Page 29 of The Time It Takes
I walked into the living room and stared at Ben, my eyebrows raised in question. He shot me a bored look while the girl planted little slobbery kisses on his neck. The fact that she hadn’t acknowledged me didn’t sit right.
“Sadie and I are going later,” he responded. So, alas, she had a name. I pressed my lips in a tight line to stop myself from yanking the girl off my brother.
Ben must see the temptation on my face because he narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head. I narrowed mine back. He jerked his chin to the side table, and I knew what he was asking. Fucking asshole.
I opened the drawer to grab the remote to the stereo but saw something else instead. I grabbed a condom from a box inside. I threw it and it smacked the girl in the jaw. “Wouldn’t want to have little airheads running around.” I pointedly looked at Ben who was now rightfully pissed at me. “Genes pass on,” I informed him with a smirk before sauntering back toward the door where Tucker stood waiting.
Tucker was gaping at me, but I ignored him. When I walked past him, he followed. He quickly caught up with me and slid his hand into mine. I hesitated for a moment but decided to let him because I was angry for an entirely different reason than I made Ben believe.
If he met someone and found forever in them, he’d leave. I knew it was inevitable and of course, I wanted him to be happy, but he was all the family I had left. He’d fall in love someday and he’d have to leave me behind and I’d have to let him. I was jealous of the thought that one day it wouldn’t just be Willow and Ben in this house. Eventually, it’d just be Willow and her sulkiness because that’s what I planned to do when he left.
Sulk.
The thought stopped dead in my mind.Wasn’t that what I was about to do?
Maybe I was selfish and should want him to have a life better than the one we were handed. Whatever the world may call it, it was still ours.
My brother was the rope that always pulled me back from the edge and perhaps it had something to do with him being such a father figure in my life, but I knew deep down I’d always need him more than he needed me.
And that was an ache that would never leave.
THE BONFIRE, as I predicted, became an all-out rager once the sun disappeared.
People were scattered everywhere. I recognized a few from school, but not many. A lot of locals and tourists usually came out to enjoy themselves as well.
Tucker and I sat around the fire with Dylan and Phoebe. The three of them did most of the talking and I chipped in every so often just to make Phoebe happy. She didn’t seem to notice my disinterest in Tucker growing stronger as the night progressed. I hoped Tucker didn’t notice either, but I knew he wasn’t blind to my distracted thoughts.
My eyes darted over to where Dean, Taylor, and Oliver stood on the pier. That’s where I should be. They all had just gotten done surfing and wore only their swim trunks. I hadn’t spoken to Oliver since the day before he went out of town on Tuesday.
They all laughed about something, and my ears strained to catch the slightest sound of Oliver’s voice. After a long time of shifting my eyes back and forth between Tucker and Ollie, the latter’s eyes finally caught mine. I sucked in a sharp breath like a kid who just got caught stealing cookies out of the jar.
I lifted my hand to wave at him, but he only stared at me before his gaze drifted to who sat beside me. When they cut back to me, his eyes narrowed in question, and I shrugged. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing. I narrowed my eyes at him harder, despite knowing he couldn’t see me.
The need to talk to him ached somewhere deep in my chest. I wanted to know where the hell he’d been and why he hadn’t been answering my calls or texts. It was clear his phone worked.
I tore my eyes away from him to find that Dean, Phoebe, and Tucker were looking at me expectedly. “What?” I asked suspiciously, my voice squeaking.
Tucker cleared his throat. “I was asking if you wanted to come to my game next Friday,” he said. My phone dinged in my pocket, and I ignored it, trying my best not to be rude. I knew exactly who it was.
“I’d love to, but I’ll have to check my work schedule first,” I told him. My phone dinged again, and my heart started to beat a little faster.
“Lifeguards have night shifts?” he asked.
I itched the back of my neck awkwardly. “Oh, um, did I say work schedule? I meant piano. I usually practice at night.”
Tucker studied me a moment before flashing me the same smile he offered every girl in his proximity and leaned down to kiss my cheek. I couldn’t help the surprise that flickered across my face. Phoebe cleared her throat in a warning to fix it, so I did. I offered him a polite smile just as my phone started to ding repeatedly.
Then my ringtone went off and my eyes widened in embarrassment. 'No Diggity' played loudly through my speaker and I pressed my lips together as I scrambled for it out of my pocket. That song only played when one person called—Oliver. It was our song, and he had the same ringtone set for me.
Phoebe shared a look with Dylan, and they seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes. Dylan grabbed Tucker’s attention with more football talk that I knew he didn’t care about.
I turned my head to scowl in Oliver’s direction, but he was gone. I stared down at the messages on my screen.
What are you doing here with that prick?
Yo damsel, need some saving?
Great, now you have to wash your face with bleach.
