ᴛᴏᴏ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ » ᴢᴀᴄʜ ʜᴇʀʀᴏɴ

Chapter Fifteen

April 29, 2018

Maeve suppressed sighing aloud when she read the text from Jess: I'm so sorry, I accidentally slept in. I'll be there in ten minutes.

She and the twins had planned to meet up for breakfast. She glanced across the table at Greyson who had already arrived, busying himself with his coffee.

Composing herself, she swallowed the anger welling up in her chest and put up a calm front as the tall boy in front of her stopped fidgeting.

His dark hair was identical to Jess's, brown eyes just as deep. Aside from everything, he was a very attractive young man, the main reason why so many girls were willing to overlook his behavior for a given length of time.

Finally, he looked at her. Her gaze was emotionless, expression blank, indicating that she was not happy to be there with him. He understood.

"Look," he started, glancing down at the table. No one would've assumed he'd be one to have trouble looking someone in the eyes when speaking to them. "I messed up. I shouldn't have said that the first night you were back."

She stared at him.

"It just—I don't know," he continued. "I didn't mean it to sound that way. I shouldn't have said it."

"Yeah," she said, rather bluntly. "You shouldn't have. And that's an understatement."

"It was—"

"Inappropriate? Degrading? Offensive? Some girls you know may find that a compliment, but all it did was disgust me."

She turned her face to stare out the window.

"It was wrong of me, Mae," he tried again.

Her eyes snapped back to his when the nickname reached her ears. She wanted to tell him off, but she held her tongue and settled for watching him shift uncomfortably instead. He never could find the will within him to simply utter the words "I'm sorry."

A minute of tense silence passed before he started talking. He told her about school, about what had happened while she was gone. He said he'd stopped drinking and going to parties, trying to fix his life before college. She didn't respond, but she was listening.

Her heart wanted to push against him, but for the first time in years, he was talking to her freely without being pushed to do so.

Eventually, Jess showed up, and they all ordered their breakfasts. Greyson payed for all three of them, Maeve a bit stunned because he'd never made such a gesture before.

She watched how the twins interacted. When she was away, Jess had told her Greyson had been improving, slowly, but surely. This was the first proof she was seeing, though she wasn't entirely buying into the idea that he had completely flipped his life around.

Jess suggested that she and Maeve go see a movie when they'd finished up, Greyson already having plans to go to the gym with some other guys. They decided that's what they were going to do, and Jess cleared the table of their plates and trash.

"Hey," Greyson said, stopping Maeve as she stood up. "Can we hang out again later? Like, just the two of us?"

She just looked at him because she didn't know how to respond.

Her savior came in the form of Jess, coming to her side and saying goodbye to her brother, taking her away before she gave him an answer.