Living Silver

July 13th, 12:38 pm.

As it turned out, I had missed Pax’s hesitation on the phone when I asked him if he was going to ask Hailey out. Because after walking in on the two of them in a position no one should have seen unless they were hoping for the beginning to a trashy love-making movie scene, he came clean about everything so as not to ruin a friendship that was already on the edge. They had been together since I told him she thought he was good looking. And it wasn’t just as simple as hooking up; somehow, she had reeled him in and they were dating. That meant that she hadn’t visited me at my locker to annoy me, but to flirt with her boyfriend. And they had managed to keep it a secret for a good three weeks, until Trey and Karlee caught them in a lip lock. Gage claimed he didn’t know anything about it, but I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure.

But I didn’t yell at Pax. I probably should have, but I remained calm and pretended it didn’t bother me. Because if he kept it a secret for so long, he obviously didn’t want to ruin it and he definitely liked her. Plus, it wasn’t often that Pax actually dated someone. So I lied and said it was fine but I knew that was going to crash down on my head eventually—I just didn’t know when yet. There were two things that bugged me about them; mostly it was how I had to see her pretty much every time I hung out with Pax and if she wasn’t glued to him, she was glued to her brother. There was no stopping her. The other thing, I didn’t know what it was. It felt like jealousy a number of times but then again, what reason would I have to be jealous of her? It might have had to do with the fact that I hardly ever got to see my best friend without Hailey tagging along but it almost made me feel like I wanted to be involved with him that way. Of course, that was just ridiculous. I was going to have to think about it later on, but with Hailey around all the time I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with.

Karlee and Trey were together a lot so if I talked to her, I talked to him too. There wasn’t really anything wrong with that, since he knew how to keep a secret, but sometimes I just needed the girl time and Trey was not an honorary girl. On Wednesday, it was Gage, Hailey, Ruby, Trey, Karlee, Pax and I at the beach. It was probably the nicest day we were going to get all summer where it wasn’t scorching hot or jeans-weather, and the sun was bursting through any clouds that were out. It was the perfect summer day, and we took advantage of it.

I would have preferred Hailey’s presence being . . . well not, but Pax wanted her there, so I left it alone. When Gage got up to buy a drink with Trey and secretly sneak in a “so how are you and Andy” talk, and Ruby, Pax and Hailey were in the water together along with five billion other people, Karlee and I were left alone lying in the sand with our shades on, getting a much-needed tan. Of course, I got one easily but she remained pale as ever. That was the problem with her in the summer; she either stayed the way she was or burned herself to a crisp. Karlee sat up and pushed her sunglasses down her nose just enough to send a glare Hailey’s way.

“I don’t like her,” she said, propping herself up by her elbows.

“Neither do I,” I said, rolling over onto my stomach and crossing my arms in front of me.

“She seems fake. And have you heard her laugh? Oh my God!” Karlee shook her head as if to rid the thought from her mind. “It was like my mom in her witch costume all over again.”

“Well Pax likes her. There’s not much we can do,” I said, but in my head I was going over a million ways to get rid of her. “If you were in his position, imagine how crappy it would make you feel to have your friends say ‘oh, by the way, we can’t stand who you’re dating’.”

“I see your point, but at the same time Pax values our opinion. And if we all know that she’s bad news, don’t you think he’d be eager to get rid of her?” she suggested, reaching across me to get the tube of sunscreen and coating her arms with it. “Ugh, this crap is disgusting. I feel like a snowman.”

I lifted my head to look at her. “Look, I’m with you here. I can’t stand her. But it’s Pax, you know? He gets what he wants and what he wants is Hailey. Not even our word can change her mind.”

Karlee scowled at the couple kissing in the water. “Looks like she’s the one who’s getting what she wants,” she muttered. “At least you have Gage. I’m the only single one here! You have no idea how horrible it is to be the seventh wheel.”

I cocked a brow at her. In the summer of grade nine, she had gotten together with a boy named Randy for about a month, and they did everything together. But they were more suited as friends than anything romantic and nothing became of it either. She was still waiting on her first kiss, so chances were it was going to be a while. In addition to that, grade nine was the beginning of Pax’s endless sexcapades after he gained muscle, sprouted a few inches and almost towered over every football player in the school. Of course, he still couldn’t seem to beat Trey but when Pax’s attractive appearance skyrocketed, so did his ability to pick up hot chicks. So whenever we hung out that summer, Trey and I were the only single ones in a group of six. But even then, Trey seemed to have some sort of fling going on as well that he refused to admit to, because he was so split-out-of-his-mind in love with Karlee that he didn’t want to believe he could date anyone else. So I definitely knew what it was like to be a seventh wheel.

“Oh don’t give me that look,” she said with a glare. “All I’m saying is we’re growing up. I don’t want to be going into University and still not have a boyfriend, you know? You guys have all dated. And kissed someone. I haven’t! I want to know what it’s like!”

