Page 26 of Meet You in the Waves
“Why, Dane?” I sighed. “Why would you say that to Nick?”
“Because you don’t know him like I do,” Dane returned, walking right up into my space. He clasped both my shoulders,looking down at me with pleading in his eyes. “Please believe Kira.”
“Dane, I honestly think you don’t know your brother at all,” I replied. “He is a really great guy and not at all the person you’ve made him out to be. And I’m sorry but I do believe his word.”
“But it’s Kira,” Dane pleaded, glancing over his shoulder to where Kira was now sobbing, Dee with her arm over her friend’s shoulders as she sent me a matching pleading glance.
“You do know your brother is gay, right?” I asked, suddenly unsure whether this was common knowledge.
But Dane just scoffed, derision on his face. “Probably just another thing he made up to get attention.”
“You honestly think he would make up being gay for attention?” I asked, disbelief at how badly Dane truly thought of his brother.
“I saw him with a girl once and he was all over her. So yeah, I do think he’s saying it for attention.”
“Who? Who was the girl?”
“I don’t know. Selena something or other,” Dane said dismissively. The one girl Nick had been with and of course Dane knew all about that.
“Honestly, Dane, I don’t think you know Nick at all,” I sighed gently.
“And you do, huh?” Dane asked, dropping his hold of my arms and taking a step back, arms crossed as he looked down at me. “You and him are suddenly the greatest of friends?”
“Yeah. I would say we are friends,” I returned a little defensively. “Which is something I could kind of do with right now.”
The three of them all stood watching me, lines marked in the proverbial sand delineating whose side we were all on, looking at me like I was the one who had lost the plot. No one said anything but I had had enough of this conversation. I’d never intendedfor it to escalate the way it had done, the entire household weighing in on my relationship with a girl I did not want to be with anymore. Why couldn’t my own best friend see that? Why couldn’t he back me up? Like his brother had done for me.
I sighed heavily. “I’m going out for a bit,” I said. “By the time I come back, please respect my wishes and be gone, Kira. And the rest of you, please respect my decision on this.”
And with that I turned and followed out the back door where Nick had left moments ago. I needed to find him, needed to make sure he was okay after what his brother had said to him. None of this was all right. Nick was the victim in this too and we had both been made out to be the bad guys. It sucked.
I made my way down the steps to the lawn. I was about to head down onto the beach when I heard the whir of a machine coming from the boat shed. I’d never set foot in the shed before but I peeked my head through the open door, eyes falling on Nick as he pounded the conveyor belt on the running machine in his little home gym.
His shirt was off, a light sheen of sweat glistening on all that body and drying my mouth out a little. There was a set to his jaw that told me he had been more affected by the conversation in the kitchen than he probably wanted to be.
“Hey,” I said, leaning up against the doorframe.
Nick must have been in another world because he startled, eyes hitting me before he hit the stop button on the running machine and it slowed to a halt.
“Hey,” he replied a little breathlessly, stepping off the machine and reaching for a bottle of water. He took a long sip and I just watched, envious as ever of the way his defined abs rippled with each movement. He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth before taking a step towards me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “What about you. Are you okay?”
Nick seemed surprised by my question but quickly batted it away. “Who cares about me?” he dismissed.
“I care,” I returned, taking a step closer until we were bare feet from each other. “That was pretty shit the way Dane spoke to you.”
“Yeah, it was,” Nick agreed. “Kind of had plenty of years to get used to it though. He’s always been that way with me.”
I surveyed Nick as he spoke. He always came across like nothing phased him but I could see that this argument had. That Dane calling him dishonest and a liar had hurt. And I think I’d seen enough to have an idea about where the issues truly lay.
“You know, I actually think he’s jealous of you,” I told him, watching as Nick glanced up with surprise on his face.
He laughed. “Have you not heard what he thinks of me? I’m just a lowlife bum with no future.” Nick sank down onto the little ratty sofa he kept in the gym. I didn’t like the weight he was carrying on those broad shoulders of his. The best thing about Nick was his carefree and positive attitude to life and right now it was missing.
I paused for half a beat before sitting down beside him, the squeezy sofa forcing us right up next to each other but Nick didn’t seem to mind.
“I’m actually serious, Nick,” I told him, waiting until his eyes landed on mine. They were not as blue as they usually were in the dim light of the boat shed but I held onto them, wanting him to hear me out. “I think he’s envious of how you live your life, of how you don’t take anything too seriously. I love Dane but he’s very high strung and I think he’s forgotten how to have fun to be honest.”
