Unwritten

by Alex Rosa

  I was going to give his beer back to him, but my own words cause a thrum of nerves to roll through my body. Instead, I wave the bottle at him. “Can I have the rest of this?”

  His squirrelly smile under his hipster mustache has me muffling a laugh before he snatches his beer back. “I need it more than you.”

  I give a very unladylike grunt and swivel the opposite direction. Music will have to wait. Liquid courage first.

  My body flails as I slam into a rock wall of muscle. Someone’s hands are quick to catch me as I stumble.

  I’m on the verge of stuttering an apology until I realize the man I walked into has killer green eyes and a wicked curve to his smile that makes me want to kiss it and punch it all at the same time.

  “Oh sorry, Miss,” Caiden says, watching my apologetic shock transition into beguiled curiosity.

  “Caiden, I—”

  “—I don’t think we’ve met before. Your name is?”

  I laugh, watching his hand jut out for a handshake. Leave it to the bastard to take our talk literally.

  I shake my head, staring at his hand, making sure I give his tattoos a diligent glance, too, before I reach for it. The beautiful idiot.

  “Oh, we haven’t met. My name is Hailey. You are?”

  “Caiden.” He smiles wide, and I hate what it does to me. Especially when I combine it with the purposefully gentle squeeze of my hand in his, which causes electricity to shoot up my arm and spark my own glorious smile.

  I’m so in for it.

  We are so in for it.

  Brandon, who I almost forgot is standing there, sighs loudly, seemingly unamused as he pushes himself off the wall. “You two are so fucking weird sometimes,” he says before walking back to the bar to grab another beer.

  “Caiden,” I hum, playing with his name on my lips, and I swear you’d think I wielded magic by the way my voice catches his attention as he stares back. As much as I love having his attention like this, a giggle escapes me, because I can’t take him seriously. I lift my hand up, pressing my palm against his chest. He’s too close. I push him, causing him to take a step back, and pull my hand away. “Okay, you can cut the act now. I don’t think I can handle much more.”

  He’s smiling, his lips twitching as he nods his agreement. “What are you drinking?”

  I shrug. “You don’t have to—”

  “What are you drinking?” he repeats.

  I shake my head. I’m not ready to play the battle of stubborn wills this early on in the game. “A beer will do.”

  I turn away and walk back toward my friends before he’s left for the bar. I think it’s safe to say, and safe for me, to take Caiden in small doses.

  I release a long exhale as I reappear at the pool table and notice CeeCee on one end and Brandon on the other. They’re not-so-secretly eyeing each other from across the room.

  When I’m standing between them, I garner both of their attention and their simultaneous glare which demands I choose between them. I sigh, shaking my head at both, and walk toward CeeCee, who needs me more than Brandon does. He’s got the boys. The girls need to unite.

  I ignore the huff from Brandon as I walk over to CeeCee.

  “I knew I liked you for a reason,” she says.

  “Stop. Don’t gloat. It’s unfair to make me choose. I don’t like being in the middle of it. I thought having you two publicly fondling each other was uncomfortable, but I think I might actually prefer that over” —I wave my hand flippantly in the air— “whatever it is that’s going on here.”

  She huffs, shooting me a sad, probing glare. “Well, tell me how you really feel, Hails.”

  “No, don’t take it badly. I just, I don’t know how to fix this dynamic.”

  She shrugs, sipping her drink. “Brandon and I will bounce back. We always do.” Her sad resolve makes me want to fix things, but she continues. “Where’s your drink? We’ve been here twenty minutes, and you don’t have a drink in your hand. There’s something very wrong with this picture.”

  As if on cue, Caiden appears handing me a beer, gifting me a mischievous smile.

  I wish he’d stop staring at me like he wants to make me into a meal. It’s more obvious than I think he wants it to be. Plus, it’s totally not part of our plan.

  I grab for the beer, now distracted from my current conversation to reply, “Thank you.”

  Caiden stands there, lulling for a moment, and that’s when I peek over his shoulder to see Brandon, Cameron, and Tyler looking in our direction like we’re from another planet.

  “Caiden, go hang out with your friends,” I sigh, trying to control the PineCrest Armageddon that could ensue if he doesn’t.

  He sips his beer nonchalantly, turning his burly body in the direction of his boys.

  Brandon capitalizes on it. “Dude, what the fuck?” he says over the music with both arms raised from the other side of the pool table.

