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Chapter ten
I Don’t Ship It
Thisisnotgoingwell.
I glare at Aaron across the card table in Joel’s basement as he and Miles laugh at the latest dig they made about Davey. And the worst part? He’s sitting right here.
I’ll be the first to admit we aren’t the easiest bunch to hang around with. We’re loud and wild and speak fluent sarcasm and inside jokes. We play card games some people have never heard of and we give each other plenty of shit. And we don’t always take kindly to outsiders. When we’re all playing cards together in Joel’s basement, that’s our safe space. We’re together, we’re relaxed, we can feel exactly how we feel and just exist. It’s never easy bringing new people in. Hell, it was hard for Trevor at the beginning, and we were already close with him.
I knew bringing Davey wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t think it was going to be thisshitty.
Trevor is here tonight, and Aaron wanted to bring Marisol, so I figured I’d bring Davey at the same time. Maybe it would be easier for them and maybe everyone else would be easieronthem. It’s not like anyone has been mean to Marisol, but we can be hard to keep up with.
I’ve spent most of the night defending Davey, telling the boys to cool it, or trying to engage Marisol and make her feel welcome here.
It’s all going like shit.
I notice Davey shift in his seat. He’s taken all their “jokes” in stride. Most of those jokes are pointing out something they don’t like about him, or something he said in the past and spinning it in a way that is supposed to be playful. Only it’s not. And we all know that. The longer the night has gone on, the worse it’s gotten. The girls have had my back. And Trevor, God bless him, has been intervening all night.
Miles mutters something else snarky and I try to kick him but can’t reach. My eyes flash to Trevor.
He gives me an almost imperceptible wink and stretches and yawns big. Then he rubs Sarah’s back. “Baby, I’m crashing. Wanna head back to your place and watch a movie?” He glances at Davey and me, then smacks Davey on the back. “You guys should come too. We were gonna watch that movie the two of us were talking about earlier.”
Thankfully, Davey plays along and smiles. “That’d be awesome.”
“And we’ll make some brownies!” Sarah pipes up.
“Definitely,” I agree, rising from my chair.
“So, you guys are leaving?” Joel complains.
I turn and glare at him. He’s such an ass sometimes. “Yep,” I say, popping the “P.”
“We’ll see you guys later,” Sarah says.
Davey attempts to be polite and says, “Thanks for having me tonight, guys. Later.”
Then we get the hell out of there.
We’re all completely silent as we walk across Joel’s backyard, then mine. When we hit the driveway, Davey finally says, “Why didn’t you tell me the guys hate me?”
Trevor clears his throat then whispers in my ear, “Have fun with that.” Glancing at Davey he says, “Sorry they were dicks. Have a good night, man.”
“Yeah, you guys too.” He waves at Sarah and Trev and they head up the stairs as Davey looks down at me, my breath showing in the cold November air.
I stare at him for a moment, not sure exactly what to say.
“They… don’t… hate you.”
He scoffs loudly. “Rae.” He stops and puts his hands on my arms, looking into my eyes. “That’s obviously not true. You can’t tell me they’re like that all the time. I know you. You wouldn’t tolerate it if they were. I guess I thought… I don’t know, you guys are all close, but I thought the guys were my friends too. Or something like friends, at least. But they pretty much seem to hate me.”
I sigh big. “They don’t. And, I think, outside of this situation, they would consider you the same way. But… they know your reputation. They’ve heard things you’ve said about girls in the past. And they see me astheirgirl. They want to protect me. I don’t think they understand how good you are to me. They don’t want to, and I’m sorry for that. I’ve tried to make it clear, and I’ve given them a lot of shit about it, but they won’t cool it. I’m sorry. I’ll talk to them. Because it’s not okay.” My fists clench into balls because I am flaming mad right now.
He wraps his arms around me. “I’m not worried about you. You stood up for me. But it didn’t feel great. I wanted to be a part of that with you. Now, I’ll be honest. I don’t want to be around them.”
My heart sinks because this is the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen. I knew it wouldn’t be easy with them. I knew they’d give him some shit. But they went way past that into being downright mean. All in trying to get him to… I don’t know, admit he’s a bad guy? Even though he isn’t. It’s like they were trying to prove their point from when we first started dating, that he’s a dick I should get far away from. But Davey and I spend a ton of time together, and he’s not that guy with me. I wouldn’t tolerate that. And I will not tolerate the boys dragging him like they did.
“Well, they’re gonna catch hell from me because how they treated you was not okay. And they need to get comfortable with the fact that you are in my life and try to see the amazing guy I see when I look at you.”
