Walking out of the school building, I couldn't help the sigh that made my body sag with relief as I finally breathed in a breath of fresh air. The thought of finally getting to go home and taking a nap, made me want to grin and pump my fist in the air. After enduring hours of stares and whispers, I was ready to go home and forget about my problems for a few hours.
That relief, however, was short-lived when a blue volkswagen convertible beetle pulled up, Macy in the driver's seat. Blowing her horn to get my attention, even though I was clearly already staring at her, she waved with a big grin. Fighting the urge to laugh, I shook my head, and walked over towards her.
"Hey, Porter, you ready?" she asked, cheerfully. Smiling, I nodded, and hopped into her car. "Okay, so I know you're probably tired and want to get home, but I really feel like eating a burger and having one of those shakes from the diner. What do you say, come with? I really don't want to eat alone."
As much as I wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for as long as I could, the hopeful smile that she threw my way, had me agreeing. What was with the Cavanaughs and getting me to say yes to things so easily?
"So, how was your day? You and my brother have been the talk of the school. I had more people than usual walk up to me, and ask about Brady today than I've ever had," she rambled, turning her car left at the parking lot exit. Pulling onto the main road, she glanced over at me with a grin, her brown locks swinging back with the wind.
"Um, it was fine," I immediately lied. There was no reason for me to tell her that it had been one of my worst days at school as of yet. I’d been tripped twice, glared at from every direction, snickers following me down the hall as I made my way to my locker to find the words, 'murdering whore' written on a piece of paper shoved into my locker.
"If it wasn’t you would tell me, right? I mean, I get what it's like dating a Cavanaugh boy. Girls can be mean and I've seen how dirty they can play," she replied, shaking her head, sadly.
"Um, yeah, of course," I lied, again, trying to hide my guilty wince.
She laughed, "You are a terrible liar."
"Yeah, I know. I couldn't get away with shit as a kid," I replied, making her laugh harder, and I couldn't help but join in; her laugh was contagious.
"So tell me, how the actual fuck did my moronic brother, convince you to go out with him? I mean, I love him, but he's a douchenozzle," she said, throwing me a quick glance before turning back to the empty road ahead of her. We were a couple of blocks from the diner, and the traffic had thinned out right as we’d turned onto the street leading to the diner, as it usually did. Most of the traffic at this hour were people heading into the better part of town.
"He's really persistent...That and he has the bluest eyes I've ever seen...He could probably get me to rob a bank with those eyes. Not that I ever think about robbing a bank, I'm just saying that his eyes are...wow. I...I'm going to stop talking now," I rambled, snapping my mouth shut, and fighting the urge to sigh in frustration.
"I don't know about the eyes, but yeah, the twins are pretty persistent," she laughed. "When we were kids, they could get away with anything if they just pouted and stared at my dad with big, innocent eyes. Like you, he was a sucker for those eyes."
I chuckled as she pulled into the diner’s parking lot, parking near the entrance, before turning her car off, the top sliding up into place. Getting out of the car, I followed her into the diner.
The few customers sitting scattered in different booths, turned around at the bell, their eyes falling on me for a second before shifting to Macy, next to me. They stared at her, curiously, probably wondering what she was doing in this part of town. I wasn't surprised that they'd chosen to focus on Macy instead of me. The customers that frequented the diner, where people who lived on the rougher side of town as well, some of them having secrets worse than those of my own family. They were used to people like me, they weren't used to people like her.
Shielding her with my body, I stood straighter, letting them know to back off. On any other circumstance, I would have ran as far away as I could, knowing that I didn't need to give these type of people any reason to hate me as much as the rest as the town did. But, Macy was Brayden’s sister, and she’d stood up for me at their party when she had no reason to, so I would be damned if I didn't do the same for her.
Walking over to one of the empty booths, I sighed in relief when they went back to their food and conversations, the fact that Macy was among them, forgotten.
"That was intense," Macy mumbled as she settled into the booth, across from me. Shrugging, I glanced around the room, before turning back towards her and giving her a small smile.
"They're just not used to seeing you around here, they don't like surprises is all. As long as you don't draw any attention to them or cause any trouble, they'll leave you alone," I told her, reassuringly, and she gave me a smile.
"My dad used to live on this side of town," she informed me.
"Is that how you knew about this diner?" I asked, going back to the night her and her sister had walked into the diner. We'd seen their father at the diner several different times picking up his usual order of six cheeseburgers, loaded fries and shakes. The twins frequented the diner on weekends, along with their teammates right after their games, but other than that one night her and Riley had walked in, we'd never seen them in here before.
"After I heard Cade and Brady talking about you, I did my research. Cade’s not the only one who has sources," she grinned. "Anyways, I found out this is where you worked. My dad orders food from here whenever he's too tired to cook."
"Isn't your dad retired?" I asked, curiously. I was pretty sure I’d read an article stating that he was retiring, a while back.
