Big Girl Boots

Thirty-Six

UPDATE! FINALLY! YAY! 

Thanks for your patience, you guys. 

--Lindsey

***

Much to my surprise, Coda and I were officially on speaking terms again before the end of the week, not that I was complaining. Admittedly, I'd really been missing our conversations and the way she used to make snarky comments to shut down me and Kellan's fighting. By the time Friday rolled around, she was willing to ride home from school with me and we settled together on the comfy suede couch in the basement since there was nothing else to do with all the snow still on the ground. 

The smell of my aunt's chocolate chip cookies wafted down the stairs but I tried my best to ignore it since she'd already sent us out of the kitchen with a scolding for stealing some. Coda was sprawled on the shorter end of the soft, L-shaped sofa, her socked feet propped up on a pillow. She was still bundled up in all the layers she put on for school, but so was I. We looked like a pair of fluffy scarecrows that definitely didn't belong in the house. I'd learned my lesson about making comments when it came to things like that, though, and kept my mouth shut. 

"So, about you and Torrin..."

Somehow, I knew the second that he'd dropped me off in the doorway of English on Monday that I was gonna hear about it, not just indirectly through the school rumor mill, but from my small friend group. I'd been rehearsing my line for several days now, fully preparing to defend myself. 

The problem was, I hadn't expected the questions to come from Coda, so every well-thought defense left my brain in a mad panic. Dustie and Kellan were easy enough to deal with, but I still felt the need to walk on eggshells around her. I settled with playing dumb. 

"What about him?" 

"Well," she began, tapping a finger on her chin, "I'm pretty sure he likes you." 

"What?" I held in a laugh at how ridiculous she sounded, not wanting to piss her off and land us back in square one. "What makes you think that?" 

I watched her raise a hand with five erect fingers like she was preparing to verbalize a list. "Number one, he asked you out to coffee and you said yes. Number two, you rode there with him and then brought him back to the house. Number three, about the only thing he did during that entire family meeting was stare at you. Number four, he fixed up your hand when you busted it all up, and number five, he walked you to class and got you excused for being late." 

I bit back a comment about how he had to come back to the house after coffee in order to drop me off and settled for something less offensive. "How do you know that about my hand and the coffee?"

She shrugged. "He told me some of it and Kellan told me the rest."

"Oh yeah, what did he have to say about it?" My face stayed impassive but I was getting a little weirded out. I didn't want to be the girl that Coda's brother repeated every detail about and then analyzed with her! That would be just plain wrong. 

"He said you guys went out to coffee. Kellan filled in the missing pieces."

"How would he know?" I grumbled, "he wasn't even there." Even though I acted grumpy I was somewhat relieved to hear Torrin hadn't gone on and on about me to his little sister. 

She shrugged again and pushed some hair out of her face. I realized she hadn't gotten it touched since Oakley took her to the hairdresser in the summer. The soft bangs she'd gotten then were now long and wispy and she definitely needed a trim. I'd gotten my ends cut while on break at my parent's place. 

I flicked on the TV and chose That 70's Show to fill the void. Literally anything was better than getting grilled about my nonexistent relationship with her brother. 

We stayed propped up on the couch like that for the next two hours, laughing intermittently at the ridiculousness of the show. When she didn't try and bring it up again I let myself be incredibly relieved to think she must have forgotten about whatever was going down between her brother and I. 

While he was definitely good looking with his hazel eyes, soft hair, and cute dimple, he just wasn't my type. On top of that, after witnessing Oakley's boy drama and the breakup between Coda and Wyatt, I had no desire to date any of the immature specimens of men in this town. 

I knew Torrin was fairly mature for his age--he had to be after growing up the way he had--but Coda had told me too many stories about him terrorizing her as recently as this summer. I'd be damned if I was going to get myself involved in that mess, and I'd go to hell before letting my best friend be right in the middle of any relationship of mine. I'd been the middle man too many times to count and that was just a shitty place to be. 

She stood up, snapping me out of my trance. "Blake, I know you don't want me in the middle of all that, but I'm telling you right now you need to talk to my brother. You made me do the same thing with both Kellan and Wyatt so now I'm giving you a taste of your own medicine. Either you talk to him or I will. 

And with that, Coda left me sitting alone on the couch with nothing but my own thoughts and the cast of That 70's Show.