of things that we would never do, like fucking goats or rodeo clowns. Or I would get her to tell me some random facts from her seemingly unlimited plethora of them. I told her about places here and what we should do, gave her a bit of background on some of the people she would be meeting tonight. I knew she didn't need it, but Pepper always liked to be armed (that and I figured if she felt left out she would just bail and I would have to go find her again instead of pickling myself with good Australian beer.) I also asked her if you could pickle something with beer. The answer was, of course, no. I wondered why she would have ever looked that up. Pepper didn't seem to the green thumb kind.

It was an easy day, and it was nice just to spend time hanging around, we watched a bit of TV curled up on the couch and had a few pre-drinks ourselves from the mini bar. It was so novel drinking them out of those tiny bottles it was worth paying fifteen bucks for a tiny little shot.

'So, you nervous?' I asked snidely.

She scoffed, 'give me a break. As if I would be nervous with your juvenile little friends. All I need to know is G'Day, Mate! And blimey!'

'Only the English say blimey.' I tousled her hair. 'I thought you knew everything?'

'Who told you that?'

'I believe it was you.' We got a taxi down to the pub. Pepper wasn't nervous, but I was. What would they think of me now? I left to go and live in sunny California with my materialistic schoolmates and loose women while they were back here surfing and kicking the footy and going to uni to become lawyers and doctors or trade school to drive utes and cut off people in traffic. Already I was stereotyping them, just like they were probably stereotyping me. There goes Hunter, listen to his accent, he sounds like a Yank!

I didn't know if I could handle the same reception here I received when I first got to Cali, I knew I didn't belong there, but what if I didn't belong here anymore either? I wished Keira was here. I found myself gripping Pepper's hand as we crossed the street. She looked at me sideways, I don't think we had ever actually held hands before.

I saw Keira first, she was sitting by the window talking to a group of girls I vaguely remembered from school.

She excused herself, came up and kissed me and Pepper on the cheek. 'Hey guys, we've been waiting.'

'Hunter needed Dutch courage.' Pepper explained.

'Nice you got my back.' I muttered.

Keira laughed, 'come on, you two. People are waiting.'

It was funny to see how the dynamics had changed since I was away. There were people who were obviously favourites who had just been part of the crowd when they were in school, a few notable absents and people who I never thought I would see again sitting right there.

I received mixed feelings. The girls were a lot nicer, and some of the ones I had fooled around with back in the day gave me very meaningful looks. The guys were a bit more varied. Of my three best mates at school, one was a total dick, and kept calling me a Seppo and he was all over Pepper. The other was nice, but I could tell it was awkward, I think it was because he had his eye on Keira. Then there was Chris Lee. Chris was the most Aussie bloke ever, he had a big five o'clock shadow, broad shoulders and that sun drenched face that would have looked great on a catalogue for Abercrombie and Fitch. He looked every inch like a builder's labourer, but he was actually a maths whiz and was almost finished a degree in financial modelling. He would probably be a millionaire one day.

'Hunter, you fucking faggot!' he yelled across from the room as he saw me. Chris pushed through the crowd and pulled me into a manly hug.

'What's up, butt fuck.' I grinned. At least some things never changed. Chris was actually one of the nicest guys ever once you got to know him, but he could sometimes be a little brash.

He introduced himself to Pepper and shook her hand, he said, 'still punching above your weight?'

'I try.' I slipped an arm around Pepper's waist.

'Good, let's get a beer, or do you drink spritzers now?'

'Honestly, I don't even know what one is, but if you have a few recipes to share I'm sure Keira would love to hear them.'

'Ha ha your sister is totally hot, I should try that.'

'Try what?' I punched him under the ribs.

'Ahh, you cock sucker, I meant giving her recipes. I forgot you can fight even though you look like a poof.'

It probably seemed strange to Pepper, how much we insulted each other, but truthfully, the more you like someone here, the more rude words you call them. And if the stream of obscenities coming from my old buddy's mouth were anything to go on, we were still firm friends.

This time I made a concerted effort to include Pepper. She fit in pretty well, the girl was so hot she looked out of place, but when her and Keira sat next to each other it was quite comical to see guys walking past and then doing a massive double take. I talked to everyone, and even a few people I hadn't really been friends with before, but I spent most of the night talking to Chris. By the end of it we were sitting outside at one of the tables, arms around each other's shoulders chain smoking and telling each other how shit it was we hadn't bothered to contact each other when I had been gone.

'I'm not gonna lie though.' Chris slurred a bit. 'I'm probably not going to call you when you leave, but when you come back again we can take up where we left off!'

I wouldn't have expected anything less. We didn't need to gossip. There were some friends who were just there for you when you needed them, no matter how long the pause between drinks had been. I think it was worth coming home, just so I could remember that.

'Fuuuuucccckkkkk!' I groaned as I tried to sit up, was hit with a wave of pounding headache and nausea and flopped back face down on to the bed.

'Good morning, sunshine.' Pepper was sitting up reading a magazine next to me. 'I'm surprised you are actually alive, let alone here. I thought you were going to go home with your boyfriend for a while there.'

'Did you have a nice night?' I asked.

