You're Kind of Gangster

He pulls up in front of my porch, putting the car in park and leaning back against his seat.

"Thanks," he mumbles, not meeting my eyes.

"For what?"

"What you said back there, about how you want to see me be successful."

I smile, "It's the truth, so...you're welcome." We sit there for another minute in silence before I remember all the homework I still have. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods, but he looks like he has something else to say. But when he makes no move to continue the conversation, I go to push the door open. As I'm about to put my foot on the ground, Ean grabs my other hand and pulls me back into the car.

I think he's going to say something, but instead, he leans forward, pressing his lips to mine. It doesn't register for a minute that badass Ean Gallagher is kissing me, so I sit there, unmoving. He must think it means I don't want to kiss him so he begins to pull away. Though as his warmth moves away from me, I miss it immediately and push myself forward to reconnect our lips. I can feel his smile.

His hand slides up to my cheek as he pulls away. As he pushes away a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, his smile widens. "That was really cheesy wasn't it?"

I nod, grinning. "Definitely."

-

“I’m home,” I call into the house as I drop my backpack by the door, still smiling.

I hear someone come down the steps and turn to see Beau. My smile falls.

“Did Matt drive you?”

“I walked,” I respond tersely.

“Bullshit. You called Sam ten minutes ago. There’s no way you walked home from school that fast. Who drove you?”

Ignoring his question, I grab my backpack and go to head upstairs to start my homework. Beau steps so he blocks the stairs. “Shai, I don’t get why I’m the enemy all of a sudden. Has Gallagher been feeding you stories?”

“Move.”

“Answer me.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to overreact. “His name is Ean,” I mutter.

“Excuse me?”

“His name is Ean,” I repeat louder this time.

“Is that really a relevant thing right now? What happened that I missed that made you hate me?”

“You're kidding, right? How the hell am I supposed to side with you at this point, Beau? You vanished for a year and now all of a sudden you’re back and I’m supposed to ignore what you hid from me for three years? I’m supposed to accept the Beau who hadn’t met Will and Max yet is back? Do you really think that I can do that? Do you think that after a year of not hearing from you at all, when it seemed like everyone knew what was going on except me, that I can just continue going on with my life in the dark?”

“Shai-”

“I can’t do that, Beau! And it’s so fucking selfish of you for you to make me do that. All of this is your fault. All of it. If you wouldn’t have met Will and Max then you wouldn’t have gotten into stuff that I still don’t know about, and Ean wouldn’t be a total asshole, and maybe you and I would still be close. But we aren’t because you went and fucked it all up.”

“I’m not making you do anything.”

I scoff, “Why’d you leave?” He’s silent. “What happened when you were part of the group? Where’d you go when you left?” He simply stares at the floor. “That’s what I thought.” I shoulder past him and go upstairs, closing and locking my bedroom door behind me.

-

Rushing out the door, I get into Matt's car quickly, avoiding Beau. "You alright?" Jo asks, turning in her seat to face me. Matt gives me a glance in his rearview mirror.

"I got in another fight with Beau last night. I went off on him about why he disappeared."

"What did he tell you?"

"Nothing. He's still stuck on me being a little innocent girl who can't handle my brother's big bad gang."

"Lene, please, just don't go looking in the wrong places for answers."

I look at the back of Matt's head. "I won't."

-

The first period of the school day leaves me exhausted and frustrated when I fall asleep in the middle of calculus. Thankfully, one of the hockey guys in my class notices before the teacher and wakes me up during her lecture.

Fourth period brings team sports. I take the full ten minutes we're given to change, then walk slowly out to the gym, yawning the entire way. Ean meets me by the door. "You're slipping, Shai, I beat you to class."

I have to smile at that. "I got no sleep last night, I had so much homework to do."

"It couldn't have been that bad."

"I saw the sun rise, Ean. And I was still working."

"Well, what time did you start?"

I grimace as I remember the fight with Beau. "It took me a while to start after you dropped me off."

"What happened?" he asks as he notices my demeanor change. He pulls me closer to him by my elbow.

I duck my head, focusing on the half sleeve tattoo which wraps itself around his bicep instead of on his eyes. "Beau and I got in a fight. I took some time after that to calm down."

"You okay now?"

Before I can answer, Coach Simmonds comes out and calls us to get in line for attendance.

As we head outside, I pull Beau's old varsity football letter jacket on with a frown. Ean bumps my arm.

"I'm fine, I guess. I just miss my brother."

-

"It's fine if I don't sit with you, right?" Ean asks cautiously as we walk to lunch. I nod in understanding. Based on the reactions of the hockey guys when I brought up Ean, I don't want him to sit with us either, just for his own sanity. It seems like he gets in fights every week anymore, and anything I can do to prevent that continuing, I’ll do.

"It's okay. You got all your homework due tomorrow done, so I assume you're going to hang out with your friends so-"

"I wasn't planning on it, actually."

"Oh... Well the team has practice today and I was going to go so I could have some quiet for homework and stuff."

"Then maybe I can get come too and get ahead? I can talk to some of my teachers during my free period."

I'm shocked. "You want to get ahead?" He shrugs. "I mean you can come if you want. I'm going to be busy though so I can't really talk or anything."

“That’s fine. Then we can both do work.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

He laughs. “I’m good. I swear.”