She's kidding. Ryen likes to talk like she's ready to fight, but really, she's a giant sweetheart buried under a tough exterior. Not a lot of people know that about her, so she does come off pretty intimidating.
Do you think they’re still dating?
idk, but who really cares?
Well, I do. That throws off the whole plan.
what plan, Cadie? you literally sat in a beach chair all day with your book upside down.
You’re right, I don’t really have a plan. I guess this is stupid. Especially if he’s still seeing Ashely.
don’t let ash tray make you give up already. if you want something, you have to be bold and take it, Cadie.
Okay, you don’t have to call her names just to make me feel better, btw. And what if everything from today was in my head? I’m not like you, I can’t just go for things I want.
you need a reason to talk to him. something to get a conversation going and from there, you might have a chance to bring it up.
Okay, but how do I do that? I couldn’t even breathe let alone speak when I ran into him earlier. He was touching me.
yeah, you’re gonna need to work on your confidence skills around him.
you’re gonna have to actually use your words too boo. you know… TALK to him.
A knock at my door takes my attention away from the texts between Ryen and I, and I lean up to see my mom standing in my doorway. Even dressed down in her nightgown with her hair up in a bun, my mom is stunning. It makes me smile because I know I get my looks from her in every way, which I will forever be grateful for. Everything from our red hair, the freckles across the bridge of our nose—though mine scatter across my cheeks as well, just like my brother’s do—down to our matching green-blue eyes. Even my full lips and button nose come from her.
Where my looks mirror my mother’s, Brayden got our father’s. The hazel eyes and thick brows, though his hair is tinted with red, almost looking strawberry blond as it blended with my dad’s light brown coloring, now peppered black and white.
My mother lets her eyes gaze around my room for a brief second, likely noting that I am the perfect child because I keep my room spotless and well organized compared to that of my brother whose room literally can’t be bothered with. Okay, I'm not perfect but I'm the favorite; or so I tease Bray with all the time. I watch as she picks up the framed photo that sits on my desk right next to where she stands. Her smile grows wide as she analyzes it; a picture of me and my brother on the football field after his first game as starter for Varsity.
“You know, there was a time when your brother wouldn’t even speak much,” she starts as she sets the frame back down. “Now, he’s cutting real close to missing curfew.”
I look at the time. It’s ten till midnight, but it is the last weekend before summer break ends. Mom and Dad are fairly lenient parents. They don’t really pry into our personal life much unless they feel it’s super necessary but both Bray and I respect our parents enough to know not to do anything that would embarrass them or get us into any real trouble. Well, I speak for Bray on that one because I never do anything at all. I hardly like to leave the house. Only really to hang out with Ryen which I don't even do much of. Though, I did promise her I’d make an effort to actually live out my senior year with her. But even when Bray goes out or when I want to do something, all my parents ask for is communication, don’t do anything that could get us in trouble by the police, and make curfew. Which Bray is really close to missing right now.
“When’s the last time you heard from him?" I ask her, knowing that wherever he is . . . Zach is likely there too and that gives me kind of a sour feeling for some reason.
Those boys are pretty inseparable. Usually wherever Brayden goes, Zach is right there with him. There are sometimes when Zach takes a day off and heads home or does his own thing but knowing that they might be together right now and my brother is about to miss curfew does kind of put me on edge. Or maybe I'm just jealous.
“He checked in about two hours ago but that was it. Have you heard from him?” my mom asks.
“Umm, no I haven’t talked to him since earlier but I can text him and see if he answers me. Have you checked his location?”
“You know he turned it off.” Her eyes lower at me with a slight look of disappointment in them but my mom doesn’t typically get upset or mad unless she feels she has a reason to be reallyworried or feels like we’ve betrayed her, which never happens. So I can tell she’s just annoyed with my brother, but not to the point of being really pissed off just yet.
“Okay, let me see if he answers me,” I tell her as I pull up his number. She watches me as I put the phone to my ear and it rings and rings and rings.
I look over at her, nervousness in my eyes as the phone just keeps ringing. She shakes her head and I mentally summon my brother to answer. I don’t like that he’s not answering for two reasons. One, I don’t really want to see him get in trouble. Two, if he’s not answering, then that means that whatever he’s doing is likely not really something he should be doing.
“Voicemail,” I tell my mom as I hang up the phone. She sighs and turns around to leave but then stops to face me once more.
“You don’t happen to have Zach’s number, do you?” she asks and my heart stops. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I know what she’s about to ask me.
“Yes, I think I do,” I admit but nerves start to tangle in my core when I see the look on her face. “But don’t you too?” I ask, hoping that she can just figure it out and leave me out of it. I don’t want to know what the boys are up to and I definitely don’t think I’m ready to face Zach after our run-in today.
“I have his mom’s number, but I don’t think the boys want me to reach out to her.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“Yeah, I guess not.” I say, letting my voice trail off, knowing that Zach’s parents are also very lenient, but I'm not sure they're as forgiving as my parents are. So I swallow my pride, knowing that I’m going to have to reach out to Zach.
“Call him for me? Otherwise, I’m gonna have to show up to their house and I don’t think your brother will take a liking to that.” And with that, she walks away.
