Chapter Twenty-Seven
Pulling into the parking lot of the diner, I automatically scan the booths through the windows that wrap around the building, looking for my sister.
“Did she even tell you what happened?” Eloise questions as I get out of the car.
“No, but it didn’t sound good.”
Normally, the girls ending up at Taylors’ diner and not some other barbaric place would ease my mind, but I’ve never been put in this situation with my younger sister, so my fears are all the same.
Walking through the doors of the diner, I watch as three heads pop up to look at the entrance when the bell above my head chimes.
My sister, Logan’s sister, and Gracie.
They’re sitting in a booth in the back corner; none of them look injured, but they do appear relieved.
“Gwen,” I call out as I approach my sister—my baby sister, the one who I get told looks like a carbon copy of myself, except, tonight she’s disheveled.
Her long brown hair is frizzy and braided down her back, while the mini-skirt and black long sleeve she’s wearing look like they came from my closet.
She stands, meeting me halfway in the diner”s aisle.“I’m so glad you’re here.” Her arms wrap around my middle.
I’ve never been one who’s good at giving or receiving hugs, but my instincts have me pulling my little sister into my embrace while my entire body is burning with the phrase protect her on repeat.
“I’ll always be here when you need me.” The sentiment runs deep, and I feel it all the way to my bones. “Always.”
Winnie goes straight to Mae, who is still sitting in the booth alongside Gracie. Mae immediately turns to her, just like my sister had done to me, burry her head into Winnie’s chest.
Winnie has always been close with the Callaghan’s because of her friendship with Logan, but I can see now that her relationship with his little sister goes further than that.
For Mae, Winnie is the closest thing she has to a sister.
Mae asks, “Logan doesn’t know, does he?” Her brown doe eyes are staring right at me.
The fear in her voice could mean one of two things: either she doesn’t want Logan to tell their parents, or she doesn’t want her brother to be disappointed in her.
“No, he hasn’t heard anything about this,” Winnie assures her, taking a seat next to her and Gracie on one side of the booth.
I lead Gwen over to the other side of the booth, both of us sliding in across from the other girls.
“You guys need to tell us what happened.”
Eloise slides in the booth beside me, setting two baskets of fries down on the table. She must have gone back to the kitchen to grab them, knowing comfort food would most likely be needed.
Gwen looks over at me, tears already forming in her green eyes. “You’re going to think we’re so stupid.”
I place my hand atop hers. “We all make mistakes, Gwen,” I say, not denying the fact that lack of common sense may have caused this.
She pulls the hand I’m holding out from under my grasp and back down in her lap. “Not you.”
I’m stunned at her confession. “I hope you don’t actually believe that.”
“It may seem hard to believe that Evie isn’t perfect, and even if she is, rest assured El and I aren’t,” Winnie speaks up, nurturing more to my sister’s insecurities than I could’ve. “We’re here to listen, and to help. Not to judge you or compare your mistakes to our own.”
Mae leans further into Winnie, finally cracking as she runs her hands up and down her sweater-clad arms. “We thought they liked us.”
Her statement causes tears to fall down all three of the little girls’ faces.
“Who?” Eloise asks, glancing around the diner.
“They’re already gone,” Gracie says, wiping her eyes.
I can no longer wait for them to beat around the bush; clearly, something happened that is causing them emotional distress, and I need to know what.
“Start from the beginning.”
For the next thirty minutes, they talk about how they met a group of three boys that go to Fairwood Prep. After talking to them for a few weeks and ensuring they were who they said they were, the girls agreed to meet up with them.When I asked how they got to the diner, they said that the boys picked them up.
These boys are sixteen years old.
My knee-jerk reaction is to yell at them, especially my sister, because she’s smarter than this. She’s capable of understanding the type of danger she and her friends put themselves in.
Instead, all I ask is, “What happened next?”
Gwen takes over because of how hard Mae is crying.
“We all came in and sat down. We ordered milkshakes and everything was going okay.” She pauses, as if to add, “at least we thought it was.”
“Until?”
Gwen looks overtly ashamed, and I know that she’s the one Mae was trying to protect. That’s why they wouldn’t tell the story at first.
Because something happened to Mae.
“I was so nice to him,” she says while Gracie wraps an arm around her shoulder.
“Mae, you know a sixteen-year-old boy is way too old for you,” Winnie says. “You’re still in middle school. There is no reason for you to be going out with boys that can already drive.”
In the grand scheme of things, adults with a three-year age gap are not abnormal. But a tenth— maybe even eleventh—grader talking to an eighth grader?
That’s wrong.
“I didn’t care how old he was, I just wanted someone to like me.” Her voice raises slightly, making her frustration apparent.
“You’re only in eighth grade,” I tell her. “There’s no need for you to get a boyfriend right now.”
“Tell that to Winnie.” Her voice becomes shallow again. “She’s been coming over to our house to hang out with Logan without you two since eighth grade.”
I think if it were possible, Winnie’s eyes would have bulged out of her head at Mae’s comparison.
“I don’t think that’s a comparable situation,” I say, glancing around the table at the other girls. “Winnie and Logan had been friends for years even before they started hanging out separately.” This is only getting messier.
“It’s not fair,” Mae whispers, barely audible. “It’s not fair that she gets Logan all to herself.”
The turn the conversation took is not one I was expecting. We had all assumed Mae was upset because she thought Winnie and Logan were more than friends. In reality, she’s more upset about the fact that she feels her brother is being taken from her.
Eloise leans toward me, whispering in my ear, “Maybe we should call Logan.”
I grit my teeth. “I’m not sure if that would be helpful, or if it would just add fuel to the fire.”
