Page 12 of Wanted You More

That night was a full moon.

“What’s wrong?” Wolfe asks when he notices my suddenly tense position beside him.

Lying down, I grab the closest bag of chips and grab a handful. “Cramps,” I lie.

As expected, he looks as uncomfortable as the day he found out what a period was. I’d been twelve when I got my first period, and I had to tell Dad because we didn’t have any supplies at the house. He was squirmy when we went shopping, grabbing a few different boxes of feminine products he said Mom used. What was worse was the little book he got from the library that was all about the menstruation process as if I had never heard of it before in health class.

When Wolfe saw what it was about, he’d turned bright red and said, “I’m sorry about your condition.”

As if I’d been dying.

Despite his discomfort, he pauses the movie and asks, “Want me to get you the heating pad or some medicine?”

His offer makes me nearly smile as I shovel more snacks into my mouth. “No, thanks.” I pause, chewing and swallowing before grabbing some more of the sour cream and onion crisps he loves so much. “Thanks, though.”

All he does is nod and start playing the movie again.

It’s a few minutes later of him being sucked back into the horrible plot when I find myself breaking the silence again. “Why don’t you ever hang out with your friends? Dad wouldn’t care ifyouhung out with people.”

Wolfe crosses his arms over his chest. “I would need friends to hang out with them.”

I stop eating. “What about Jarod?”

My little brother makes a face. “We haven’t been friends in a long time, Austen. The last time I saw him was my tenth birthday, when we all had pizza at that weird party place.”

That can’t be right. Sitting up, I shove the chips away from me and brush off the crumbs from my fingers, not caring that they get all over the bed. “What about that weird dude who always smelled like Fritos?”

He glares. “His name is Dash, and he didn’t smell like Fritos. You’re the weirdo for thinking that.”

“Well, what aboutDash?” I correct. “You two used to play Pokémon together. I know you still have that binder full of the cards you collected. You made me buy you like ten different packs once, just foronecard.”

His lips twitch upward. “I haven’t talked to Dash in a while.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“Because why?” I press, getting irritated that he isn’t offering me any information. He had a small group of friends that he used to play video games with all the time.

For a while, I don’t think he’s going to answer at all. But then he abruptly reaches over and grabs the remote to pause the movie again before turning to me. “Because who else is going to be there for Dad? It’s obviously not going to be you, so I don’t have any other choice but to stay home while you do, God knows what, with skeevy guys who just use you.”

My lips part in surprise at his harsh tone.

He gets off the bed and glares. “I don’t have friends because I lost them all trying to be one to Dad.”

I find myself shaking my head and scooting to the edge of the bed. “Wolfe, Dad doesn’t need a friend. He needshelp. Neither of us can be what he needs to be okay again.”

His eyes go toward his feet. “What he needs is family,” he disagrees. When he looks up, there’s a sadness in his eyes. “And because of you I don’t think he’ll ever get it.”

CHAPTER SIX

The back tireof my bike is flat when I walk out of Queenie’s and untie it from the post. Kicking it with my sneaker in irritation, I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Wolfe. Marybelle is visiting her grandma in Ohio, so she can’t come get me. And I have no interest in reaching out to Noah or his dad.

After ten minutes of no reply, I accept that my little brother is still mad at me. Especially when I notice he read the message right after I sent it. “Fine,” I say, slipping my phone into my back pocket and nudging my kickstand up to roll my bike home.

There are a few people who look in my direction but none that offer help. I don’t know if I should be grateful or angry about that, considering my family used to be part of a lot of social events in Cherry Cove. Mom and Dad supported local businesses and would take Wolfe and me to community outings. We were like a lot of other families around here. We fit in.

People see us differently now.

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