Silent Love

by Kenadee Bryant

  “What are you guys going to do after this?” Ethan asked.

  “Maybe go bowling or something. Haven’t figured it out yet,” I answered shrugging. We hadn’t gotten that far.

  “We may join you. We have nothing to do for the rest of the night, and being with you three is better than being at home alone, bored.” He shrugged.

  “Yeah, you can join us,” Amy butted in, smiling at Ethan.

  “But I thought it was girls’ night?” I questioned.

  “These two can join. We can always use two more girls to our gang,” Macey said before laughing.

  “Girls? We are men,” Luke said, lowering his voice. We laughed.

  “We could totally dress them up in some dresses and heels,” Mace said. At the sound of that I started laughing with Amy and Mace. The picture of Luke and Ethan dressed as girls was hilarious. I bet dresses wouldn’t fit them or if they did, their muscles were rip the fabric. And don’t even get me started on them in heels.

  “Oh we should do their makeup!” Amy giggled. Their jaws fell open at the mention of makeup. Their expressions were beyond priceless.

  “Yas!” all three of us said at the same time, making us burst into laughter. I wiped away a tear as the two boys glared at us. I opened my mouth to say something to them when someone called my name.

  I looked to where the voice was coming from. Seeing who was making their way toward us made my eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. I froze in my seat, a million things running through my head at the moment. The first thing that did come straight to mind was the word “shit.” Everyone from our table turned to look at the newcomers.

  “Carter!” Dylan beamed as he came to a stop right in front of our table. My gaze moved from him to the figure slowly making his way toward us—Gage. Unconsciously, I found myself checking him out. A dark blue shirt graced his upper body, and what seemed like his signature ripped blue jeans hung low on his hips. A pair of sunglasses were still perched on his nose, even though he was inside. His dark brown hair was floppy and hung a little on his forehead into his eyes. I gulped nervously. A sharp jab in my ribs had me yanking away from Gage to Macey.

  “Hey Dylan,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t shake. This wasn’t good. Dylan and Gage were here while my brother and longtime crush were sitting with us; this couldn’t get any more awkward.

  “Whatcha doin’?” he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets while rocking back and forth on his heels.

  “Uh, nothing really. Just hanging out, getting something to eat.” I could feel Gage’s heated stare on me, but I tried to ignore it.

  “And you are?” Luke asked, his tone serious. I looked over at him and noticed he had his big brother face on.

  “Dylan…Stilinski,” he answered, nodding at my brother in greeting. Luke’s gaze turned to Gage now, who hadn’t said a single word, just stood there like a statue. When Luke realized Gage wasn’t going to say anything, he turned back to Dylan.

  “And you know my sister how?”

  “Oh, we go way back. Don’t we, sweetcheeks?” He even had to the nerve to wink at me.

  “You gave her a nickname?” Ethan asked, suddenly coming into the conversation. From the corner of my eye I could see him clenching his fists on the counter. I raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything.

  “Yes, we do. I call her ‘sweetcheeks’ while she calls me ‘Daddy.’” I wanted to die right then and there. Almost instantly my brother and Ethan were up out of the booth. From where I was sitting, I could see amusement sparkling in Dylan’s hazel eyes. Behind him Gage still stood immobile, taking in the entire scene as if he was bored. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking behind his dark sunglasses.

  “You little—” Ethan growled, taking a step toward Dylan. Luke held him back, but I could tell Luke was just as angry. I sat there frozen taking in everything, not knowing what to do.

  “Carter, do something.” Macey hissed at me. She gestured to the three guys staring each other down. Ethan and Luke were glaring daggers at Dylan, who was just standing there acting as if he didn’t just tell my brother I called him “Daddy.”

  “Dylan, I think it’s time you go,” I said suddenly, trying to jump up from my seat. My knees hit the table painfully, making me fall right back onto the bench and almost making our drinks spill. I ignored the pain, staring at Dylan. Either he heard me and decided to ignore me all together, or he didn’t hear me at all.

