“How do you know it wasn’t necessary?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow. “Maybe I had a really good reason.”
“Oh yeah?” I widen my eyes to emphasis my sarcastic tone. “Like what?”
He doesn’t answer though. Instead, he takes a step closer to me, getting rid of any distance between us. Hold on, what the heck is happening right now? And why is his gaze always so…intense?
My nerves can’t handle it.
Which is why I force myself to put an end to whatever this is. Standing here while we just stare at each other is too flippin’ weird.
“You know what?” I choke out, practically jumping away from him. “Forget it, I don’t even care.”
And with that, I walk back over to L-boy.
“Is everything okay?” he asks as I stop in front of him. “You looked pretty upset.”
Oh, great—he was watching the whole time?
“I’m fine,” I verbally wave him off, “Brayden is just—”
“Your ex,” he interrupts with an understanding nod, “I get it.”
My eyes widen at that. “What?”
“Oh, is he not?” he asks, now looking surprised. “It just kind of seemed like he was.”
I don’t even know how I’m supposed to respond to this.
“Liam!” a light-haired woman calls, waving in our direction. “The game’s about to start!”
“I’m coming now, Mom!” L-boy hollers back to her.
Liam. How the heck did I forget that?
“I gotta go,” Liam says with an apologetic smile, “otherwise my mom will come over here and find a way to embarrass me.”
I laugh, but I’m honestly still trying to figure out how he knew that Brayden’s my “ex.” Did I miss some kind of hint?
“I should go too,” I manage to say, “my mom is probably wondering where I am.”
“Later, Megan.”
He offers another smile, and I watch him walk off to where his mom is. Well, that conversation wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it’d be…
Especially considering I didn’t know his name for most of it.
“Megan!” Hailee exclaims, coming toward me with her arm looped through Brayden’s. “Look who I found!”
I’m totally throwing her stuff in the trash.
Chapter 16: I Don’t Believe You
After Hailee insists about five or six times, Brayden ends up sitting with us in the bleachers. Yeah, that’s right, she had to beg him. Why? Well, because he kept trying to say that he could sit somewhere else. I wish he had. But nope, he’s sitting next to me instead…something else Hailee insisted on. And he has an attitude, I can tell, for whatever reason he’s in a bad mood. I don’t know why though. If anyone should be in a bad mood, it’s me.
From her spot behind/above Brayden, Hailee gives me an exasperated look as she “discreetly” points a finger at him.
I blink at her, faking confusion, and she purses her lips in defeat.
Good.
Not that I’m really into the game, but I go ahead and focus my attention on the field where Kyle’s team—the Cosmos—are losing. Maybe they’d be doing better though if that one kid would stop picking her nose when she’s supposed to be blocking the ball from going into the net.
My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to see a message from Hailee.
Why the heck aren’t you talking to him?
I quickly turn my phone away from Brayden just in case he can see it. I don’t know what I’m so worried about though—because he doesn’t seem to be concerned with me at all. I’m convinced that he’s actually ignoring me
Another buzz.
Hailee: I talked to Ricky. You need to talk to Brayden. Unless you’d rather I start some conversation.
I look back to glare at her, and she responds with a triumphant smile. Along with another finger point at Brayden.
Me: Yeah, well, I don’t think he wants to talk.
Hailee: Duh, you probably did something to make him upset.
Hailee: Fix. It.
Then she sends a couple of heart emojis.
I did something to make him upset? I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around, no—I’m positive it’s the other way around. He’s been making me upset ever since he moved in next door! No, wait, that’s right—he’s been making me upset ever since we were in middle school! There is NOTHING for me to fix here because I didn’t do anything wrong!
However, while that’s true, I don’t trust Hailee to keep her mouth shut…so I have to say something to him. Ugh.
I slip my phone back into my pocket, in a super casual way, and then I clear my throat some. “So, who do you think is going to win?
Hey, conversation is conversation.
Surprise, surprise though, because he doesn’t answer. His attention is completely on the game. See? Didn’t I say he was ignoring me?
I glance at Hailee, who motions with her hands for me to continue. Continue what? That was a prime conversation starter right there, and I don’t have another one up my sleeve.
This is ridiculous.
I tap a couple of fingers against Brayden’s arm. “Brayden? I’m talking to you.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Hailee give me a thumbs-up, and I hold back an annoyed curse. She has no shame.
“What?” Brayden asks, his voice dry. “What do you want?”
Hailee winces at his tone, and then widens her eyes at me before mouthing: “Fix it.”
I don’t want to fix it though. His bad attitude isn’t my fault, so it isn’t my problem to fix.
Frustrated, I cross my arms. “Who do you think is going to win? That’s all I asked.”
I don’t need to look at Hailee to know that she’s judging me so hard right now for my snappy reply. Well, sorry not sorry—okay? If Brayden gets to have an attitude, why can’t I?
“Probably the other team,” he replies with a careless shrug, “I don’t know why you’re asking me though.”
My eyebrows crease. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” he mutters, a muscle in his jaw twitching, “just forget it.”
My phone buzzes a few more times; but I ignore the sound, knowing that it’s just Hailee trying to be annoying.