I smiled. Her innocence was adorable. “Your time will come,” I said. I didn’t even understand how Karlee hadn’t had boys all over her. There were definitely followers, but she was ten times prettier than basically every girl in our school. But her height made her feel self-conscious, and the constant jokes about her red hair, being called “ginger” since she could remember just didn’t do all that much to boost her confidence. We had to shield her because of some ridiculous and brutal tradition called “Kick a Ginger Day.” I didn’t understand people lately. But she was gorgeous; she just needed to realize it. The thing most different about us was that she was one of those naturally pretty girls who you could stare at for hours thinking “her parents must be really hot”. I, however, needed the makeup just to feel even a little bit better about my appearance. I knew I wasn’t ugly, and every girl has their flaws, but I was one to think that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t weigh one hundred pounds and occasionally got a pimple or two. And it was going to take one hell of a person to change my mind about that. But once Karlee got boobs, she became a boy magnet. She thought they were more like molehills than mountains, but she was wrong. I was practically as disproportionate as any growing teenage girl could be. My butt was huge, my boobs hardly fit into a normal-sized bra, and my head was too skinny. And surprisingly, I wasn’t too ashamed but at the same time, I wanted better. I wanted to be Karlee; she just had no idea.

She groaned beside me. “My toe is rubbing against my other toe and it’s creating like, a foot montage and it freaking hurts!”

“What did you just say?” I laughed.

“I think I got a blister or something,” she said, lifting her foot up to her face to examine it.

And this was the time Trey and Gage decided to come back. The six foot black-haired boy stopped a few feet from Karlee and cocked a brow. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“My foot hurts,” she replied, refusing to look up because she was too entranced on figuring out what was going on with her foot to care that her best friend was watching her with a face filled of confusion and amusement.

“Maybe you got a blister. Let me check,” he said, sitting down beside her and taking her foot.

After watching their love fest for so long, I couldn’t do it anymore and shook my head, laying it down on my arms and pushing my shades back up my nose. “You guys are practically the same person,” I muttered into my elbow, closing my eyes and letting the sun beat down on my skin. But it didn’t last long, because Gage’s silent swear somewhere between anger and embarrassment caught me off guard, and I rolled onto my back again, sitting up. “What?” I asked, squinting against the sunlight.

“It’s Molly,” he grunted, running a hand through his hair. “And her annoying little friend.”

I looked from him to the two beach beauties approaching us, but not actually seeing us. Molly laughed at something the girl beside her said and pushed her hair back over her shoulder. Then when she finally caught sight of us, she seemed to freeze in her spot for a mere millisecond, before continuing on her way to make it look like it hadn’t fazed her.

“Hey Gage,” Molly said with a tiny smile. “How are you?”

“Good,” he nodded, pushing himself off the ground. That left me alone staring up at the three of them while they blocked my sun. I growled in the back of my throat because of it but Molly and Gage didn’t hear; only Molly’s friend did. She looked down at me and smiled—on the verge of laughing—and stepped to the side to give me a bit more sunlight. I silently thanked her for that.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” Molly asked, biting her lip and shifting her weight to the other foot.

“Yeah, it is,” Gage agreed. “What’re you doing here?”

“Taking a day out with Shay,” she replied. “Shay” looked down at me again and lifted a hand as greeting.

“I’m Shayne,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I nodded and decided it was time to get up. “Andy,” I returned, shaking the hand she extended to me. This was so awkward.

“What’re you guys doing?” Molly asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Just spending the day together,” Gage said, grabbing my hand territorially. It wasn’t like Molly was about to steal me away from him, so I figured it was as a reminder for her that he was taken. I kept my mouth shut, even though I should have said something to him about treating me like an item he owned.

“Everything okay?” Pax asked, stepping up beside me. I shot him a sideways glance and he cocked his head, confused. I was thankful for him being there, but I wasn’t happy that Hailey tagged along.

“Molly!” she exclaimed, pouncing on her. “How are you?!”

Molly didn’t look too pleased to see her either, but when Hailey took another look at her she hid it well. She was obviously still upset about the birthday party incident and I didn’t blame her. That was a hideous monstrosity.

“I’m okay,” she replied.

“Man, I missed you so much,” Hailey gushed. “Gage has just been in a pit of despair since the two of you broke up.”

I could feel my head exploding. “Hailey—”

“Hailey, what the hell?” Gage fumed. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem,” she said, laughing it off. “I’m just telling her the truth!”

“Hey,” Pax said, sending her a glare. “Not here.”

“What, are you jealous of your girlfriend?” she smirked, nodding to me.

What?

Hailey wrapped an arm around his waist but Pax looked horrified, and disgusted.

“You’re not making any sense,” he said, taking her hand and pushing her back. “This isn’t appropriate for right now.”

