Page 97 of You Had Me At Thirteen

‘Wren had some pretty blond at his house this afternoon. I swear to God Koby, if you knew…’

‘I fucking didn’t. Wren wouldn’t do that, anyway.’

‘Yeah, right. It’s Wren,’ Audrey says.

‘You don’t know him like I do,’ Koby says, a hint of anger in his voice.

‘Yeah… well. I don’t care.’ I can picture Audrey now, a pout on her face as she crosses her arms over her chest and glares with those fierce crystal blue eyes.

‘Til, I swear I have nothing to do with whatever is going on, I promise,’ Koby says.

‘It’s fine,’ I say. ‘Besides, it doesn’t even matter.’

‘Babe, of course it matters,’ Audrey says.

‘Nothing a run can’t fix. Call me tomorrow?’

Audrey sighs. ‘Fine. I love you.’

‘Love you too,’ I say before ending the call.

As I pull on my runners, I make myself breathe in calm. In, out. Calm, in; stupid, beautiful cheaters, out.

After my run, I take a shower, then once I’m dry enough, pull on a pair of denim shorts and a baggy black t-shirt. It covers the bottom of the shorts so it looks like I’m not wearing pants, but it’s the comfiest shirt I own. I pull my hair up as I head downstairs to make myself a toasted cheese sandwich. I’m going to spend my evening on my front porch reading. No distractions. No phone.

And definitely no Wren.

Darkness seeps in before I know it, and I’ve almost finished a quarter of my book. The crickets sing their evening song while the mosquitos gravitate towards the streetlights, or to their death inside a bug zapper.

I stand to stretch my muscles, my curled-up position cramping my legs, and head inside to grab a glass of iced tea and a snack.

Once I’ve arranged my meal on a plate, I head back to the porch, balancing the items in my hands, and feeling excited to get back into my book.

Wren’s scent engulfs me before I see him. When I glance up, he’s making his way up the stairs.

What the fuck does he want? I ignore him, taking to my chair again, and setting my iced tea and biscuits on the table beside me.

Settling back in, I flip open my book and pretend to read it. There’s no way I can actually take in anything on the page when Wren is only a metre away from me, but I’ll try my hardest to pretend it’s possible.

‘Really?’ Wren stands in front of me, his hands clenched at his sides. ‘Matilda?’

I flip a page in my book. ‘Sorry, did you say something?’

‘Stop being a fucking child.’ Wren snatches the book from my hands and throws it onto the side table, almost knocking over my glass of iced tea. ‘What’s your problem?’

Snapping my head up, I squint at him. ‘I don’t have a problem. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be busy with your little girlfriend?’

Wren stares at me for a moment, slow blinking. ‘It’s not like that,’ he says, his voice softer than seconds ago.

‘Does she know that? Because it didn’t look like that earlier. Besides, I don’t have time for your games,’ I say, heading for the front door.

Wren grabs my wrist and spins me around, grabbing my face in one hand. ‘Stop,’ he says, his teeth clenched, his face millimetres from mine. ‘Just stop. Please.’

‘I hate you. Go back to Carla,’ I say as I shove him in the chest.

‘If you let me explain, I can tell you that she’s my cousin.’

I stop fighting him. ‘What?’

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