“Fine,” I say, looking back at the field, “I’m sorry I even asked then.”
More buzzes erupt from my phone.
This girl better quit it before I turn around and—
“You’re not going to get that?”
I raise an eyebrow at Brayden’s question. “Excuse me?”
“Your phone is buzzing,” he states in a matter-of-fact way, “are you going to just keep ignoring it?”
I scowl at that. “Why do you care?”
“I didn’t say that I did,” he retorts, now looking at me, “but clearly someone is trying to get your attention.”
“Brayden’s right,” Haile pipes up, giving me the crazy eyes once again, “you should probably check your phone just in case it’s important.”
“It’s not important,” I tell her through clenched teeth, “so why don’t we all just watch the rest of the game in silence…all right?”
Hailee starts to frown, but thankfully doesn’t say anything else, and she doesn’t text me again either.
Finally.
As the game goes on, Kyle’s team actually manages to pull ahead, but ultimately—they end up losing. The final scores are really close though, so I’m impressed.
Mom doesn’t waste any time going out onto the field, and I’d bet some serious cash that she’s feeding Kyle the “you’re-always-a-winner-no-matter-what” line. Judging by the huge grin on his face, I’m guessing my assumption was right…and I wouldn’t be surprised if she promised some kind of “you-did-your-best” gift/treat.
So. Predictable.
And sure enough, Kyle comes running over to us while yelling, “Ice cream! Ice cream!”
Well, if I had to leave the house today even though I didn’t want to, at least I’m gettin
g some ice cream out of it.
“And Mom says you can come too, Brayden!” Kyle exclaims, bouncing up and down. “How cool is that?”
Suddenly my appetite for ice cream is long gone.
“Uh…” Brayden trails off with an awkward laugh. “I don’t know, Kyle. I might have to take a rain check.”
Pssh, I’m not even going to get my hopes up.
Kyles stops his jumping and begins to pout instead. “But why? You like ice cream, right?”
“I do like ice cream, but—”
“Then you have to come!” Kyle interrupts him, letting out an exasperated sigh. “It’s victory ice cream! Who can say no to victory ice cream?”
Hailee mutters something about them losing, and I decide that I need to help this situation in order to benefit myself.
“Kyle,” I drawl, getting up from my seat, “Brayden probably has other plans already, okay? Why don’t we go find Dad?”
Some random bird caught his attention about ten minutes ago, and I have no idea where he disappeared to.
Kyle makes a face at my suggestion, then looks at Brayden expectantly. “Do you have plans already?”
For the love—
“I actually don’t,” Brayden replies, side-glancing at me, “but I don’t think your sister wants me to get ice cream with you guys…so it’s probably a good idea if I don’t come.”
He did NOT just try to put this off on me! Sure, he’s right, I don’t want him to come. But it wasn’t something that needed to be said out loud, especially not by him.
Kyle now turns to me, his eyes wide. “Megan! You don’t want him to get ice cream with us?”
I force myself not to glare at Brayden. “I never said that.”
“Oh good,” Hailee says, deciding to join the conversation, “then you’re okay with him going.”
Notice that it was a statement, and not a question.
“Yes!” Kyle punches the air before doing some weird dance. “I’m going to go let Mom know!”
“And I guess I’ll go find Dad,” Hailee sighs as Kyle runs back to the field, “I wouldn’t want you to get lost, Meg.”
Her stuff will be in the trash.
She starts walking in the same direction that Dad did earlier, and I make my way down the bleachers so I can go to the car—because I am NOT hanging around here with Brayden.
No. Thank. You.
Too bad he follows me though.
“Megan,” he says, moving to walk beside me, “I’m sorry about earlier. I know you’re mad that I interrupted your conversation with that guy and all, but I was just—”
“Messing around?” I offer in a dry voice. “You seriously need to grow up, Brayden.”
“Would you hold on a minute?” he retorts, now standing in front of me. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“I don’t believe you,” I tell him with a shrug. “I meant what I said the other day…you haven’t changed. You still treat everything like it’s a joke, you still try to brush stuff off, and you still make up excuses. It’s ridiculous.”
He shakes his head with a slight curse. “Why are you getting like this? I thought we agreed to start over?”
Clearly, agreeing to that wasn’t one of my better life choices…
“You know,” he continues to speak when I don’t offer any response, “I’ve been trying to talk to you about something for days now…but I kept wimping out or blowing my chances.” He proceeds to sigh. “I think now’s a good time to finally get this off my chest though.”
I’m not really sure what the big deal is, but something is telling me that I don’t want to know what he has to say.
“We’re supposed to be going for ice cream,” I reply lamely, “so it’s really not a good time.”
He gives me a frustrated look. “Megan—”
“I’m serious,” I insist, ignoring the fact that my heart skipped a beat at the way he said my name. “Any second now they’re all going to be coming over here, ready to get ice cream, trust me.”
“All right,” he says, obviously annoyed, “well, when is a good time?”
Never. Never EVER. I know that’s not the answer he’s looking for though.
“Uh…” I trail off, hoping I can stall long enough that I won’t have to answer, “I’m not really sure.”