  When he gave me no indication that he heard me, I looked over at Gage this time. Silently I pleaded with him to get Dylan away from Ethan and Luke. I did not want a fight to break out here. I had a sinking feeling that Dylan, with the help of Gage of course, would kick my both my brother and Ethan’s asses. I bet Gage was not one to sit around while his best friend got attacked by two people.

  I mouthed the word “please” to him, feeling the tension in the room heighten. People around us were now staring, waiting to see what would happen. When I thought Gage wouldn’t do anything, I saw him give me a slight nod, almost unnoticeable. He placed a hand on Dylan’s shoulder, still looking straight at me. I wished he would take off his glasses so I could see his eyes.

  At his touch, Dylan took a step back. A small grin was still apparent on his face. He took his eyes off the two angry guys in front of him to look at me.

  “I’ll see you later, sweetcheeks.” He winked once more at me. I glared back at him, wanting to slowly kill him for putting me in this spot. I would have to deal with Ethan and Luke questioning me about both of them. They would practically interrogate me. I clenched my hands into fists, feeling my nails biting into my skin. I could feel both Macey and Amy shooting glances between me, Gage, and Dylan. I already felt their questions burning to break free.

  Gage gripped Dylan’s shoulder harder, steering him away from our table. I mouthed “thank you” to him, more than glad he was getting Dylan away from us. We all sat there watching as Dylan and Gage exited the diner and headed to the parking lot. Luke and Ethan stood glaring out the window, almost like they were trying to kill them with their stares.

  It felt like an eternity passed before they both relaxed slightly and went to sit back down. The other patrons went back to their meals. The steady flow of conversations slowly picked back up as the five of us sat there silently. A thousand excuses or ways to tell them about Gage and Dylan ran through my mind, but none of them seemed like they would work. Trying to prolong the interrogation, I kept staring out the window trying to come up with something.

  As the tension and anger grew around our table, I was forced to look over at the two brooding men who were staring straight at me, their jaws locked and their eyes firm. I could plainly see the questions on their faces as well as the anger. Me being the awkward person I was, I sent them a sheepish grin.

  “Hey,” I said lamely.

  I was wrong; it could get more awkward.

  Chapter Twelve

  Silence stretched out awkwardly between us, the tension thickening. Macey and Amy could clearly tell the two boys were not happy with me, so they got out their phones, leaving me to my own device. Traitors.

  “So the weather is really nice, isn’t it?” I said, playing with my hands on the table. I hated the feel of their gazes on me; it was making me uncomfortable and I kept shifting in my seat.

  “Care to explain?” Luke finally said. I honestly didn’t know what the big deal was; it was clear Dylan was joking.

  “There’s nothing to explain,” I said simply, trying hard not to crumble under their heated stares. You would think I would be used to my brother being so protective, but I wasn’t. Ethan still being this protective surprised me, though.

  “How do you know Gage Harper?” Ethan asked, staring straight at me. I almost choked on my spit at the mention of Gage. I was kind of hoping no one would say anything about it. It would be easier to explain how I knew Dylan than Gage.

  “Why does it matter?” I found myself asking.

  “Because it does!” He raised his voi
ce, but quickly lowered it after everyone glanced at him. I looked at him, wondering why he was getting so angry. So what if I knew Gage? It wasn’t like we were a thing. We just happen to have the same English class and the same hatred for one another, which made me also wonder why he helped me out with Dylan.

  “Carter, Gage Harper is not a nice guy. He uses girls like toilet paper and doesn’t care if he breaks their hearts,” Luke said.

  “But don’t you two do the same thing?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow at them.

  “No. He is worse. Carter, he is someone you don’t want to get mixed up with. There is a reason he is called the ‘bad boy’ around campus.” I glanced over at Ethan to see a dark look cross his face as he clenched his jaw.

  “Just promise us you won’t hang out with him anymore,” Ethan bit out.

  “We never hung out before,” I muttered.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “I said fine.” A ball of anger was simmering in my stomach at being told what to do. I was eighteen and in college, for Christ’s sake. I could do what I wanted, but it seemed the two boys in my life didn’t see that I could think for myself. Macey could tell how I felt because she put her hand on my knee. She and I both knew not to say anything to Luke or Ethan; they would just get even angrier.