  Caiden grins, shrugging, before turning back to me.

  “Could you be a little more discreet?” I give him a stern look, but it does nothing to his stupid smile.

  CeeCee screeches into our conversation, her hand coming between Caiden and me, slapping both our chests as she flails her hand left to right a few times.

  “Uhhh, did I miss something here?”

  I shake my head, pursing my lips and closing my eyes to gain some sense of balance and backbone before I reply with, “No, nothing. Everything’s fine.”

  It’s CeeCee’s high-pitched huff that has my eyes re-opening. “I chewed this guy a new one in the name of best friends, and you’re here openly flirting with the same guy, who has a girlfriend.”

  I wince. Maybe I deserve that because I was so harsh about her and Brandon, or maybe it’s because my flash flood of tears at the bonfire were painful to witness as a best friend. Regardless, I don’t know what to say.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” sounds from Mister Brilliant.

  I groan, wiping the nervous drops of sweat forming on my brow while trying to figure out how my heart can beat so frantically while still managing to tremble. I just keep my mouth shut and take a large pull of my beer, enjoying the chill down my throat that finds a way to soothe the volcano of nerves forming inside me.

  “You what?” CeeCee screeches in disbelief. Her eyes should be on Caiden. It’s his news, not mine. But unfortunately, they are penetrating blue orbs of comical frustration, coming at me like an avalanche falling over a cliff of freckles.

  I shrug, and she hates it.

  “Hailey Lynn Elwood. What. The. Fuck.”

  I shake my head, totally baffled by the response, and I laugh. “Why are you mad at me?”

  “You knew?”

  I shrug again. She scowls.

  “I knew for, like, a minute. Can you please give Caiden the twenty questions? This is Caiden’s news, not mine.”

  Instead of giving Caiden her attention, she takes a step forward, purposefully wedging her body between Caiden and me. We both flinch in confusion, taking a step back.

  CeeCee raises her hand, and Brandon is quick to notice as he says to her from across the room, “You trying to get my attention now, princess?”

  She rolls her eyes, “Shut up and come here.”

  He shakes his head. “Not until you apologize.”

  I perk up at this, especially when CeeCee’s cheeks burn bright red. She tries shaking it off. “This isn’t about us. You’re going to want to hear this. Caiden broke up with Kristen.”

  Brandon smiles triumphantly as he trails over with newfound interest. He waves at Cameron and Tyler, who are laughing behind him, to follow.

  This is not at all how I wanted this to be unraveled.

  “Baby Bird, this is the secret you were keeping?”

  I can’t stay tight-lipped any longer. “You’ve all lost your minds. How the hell is this my secret?”

  A light must turn on in Caiden’s thick skull, because finally he speaks. “This isn’t a big deal.”

  I wish I co
uld say he sounds convincing, but the stupid smile he can’t seem to shake is too incriminating.

  CeeCee and Brandon speak in unison. “The fuck it isn’t.”

  I laugh again, finding my sense of balance in the humor of the situation as I quip, “I’m happy to see this situation is what could bring you two back together.”

  They glare at me, and I love it. Caiden laughs, too.

  Brandon shakes his head. “You got jokes?”

  “For you Brandon boy, I got tons.”

  Both of our mouths squirm, holding back laughter. I know he (and CeeCee) wouldn’t want their relationship so publicly talked about, but he asked for it.

  He changes tack, turning away from me and back to Caiden. “Dude. We’re bros. Hailey gets back into town, and you two suddenly start sharing secrets again?”

  Caiden shakes his head. “It’s not like that. You saw the disaster at the bonfire, and you know the shit that was going down before. The relationship was over before Kristen went AWOL. I did what we both needed.”

  I cringe, because I will never get used to it when Caiden refers to him and his (now) ex-girlfriend as we.

  “You sure about that? I was wondering what it was gonna take,” Brandon replies.

  I peek over at CeeCee, who has the decency to gift me a best friend look of: Huh, ain’t that curious?

  Caiden squares his shoulders uncomfortably. “Yeah well, we finally reached a breaking point.”

  Brandon boldly jabs a finger into Caiden’s shoulder. I’m sure it’s supposed to be playful, but these two tend to get a bit alpha when they talk about things that might involve their feelings. It’s almost cute, in that caveman sort of way.

  “I just didn’t think you had the balls to do it, since she took your balls months ago.”

