Page 17 of For Three Seconds

“I know you don’t want her to be messed around.” I said what she wanted to hear.

Gigi beamed up at me. “You’re the best boyfriend ever, and I love you for it…but Scar needs to learn to stand up for herself. We have to stop babying her.”

I didn’t agree with her, but what could I say? Instead, I started to walk Gigi to our next class since we had it together.

“Besides, I think it’s cool if she hooked up with Jordy,” Gigi said.

I missed a step even though the floor was flat when she said those words.

“That’s cool.” I dreaded those words.

Truth was, I’d always thought of Scarlett as mine. She’d never dated anyone else. Sure, I knew she used to make out with guys at parties, but never anything more. And a part of me was glad, because it meant she didn’t care about anyone like that.

And when she was at her lowest, she came to me. It was me who made her feel better. It was me who made her world all right, even if it was only for three seconds.

What the fuck was I going to do when she found someone who was real?

Seven

When my cellphone started ringing, I stared at it, contemplating ways to get out of tonight’s party. It was always the same thing, always the same people, because God forbid they invited someone who wasn’t part of our crowd. I was so tired of it. Sure, the talking had died down, but it wasn’t like I didn’t know they were all just waiting for me to snap.

I didn’t blame them. They didn’t understand, and the ones that did acted like they didn’t. After my parents died, I wanted to stay home and mourn them on my own. Just because I cut everyone off, it didn’t mean I was depressed; it just meant I was dealing with their deaths on my own.

It just sucked that around that time was when Gigi started partying more. She was the only person I didn’t mind being by my side, but I understood she had her life.

I couldn’t blame her for that. I just wished she’d stop trying to make my life like hers.

Putting on some cutoff shorts and one of my brother’s old football t-shirts, I left my room. I didn’t feel like going in the water, so no swimsuit for me.

“Hey, I’m going out with some friends to the lake,” I told my brother, who was in the kitchen trying to make some food.

“Who’s picking you up?”

“Dylan,” I replied immediately.

My brother made a face. “Why can’t Gigi pick you up?”

“She’s with Gavin.”

“Why can’t you ride with them?”

My brother wasn’t oblivious, but since we both got our world ripped apart, we understood there were more important things to life.

“Because they are together. Chill, you have nothing to worry about with Dylan.”

“Call me if you need me, and be home by midnight.” Nick pointed a finger at me.

I meant it when I said I’d told no one about Dylan, and that included Nick.

“Okay…and Nick.” I stopped before I left the condo, making sure I had my brother’s full attention. “You should go out with your friends.”

Nick made a puzzled face as I closed the door. Even though my brother was older by five years, he was still very young. I knew he had the world on his shoulders, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still go out there and try. Because the thing about burdens is, they don’t go anywhere; they’ll always be waiting for you. So might as well take the escapes as they come.

“Do you want to fuck off everyone else and just go do something else?” I asked Dylan as soon as I got in his car.

“Do what?”

“I don’t know, what do people who don’t hang with us do?”

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