“Huh?” Now I’m confused. “What point are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you being like me. Infatuated with someone who doesn’t give a crap about you and letting your whole universe revolve around them. Bobby never gave a fuck about my feelings. All he ever wanted to do was fool around or talk about football or talk about himself. I just tuned out all of the bad and pretended everything was good so that I didn’t have to face reality. Because reality sucks. And you know what the reality was; was that I was nothing to him, but a piece of ass.”
“Whit, I—.”
“Let me finish. I was a piece of ass and I had my heart broken and it will be a cold day in hell before I ever let that happen to you. It will be a cold day in hell before I let some jerk hurt you the way Bobby hurt me.”
I’m elated and moved and I can’t even think straight. I’ve always known that Whit cared in her own off-kilter way, but this is deep. Abyss deep. “Come here.” I stretch my arms and pull Whit into a warm embrace. She cries into my shoulder and it’s weird that her saying all of that about Bobby makes me realize that she’s right…
I’m worth more than being a piece of ass to some hottie and so is she.
~18~
Some emotions don’t make a lot of noise. It’s hard to hear pride. Caring is faint, like a heart beat. And pure love, some days it’s so quiet you don’t even know it’s there. ~Author Uknown~
Whit decides to turn in early. After today’s events I don’t blame her. Today was definitely an emotionally draining day.
I lie down for a little bit, but can’t sleep so I decide to walk down to my spot to watch the sunset. Maybe it will take my mind off things or at least distract me for a little while.
Walking out the front door, Mom passes me and catches me by the elbow. “Where ya going?”
She lets go of me and I step away, walking backwards. “I was just gonna go watch the sunset.”
She smiles. “We’re going into town with the Marshall’s. They’re having a firework display. You want to join?”
“Thanks, mom. But I think I’m just going to stick with my own plan.”
“Okay, sweetheart.” Mom waves and walks through the front door as I stroll away from the house.
The sky is cloudless and I watch the seagulls as the whip through the miles of orange, yellow, and magenta. The sun hangs low, casting a shimmering reflection off the water and it looks like lightning bugs are resting along the surface. The sight of it relaxes me, soothes me, and sweeps me up into an embrace of ambiance.
I sit close to the water. The waves are calm today and as a small one rolls into the sand with its white caps and fizzing bubbles it feels surprisingly warm against my skin. I shut my eyes and listen to the sounds of the roar of the crashing waves, feeling completely lost and calm, visualizing myself floating in the deep blue sea, not a care in the world.
Keeping my eyes closed, I fall back onto the sand and spread my limbs out. The rough texture of the grains of sand is irritating yet calming at the same time. I feel like the sand is scratching away pieces of me. Every time a grain rubs against my skin it’s scraping off a new piece. First there’s hurt. Then regret. And who knows what will be next. Maybe foolishness.
Footsteps plod into the sand and pull me from my thoughts. I sit up and open my eyes and glimpse over my shoulder, noticing a body moving toward me. “Whit?” I shout.
Maybe she woke up and decided to come looking for me. Or maybe she decided she needed a distraction too.
“No!” A deep beautiful voice shouts back. Not Whit. Then I see his perfect, white smile gleaming beneath the light of the moon as he comes into view. Elliot.
Instinctively, I stand as Elliot picks up his pace and starts jogging toward me. He’s shirtless, wearing only a pair of hunter green board shorts. That’s the bad thing about being on vacation; hot ties always walk around flaunting their perfect
ly chiseled abs.
Elliot is a hottie that I want to avoid at the moment, so I turn and start walking
.
He’s getting closer. “Hey!” His voice hangs in the night air. “Where are you going?”
I ignore him and keep walking until he finally catches up to me. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?” He keeps up with me and walks next to me.
“No.” A smug grin curls on his full pink lips and I know he knows I’m lying.
“So it’s true then?” he asks as his breathing returns to normal.
“So what’s true then?”