'As a matter of fact, I did. Some of your friends are idiots, but there were a few that were okay. Most of all it was just interesting to be a fly on the wall. I was always interested to see where you came from. You're not really like them though.' She put down the magazine and scooted down so she was at eye level with me. 'It's kind of like you're stuck between two worlds now.'

I blinked, 'You know what's funny? I was thinking the exact same thing last night.'

'You should move to Montreal then.'

'Uhhh, why?'

'It's very much like here, but a little North American as well. And very Montreal-ish, they have their own identity that is unique, and a name like Michel would fit in there well.'

'Sure, let's go.' I joked.

'I wasn't serious. I suppose I need to work on my sarcasm tone better.

'And you need to pick it up when someone is directing it at you.' This was the second mistake Pepper had made in the last two days. Was she always like this, and I had just had her up on a pedestal, or was she doing it to make me feel better? Either way, I liked it. Every day a tiny piece of the giant mosaic that was Pepper Kerr was being revealed.

'One day. You know sarcasm isn't as popular in California, people just tend to get offended, but here everyone is like that.'

'Hey, Peppie... ' I said.

'What did you just call me?'

'I thought you wanted a pet name!' I held up my hands.

'Asshole, anyway, what do you want.'

'Why do you normally show your bad side, not your good one?'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You know. Back in California you are always mean to people, but over here it's like you're a completely new girl. Why am I the only one who gets to see this Pepper?'

'Stella knows me as well, that's probably why she put up with all my shit for these years.'

'Okay, but that doesn't explain why.'

Pepper sighed, 'California is all about image, everywhere you go, you have a good conversation with someone and five seconds later they are handing you their card to see if you can do a deal. You want to make it over there? No problem, date a celebrity, get on reality T.V and sell yourself. Business? It's not about how nice of a guy you are, or how hard you work, it's about kissing the right ass, going to the right business lunches and fucking the right people if you're a girl.

It sounds backwards, and I'm sure all the feminists would cry outrage but most of the hardcore ones are working shit jobs complaining about the "bitches" up high.

I hate it, and it's beaten me down because that's how it's been for me since I learned to walk. My parents were always obsessed with accumulating more money, more status, more image, and for my Dad, more trophies. That's all I was to them, "look at our pretty daughter, she's so smart!" I know they loved me, or they at least wanted to, but I honestly think they didn't know how by the time I was old enough to know the difference.'

'That doesn't mean everyone is like that.' I said, 'but I can see your point.' Pepper backed up a little bit, but I put my arm around her waist and pulled her in close to me, not so close that she was assaulted by my morning booze breath, but close enough so that she knew I wasn't letting her go anywhere.

She smiled and wrinkled her nose, but she didn't comment. 'No, not everyone is like that. Every now and again you come across people like you or Stella, that stick by you. I know you wouldn't care if I had a dollar to my name or not, neither would she. And Ryan too, for all his money he is actually one of the least materialistic people I know. He just wants to fight and screw and have a bit of fun. He doesn't need much for that. But the sad thing is, he'll probably go into some high powered job that he hates just because he feels it's the right thing to do.'

'So what are we going to do?'

Pepper turned away quickly and jumped off the bed. 'I need a shower.'

I scratched my head, had I annoyed her again? No, she hadn't seemed angry. Well there was only one way to find out. I slipped out of bed and went in after her.

I caught her before she had the water on, I couldn't see her face directly, but I caught the reflection in the mirror. She had a tear in her eye! 'Are you okay?' I asked sceptically.

She rounded on me and jabbed her finger into my chest, 'if you tell anyone about this, I swear to god I will ruin your life, you mother fucker.'

For once it dawned on me, 'Holy shit, Pepper Kerr had a happy tear! Are you getting emotional on me?' I swept her up into my arms and gave her a sloppy kiss, ha ha you are!'

'I said shut up!' she tried to squirm away.

'No way, this is a priceless moment!'

'It was a momentary lapse.' She pouted. 'I just wasn't used to this "we" business, that's all. It's not like I really care that much.'

'Right, sure thing.' I put her down. 'You're not alone though, you know that right?'

'That's what you say today, but what about when you see Stella again? Anyway I'm just being weird, I'm about to get my period.'

'You're not seriously going to pull that one are you?' I asked flatly.

'It's pulled, done. You want to see?'

'Yep.' I called her bluff.

'Fine, ' she dropped her thong to the ground.

'Hmm, let me have a look here.' I played along, hoping she was just joking otherwise I would be naming myself pervert of the week. Lucky for me, all I saw was one perfectly formed snatch that seemed well overdue for a good licking. Actually, I'll meet you in the shower.' I looked over to the sink.

'Fucking tease.' Pepper muttered as she got in.

I quickly brushed my teeth and followed her in, within five seconds I had her leg over my shoulder and my tongue as far into her as it could get.

This time even Keira was far from my thoughts.

We had breakfast with Keira, most of our other friends were at work. She was going to meet up with one of her girlfriends and I decided it was a good time to take Pepper to see some of the Melbourne sights. Only thing was, there wasn't really that many of them. Melbourne was a beautiful city, and the food was among the best in the world, but there wasn't all that much to see unless you liked shopping, which I didn't.

'How about we take a drive to the beach?' I suggested. 'We could spend a night down at Portsea or something?'

'I'd like that.' Pepper said.

'Great, pack your shit then, woman! We're on a road trip away from our road trip!'