"Yeah, he is. He’s opening a restaurant, so he's been pretty busy," she shrugged. "But enough about me, tell me about you and my brother. How did you two finally get together? He's a sucky boyfriend, right? Are you two in love? How did you even meet?"
"Um, wow, I thought I rambled," I told her with a grin, and she smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, I'm just really excited about one of the twins having a girlfriend I can actually be friends with," she replied. "I mean, Brady has never brought a girl home, like ever, which is why this is such a big deal. And, well, Cade, he's a romantic, he falls in love every week. Always with the wrong girl, though."
"I kind of figured he was," I told her, remembering the way he looked at whatever girl he was dating for the month. Unlike his brother, as many relationships as he went through, they lasted at least a month and if the way his exes spoke about him was any indication, he was a good boyfriend to them, just a bit clueless.
"Yeah," she replied with a laugh.
"So, why is it so important to be friends with your brother’s girlfriend?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer, getting interrupted when one of the waitresses walked over and introduced herself, shooting me a puzzled look. Putting in an order of two cheeseburgers and two vanilla shakes, we turned back to each other.
"I dont have friends," she told me, and I gave her a puzzled look.
"Macy, you're one of the most popular sophomores at our high school," I reminded her, raising an eyebrow. She sighed and stared down at the table.
"I know, it’s why it's so hard to make friends. I never know if people genuinely want to be my friend or if they just want something. I've found that they usually just want something," she replied, her eyes shiting up towards me, and she let out a short laugh. "God, would you listen to me complain about something so stupid? You've probably had it worse than I have."
Reaching over towards her, I placed my hand on top of hers on the table. "Macy just because someone has been through worse than you have, doesn't mean your problems don't matter."
She smiled, gratefully, before her eyes shifted up towards the entrance when the bell above the door dinged. Muttering 'shit' under her breath, she pulled her hand away as she sunk into the booth, pushing herself down until I could only see her head over the table.
"Uh, why are we hiding?" I asked her, glancing around the diner.
"Braxton," she whispered, panic lacing her voice. I leaned over the booth and glanced behind me, my eyes falling on Braxton Davis standing at the counter talking to a waitress.
"Why are you hiding from Braxton Davis?" I asked her, confused. Braxton was known as one of the twins’ closest friends, he’d grown up around them, it was weird to see her hide from him.
"Um, well, you know how the twins think I like Noel Foster?" I nodded. "Ah, well, I may or may not know that Riley reads my journal and reports back to them."
"Wait...Noel Foster is a coverup for Braxton Davis?" I whispered to her, lowering my head, so Braxton couldn't spot us if he turned around.
She nodded, her cheeks turning red. "Yeah...The twins, even with one of them being a genius, are still stupid enough to fall for it."
"So wait, why are you hiding? Is this what you do every time you see him at your house or school?" I asked her, throwing her a look that hopefully conveyed everything I thought about that. Just like her brother’s plan, hers was not really smart either.
"Ah no, I'm hiding because I'm not supposed to be in this part of town," she replied, before leaning towards the edge of the booth, and glancing towards the counter. Her eyes widened right before I heard Braxton say her name, questioningly. She scooted back into the booth and stared at me with wide, panicked eyes.
"Macy, what are you doing in this part of town?" Braxton asked as he approached our table, standing at the end of it, with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh hey, Brax, what’s up, bro?" Macy replied, gripping the edge of the table and pulling herself back up into a sitting position. She shot him an innocent look, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, and I fought the urge to laugh.
"You didn't answer my question," he reminded her, staring at her, his eyes void of any humor.
"Oh, what am I doing here? Well, I...What are you doing here? Hmh? Don't you have hockey practice?" she asked, confidently.
"I do, but I had something to do," he muttered, avoiding her eyes. Clearing his throat, he let his gaze fall on her again. "Do your brothers know you're here?"
Her eyes widening, she glared. "No they don't, and they won't find out, because you're not gonna tell them," he gave her a look, and she grumbled, giving him a pitiful one in return, "please?"
"Macy," he sighed.
"Come on, Brax, you know how they are," she pleaded, giving him her best pitiful look and I watched with amusement as he immediately caved with an exasperated sigh.
He turned towards me and gave me a resigned smile. "Promise me you'll look out for her?"
I nodded, immediately, "Yeah, of course, I'll make sure she gets home fine."
Nodding, gratefully, he turned back towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do me a favor, and just be careful, yeah?"
"I'll be fine, Braxton, I'm sixteen, not six," she grumbled back, disappointment filling her eyes. Oh wow, the girl really was clueless. The guy was obviously into her.
"I know, trust me, I know," he mumbled, mostly to himself and walked away, shooting us a 'see you guys later.'
I watched her eyes follow him and linger on him until he was out of the diner and out of her sight, a sigh leaving her lips, and I fought the urge to grin.
She was oh so clueless.