Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 11 ~ "I'm Working On It"

"So why come out to swim?" I ask, turning back to face him.

"What? And go back to the sandy towel with my bottle of water to listen to Abby snore?" He asks, raising his eyebrows and I laugh.

"Fair enough." 

"It's also the only place I know Piper won't follow me." He shrugs and I furrow my eyebrows. "She doesn't want to get her hair wet." I laugh at that and he chuckles a bit too. "Figured I'd find out if I get annoyed when you talk or not, like you said."

"And?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"There's worse conversationalists." 

"Walker, you'd better stop it, you're going to make me tear up." I tease, putting a hand over my heart, he chuckles a bit and chews the inside of his cheek, looking away.

He looks back and for a few seconds, we're just looking at each other. A moment of unspoken conversation passes and I clear my throat.

"You want to ask something, huh?" He asks, raising his eyebrows and I clear my throat.

"I always want to ask something." I defend and he lets a small smile break.

"So ask it."

Wow, one free pass with Walker. I have to pick carefully, do I want to ask about Piper, why he's such a dick, his family? Definitely not his family.

"Why do you treat me the way you treat me?" I ask, surprising myself with my level delivery of that question. It was heavier than I meant for it to be.

He just licks his back tooth and blows out a tense breath. "That's how I treat everyone."

"Bullshit." I retort, crossing my arms and he walks out deeper into the water with me, I was up to my chest, he'd only just passed his waist to his bellybutton. 

"I've known the guys a lot longer than I've known you, Annie." He answers quietly. "I've never lived with a girl in my life, I'm trying to get used to it."

"Did you want me to move in with you?" I ask quietly, I just wanted to know the real genuine answer to that.

"Yeah, I did." He answers stiffly and I nod, feeling relieved. My heart rate finally goes back down since I started asking these questions and I don't press him on why he did. "Now would you stop it?"

"Stop what?" I ask, feeling totally confused.

"Stop worrying all the time about what we all think of you, we all like you just fine living with us." He blurts out and I feel my eyes widen. My mouth gets slightly dry at that and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm standing two feet away with possibly the most attractive person I've ever met in nothing but bathing suits.

"I'm not trying to." I defend, looking away. "But I can't rewire myself either, and it is hard to think like that when you act like I'm the worst person ever all the time."

"Is this about the friend thing?" He asks and I chew the inside of my cheek. Him telling me he didn't want to be my friend certainly didn't help anything. "I was just pissed and I said that in the moment."

"Pissed about what?" 

"I don't know, Annie!" He defends and I roll my eyes. "Besides, you think I'm awful anyway so what does it matter?"

"I only think that, Walker, because you've given me no other way to see you." I tell him, marching out of the water and back up onto the beach. I know he won't follow me, he wouldn't want to make a scene in front of everyone.

I feel cold now as a breeze blows over my skin, still wet from the water. That was the weirdest conversation I've ever had in my whole life, what on earth did it even accomplish?