Ratbags and Scallywags [bxb]

Chapter 12

Goose's eyes were on Ikeisha, not leaving her as he leaned towards me and whispered a little too loudly, "What are you on about?"

What was I on about? How far was I willing to go? There wasn't a whole lot I couldn't or wouldn't do just to prove I could do it. That way, they couldn't tell me I'm too young, too ignorant, or that I wouldn't know or understand either way. This was what divided me from the troublesome youngest child at home, to a strong and capable one at school. This was just one of those things. As long as it wasn't a lie that would be called out by Aubrey, it'd be fine.

Rather than shifting the blame, I had to somehow neutralize the story.

"Um, we got a bit carried away and mentioned his hearing... more than he was comfortable with," I said, shifting in my seat slightly. "That was mostly my fault, but I chased after him and apologized. I thought he was okay when he said he was going home, but I didn't realize he bailed on you because of us. I'm sorry."

She sighed, face relaxing into one of concern rather than scorn.

"I like how much of a clown you are, Charlie," she said, voice and expression softening, "but you should be more sensitive to people's feelings. Aubrey doesn't like attention, and he doesn't need it. You get that, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "You're right," I said, trying to look as sheepish as Ben should damn well be feeling. "Again, I'm sorry."

Now that I thought about it, Aubrey would obviously have come for a reason. It wasn't like he came all this way just to see me or say hi. So why didn't it occur to me that just as soon as he came, he left again? Why was I so stupid and insensitive when it came to Aubrey Keats? I wanted to find him and apologize.

No, I needed to. He deserved better.

"Well, there's a fat load of nothing we can do about it now," she said, looking defeated. "And we were so excited to try getting him surfing with us."

"You surf?" I asked, kind of surprised by the idea of it. The grin that stretched across her face seemed to immediately verify it.

"Yeah, do you?" she asked.

Ben stared between us, furrowing his brows further with every exchange. Well, bloody good. Jealousy was the least he deserved right now.

"No," I said, emphasizing my excitement for dramatic purposes, "but I see people surfing on the reg and it's so cool."

Her eyes lit up, forgetting about Ben staring up at her in awe and amazement. The sucker was so positively infatuated with her that I was surprised he could even continue existing day-to-day as a functional human being. I guess some could argue that he didn't really do that, anyway.

"Right?" she agreed, gleaming.

Liam pulled his arm down from behind Jude, putting his elbows on the table to lean forward and look over at Ikeisha. "You guys are all pretty hardcore surf fans, yeah?" he asked, apparently having paid particular interest to the topic.

She grinned over at him. "Like you wouldn't believe," she said.

"I have a couple of boards at home," he said, taking me, Goose, and particularly Ben by surprise. "Should we join up for some waves, then?"

Yes! Yes, yes, yes! If Ikeisha Hansen said yes, then Liam just paved a way for Ben to get back into her good graces. Her eyes darted straight to me, breaking into a smile.

"I'll talk to Aubrey about it," she said, affirmatively. "But I know the boys will be def be keen on that."

At that moment, I felt an eternity's worth of envy for her being surrounded by hot guys twenty-four seven.