  “Well,” Caiden grunts, his patience wearing thin as he replies through clenched teeth. “I grew my balls back, now fuck off.”

  Brandon enjoys the moment too much to let it go. His shoulders shake as he releases a slew of burly chuckles at Caiden’s expense. For a moment I worry, but then my own laughter emerges, because, well—it’s funny.

  I laugh. I squeal. I may even snort. That’s when CeeCee joins in.

  I wish I didn’t think Caiden looks so beautiful angry, but he does. A beautiful idiot with thick furrowing brows, piercing jade depths, and an adorable grimace.

  I reach out to touch his tattooed arm to calm him even though I’m still laughing.

  His skin feels as hot as his anger, but it at least gets him to turn to face me. “Caiden,” I sigh, “C’mon. He’s messing with you. It’s nothing new.”

  His eyes fall to my hand touching him, and I can feel his body let go of that tension that’s wound so tight.

  Brandon hums as he takes in the scene. “I guess it was just a matter of time.”

  We must be so obvious, and now I don’t know what feels appropriate. Thinking about it makes me feel bad for Kristen, even if I don’t like her, but it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the feeling. I pull my hand away.

  It’s Caiden’s reflexive sigh that has me understanding he feels the same.

  “There’s nothing going on,” I blurt out to all of my favorite people. “We’re just friends.”

  CeeCee is back in a flash. “Who are you trying to convince here?”

  There’s no winning with these people, just as I predicted.

  My optimistic attitude is on the brink of vanishing, and I get real with my friends, because if I don’t, there’s no hope for any of us.

  “Hey!” erupts from me.

  Chuckles, giggles, and chatter stop, and CeeCee even manages to soften the anger that lines her face.

  “Baby Bird” is uttered swiftly, as if the almighty Brandon is the one who notices my frustration, or maybe he’s being apologetic.

  “Do me a favor, guys,” I ask. “Give us some space. Nothing is going on. You’re right: Caiden just broke it off with,” I gulp down her name as I say it, and it goes down like a sour Skittle, my face puckering, “Kristen. Can we have a little compassion here? Maybe even a little time? I can only take so much. You want things to be good? Then I suggest you let this go and stop giving us a hard time, all right? We’re taking this… slow.”

  CeeCee’s hand collides with Brandon’s chest, and I swear he smiles. They’re so weird. “Let it go, Brandon. I think it’s for the best,” she says.

  They stroll away almost like they like each other again, and I cross my fingers at the thought.

  I exhale, lifting my stare to find that Caiden’s eyes haven’t moved from mine.

  “Stop it,” I snap, forcing myself to turn away.

  “You care about me.”

  I shake my head, fighting off a laugh through squirming lips again. “Nope. No, I don’t.”

  I notice from across the room that CeeCee and Brandon have gone back to bickering. I think that might be them getting back to normal. The sick games we play.

  “You care about me a lot,” Caiden quips smugly.

  “I don’t know where you got that idea. Maybe you’re confused with the fact that I have a reputation to keep now.”

  He rolls his eyes. “How could I forget you’re famous now.”

  My gut bubbles when I hear that term, and I worry he already knows how much it makes me uncomfortable. I’m losing my footing fast. My cheeks heat. I try to be clever and go with it. Although, I can’t form words, so I just nod.

  He leans on one foot, tilting his head curiously, seeing right through me. “Doesn’t that mean I’m famous, too?”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “It totally should. Aren’t they making a movie out of our book?”

  My brows pucker tightly, and my nerves dissipate into something more comical. I fight a smile. “Did you just say our book?”

  He nonchalantly drinks from his beer as he nods.

  “It’s my book,” I exclaim.

  He shakes his head, admonishing me with a smirk. “They should cast me as the lead in the movie, don’t you think? It only seems appropriate.”

  “You actually don’t look anything like the character,” I chide. Not having the character resemble him was a purposeful tactic.

  He snorts. “I think they’d make an exception.”

  I roll my eyes. “Are you done?”

  He laughs victoriously, winning a battle against my nerves, and takes a confident step closer. My palm flies up to his chest. I hesitate, which wasn’t my plan. I stare at my hand flat against his sternum. I wiggle my fingers a bit, loving how warm and hard he feels.

  My eyes fling themselves up to see Caiden staring at my hand with a well-crafted smile. Bastard.

  I find the discipline to push him away.

  “You need to keep your distance for now.”