Rob shoved his hands in his pockets as he ambled along the footpath with Linc beside him. He yanked his head toward the house they'd just left and said, "Did you tell Drew about me getting the boot from the air force?"

"Nah..." Linc mimicked Rob's actions and pushed his hands into his pockets. "That's your business."

Jutting his jaw out, Rob nodded. "Thanks, mate, I appreciate that."

"You gonna tell me about you and Becky or what?"

"Yeah... what do you want to know?" Rob looked down at Linc and realised he'd grown quite a bit over the last six months and thought he was probably going to be tall and lean like Jarod Bridgestone had been.

"No bullshit, alright. I'm not a baby and it pisses me off that everyone thinks I'm a wimp or delicate or whatever the fuck."

"Oi. Swearing."

"That too," Linc spat. "I don't swear a lot but I can if I want to. Everyone else does, even Mum when she's pissed off and at the moment I'm pissed off with all of you."

"Fair enough." Rob held up his hands in surrender, and then pointed toward the park. "Let's go sit somewhere and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Once they'd settle on the swings Rob said, "Okay. Fire away. What do you want to know?"

"Whose fault was it? Like who broke it off?"

Rob eased out a breath. "To be honest, Linc, I don't know." He shrugged and added, "I can only tell you my side of the story."

"And?"

"Maybe you should be a copper or a lawyer when you finish school." Rob chuckled; Linc was certainly unforgiving when it came to questions. He'd always gone straight to the point.

"Stop pissing around, Rob, and get on with it."

"Righto." Rob nodded and focused on Linc's angry face. "I lied to Becky. I said I was going to a training camp over the Easter break when really I wanted to go to Melbourne with my new friends. She knew I lied so she dumped me over text saying she had met someone else and had played up on me."

Linc screwed up his face and thought for a moment. "Becky wouldn't have done that. She lied."

"I don't know." Rob shrugged. "She wouldn't talk to me over the phone. She cut me from all contact with her and so I drove to Adelaide to see her." He sighed, glanced away, and then looked back at Linc. "I saw her with someone else. Another guy. Holding his hand."

"There'd be a reason." Linc stared at the ground and swept his foot over the dirt under the swing as it swayed gently from side to side. "She wouldn't have played up on you. I know my sister. She wouldn't do that."

Again Rob shrugged. "The proof was there in front of me, Linc. I took it at face value and it hurt. I drove back to Melbourne in a daze."

"You shoulda talked to her." Linc lifted his face and peered at Rob. "Why did you lie to her? What was it about going to Melbourne that was more important than going to see Becky? I heard you tell her you couldn't wait to see her over the Easter break, that you'd be fucking, not making love, when you saw her after all that time."

"When did you hear me say that?" Rob looked at Linc stunned. He remembered saying those things to Becky but he was sure they were alone in the motel room.

"We were at Aunt Helen's. You were sitting in the yard talking to Becky on the phone." Linc gasped, his voice pitched as he said, "I heard you say it and that you missed her already and that you loved her, and then you didn't go and see her." Linc sucked in a breath and quickly wiped his eyes. "That would have broken her heart and she'd have pretended it didn't. I know, Becky. She's had her heart broken a lot, even more than me and she kept pretending it didn't matter so it wouldn't upset me. You broke it again and lied to her, Rob, and I want to know why because there's got to be a bigger reason than just wanting to go to Melbourne with your friends."

Rob gripped the chain on the swing and stared ahead of him. He swallowed, and then nodded before saying, "There was another girl."

"So you played up on Becky, not her playing up on you!" Linc spat.

"No. No. It wasn't like that."

"Then tell me the fucking truth, Rob!" Linc sprang to his feet, folded his arms and stood spread leg in front of Rob. "My sister had her heart broken and you and Mum and Dad wouldn't tell me. I'm the only person who could have helped her but you all decided I wasn't capable and I bet you all convinced Becky to not tell me too."

"Linc." Rob held out his palms in pleading. "It wasn't like that."

"Then tell me how the fuck it was?" Linc demanded.

"Okay." Rob swept his hand toward the swing. "Can you sit down?"

"Nope. I'm fine where I am."

Rob stared at the boy in front of him. He couldn't help but feel proud of him. Linc was more mature teenager than little kid at that moment. "I'm sorry, Linc. It's all a big lot of confusion to me still. It's true; there was another girl, one of my squadron. It's hard when you're away from your family and loved ones and maybe I was... ah... am too young to have been committed. It's hard to explain." He smiled forlornly. "I love Becky. I always will and I miss her but it obviously wasn't enough and I can't explain it because I don't understand what happened or why I took an interest in this girl."

Linc took a breath and relaxed his stance as he watched Rob drop his gaze to the ground and take a deep breath. He sat back on the swing and waited.

"This girl fascinated me," Rob continued. "I kept looking at her and thinking about her. I don't even know why because we'd never even talked one on one. The group planned a trip to Melbourne over the long weekend. We were free from service and it sounded like fun." He looked over at Linc. "I honestly wasn't going to go but I knew I wanted to so I lied to Becky, and then one of the girls did a Facebook post and tagged me in it. When Becky dumped me I knew it was because she'd seen it and caught me out." He sighed and added, "Then she sent me a text saying she was seeing someone else. I drove to Adelaide and saw her with him so I realised she'd been lying to me too." He held Linc with his eyes. "In reality she did worse to me than I did to her."

"Would you have had sex with this other girl if you'd gone to Melbourne with her?"

"I don't know." Rob shrugged, brought his hands together between his knees, and then flipped them apart. "Yeah. Probably. I guess."

"So the truth is that you would have done worse because I don't and won't ever believe that Becky would have been hooking up with someone else behind your back. Becky would have felt like she was holding you back. She'd have known you wanted to go and she'd have guessed you liked one of those girls so she set you free." Linc stood up again and made to walk away.

Rob sat up straighter on the swing and gripped the chains once more. "What are you doing?"

Linc turned and faced him. "I know my sister, Rob. She would have never wanted you to bullshit her, or to stay with her and make her feel like a charity. That's why she dumped you. That's why she lied to you and there'd have been a reason she was holding that guy's hand and it wouldn't be because she was having sex with him." He took a breath and swept his hands over his head. "For a smart guy you sure can be an idiot sometimes. You shoulda talked to her but, what's done is done and one thing I heard Trin say that really sank in, I'm where I'm meant to be, which means you and Becky are where you're meant to be, so don't ever lie to me again and right now I'm gonna tell Mum and Dad the same thing, and then like everyone else, I'm getting on with my life."

I just love the kind of person Linc is becoming. xoxo

Photo copyright - Slism