The Buddies Rule | ✓

Chapter 16

The only problem here, was now I knew why they hated each other, and I hated myself for not realizing it sooner.

With Chase and Alan fighting over me, I understood why they never seemed to agree on anything. So, when hearing that Alan wanted to bury the hatchet, I had to come to terms with how messed up our group had gotten over the last two months.

I nodded and gently waved the two forward, forcing down what little pride I had as we made our way over to our regular booth. Chase was fiddling with the wrapper from the straw that was now sticking out of his cup. But the second he heard us walk over, he dropped his hands into his lap. His eyes locked with mine instantly, this, giving me enough time to assess the damage that Zac had done the night before.

His eye left eye had since turned a weird shade of blue and purple, and his lip was split right down the middle. There seemed to be a scratch running up the side of his right arm, and his left forearm had a bruise as well. Needless to say, Zac really got him. Though I hadn't had the guts enough to check and see how badly Zac was doing earlier today.

I was sure Zac looked even more awful than Chase did right now.

But there was more than just bruises around Chase's eyes. He had bags under his eyes from not sleeping, and he also had that look about him that silently told me he was still upset about what happened last night.

"Bree," he greeted shortly.

I frowned as he stood up from his seat. With one quick movement, Lewis shoved Alan into the seat next to Chase, leaving the opposite side of the booth to Lewis and I. Lewis slipped into the booth ahead of me, forcing Chase and I to sit right in front of each other.

"How are things?" Lewis started as I took my seat next to him. I could already feel Chase's eyes boring a hole into my head. But I didn't dare make eye contact.

"Things are fine," Chase said. "Or they would be, if Bree's boyfriend hadn't tried to kill me last night."

I finally looked up at Chase, only to see a kind of pure evil about him that I hadn't see for quite some time. We hadn't really fought this bad, or at all, since middle school. Chase had taken my phone when he'd seen me texting with Zac. It all boiled down to the fact that I should have been talking to him about what had been bothering me.

It had been the anniversary of my mother's death that week, and when Chase wasn't available, I'd gone to Zac. It seemed like that had been a constant problem between Chase and I. We were best friends that barely talked.

"He wasn't trying to kill you, Chase," I hissed. "He was trying to-"

"Hi, and welcome to Jerry's Pizzeria. What can I get started for you?" The waiter cut in. I sighed before tearing my eyes away from Chase, and within seconds, I had recognized our waiter.

Shawn Nelson, a senior at Berkeley, and one of Alan's old football buddies we ran into from time to time. He was majoring in sports medicine, and crazily enough, had been openly gay since grade school. I really have props to the guy. He knew exactly who he was, and he wasn't afraid to be just that.

The last time I had seen Shawn had been last year during some interview I'd done for journalism. That was back when he was still on the football team. Alan told me a while back that Shawn had decided not to play during their senior year. His free time was apparently better spent working here at the pizzeria.

"Hey," Alan smiled as he gave the man a quick wave from around Chase. My best friend sulked further down in his seat upon Shawn's arrival. It didn't seem like Shawn and Chase got along too well, either. Again, a common theme. Chase was the real bad boy of our group.