Strictly Summer Romance (ON HOLD)

Chapter Nineteen, Confessions

"You sure you want to take him home? I can do it, really," Hayden says for the fifth time. I glance down into the car, expecting Mason to interject at some point and voice his normally blunt opinion, but he just sits silently in the passenger's seat, staring blankly out the wind shield.

I climb into the drivers side of Mason's car, and turn the key in the ignition. "No, I got it." I can't help but feel like this is all my fault, and I just want to fix it somehow. If that means nursing the wounds of a drunk Mason then that's what I'm going to do.

"Okay," He says hesitantly.

"See you guys at home," I wave to him and a nervous looking Alice before putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the lot.

Mason stays quiet as we pull onto the highway. The midnight road is barren. It's too early for any party goer's night to end, and too late for a homebody to be out. Neither of us speak for miles. My mind works in overdrive as I comb over every detail I can remember of the night, searching for anything to make sense of what happened. Not just with Alex either. Why had Mason been so...friendly?

"He hits like a fucking girl," Mason's voice breaks the silence.

These are the first words he's spoken since his brother pummeled him. And as I look over, surprised, at his bloodied, cut, and bruised face, I burst into fucking hysterics. I blame the hysteria, and confusion, and shock, and adrenaline of the night's events. I laugh myself to tears, and half way through my fit, Mason joins me.

"You're a fucking idiot, Mason," I say as my giggles die off.

"Can't say I disagree with you there," he says and flops his head back against the seat.

I try to not focus on how nostalgic it feels to laugh with him. How good it feels to be normal around him.

"What the hell happened back there?" I ask. Now that he's broken the air, I feel comfortable asking him about it in hopes that he's clued in on something that I'm not.

I see him shrug. "He's a dick."

"A dick that just kicked your ass for no reason?" I ask unsatisfied with his answer. "Why was he so pissed, Mason?" A deep feeling resonates within me. Guilt. A part of me, the logical part, knows why, but denial wins out.

He doesn't say anything, but I wait in silent patience as the road hums beneath us. The ocean comes into view up ahead. A bright moon shines down beautifully on it. Illuminating the surface in a euphoric glow.

"Remember all those nights we used to spend on the beach?" He asks out of the blue.

It's me who stays silent now.

"I always loved the way the moon made your hair look like a halo. Your eyes had such a pretty sparkle in them," he whispers as he gazes out at the water.

I clench my teeth to hold back the onslaught of emotion trying to fight its way forward, but confusion clouds them all. I don't know why he's saying this stuff. Is it just another one of his twisted ways to hurt me? Another one of his fucked up games? For three years I'd ached to hear words like that come from him. Even through the hate and pain, I'd yearned for him.

"Your drunk, Mason. Don't say something you'll regret in the morning," I advise in a quiet voice.

I feel more than see him roll his head to the side to look at me.

"I never regretted you," is all he says before the car ride goes silent.

I try my best not to ponder his words over and over in my head the rest of the way home.