Write on me

Chapter 19| This wasnt where she belonged at all...

I took in all the couples, friends and families that made their way through town after they had lunch at one of the restaurants.

Weekends were when the town didn’t seem so deserted because no one was stuck in offices and everyone got to socialize. I would have normally been getting home from a soccer game around this time but that would be part of next week’s schedule.

I always enjoyed just sitting in my dad’s restaurant and observing everyone while my mind was on pause as I took everything in. Getting lost in watching everyone else go about their day and interacting with one another had uplifted me in a way I couldn’t describe.

I hadn’t done it in a while because my mind always seemed to drift.

“Don’t you ever just wish that you could read people’s minds?” I randomly questioned Melissa while we made our way down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence as we enjoyed our treat.

“Mm… I don’t think I would want to. Everyone appears to worship the ground I walk on to blend in, but I am sure they all hate me” She pouted slightly.

“Maybe a quarter of them, but most of them love you. I think it would be a useful tool because think about all the time we spend wondering what people think and just being uncertain. It leads to unnecessary anxiety and hurt feelings because of all that we just assume and come up with.” I shrugged before I took a long sip of my milkshake as I waited for her to respond.

I appreciated that Melissa had made it a point to spend more time with me since our discussion about me feeling cast aside because of her spending all of her time with Adam. It wasn’t like she just neglected him, she had made sure that we at least got to hang out at some point over the weekend.

She had dragged me out of bed when all I wanted was to drown and become one with my blankets. Because there was no soccer game, I never had a reason to get out of bed and it felt like the perfect day to drown my sorrows.

Dane had ditched for the last couple of days and while I tried to tell myself it was just him being him I couldn’t ignore the side of me that believed he was doing it on purpose to avoid seeing me. At first, I thought he might have been jeopardizing his future by all the days he ditched but since his uncle was the principal, I doubted it.

They clearly knew about the gang he belonged to due to his aunt having been sort of happy that I hadn’t been wearing a leather jacket. I didn’t doubt his intelligence either so he most likely caught up at home somehow, if he really wanted to jam it into his schedule that seemed quite busy at times.

“It does. With every friendship or relationship, you have to take a risk and trust that what they show you is true. It’s another perk of just living life and seeing where it takes you, I suppose” She sighed while I had just started truly living life and it didn’t seem to be a fan of me basking in it.

“How do you live in bliss with Adam?” I questioned as I had never seen her come home in tears, be really upset or angry at him.

Maybe she was good at hiding things regarding them, I knew I hid things quite well until I wanted her to know.

I hadn’t mentioned to her the reason I hadn’t wanted to leave my bed because she just assumed I wanted to hibernate. I would eventually tell her, but I didn’t want the first time we had a sister day to be consumed by my failure with Dane.

I wanted to escape it until I had to confront him at school, if he decided to show his face on Monday.

“I wouldn’t say bliss, we just have a good way of working through things. I am very direct with him, so he always knows how I feel and he appreciates it.” She shrugged before she finished off the last of her milkshake while I threw mine in a nearby bin.

“How are you so direct? The only time I am close to direct is when I am upset, and the words just fall out” My words flowing out due to my overwhelming emotions usually led to trouble between Dane and I.

Maybe if I were more direct and clear beforehand I wouldn’t have the rush of emotions ruin everything…

“It takes time. Obviously when it comes to you and me, me being straightforward is normal but in the beginning with Adam I would just be mad or hurt and not tell him what he did wrong and sort of expect him to know. It wasn’t fair to him and it just made both of us miserable but the closer we got, the better and I like to believe we matured too.”

“That makes sense.” I nodded because I was sure both of us were more childish years before and had there been conflict between them I wouldn’t have seen it because my nose would have been buried in a book.

“Of course it does, everything I say makes sense” She smirked while I rolled my eyes as we sat down on one of our favourite benches in town which was located near our family restaurant.

When we were younger and our parents had been busy and we were honestly being annoying cause we didn’t want to be stuck in a busy restaurant.

They would whip us up a milkshake and give us strict instructions to sit on the bench and try and spot how many people wore a certain colour and whoever had the higher number for their colour would get a prize.

It was usually just a new book for me and extra tv time for Melissa, but we had worked hard to obtain it that the time just flew by.

“Do you plan on leaving Crestview after we graduate?” I questioned as our gifts from our aunt had arrived this morning and I was reminded of her having left and choosing not to return.

“I have considered it because I would love to be able to go to fashion school and there aren’t that many options, but I wouldn’t leave forever.” She probably read my mind about our aunt.

“Mom them will be happy to hear that” I smiled because we could tell she was happy her sister had created a life for herself, but she always had a ghost of a sad smile after a phone call or facetime.

“I would probably just work for a decade or so, until I can afford to open up my own boutique over here or something. That’s if I get in though, but even if I don’t, it would also depend on Adam.” She shrugged while I wasn’t sure why her leaving or not would be up to him.

“Adam?”

“He might get a football scholarship in another state or something. I don’t think we would be able to deal with the long-distance thing. We have seen each other every single day for the last four years, you know?” She briefly glanced at me while I tried not to show how the thought saddened me.

