Chapter 21 What/Who We Need
What/Who We Need
Crew
“Maybe you need to breathe a bit,” Tuck tells me as he pulls me away from Rosie and the newest addition to the pod of dolphins. “Have you taken your break yet?”
No, and I don’t plan to. I haven’t been around the dolphins in a week, and one of the trainers complained about how she wouldn’t let him feed her. When I was asked to help, I couldn’t have been happier.
“What if something happens to Rosie while I’m gone?” I ask, hoping it could excuse me from having to take a break.
Tuck sighs at my attempt. “There are cameras everywhere, Crew. Should that happen, you can look at the surveillance video when you return.”
Well, that failed. Rosie continues to swim happily in the tank—or as happily as a dolphin in confinement can be—in the distance, and it’s not long until she disappears from my sight.
I rub my eyes, and Tuck frowns at the action. “Have you been sleeping, Crew?”
“Yes.” That’s a fucking lie. I haven’t gotten a wink of sleep in two weeks.
Sure, I can place the blame on finishing my last quarter of undergrad, but it’s not true.
With my family and Carly on my mind nonstop, I can barely relax.
All of my relationships—except for my friendship with Vinny—are starting to fall apart, and I feel helpless about how to fix them.
With my parents, I’m not sure. Mother is, without a question, not a part of my life anymore with how she’s acting. As for my dad? I don’t know if he’ll side with one of us or cut us both out completely, which is totally possible.
I yawn again.
Tuck shakes his head. “Crew, just take the rest of the day off.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” He grabs the bucket from my hands and places it next to his feet. “You haven’t taken a day off since returning from your term abroad, and it’s time you did.”
“But—”
“Something is clearly on your mind, and your head’s not here. Go outside, breathe some air that doesn’t smell salty, and I’ll see you on Monday. As your supervisor, I’m permitting you to take the day off.”
Tuck doesn’t push, even though the father in him so desperately wants to ask. He has three kids—the oldest of them being in my age group—and I think working around me for so long has brought out that side of him.
“Is that allowed?” Granted, I didn’t request any days off, but I’m not prone to burnout like most people my age, so I never needed to take a mental health day.
He shrugs. “Well, I’m allowing it.”
There’s no arguing against that. “If you’re allowing it, then okay.”
“I’ll see you on Monday.” Tuck picks up the bucket from the floor and walks out of the dolphin exhibit, towards the door labeled, Employees Only. I wait for a minute before exiting through that door and checking myself out for the day.
Maybe Tuck’s right, and I do need to call off for once. A day can’t hurt, right?
I head towards the main exit for a breath of fresh air, closing my eyes and allowing the sun to warm my face. This isn’t much better, but at least I’m not smelling saltwater for once.
Just as I start to feel somewhat more at ease, I hear someone shout my name.
Oh shit, the paparazzi found me. Why today, of all days?
“You’re dead meat!”
I take that back—the paparazzi aren’t dumb enough to make a threat like that.
Opening one eye, I spot a couple around my age, marching over to me.
The girl couldn’t be taller than five-foot-five, but her boyfriend—I’m assuming that’s what he is, or this would be an awkward situation—is around my height, filled with a fury that could envy any Hollywood starlet throwing a tantrum.
His eyes, however, catch me off guard. A vibrant pale blue that I’ve only ever associated with Carly. Thinking back to our past conversations, she mentioned how she and her twin brother look fairly identical for a pair of fraternal twins.
This must be him. Hell, they even have the same hair color, even if his is slightly darker.
“What did you do to my sister?” He fumes, and I take two large steps back for fear of getting beaten to a fucking pulp.
I glance at the girl standing next to us for reassurance. To be honest, I’m a little more intimidated by her than by Carly’s brother.
“Don’t worry,” she assures me. “He’s harmless.”
The guy turns his head to his girlfriend. “Diana!”
“Carson, I love you, and you know that,” she assures him, patting his shoulder. “But you’re, hands down, the least frightening person I’ve ever met.”
“Way to burst a guy’s ego,” he mumbles.
Diana glances at me and playfully rolls her eyes. Now that I know I’m not about to die in my place of work, I try to loosen up slightly.
“Carson’s just worried,” she explains to me, rubbing her boyfriend’s shoulder. “He thinks you did something to Carly because she lashed out at dinner last night.”
