Page 17 of Reckless Roses
Elena cries in my arms, her brothers threaten to kick Zach’s ass, and she swears she’ll never speak to him again. Then, the next day, I catch them making out in his car during lunch, or I find her sneaking out of his bedroom early in the morning before my parents wake up.
I don’t know why they thrive off each other’s toxicity. I don’t know why they continue to torture themselves. I don’t know why I stand by and watch it happen, why I continue to comfort her after each falling out, knowing it’s tormenting me too.
Today is no different. They’re fighting, and I’m pretending I can’t hear it as we wait for the rest of our friends to show their faces. Despite their lack of respect for my boundaries, they at least stay away from each other in the presence of Everett and Leo, who are both all too happy to pretend their best friend isn’t fucking their sister and repeatedly breaking her heart.
“We were in a fight, Elena. I’m sorry, all right?”
“So you admit it then? You were sexting her.”
“It was the same weekend you decided to make out with Derek at that party because you were pissed at me, so I don’t understand what you’re even upset about.”
“You blocked my number!” she screams.
“And you sure moved on quickly.”
A growl and a loud stomp signals Elena is about to start throwing a literal tantrum right here in public. Although, I don’t know if I can blame my brother for that jab. I was pissed at her that night too. After a particularly ugly spat between the two of them, Zach blocked her number, and Elena tagged along with Everett to a house party, which ended with her straddling the lap of one of our classmates and sticking her tongue down his throat in front of everyone.
I might just be mad because I wish she would’ve used me instead, and I don’t know what that says about the kind of person I am.
“You are such a fucking?—”
“Hey, bitches!” Everett’s voice rings out in the distance. It’s his warning that he’s arrived and Zach and Elena need to get their shit together. He doesn’t address their fucked-up relationship so long as they keep it out of his face.
My head snaps up, and I catch him making his way down the pier from the Boardwalk, waving in our direction.Thank God.
Elena huffs, leaning back against the railing next to me and crossing her arms. Zach lets out a sigh of relief, and I damn near match it. “Sorry,” Elena murmurs, shuffling closer to me.
“It’s fine,” I mutter.
“I hate fighting in front of you. I don’t want you to feel like you’re choosing sides.” She loops her arm through mine, tugging us closer as she stares after me with soft, chocolate eyes.
I instantly melt. “I’m always on your side.”
The insistence that I’m essentially a kid watching my parents bicker and not her best friend pretending he’s not in love with her while constantly picking up her broken pieces—her fallen flower petals—is insulting.
She smiles, and a small laugh—the first she has let out all day—escapes her. Zach cuts me a glare, and if I have nothing else, I know I can make her smile in a way he can’t. I may not set her life, her heart, or her body on fire the way my brother does, but I can make her feel safe. And, as always, I force it to be enough.
“Where’s Leo?” Everett asks, jogging up to us. His eyes—the twin color to his sister’s— dart between the three of us, taking note of the unspoken tension wafting through the air. Elena and Everett look so much alike, though he’s about twice her size. Their parents say he stole all the height and Elena stole the beauty. I agree.
“Picking up the new girl,” Zach says.
“He’s so obsessed,” Everett says with a chuckle.
“So obsessed,” the rest of us agree in unison before busting up with laughter.
Leo stumbled upon the granddaughter of Diane Andrews, one of the Ramoses’ neighbors, a couple of weeks ago. She’s our age and staying with her grandmother for the summer. He seems to have become instantly smitten with the girl, because he hasn’t shut up about her since, and now, he’s begging her to hang out with us any chance he gets.
“Honeysuckle.” Everett snorts. “Dumbest nickname I’ve ever heard.”
“I think it’s cute,” Elena counters.
“Do you, Rosebud?” Zach smirks. Elena’s middle name is Rose, and we all know she doesn’t like it. She says being named after a flower is cliché.
“Fuck off.”
“Rosebud. Yep. That’s sticking.” Everett nods. “Because it’s your middle name, but also, you’re like,” he waves a hand up and down, referencing her stature, “small. It’s perfect.”
“I’ll actually slit your throat,” she snaps.
