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The whole ride to the restaurant Aubrey didn’t say one word to me. When I reached for her hand, she immediately tore it away from my grasp. I swore to everything that was holy I almost pulled the goddamn Jeep over on the side of the road and had it out with her right then and there. But, I continued driving. She was out of my Jeep before I even had it in park, slamming the door behind her, and rushing into Alex’s parents’ restaurant. Not bothering to wait one damn second for me.
Half-Pint peered from Aubrey then back to me as soon as I walked in, a knowing expression written clear across her face. She stepped toward me, and I instantly shook my head no. I was going to let my anger go on the wrong fucking girl if she came near me, and Alex didn’t deserve that.
I’m not quite sure Aubrey did either.
I did the only thing I could before I flipped my shit. I grabbed my board and took out my frustration on the water.
12
Aubrey
“I. Hate. Him!”
Alex sighed, looking toward the ocean where Dylan had just disappeared to. I followed her worried gaze, except my eyes were filled with fury.
“What happened?”
“Dylan McGraw happened.”
“Aubrey…”
“No, Half-Pint, you don’t get to take his side without knowing the facts. God! He’s such a fucking asshole!”
Her eyes widened, and I regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth. Lily, Lucas’ baby sister was standing right by Alex’s side. She was only ten, but she started to follow Half-Pint around everywhere.
I knew why Lily did that, too. But that was a whole other story that I didn’t feel like getting into.
“Yeah, you know he is, Alex!” I pointed to both of them. “You both do!”
“What did he do?” Lily asked with caring eyes. She was the sweetest little girl who I thought would grow up to be like Alex. Boy was I wrong.
Hell no, she didn’t.
Sometimes I thought Lily was worse than I was.
“What didn’t he do? Let’s start there!” I argued.
“Calm down,” Alex coaxed, her tone laced with nothing but concern. “Tell me what happened?”
I took a long, deep breath, blowing all the air out of my lungs before I started. “We were hanging out in my room. I was getting ready to come here and I said—” I stopped myself.
Alex never told me about her and Lucas, but she didn’t have to. It was blatantly obvious. I didn’t want to push her to tell me something she wasn’t ready for me to hear.
“That’s not important,” I sidestepped. “He just… God… he just… fuck I can’t even explain it.” I glanced at Lily. “I’m sorry, Lily baby. I shouldn’t say those kinds of words.”
“Why?” She shrugged. “The boys do all the time.”
I chuckled and Alex just shook her head.
“I don’t understand him sometimes. He gives me whiplash. Normally it’s a good thing. Today it was not.”
“There’s this boy at school named Adam,” Lily said out of nowhere, surprising both of us. “I didn’t like Adam. He was mean to me. He’d pull my hair, he’d cut in front of me at lunch, and he’d take my pink marker when I’ve told him several times that it’s my favorite color.”
Alex and I both looked at each other confused and then back at Lily.
“I told my mom all about him. She just said that it was because Adam liked me. That boys don’t know how to express themselves, so they act out to get your attention. Dylan and Jacob came to pick me up from school the next day and told me to wait in the car. I waited for a long time. The next day at school Adam was nice to me. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t been mean to me since.”
Alex and I busted out laughing. That poor little boy probably didn’t see them coming.
