•clueless•

•11•

The next couple of days were pure torture. Bradley and I haven't spoken in over a week, and I refused to talk to anyone about it. Everyone noticed, but thankfully no one made comments about it, at least in front of me.

"Let's get some fresh air. It'll do you good." My mom breaks me out of thought, leading me outside to the back porch of the bar that looks over the beach with two drinks in her hands.

"A sweet tea for you." She beams as we sit down on the picnic table, placing it in front of me.

"Thanks." I mutter, taking a sip of the tea. No matter how hard I tried, my mind was on Bradley. He had his reasoning, who am I to tell him he's in the wrong for trying to keep his work life separate from his personal life? I was in the wrong, not him.

"Want to talk about it?" She asks, placing a gentle hand on my own over the table. A deep sigh leaves my lips as I hear excited shouts. Looking out, I see a group playing football in the sunset. Despite the silhouettes, I knew it was them. My eyes land on a shirtless Bradley following a football play.

"Bradley and I got into an argument. I was completely in the wrong but at the time I was just really hurt that he didn't tell me." I explain, watching him run with the ball in his arms. He seemed truly happy.

"What was the fight about?" Mom purses her lips as I turn my attention back to her. "He was just trying to keep his personal life separate from his work life, but I felt like he was just leading me on, I guess." I groan, laying my head down on the table.

Throughout the conversation, I didn't realize the footsteps approaching us until they stepped up on the deck.

"Good evening, ladies." I hear an unfamiliar voice speak up. Picking my head up off the table, I looked up to find the same green eyed man from the other day.

"Maverick, hey!" My mom greets, standing up to give him a hug. My eyebrows furrow at the interaction.

The two of them pull away, awkwardly from what I could tell. No...this couldn't be the ex my mom talks about from the Navy. The only guy she was truly in love with.

My mom had told me stories of the guy she fell in love with when she staying with my grandpa, a former Admiral of the Navy. This was presumably before my father entered the picture, because she refused to talk about my father whenever I asked about him directly.

"Um, Rae. This is Pete, a friend of mine. Pete, this is my other daughter, Rae." She introduces us. A strange feeling rose in my stomach as I saw him hold his hand out for a handshake, his hands were shaking. Something was going on between these two, and they did a terrible job of hiding it.

"Nice to meet you." I force it down as I take his hand, gently shaking it.

"Nice to meet you too." He nervously smiles. Nodding, I pull my hand back to take another sip of my drink. He seemed cool, maybe this wouldn't be so bad if it turned out they were together or something.

"You've met Amelia?" I questioned. It must be serious if he met Amelia.

"Once or twice." He nods, sitting down next to my mom. Nodding, I looked down at my drink as I stirred it with the straw.

"Are you alright?" He asks, genuine.

"Just boy problems." My mom playfully teases, earning a blush from me. "You make it sound like I'm still in high school." I laughed, taking a sip.

"Well, I'm not wrong! Go apologize, he's right there!" Mom motions to the group.

"Rooster?" Pete laughs, glancing down.

"Unfortunately. Look, we just need some time to cool off and then we'll be fine." I shrug, trying to convince myself. I had broken it off, who was I kidding?

"It's been a week. That's more than enough time." Mom teases, but I could tell she just wanted the best for me. "Do you want me to talk to him?" Pete asks, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"No, no! I couldn't ask you for that. I'm almost 21, I can handle it." I confirm, glancing over at the team playing football. My eyes make eye contact with Rooster's dark brown eyes. Instinctively, my body relaxes. Despite the tension between us, I did miss him.

I couldn't do this right now. It was fresh, I needed time to heal. There's no reason to put salt in an open wound when you could easily avoid it.

"Anyways, I was thinking! I'm having a couple people for dinner over tomorrow night, do you want to join us?" My mom looks over at Pete. Yep, definitely something going on between them.

"Oh, um, sure! What time?" He replies, sending a playful glance my way. Stifling a laugh, I looked down at my drink. He definitely wasn't expecting to be invited to a dinner at her house.

"I should head home. I still gotta make dinner." I smile, finishing my drink off. The two of them look up at me, and for a second I feel at peace.