I couldn’t breathe. I could not breathe at all as I listened to Mason talk. He sounded utterly serious, and yet…he couldn’t be. He couldn’t really be jealous, he didn’t really want to spend more time with me. There was nothing fun or special about me to merit any sort of jealousy or wanting.
“Everything I did and said was to spend time with you,” Mason went on. “You might think you’re boring, but you’re not. You are worth it.”
I wanted to be sick. This was too much. I couldn’t… “I have to go,” I muttered, turning away from him again and rushing off. This time, Mason didn’t stop me. This time, he let me go, let me hurry away from him like I was a mouse running away from a cat who’d somehow cornered me and let me go.
I was worth it.
No, no. He was wrong there. I wasn’t.
Chapter Eight – Calum
I was in a much better mind space when Friday rolled around than I was the previous week. I had more time to think, more time to prepare myself to spend time with another girl who, I had to constantly remind myself, was not my ex. Bree was not Hilary; it wasn’t fair to take it all out on her. I’d been rude to her last weekend, and I would make it up to her tonight.
Tonight, everything would be about her. Not me. Not my anger at Hilary or my disappointment in my friend.
Kyle had been surprised when I’d mentioned it to him earlier in the week, that I was taking Bree out again, this time solo. He’d known something was off between us during the double date, and he’d apologized for trying to push me to date when it was way too soon.
And it was too soon. It was far too soon, the wound too recent and ugly, for me to date.
If that was the case, why was I doing this? Why did I care about making it up to Bree? I had no obligation to her, none whatsoever. She wasn’t even my type. She was the very opposite of the kind of girl I usually went for, but…but maybe that was a good thing. Maybe the girls I normally went for weren’t the ones I should be with. Hilary had shown that enough on her own.
No, I was going on this date with Bree, and I was going to give it my all. I deserved to have a good time, as did she.
This time, I dressed up a bit. Threw on a nice, clean button-down shirt after showering. I put a bit of gel in my blonde hair, spiking it up into a fauxhawk as much as its short length would allow. Nice, dark jeans. A bit of cologne. I looked how I should’ve looked last weekend.
Hopefully Bree would forgive me for my actions last weekend. I hadn’t been nearly as gentlemanly as I should’ve been, and I hated that she got that first impression of me. That wasn’t the kind of guy I was.
Kyle and his girlfriend had postponed their date so they could see us both off. He practically stalked me as I got ready, watching every move I made. “You do know that Michelle will kill me if you’re a jerk to Bree, right?” he questioned, folding his hands over his chest in the hall, watching me from just outside the bathroom.
I tossed him a look. “I’m not going to be a jerk, alright? I’m in a better mood now.”
He was unimpressed. “She damn well nearly killed me for not telling her the moment I found out you and Bree were going out again. She’s very invested in your relationship.”
I let out a laugh. There was no relationship between Bree and I. We were just two adults going out on a date, hopefully to have a good time with each other. That’s it. I wasn’t looking for a new girlfriend. Plus, I meant what I said before about long-distance relationships.
“You and Michelle are getting way too ahead of yourselves,” I told him, exiting the bathroom, heading into my room to slip on my shoes. It was about time to pick her up at her house.
Was it weird that I was kind of excited? With just her and I on the date, there would be no one else. No one watching us, no one else’s hopes pushed upon us to somehow click like couples always did instantly in the movies. In real life, it was never like that. Things were always messier, and they took more time.
When he started following me down the stairs, I stopped him. “Look, Kyle, everything will be fine. I’ll make sure Bree has fun, and I’ll get my mind off what happened with Hilary. I’d tell you not to wait up, but…” He and Michelle were usually locked in his room when they were here, so I knew what they got into.
Mom was fine with a lot of things, as long as protection was used. She was a pretty chill parent—a pretty chill parent who was currently at some boring work function, so luckily she wouldn’t be sending me off tonight. Just Kyle had that honor, unfortunately.
“Just…” Kyle paused, trying, undoubtedly, to think up something witty to say, “Don’t have too much fun, okay?” He gave me a wink, which caused me to roll my eyes.
I said nothing else, but I did give him a finger as I spun and walked down the stairs. The middle one. Thought it was a good salute to my idiot little brother.
Within fifteen minutes, I was pulling into Bree’s driveway. I didn’t get her number, so I couldn’t text her that I was here. I’d told her around what time I’d pick her up, but I didn’t see anybody standing on the porch or anybody waiting inside through the windows. My hand reached for the keys, turning the ignition off but leaving the keys inside as I got out and headed to the front door.
I’d pick her up old-fashionedly, I guess.
After hitting the doorbell, I waited a few moments. The person who answered the door turned out to be Michelle, who smiled up at me with an icy expression I knew could turn downright evil. “Calum,” she said. “Here to call upon my sister?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, having no idea why she was talking like she was from one hundred years ago. I could see Bree standing behind her, trying to get past her, but Michelle refused to move.
“If you hurt my sister, know that I will hunt you down and cut your balls off—” Michelle’s threat was ended by her mom frantically shouting her name, and Bree smiling softly. She clearly did not care about apologizing, like her mom was quickly trying to tell her to do; all she did was step aside and let Bree out.
Bree stepped out, looking the opposite of at ease as she glanced back to her sister, who currently watched us both—though mostly me—with an icy blue stare that could kill. Michelle ended up glaring at me the entire time, as I brought Bree to my car. Even as I opened the passenger side door for her, Michelle sneered.
Did Bree tell her that she had a horrible time last weekend? Was that why Michelle felt so protective of her older sister? I guess I couldn’t blame her for that; I wasn’t my best, so it wasn’t too out of the blue that Michelle picked up on it.
Once Bree and I were safely in the car, I glanced at her, and then back up to Michelle, who glared from the front door. “Your sister must care a lot about you,” I remarked.
Bree shrugged. “She just doesn’t want me to get hurt.”
I looked back to Bree, noticing, for the first time, she didn’t look like she did last weekend. We’d traded places; this time I was the one all dressed up, and she looked like she did on a normal day. No makeup, no hairdo. Tonight her pink hair was messy in the natural way, her green eyes bare of all eyeshadow and eyeliner.
Some might think she looked more washed-out, being natural-faced, but I knew this was more the real Bree than the dolled-up version I’d seen last weekend. That was fine. This was the real Bree, and I was determined to show her the real me, as well. I was a good guy.