  “Car, we are just looking out for you,” Luke said softly, clearly seeing how angry I was. I didn’t say anything and just stared out the window. It was stupid how I couldn’t do anything without getting permission from my brother. I knew he didn’t want me to get hurt, but how was I supposed to experience life when he kept me in a box? Getting hurt came with the territory of life. Everyone got hurt in some way or another, but you just had to accept it and move forward.

  In a weird way I almost craved to be hurt. Just so I could experience it and learn from it. Being cheated on by my first boyfriend hurt, way more than I would ever admit, but it made me stronger. It made me realize that holding onto something you love can sometimes destroy everything you’ve built around yourself. That sometimes things aren’t as you think or hope them to be.

  I’ve never told my brother my thoughts about this because he wouldn’t understand. He was the oldest kid, and a guy. He didn’t have a brother, and his best friend was breathing down his neck. He didn’t have the obligation to always be the perfect one in the family; he was already perfect. In some ways, Luke always was able to do what he pleased. He could go to parties and never get in trouble with our parents, but if I so much as set a foot in a party Luke was breathing down my neck demanding I go home. Luke could have as many girlfriends as he wanted. Even if I didn’t like them, I didn’t say a word. But the moment I got a boyfriend, he had to tell me to dump him, or if I had a guy look at me, he would go tell him to leave me alone.

  I loved my brother so much and honestly wouldn’t know what I’d do without him, but times like this I wanted to punch him. I wanted to scream at him to let me live my own life. I wasn’t a kid anymore. Hearing both him and Ethan tell me to stay away from Gage and Dylan made me want to be around them even more. I could feel my resolve getting thicker as I thought about going against their words and staying seeing Gage and Dylan. It wasn’t their life I was making a decision for, it was mine. And for once I was going to do what I wanted.

  ***

  The tension around all of us slowly faded as Amy and Macey made conversation with the boys. I forced my anger down and pushed aside our earlier heated argument. We were supposed to have a good night, and I wasn’t going to ruin that with a stupid conversation I had with Ethan and Luke. Even though everything seemed back to normal, underneath it all there was a still a slice of tension between us three. We all ignored it, however, and continued on with our night.

  We did decide to go bowling for the next few hours, since there wasn’t much else to do. Finding a bowling alley close to us was kind of hard, but after a few searches on Google, we were heading out of the diner. Seeing as we all would fit into one car, we decided to take Ethan’s Range Rover and leave my car here to pick up on our way back to campus.

  The moment we got in the car and started pulling out of the parking lot, a familiar song came on the radio. It was turned down, but nothing stopped us three girls suddenly yelling for either Ethan or Luke to turn it up. Immediately we started yelling along to Justin Bieber’s new song, “Love Yourself.”

  “You should go and love yourself!” I leaned forward, toward Ethan’s ear. Ethan flinched, clamping a hand over his ear.

  “Carter! I’m driving,” he said over the music. He glared at me through the rearview mirror.

  “You love my voice.” I sent him a smirk back. Ethan just mumbled something I couldn’t hear while rubbing his ear as if I had really hurt him.

  The rest of the car ride was us three girls singing whatever songs came on the radio, while Luke and Ethan groaned in the front seats. The singing seemed to finally do the trick; the entire scene at the diner was forgotten and things were back to normal now, thank god. I hated being mad at my brother, but I was one of those people that a few minutes after I said something terrible, I would be apologizing to the person. I didn’t seem to have a mean bone in my body; well, that was what others said.

  When we found an empty spot at the bowling alley, we all trailed out of Ethan’s car. It was well after five now and getting dark. The parking lot wasn’t too full at the moment, but that would probably change in a few minutes. Places like these always filled up on the weekend with teenagers wanting to do something. Sure, there were plenty of other things to do in New York, but they were either too far away or were packed with other younger kids. I bet this place did great business with a college nearby.