It would have been different if I knew she were following her dreams and would be back, but her following Adam made it uncertain. It would all be on his terms and I knew if he didn’t intend on coming back she wouldn’t because she would do her best to support him.

The brief thought of her never coming back made me feel heavy but I tried to push the thought back as far as it could go. We still had most of senior year to enjoy together so I would pretend like there wasn’t a possible time constraint on our sister bonding.

“I would really miss you if you left” I voiced and tried to contain as much of the sadness I truly felt.

“You could join me…” She wiggled her eyebrows as a smirk filled her face and while she was being humorous, I knew there was some seriousness in there.

“And continue being a third wheel to you and Adam? I think not!” I shook my head as I had done enough of that over the years.

“So, you’re just going to stay here?” She frowned and glanced around the area before her eyes focused on me again.

“Most likely. I am not ambitious like you, Mel. I don’t have big dreams, I like the simplicity of life” I spoke honestly because I could lie and bring up some exciting career path but my plan had always been to stay.

I guess deep down I always knew she would be leaving and one of us needed to stay behind for our parents. I didn’t want them to feel abandoned by us…

“You also thought you liked your long, dark hair and look at you now. But I will leave you to think about that for yourself” She smiled. “So far I have 9 for black.”

I smiled in return as she drifted from the sort of gloomy discussion of the end of us being side by side and played our game instead.

“That’s just unfair. You always choose black first.”

“It’s basic so it’s a winning choice” She smirked while I stared over all the people and tried to pick a colour.

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DANE POV

I stared at the bar that was packed with all the members like it tended to be on a Saturday night. It was the rowdiest night of the week because there were no business discussions, concern about other gangs or territories.

It was the night where everyone got to let their hair down and have some fun, it was also the one night that was sort of mandatory to attend to show that you were part of the unit.

I had arrived late several times when I had decided to go for a ride with Meredith and just chill with her. They were never impressed with me when I strolled in but I just gave them the excuse of having to study for a stupid test or something.

“Yo! Brooks!” I heard Eddie, the leader of the gang I was running with, and turned my head as he approached me with a beer in hand while I sat at a table alone in a corner.

“Yeah?” I lazily responded before I would get a lecture on having respect if I didn’t acknowledge him in some way.

“The bar is meant to be for socializing and a good time, not for you to be moping around” He pat my back and my fingers tightened around my pocketknife that was in my hand.

I didn’t like anyone getting too close but when you’re in a gang everyone is sort of viewed as family, that’s how everyone else saw it at least. I was just trying to get through it and make it out the other side without any more scars.

“That’s just my face, Ed.” He always found my bored tone amusing, he said he liked the brooding character because it made me a secret weapon and unpredictable.

He chuckled while I wished he would move on and start talking to someone else, but the man chose to sit down and join me when it should have been obvious that I wanted to be left alone.

“You know I have been doing this for so many years it just feels like a normal job, the trading of s**t and scaring people. It becomes tedious over time, hearing the whispers and getting the nasty stares but for a young buck like you I am sure you are more sensitive to this s**t that happens around here huh?” He sat back before gulping down some of his beer.

I could feel a few eyes on me as they wondered what we were discussing, we were one big happy family but everyone was always wondering when things would go south.

I wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at, “I think a few years is enough to desensitize you to a lot of things”

“But not the charm of a girl” He smirked, and I stared up from the pocketknife as I had been running the blade along one of the tattoos on my arms.

“What are you talking about?”

He smiled and seemed proud of himself while all he was doing was annoying me, “It’s my job to know things, Brooks. You are one of my guys for the past few months which makes you an investment for my business and you have been proving your worth just like he said you would. But I don’t need you slacking on me now…”

“I am not. I skipped school, so I could make the drive for the last package so where does slacking even become an idea?” I stared into his eyes, so he could know I wasn’t afraid of him because I wasn’t at all.

I just liked to keep my head down and get the jobs I was required to do done.

“I find it's best to attack a problem before it happens. Danny said he saw you walking with that girl out of school, it’s not the first time we have seen you with her.”

I forced myself not to show any sort of emotion because while he was saying things like he wanted an answer I knew what he was really trying to do was read my face.

“She tutors me. With all the school I miss, I need help and my uncle just wants what’s f**king best for me” I shrugged and allowed the annoyance to fill my voice as I slipped the knife into my jacket pocket.

“Tutors you, huh?” He eyed me before he sighed, “Okay.”

“Are we done here?” I stared at him because all he wanted was to make sure that I was focused, and I was.

“Sure, kid.”

I didn’t get why he was so concerned when I was the one with the debt to pay so he should have known I would make sure I delivered no matter what.

I had done what I needed to so I would continue to do that no matter what.

Even if it meant I had to lie about who Meredith was to me, to him and to her because if I let them see that she was important to me and I somehow messed up, I knew she would be dragged in and this wasn’t where she belonged at all.

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Author’s note:

Do you think Dane has been avoiding Meredith?

Did you like getting a brief look into his life from his POV?

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Thank you for reading, lovelies!