Nix
“Seriously, Clo.”Kye grumbled. “This is what you want to do?” He gawked up at the building.
“You said we could do whatever I wanted.” She pouted. “And I’m in the mood to bowl.” With a dismissive shrug, she marched toward Strike One and disappeared inside.
“Is it me, or is she more… Chloe than usual?” I asked.
After taking off this morning, I’d driven around for a little bit, trying to get my shit together.
So my old man wanted me gone after graduation? It wasn’t like I wanted to stay. I just needed to figure out a plan. Get a real job. Save some cash. And if Jessa was dead set on staying with him, I needed to accept that. At least if I was still around, I could keep an eye on her.
“She’s something,” he muttered, taking off after his sister.
“Feels kind of weird being here,” Zane said.
“Yeah, but we said we’d be his back up.”
Chloe was acting weird, as if last night had never happened. Mrs. Carter had asked Kye to keep an eye on her, and Chloe had interpreted that as Kye spending the afternoon with her.
“I’ve never bowled before,” Zane added.
“Seems pretty simple to me. Roll the ball down the alley and hope for the best.”
He smirked. “Fucking bowling. He owes us for this.”
“Come on.” I slung my arm around his shoulder and guided him inside.
Kye had already paid for our game by the time we reached them. “Courtesy of Mom,” he said. “Come on, we’re on lane five”.
Kye and Zane went off toward the lanes but I hung back with Chloe.
“It’s fancy here, I like it.” She surveyed the warehouse. At least, that’s what I imagined it had been once. “Thanks for coming with me,” she added, dropping her gaze to my busted up knuckles. “And thanks for… you know.”
“Anytime, Clo. You know that.”
“I… I can’t believe he did that. I thought… I thought he really liked me, but he only wanted to fuck me. I’m such an idiot.”
“Guys will do that, Clo. Say all the right things, give you all the right signals…” A sticky trail of regret slithered through me. I’d done it enough. Whispered sweet nothings into a girl’s ear to get what I wanted. But I never forced them to do anything they didn’t want to.
I always, always fucking drew the line at that.
“He won’t hurt you again,” I said.
I’d fucked him up pretty bad.
“Yeah, I know. But it doesn’t change how I feel, in here.” She touched a hand to her chest. “He played me and I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“There’ll be plenty more fish in the sea, Clo. Just maybe go easy for a while yeah? I’m not sure Kye will suit turning gray at eighteen.”
“I don’t know, he’s cocky enough to make it work.” She tipped her head over to where her brother was flirting with a girl playing on the lane beside us.
“Does he ever take a break?”
Chloe rolled her eyes, inhaled a deep breath and took off toward them. It didn’t surprise me that she’d confided in me about Dan, rather than tell Kye. She didn’t want to hurt him, to let him think it had affected her more than it had.
I wandered over and sunk down onto the leather seat of the booth. I’d only been here once before, when I’d followed Harleigh. It was strange being back. Part of me half expected to see her appear.
Of course, she didn’t.