Isobel took one look at my face and burst out laughing.
I had no desire to torture and maim any kind of creatures, thank you very much.
“Are we done with this place for the day?” I asked her carefully. I knew better than to ask for good.
She and I, we’d never be done with the water for good, and our memories would never entirely let us go. I didn’t care how many times she said she wasn’t afraid of it, I didn’t believe her.
“Let’s go back to the cabin and grab something to eat. If we are lucky your dad will be there and we can have lunch with him.”
Sounded like a good plan to me. I liked food a whole lot and I really loved my dad.
Lately, I even kind of loved Isobel.
Being and adult was pretty strange at times.
Neither of us commented on Trenton and Simon waiting patiently in the parking lot like the stalkers they were.
Brighton even waved at them.
The kid had yet to learn how to be cool.
3
You’re Not So Bad
Simon
My brother might have been my best friend but he was absolutely driving me fucking crazy.
I swear, he’d been the one born with all the patience out of the two of us.
Then again, Ariel Kimber could suck the patience right out of a saint.
Normally I didn’t mind how fucking crazy and out of control she could get. I pretty much got off on it. But lately it’s been pissing me off because I felt like we were stuck in a serious holding pattern.
I didn’t mind her taking her sweet time, just so long as we were going somewhere.
My brother and I, our whole goddamn lives had been based around this fucking crazy girl. I had proved I didn’t mind waiting. But at what point was enough enough?
I felt like I might be there now.
I was tired of watching every other person around me fall into their happily ever after while Trenton and I were just stuck in the same place, watching from the sidelines.
We were glorified babysitters so you’d think we’d be used to it, it came with the job after all. But I wanted more for the two of us. I wanted my brother and I to be truly happy.
I thought we both had earned more than a little bit of happiness out of life.
I had no idea how Trenton felt because he kept his emotions locked up tight. I think my brother was afraid of getting his heart broken.
I finished up the tattoo on the shoulder I was working on, took care of after care, and began picking up my station.
My brother wasn’t here tonight. He was following Ariel shopping. He didn’t really even need to because Damien and Jules were with her. But we took our jobs seriously. We’d gone through too much not to take everything about her seriously.
I think we were both afraid to so much as turn around for fear of her disappearing on us. Then our world really would be over.
“How old do you have to be to get a tattoo?” one of the boys asked me and I looked up to find Toby watching me closely.
I was surprised to find him speaking to me. The boys worked here, doing Isobel’s job and manning the front desk at the tattoo shop when she didn’t come in. They were obsessed with her and I felt like most of the time they didn’t much care for my brother and I.
