[COMPLETE]
When Hanna Haddad embarks on what's supposed to be another uneventful summer as a lifeguard on Cape Cod, a trip to the past comes as an unnerving surprise. The discovery of her estranged mother's journal opens up the world of tragedy and...
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"You mean to tell me that you two are related?" Janelle gawked with a mouth half-full of fries. She swallowed, wiping her mouth with a napkin, and whipped her head to Alex on her left. "How did I never know that?"
After work the next day, Janelle had invited me to an early dinner with her and Alex at a newly opened sandwich shop. Jesse, not realizing his stepbrother would also be there, had persuaded me into inviting him with a simple bat of his eyelashes. It was always hard to resist those pretty blue eyes, but the suffocating tension enveloping the table made me regret being such a pushover.
"I mean, we're not related by blood, so it's not strange that you didn't realize it," Alex mumbled, fist curling as he slid his eyes to Jesse, hunched over his plate on the other side of the table. "I figured the team gossip would have hit you by now, anyway."
"It didn't," she mumbled, unamused. "Maybe I overestimated our friendship."
Alex went to rebut her disheartened reply, but Jesse spoke over him, heavy tone a little snarkier than usual. "Well, at least now you know the life-changing news."
Alex sucked in his cheeks, knuckles now white under the table. "It would have been pointless to bring up, anyway," he said, speaking to Janelle but staring down Jesse. The girl glanced between the two of them, her curious dark eyes darting from left to right, sniffing the drama about to commence. "Not when one of us lives to deny our relation."
"Let's not rehash anything," Jesse rejoined, voice enveloped in an eerie calm. He pressed his lips into a flat line, staring down Alex, a battle of blue versus brown.
"No, but really, Jesse, am I wrong?" He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "I could pass away, and you'd hardly give a shit. Better yet, if we were in The Purge and you had the chance to kill me with no consequences, you wouldn't even bat an eyelash."
"I'm not fucking heartless," Jesse snapped, slamming his hand down onto the table, making our plates clatter. I jumped back in my seat, clutching my heart. When he noticed my fright, he sighed and shook his head. "Sorry. I'm so sorry." He muttered something else to himself, before pushing off the table and heading to the parking lot.
Janelle and I glanced between each other, stuck in different states of confusion. She seemed unaware of the long-lasting feud between the two of them, while I couldn't figure out what had started it. Snippets of conversations started flooding my brain.
When will you ever stop? She was my girlfriend. Being single happened. Unexpectedly single.
Was this about Jesse's ex-girlfriend? Had Alex destroyed Jesse's relationship with her?
I excused myself and ran after Jesse, mostly because I wanted to understand what had just happened. But maybe some part of me didn't want him to drive off in a fit of rage. His life certainly wasn't worth whatever rancor he felt towards Alex, even if the latter seemed justifiably aggrieved.