“Tell ya what,” he drawls, seeming a little more relaxed now, “I try to go for a walk every other night before the sun sets completely…why don’t you come with me tonight, and we can talk then?”
I take a moment to process this new information about him. Did he really just admit to taking sunset strolls almost on the daily? What’s up with that?
“So? What do you say, Meg?”
Somehow this will backfire on me…I just know it.
Even still, I find myself nodding. “Okay, we can talk tonight.”
——————
“Why won’t you tell me what you guys were talking about?” Haile whines for the umpteenth time as we drive to The Scoop. “You can’t keep important info like this from me!”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I reply with an eye-roll, “and it’s none of your business either way.”
“Megan!” she exclaims, now giving me a dirty look. “Come on! I deserve to know!”
What the—
“Shh!” Kyle shushes her, waving a hand around. “I can’t hear them!”
Them would be the talking cartoon dogs from the show he’s watching on Mom’s phone.
Hailee scoffs at him. “Now you know how I feel.”
Kyle ignores her though, of course, because he’s too zoned out on the screen.
“Okay,” Hailee says, suddenly smiling, “how ’bout I make a deal with you?”
As. If.
I make a face at her. “No thanks.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a really good one. Like, you don’t have to be my Xuber driver for the rest of the month IF you tell me what you and Brayden were talking about.”
Oh dang, that really is a good deal. Especially since she already has two or three outings planned for this coming week. I really don’t like the idea of her knowing what we talked about though.
Then again, he and I didn’t really talk about much. If anything, we mostly just talked about…talking.
“Fine,” I agree, sticking my hand out past Kyle, “I’ll tell you what we were talking about and you will cancel my end of the other deal.”
She shakes my hand, a smug look on her face. “Perfect. Now tell me already!”
“Well,” I drawl, crossing my arms, “he told me that he wanted to talk about something…so we’re supposed to talk tonight.”
“That’s it?” she asks with narrowed eyes. “Talk about what? A deal’s a deal, Meg!”
I offer a shrug. “He didn’t say what he wanted to talk about.”
Okay, this new deal was so worth it.
“You tricked me!” Hailee gasps. “That’s not fair!”
“A deal’s a deal,” I tell her with a slight smirk, “you wanted to know—and I told you—case closed.”
“Ugh, I hate you!”
That catches Mom’s attention in a hot second.
“Hailee Judith Taylor,” Mom says in a warning tone, interrupting Dad’s bird rant, “I shouldn’t be hearing those words. You and sister need to get along. We’re almost there, okay?”
Wow, I’m 99.9999999% sure she said that same exact thing to me back when I was ten and Hailee was five, and we were fighting about who-knows-what as we were driving to visit Grandma and Grandpa down in Florida.
My phone buzzes and I wiggle it out of my pocket so I can see who texted me.
I hate you.
Shocker, it’s from Hailee.
I roll my eyes as I repocket my phone. I could respond, but what’s that going to do? Nothing, except give her more ammo.
Soon we’re entering The Scoop’s parking lot, and Dad pulls into an empty parking space.
“Ky-Ky, we’re her
e,” Mom says, taking her seatbelt off. She then turns around to look at him. “I need my phone back, sweetheart.”
He starts to pout but I’m sure the fear of missing out on ice cream is what motivates him to take the earbuds out, and hand her the phone.
“Look!” Kyle suddenly exclaims, pointing a finger past me. “There’s Brayden!”
And a quick glance out my window confirms that Brayden is indeed walking into the building. Oh, yay.
Once we’re all out of the car, Kyle grabs Mom’s hand and takes the lead while babbling on and on about what kind of ice cream he wants. He’ll change his mind though after staring at all the options—he always does.
The Scoop isn’t a huge place, but it’s definitely spacious with lots of bright colors and abstract “ice cream wall art.” I honestly couldn’t care less about what it looks like though, all that matters to me is the taste of their ice cream…which never disappoints.
“Hey, Brayden!” Kyle lets go of Mom’s hand, and practically skips over to him. “Which flavor are you getting?”
As they point to the different tubs of ice cream behind the glass while discussing each flavor’s negative and positive traits, Mom orders a Mint Chocolate Chunk ice cream cone for Hailee—who’s too busy sulking at a corner table to get her own dang ice cream.
Spoiled.
“Mom!” Kyle yelps, going back over to her. “Brayden and I picked out what we want!”
Well, I guess I should probably choose something…
Strawberry Swirl, Cookie Butter Dream, Chocolate Cheesecake Supreme, Mango Munch, Rocky Road—
“Do you know which one you’re getting?”
I still at the sound of Brayden’s voice, and at the closeness of—well, him standing behind me.
“Uh, no,” I manage to reply, “I’m not sure yet.”
“Hmm,” he hums, leaning forward to rest a hand against the counter, “well, how about Crazy Cotton Candy?”
How about my heart is beating way too fast right now?
“I’m not really a fan,” I say, trying to put some space between us without making it obvious.
“All right…” he trails off, tapping his index finger on top of the counter. “No cotton candy, gotcha. Do you like the fudge one?”
My Dilemma Page 12