  Walking inside, I noticed the place was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside. Tons of bowling lanes were straight ahead, and to our right was a staircase that had a sign signaling other activities. Heading to the counter to pay and pick up shoes, I noticed the place was really nice. It looked clean and well-kept which was good. Only a few lanes were full, so there would be plenty of room for us five.

  “How many games should we play?” Luke asked.

  Two or three,” Macey said, practically jumping in her spot. She definitely was excited to play. It had been a while, so I wasn’t expecting to be that good.

  “Sounds good to me,” I said with Amy nodding along.

  “So five players, three games,” Luke rattled off to the cashier. I was going to offer to pay, but it was my brother; we basically paid for each other. Once we paid, we all got our shoes before heading to our designated lane. Luke was the first person to change his shoes, so he started on putting our names into the screen while the rest of us put on the ugly bowling shoes. I was never more grateful for bringing socks with me.

  “No that is not my name!” I heard Macey say loudly, making me snap my head up to see her glaring at Luke who was just grinning. Looking at the screen, I saw he had put her down as “Blonde Midget.” “I’m not even blonde,” she protested. I rolled my eyes at the two finishing up putting the shoes on and setting mine under the table. Draping my bag around the seat, I took out my phone to keep on the counter.

  Macey and Luke continued on fighting over the names while Ethan, Amy, and I sat there watching them. They could have their own reality show if they tried.

  “Think we should stop them now? It’s been five minutes,” Ethan whispered to me. It was getting boring watching them. Sighing, I spoke up.

  “Guys, can we just play? Put whatever name you want and let’s go.” I gestured to our lane, where our bowling balls were waiting. In the five minutes they had been arguing, the three of us had picked out the ones we wanted. They both huffed but agreed. Seeing as Luke put himself first, he went. He didn’t even pick out a ball, just used the same one as Ethan; Macey was doing the same with me.

  While Luke went up and got in his “stance,” I glanced at the screen to see that he had put funny, weird names for us. Macey was “Shortie,” Amy was “Blondie,” I was “Banana,” E
than was “Hurricane,” and of course Luke put himself as “Sexy.” Each name was so weird and random. Like Hurricane. Who called him that? I snorted at the names, glancing up just in time to see Luke knock down the pins in one single swipe.

  “That was just dumb luck,” I said when he sat down. What I liked most about this bowling alley was that, instead of the usual tables with four seats, this one had six and the table was longer, so everyone was able to sit.

  “No, that was talent, my sister,” he goaded. I flipped him off as Ethan got up to bowl. I stared at his back, enjoying the view of the way his back muscles moved and flexed as he bent over slightly and brought the ball back before launching it down the lane toward the pins. His grey shirt did wonders for his upper body. I was so busy focusing on his gorgeous back that I didn’t see him get a strike until both Macey and Amy groaned. As he headed back to the table, I quickly averted my eyes not wanting to be caught staring. Luke high-fived Ethan, ignoring the groans from the rest of us.

  “Shortie, your turn,” he said, nodding at Macey. Not wanting to be showed up, Mace stood up and walked toward the ball rack with her head held high. She picked up the pink seven-pound ball and headed to the lane. I held back a laugh at her posture. She looked like she had a stick up her butt, making her back all straight and stiff.

  Macey actually didn’t do as bad; on her second roll she knocked down every one except two. Me and Amy high fived her while my brother laughed, earning a hard smack to the back of the head. I had somehow gotten put in last, so Amy was up next. Of course, Amy being the graceful one, rolled the ball perfectly down the middle hitting every pin but one. There was just something about her that screamed perfect. It was almost like a vibe.

  When it was finally my turn, I grabbed my small ball positioning myself in front of the lane. I could hear my friends encouraging me from behind, giving me some kind of hope that I wouldn’t be absolutely terrible. It had been forever since I’d done this; I was always better at the Wii version. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my arm back and straight letting my ball roll. I watched it as it got halfway down the lane, only to turn to the right and go into the gutter. Why didn’t we get bumpers? I pouted. We couldn’t get them because we were too “old” for them, but who said us young adults couldn’t have bumpers?