“Uhm, we should get going,” Molly said quickly, grabbing Shay’s arm. “I’ll see you later Gage. Call me sometime. You know, if you want to hang out or something.”

“I will,” he said. “We need to talk things out.”

“Gage—” I started but he just shook his head.

“Actually Molly, wait up!” he said when she walked around him. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. He turned to me really quickly, his hands on both of my arms. “I’m really sorry but I just want to get this mess sorted out before it goes any further.”

“Yeah, right,” I said, grabbing my bag and towel off the ground. Karlee and Trey stopped talking and looked up at me. “Do whatever you have to,” I snapped at Gage. “Call me when you’ve sorted this bullshit out because until you do, I’m not going to let myself get upset over something so stupid.” I glanced at Hailey out of the corner of my eye, while she clung desperately to Pax’s arm but he was looking right back at me, entranced. “And get control of your goddamn sister before someone else does,” I muttered.

Then I turned around and stomped away, thankful that I had two pairs of feet behind me to help me get home.



July 21st, 12:47 pm.

“He still hasn’t called?” Karlee scoffed, easily angered by the situation. “He’s an idiot.” She pushed my hair back. “Lift your face.”

I did as I was told and let her apply mascara to my eyelashes. Karlee liked doing my makeup. I never understood why she even had it since she hardly ever wore it, unless it was a special occasion.

I sighed. “If you were him, would you have gone after her? Or would you have gone after me?”

“Well who am I dating?”

“Me.”

“Then there’s your answer,” she said with a tiny smile. “No guy should ever go hang out with an ex-girlfriend during a date-type thing with his now girlfriend. It’s a whole other level of disrespect and the fact that he actually followed her when you were also leaving shows that he’s got no brain. I used to like him because I thought he treated you well but I guess I was wrong.” Karlee shook her head. “He’s missing out, Andy. You underestimate yourself. You’re gorgeous and hilarious, and definitely the best girlfriend and girl friend anyone could ask for.”

“Amen,” Trey said from beside me. I knew he was saying it to make me feel better because to him, that was the definition of Karlee but I appreciated the effort anyway. And coming second to her in terms of Trey didn’t harm me or give me a stab to the heart either.

“Gage is blind if he doesn’t realize it,” Karlee went on. “But don’t even worry about it, okay? Tonight, we’re going to go to dinner and a movie, just us three, and everything will be fine.”

I nodded. “Okay.” Then I sat up with a frown. “Wait, what about Pax?”

She bit her lip. “He’s hanging out with Hailey.”

I scoffed and lied back down on the couch cushions. “Whatever.”

“He’s not worth it either,” she said.

“I can agree with that,” Trey put in.

“You’re his brother. Of course you can,” I scowled.

“I don’t care what he is. If he’s choosing his psychotic, evil, borderline-incestuous girlfriend over his best friend who has just been betrayed by someone who should have nothing but the utmost respect for her, then he’s being a dick,” Trey declared.

“Indeed,” Karlee laughed. “He’s being stupid.”

“No, not just stupid. A dick.”

“Okay.”

“He is being a dick,” I agreed, giving Trey a high-five when he extended his hand to me.

“All right then—”

“He’s just like a giant dick, isn’t he?” I said, putting my arms out.

“He is!” Trey established. “A huge dick!”

“Okay, I would really appreciate it if everyone stop saying the word ‘dick’,” Karlee said, rubbing her forehead. Trey and I burst out laughing.

“Thanks. I needed that,” I said. “Is it weird? I’m not even really mad at him.”

Karlee shrugged. “A little bit.”

“He might just be that one person you can never stand to be upset with,” Trey suggested. “Karlee and I are like that.”

I nodded. “Maybe.” My cell phone rang in my pocket and I sat up with a groan, pulling it out of my pocket.

“I wonder if that’s the other dick,” Trey said, cocking a brow. I hit him on the leg and he grinned, getting up and helping himself to Karlee’s kitchen to get something to eat. I didn’t recognize the number that flashed across the screen of my phone but I picked it up anyway.

“Hello?”

“It’s Hailey,” she said, and I immediately felt the need to rip the head off an innocent teddy bear just so I had something to throw at her. “Are you busy right now? I have to talk to you about something.”

I glanced at Karlee and she whispered “who is it?”

“Hailey,” I mouthed back at her and her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“What’s this about?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be hanging out with your boyfriend?”

“Give me a break,” she muttered.

“Oh, give you a break? I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Andy. This is important. It’s about Molly and Gage.” That caught my attention. “I think you need to hear it.” Hailey took my silence as a sign to go on. “Meet me at the pier in an hour, okay? No Pax, no Karlee, no Trey. Just you and me.”

“Fine.”

“And Andy?”

I growled in the back of my throat. “What?”

“Don’t let Gage know.”