Trying Hard to Ignore You

Emily

"So? Tell us all about it." Kendall says on Saturday.

Wednesday was such a great day.

"We went to coffee and he was there on time. He paid and I forgot his jacket. We got there at noon and talked until the sun started setting. We shared my chocolate chip cookie and my coffee got cold but it was okay, and then he walked me to my car and we just drove to my apartment and ordered takeout and watched the Notebook and then I drove him to his car. I know everything about him, I mean, it was incredible!"

We're at the same bar on the beach.

"Well that's amazing!"

"Did you give him his jacket?" Ethan asks.

I shake my head.

"He's letting my keep it." I say.

I'm in the same black bikini, my hair up in the same style. I sip my beer.

"That's awesome. Listen, Audrey," Ethan starts.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn.

A tall guy stands behind me. He has a full eight pack, blonde hair, and brown eyes. He runs his fingers through his hair.

He looks a lot like Spencer, but Spencer looks better.

"No! Dammit Noah, I told you not to hit on girls that are talking to people!" A familiar voice says.

I spin around in my seat.

Spencer stands there.

He's shirtless and wearing black swim trunks. His eyes land on me.

"Oh. Yeah, she's not looking?" Spencer says.

"Wait, you know her?" The guy, Noah, asks.

"Yes. This is Audrey. Audrey, this is my brother, Noah."

Noah looks between me and Spencer with wide eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Spencer shake his head quickly at Noah.

"Nice to meet you." I stand up.

Noah looks me up and down and then looks at Spencer.

"We didn't get a chance to properly meet." Kendall stands up. "I'm Kendall, Audrey's sister-in-law."

"Right, nice to meet you." Spencer says, shaking her hand. He and Ethan start talking and Kendall looks at me.

"Hot!" She mouths. I laugh nervously, sipping my beer.

"Hey, Noah and I have our friends here, we were about to play volleyball. It would be more fun with more people. You guys should come."

I look at Ethan and Kendall.

"Yeah, let's go." Ethan says. "But Audrey, we need to talk."

"Okay, later." I say, following Spencer over to the net.

There's two people waiting, a girl and a guy. The girl has short wavy brown hair that's about a long as my hair, and pretty green eyes, and the guy is tall with a full beard and blue eyes.

"Guys, this is Audrey. Audrey these my good friends of mine, William, we call him Will, and his wife, Natalie."

"It's great to meet you guys." I smile, shaking their hands.

"It's nice to meet you too." The girl, Natalie says. "Are you British? You don't sound like Will..."

"You're an Aussie." The husband, Will says.

"You're a Pom." I respond.

"Born and bred." He nods. "Were you raised or born and bred."

"Born and bred." I respond.

"I believe that makes us enemies." He says.

I laugh.

"This is Ethan, Audrey's brother, and his wife, Kendall."

They shake hands and we all form teams

There's seven of us

"It's an odd number. How are we going to do this?" I ask, stretching.

"Shortest person gets the two tallest, the leftovers go on the other side."

I'm the shortest and Spencer is the tallest, but Noah and Will are the same height.

"I'll go with Nat." Will says.

So we all go to our sides and start the game.

I could literally stand here and look pretty. Spencer and Noah are about to kill me if I don't move, so I try to play and stay out of the way, and when the ball comes my way I hit it and I never get the net.

I'm good at this game.

We play four games, and then clouds roll in and it starts thundering.

We head over to the bar and order food, getting a table.

I'm sitting between next to Spencer and next to me is the exit, and Ethan is whispering to Kendall.

"Audrey, we need to talk." Ethan says after a minute.

Kendall looks frustrated with him.

"Okay, so talk."

"I've been looking for Mum and Dad." He says just as I take a sip of my beer.

I start choking on it, coughing.

Kendall slides me her water and I sip it until the tickle goes away, and then I pass it back.

I glare at my brother.

"Why?" I ask sharply.

"They were in the system." Spencer explains to everyone else at the table.

"Because." He says.

"Because why Ethan?"

"I just want to. You've never wondered about them? You've never been a little bit curious? Look around you? Every single person at this table was raised by loving parents, and we-"

"Were abandoned." I spat.

"You don't know the story." He says, frustrated. "I've been looking since we left Australia."

I want to punch him in the face.

"You prick." I say, pissed. "Why the bloody hell would you spring this on me? Why the-"

Ethan stands up too.

"Stop swearing." He snaps. "I found something out and I know no matter how pissed off you are, you want to know, so sit down and shut up."

I want to punch him, but I sit down anyways, crossing my arms over my chest.

He pulls up a picture of his phone, dropping it in front of me.

"I don't want to see, just bloody tell me." I snap.

"We have a sister." He says.

I look at him.

"What?"

"Her name is Emily. She's 23."

I stare at him.

"The day before we got dropped at the fire station, our father got into a car accident and died on the scene. Our mother was pregnant."

"Stop talking." I say.

He ignores me.

"She gave up Emily too. I already reached out to her, and-"

"God Ethan, I'm not doing this. You go find your perfectly family. I'm not doing that. I've been fine without parents. I've been fine with my life. I've been-"

"That's why you can't let go of the fiancé that cheated on you, right? That's why you still have the ring, right? You need this, Audrey."

"No." I stand up. "I don't. I don't need anything, except to get the hell away from you."

I slam a twenty down on the table to cover my half of the bill and storm out of the bar.