It’s hard for me to discern situations I’m not involved in emotionally, and while I’m connected to Winnie, I don’t know the situation. I’m mainly here because of my sister, which disconnects me from the conflict at hand.
Even with the barrier I have to the circumstance, I can tell that the conversation is making Winnie uncomfortable.She stands from where she’s sitting, and her voice cracks when she says, “I think I need some fresh air.”
Eloise glances at me with wide eyes, looking between me and Winnie.
“Just give her a minute.”
Once the bell above the door rings, signaling Winnie’s exit, I lean closer toward the three girls.
“I’m not going to drag this conversation on any further, so you three need to listen to me.” Shockingly, they all sit up straighter. “What you guys did was extremely dangerous, and while I’m glad you’re all okay, this can’t happen again.”The girls nod, seeming remorseful enough to where I don’t feel the need to continue my reprimanding.
I wish I could give better advice to calm their longing for teenage rebellion, but the truth is, I have nothing.I’ve never rebelled in the slightest.
Of course, I’ve taken part in what might be considered deviant activities, like going to parties and drinking underage, but I’ve never done any of that as a scheme of disobedience.I’ve never felt like the only way for someone to pay attention to me was to act out, because the only thing I’ve wanted to be noticed for have been the things I’m good at, like school.
As I sit in this diner, with three scared girls and my two best friends nearby, the only thing I can think is that behind the shell of my being—the one where I am strong and independent, loud, and outspoken—there is a part of me that wishes I could feel how Mae does right now.
I wish I could do something as seemingly simple as sneak out with a group of boys to get my emotions across.
To feel heard.
Winnie reenters the diner, her phone dropping from her ear as she approaches the booth again.If I had to guess, she called Logan, and not as an act of betrayal toward Mae, but because she needed the comfort.
Eloise stands when Winnie sits, grabbing the empty baskets from the table. “Let’s get you girls home.”
This is not how I had expected my night to go, and yet here I am, standing in the driveway of the Hart’s house.
Eloise looks gob struck as she looks up at the house; it has to be one of the biggest ones either of us have ever seen—rivaling even the Callaghan mansion. “Are you sure you live here?” She asks as she grabs Gracie’s duffel bag from the trunk.
“Pretty sure.” Gracie responds before trotting up to her front door. Eloise and I follow closely behind.
“Are your parents’ home?” I ask as she rings the doorbell.
“Nope, just Briar.”
The front door swings open, and standing behind it is a very much dressed-down Briar compared to how I usually see her.She’s the complete opposite of Gracie’s blonde hair, blue eyes and round face, with her high cheekbones and brown hair that falls just past her chin.
Briar’s confusion is evident in her bright green eyes, making me feel the need to explain. “There was a bit of a situation, and we were bringing Gracie home.”
Briar looks directly toward Gracie. “What did you do?”
“It’s not a big deal!” Gracie responds, looking down at her shoes.
There’s a sudden noise from inside the house, making Briar jump and look back into the living room in shock.Neither I nor Eloise say anything about it, but I can tell Gracie is curious as to what caused the ruckus, even if she says nothing.
“Um…” Briar quickly turns toward where we stand on the porch. “Is it okay if she still stays at your place tonight?”
By the panic on her face, I can infer she has someone inside that she doesn”t want Gracie to see.
“Yeah, of course.” Eloise is the one who answers.
“Thank you so much.” She tells us before reaching out to hug Gracie. “I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning. Okay?”
All Gracie does is nod and pull away before she turns and makes her way back toward Winnie’s car.
As soon as her little sister’s back is to us, Briar lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank you guys so much, you have no idea.”
I wasn’t planning on asking any further questions, since Briar seems overly apprehensive, but all I can do is wonder what type of secret she’s attempting to keep. Still, I keep to myself.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her.
Briar shuts the front door after Eloise and I say our quick goodbyes.
As we make our way back down the steps of the porch, Eloise looks at me and says, “So, who do you think she’s fucking?”
“Huh?”
“Come on, you have to admit that she had someone in there.”
“Well obviously, but why would we have an idea who?”
“Aren’t you tutoring her? Plus, you’re student body president,” Eloise asks rhetorically. “Shouldn’t you know the people you’re governing?”
I laugh, “Sorry, but my first action of office was not having everyone complete a census of every person they’ve hooked up with, and we don’t talk about anything other than math when I tutor her.”
“Well, maybe that would have been a good campaign strategy.” Eloise is the first to know I didn’t need a campaign strategy. I was running with Logan Callaghan—that was enough as is.
We are the first pair to ever win Student Body President and Vice President as freshman, and the only pair who”s ever served all four years.
“You”re ridiculous,” I respond, pushing her shoulder. “Get in the car.”
Regardless of what Eloise and I think of Briar, it’s not our place to pry into her life. Whatever is going on in her house is not for us to know.
When we get in the car—me in the passenger seat and Eloise sitting on the center compartment—I look in the backseat to see the three younger girls all sleeping, leaning on each other.
“Don’t they remind you of someone?” Winnie asks while she watches them in the rearview mirror.
I know exactly what she means.
“Who?” Eloise questions, looking confused as she glances in the backseat.
I answer quietly before Winnie does. “Us.”
So young and unknowing, drifting off to sleep in the backseat of a car without a care in the world.
When we were younger, it was easy for our problems to fade away like they did for these three tonight. That’s exactly how it felt with Eloise and Winnie when we were their age; I knew I could fall asleep on them at any moment, and they would let me.
Someone else, someone older, someone wiser, was always around to save us.
Now, we have each other to rely on when we mess up. The clean-up isn’t as easy as it used to be.
We grew up.
I’m just grateful we did it together.