The Other Guys

Chapter 5

Brady calls me on the ride back home. I wish I can go ignoring him, but another part, a bigger part of me doesn’t want to be mad at him anymore and, as silly as it sounds, I just want to hear his voice, so before I know what I’m doing, I’ve turned off the radio and I’m holding my cell next to my ear. Inwardly, I feel like I’m a disgrace to the feminist society.

“Hi,” I say simply, biting my lip as I can actually hear Brayden sigh in relief.

“What are you doing right now?” he asks without beating around the bush, not even addressing the fact that I’ve been ignoring his calls, even though I know he must be itching to ask me.

“Driving home,” I reply, enjoying the way the wind’s playing with my hair as it flies everywhere, “why?”

“Can we meet?” he asks nervously, like he honestly expects me to shoot him down and refuse to see him, like I’ll ever be able to deny him anything. For a moment, I entertain the idea of grilling him a little more, but in the end I decide it’s not worth it. I feel just as bad as him when we’re at odds.

But before I agree, I know there’s something I need to ask just to be clear that there won’t be any misunderstandings. “No Emily?” I query just to be sure because I’d hate to meet up with him only to find out that Emily’s tagging along, too. What’s more, I hate feeling like the third wheel when I’m with Brady and Emily, the girl who’s got my boyfriend at her beck and call.

I can hear Brady sigh through the speaker and after going out for so long, I can tell he’s exasperated with me and is most likely rolling his eyes at the ceiling at the moment, but he humors me all the same.

“No Emily,” he confirms and I grin in triumph. I take it day by day, thinking that every small victory counts. In the grand scheme of things, it might seem like no big deal, but to me, it definitely amounts to something.

“Fine, where?” I sigh, giving in, like I knew I would. I can’t turn down an opportunity to enjoy an Emily-free afternoon with my boyfriend.

“The beach shack in fifteen?” Brady suggests, but the way he says it, it sounds more like a question to me.

“Sure, see you then,” I answer, shrugging one shoulder and hanging up without saying anything else. It’s like, in my mind, I really want to tell Brady that he and Emily can go suck it for all I care (and I care a lot, which is the whole problem, the sole reason why I’m sticking it out), but something inside me won’t let me. I feel powerless, torn by the desire to confront Brady and tell him that I’m sick of being half-loved and this stupid hope I’m clinging on that one day I’ll have him all to myself.

By the time I get there, Brady’s already waiting for me, chatting with some guy from his AP physics class, oblivious to my arrival. During the time it takes him to notice me, I can’t help myself from openly staring at him and as I see him laugh, hearing it all the way from there, I’m brought back to the past when I first met him and realized, ‘oh, gosh, that boy legit takes my breath away.’

To this day, nothing has changed. My breath still hitches in my throat when I first see him, just like it happened when he walked in Mrs. Hughes’ class and our principal introduced him as the new kid.

His hair might’ve darkened and he definitely grew up a bit, but he’s the same guy I fell in love with back in middle school. It took us a long time and a lot of effort to get here, but sometimes it seems like everything we have, everything we’ve built can be taken away in the blink an eye.

Finally, Brady notices me coming and as our eyes meet, the smile on his face wavers a little. He says goodbye to the guy he was just talking to before he meets me halfway.