Hello, Goodbye

Chapter Twenty-Four

This time she wasn't brokenhearted by Zeke's rejection. She was furious. For months, all he'd done was say he wanted to protect her from getting hurt by him, and yet he continued to hurt her by pushing her away. She was so tired of playing this game. On and off, hot and cold. It was exhausting, and she loved being with him, but it was past the point of hurting. Now it was just cruel. But a couple days later, while she was hanging out with Avery at the house on one of her days off, Zeke sent her a text. She hoped the text would have some kind of explanation about what happened in her studio, but nothing. He just wanted to know if she wanted to meet up when he got off work.

She shook her head and slid her phone into her pocket, choosing not to answer. "Everything okay?" Avery asked suspiciously.

Emersyn shook her head. "Yeah, it's fine. I'm fine."

They were having a much-needed girl's day. Axel was at work and then he had plans with the girl he'd left with the night of the bonfire. Her name was Nancy, and Avery was not a fan. But she never liked any of her brother's girlfriends. Emersyn once told her that she was one of those weird sisters who felt that no one was good enough for her brother, and she hadn't even bothered trying to deny it. Her brother was her best friend, and in Avery's eyes he was the best man in the world. Which, Emersyn knew, was far from the truth. Axel was great, but he was far from perfect. Not that she really knew what the perfect man looked like.

"Bullshit," Avery said after a sip of water. "I can tell. Something's wrong. Who texted you just now?"

"Kiel," she replied, lying. Avery made a face, and Emersyn let out a long sigh. "Fine. It was Zeke. He asked me if I wanted to get together with him when he got off work."

"Nice," Avery said, reaching for a chip from the open bag sitting on the coffee table. "What are you guys going to do?"

She shrugged. "We're not going to do anything." Avery raised her eyebrows. "I don't know. I'm taking some time away from him to think. That's all."

She scrunched up her face. "What are you talking about? Zeke is hot. Go for it! What's there to think about?"

Emersyn did not like hearing that Avery thought Zeke was hot. Something about it bothered her deep in her core. But she let it roll off her shoulders, knowing her friend didn't mean anything by it. "Yeah, but he keeps sending me these mixed signals, you know? Like one second, he's all into me, and the next he's completely shutting me down. Talking about not wanting to hurt me or whatever crap excuse he has at the time. It's pissing me off. Honestly, I'm starting to feel played with. So I just need time to think."

"Oh my God," Avery said, rolling her eyes. "You can't be serious." Emersyn widened her eyes, and Avery scoffed. "You always were so dumb when it came to guys. Remember that time Drake Douglas asked if you wanted to hang out with him at the bonfire and you invited us? And he got upset because you invited us on your date, and you didn't know it was a date?"

Emersyn laughed and shook her head. "This is not one of those times," she said.

"Yes it is! I can tell by the way Zeke looks at you that he likes you. He may even love you." Her stomach flipped at the idea, and she hated herself for it. "Don't be an idiot."

Emersyn groaned and slammed her head back against the couch cushion. "You know, I asked Kiel about this yesterday too. And he said pretty much the same exact thing. But what I don't understand is why fight it? If he really feels that way about me, then why is he pushing me away like this?"

"Doesn't sound like he's pushing you away," she replied, as she spread her legs out on Emersyn's lap. "I mean, he just asked you to hang out with him after work. That sounds like he's pulling you closer."