Chapter 12
Dex
“Dude, what’s up with you guys?” Liam asks as we cool off from our game. The girls aren’t here for this one, but I’m not about to inquire why.
“What do you mean?”
“You and Daniela. You’ve been cold toward each other every time you’re in the same room together.”
“Please. You’re imagining things,” I mutter as I stretch out my leg on the ground.
“Dude. I’ve known you for how many years? Don’t lie to me.”
Sometimes, it’s a pain in the ass being friends with someone you grew up with. They see through all your bullshit .
I sigh. “I don’t know, man. I’m not going to act overly friendly to her after last year. I know she’s Layla’s best friend and she’s going to be here all summer, but…she really gets under my skin. Sometimes I think she does it on purpose.”
It’s not that I’m mad at her. We got drunk and hooked up one time, and she doesn’t owe me anything. But it’s possible that I’m closing myself off and maybe acting like a bit of an asshole so I don’t fall into her trap again.
“She’s a tad sassy,” Liam laughs.
“A tad ?”
“Mostly to you, though. She’s very kind to me,” he adds with a smug look.
“Okay, asshole. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he replies. “You’re being kind of sassy, too though, you know? It’s not really like you. At all.”
“Yeah, you might be right…” I shake my head and look down. “So, I’m assuming Layla told you who she saw me with the other day?”
My fucking high school girlfriend, Marny, showed up out of nowhere, cornering me on the street. I was completely caught off guard. Sometimes, I hate how small this town is. She broke my adolescent heart when she left town and never looked back. But that was ten years ago.
“Yeah…about that. What the fuck?”
“Yeah. I don’t know, dude. She just showed up. ”
“What does she want?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know.” I sigh. This summer is already turning out to have more drama than I anticipated.
“Well, you better figure that out.” Liam remarks.
“No shit. And there’s nothing to figure out, really.”
We go our separate ways, and I head home. I live alone in a three-bedroom house with a nice balcony and a yard. I should probably get a dog or something.
As soon as I get home, I shower off, order some takeout, then pull out my laptop to pay some bills and do my monthly charity donations.
I donate to a lot of different causes. I’ve made a lot of money off the businesses that my parents brought me in on, and it seems stupid not to share, considering I didn’t really earn it myself. I just maintain it.
After I get done with that, I stretch my legs out and stare at the wall, bored. And then my mind wanders to Daniela’s ass on that hike. It looked way too damn good. I definitely went home and thought about it more that night.
Maybe I’ve been single for way too long.
Honestly, I don’t give a shit that Marny is back in town.
Yeah, my friends did start teasing me about being a big softie after that breakup, because I took it pretty hard, but that was so long ago.
For some reason, the reputation stuck. I think they just like having something to give me shit about, because they definitely can’t say anything when it comes to all the sports we play.
It didn’t help that a couple years later, I got really serious with my college girlfriend. And then when that didn’t work out, I took that one hard too. In hindsight, I’m grateful those relationships didn’t work out. Neither of those girls were right for me.
I dated one other girl a little more than casually since then, but I knew pretty fast that it wasn’t going to work out.
The truth is, I fucking hate dating. So yeah, I get pretty bummed when it doesn’t end up working out. I’m not looking to casually date around constantly—I want the real thing. I want to flash-forward straight to the relationship part already. Skip all the bullshit. Is that too much to ask?
Still, I’m not about to settle just to have someone around. Which is why I’ve barely gone out with anyone these past few years.
I also haven’t hooked up with anyone at all since before last Thanksgiving.