I raise a brow. “So you’re trying to squeeze information out of me.”
“Pretty much,” Carson answers, shrugging.
“Wait, you don’t know where Carly is?”
“No! That’s literally why we ambushed you. Carly mentioned you interned at an aquarium, and we assumed it was someplace like this.” He gestures to the large building we’re standing in front of.
“Sorry, dude,” I apologize. “But I called her cell phone this morning and she didn’t answer.” Which I’m pretty sure hurt more than when she ran off after I kissed her the first time.
Her not answering felt like the final nail in the coffin.
“Odd,” Diana mutters. “That hardly ever happens.”
“Was it that bad?” I ask Carson. “The dinner?”
He squints his eyes, probably thinking about the events of last night. If it’s anything like my dinner with my parents, then I’m going to assume that it was pretty bad.
“She lashed out at Bailey, which was a long time coming,” he muses. “I don’t know how much Carly has told you about her relationship with our cousin…”
I nod, acknowledging how much Carly told me. Not every little detail, per se, but enough to grasp how badly she needed to tell her how she felt for the past year and a half. Even though I’m not sure if she’ll speak to me right now, I’m glad that she was able to stand up for herself.
“But that’s it. I was worried she was going to freak out and leave in the middle of dinner, but she hasn’t responded to any of my texts or calls today.”
“You just want to find her?” I ask. “You’re her brother, so don’t you have this thing?”
Carson frowns, probably sick of hearing this question. “Okay, just because we’re twins, that does not mean we have twin telepathy. I don’t believe in that.”
“Did you call Ali?” I suggest.
“She didn’t even know Carly wasn’t home because she’s been out since last night.”
“And you didn’t think to check her location before ambushing me in my place of work?”
Carson opens his mouth for a second before closing it. Wow, a few minutes into meeting him for the first time, and I’ve managed to render him speechless. He grabs his phone out of his pants pocket and starts tapping away at the screen.
“Savor this, because it rarely happens,” Diana jokes, breaking the silence. “Being outsmarted.”
“You do it all the time to me, Just Diana,” Carson points out, not once looking up. “Wait, Carly’s nearby. Why don’t we just go to her?”
Maybe because she doesn’t want to be around people right now.
Both Diana and Carson turn to me. Did I say that out loud? Well, I didn’t intend to, but they definitely need to hear it.
“I think I know exactly where Carly is,” I admit. Honestly, I figured it out from the moment Carson mentioned that Carly was overwhelmed at the celebration dinner.
And when she’s overwhelmed, there’s one place she’ll go to.
“Then tell us,” Carson demands.
I think Diana is reconsidering her earlier statement about how Carson isn’t terrifying whatsoever, because when it comes to his family and the people he loves, that guy will tear off a limb and not break a sweat.
“There’s this spot on the beach that she goes to when she’s overwhelmed,” I explain. “That’s probably where she is now.”
“Great. Come on, let’s go.”
I hesitate. “Wait, me too?”
He nods. “That’s what I meant.”
“I’m not sure Carly wants to see me right now.” Understatement of the month. I am, without a doubt, the last person she wants to see.
Carson scoffs. “Well, suck it up, Movie Star. You’re coming.”
God, him too? What’s with Carly and people related to her giving me that nickname?
“Help.” I turn to Diana, who shrugs.
“Do you want me to be honest or soft?” She suggests, her arms folded over her chest.
“Do I have a choice?”
She mutters something under her breath in Spanish.
“In English,” Carson murmurs to his girlfriend.
“He does not want to hear the English translation.”
For fucks sake.
“How did Carly fall for a cobarde? Crew, nothing is easy. If you need to talk to Carly, then keep trying.”
“She called you a quitter,” Carson translates. “Just come with us. You may think Carly doesn’t want to talk to you, but I’m her family. Right now, I’m the last person she wants to see. Not you.”
“Carly may need someone like you right now,” Diana adds. “Someone to just listen to her, or be with her.”
Could she be right? I think back to that night I snuck her into the aquarium and the drive back, and the words that stick out like a sore thumb.
All you did was listen.
“Everyone has a silent battle,” Diana continues. “The decision is merely whether they want to give up the sword or keep fighting. Or, ask for help.”
She’s right. I have to go with them.
Even if Carly didn’t ask for it, she needs someone right now, and I’m selfishly hoping that person is me.
Because, right now, I need her too.