Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
What the fuck was going on? First the weird vibe, and then suddenly Rumi and Micky were bailing on the barbecue?
I had a really bad feeling that Emilia wasn’t going to be pleased that Micky had taken off on her, and I was right. She was completely confused when I brought her Micky’s truck keys and a few minutes later, she and Rhett were gone.
It wasn’t until after they’d left that I realized I’d kind of assumed Rumi would be my ride home. It was stupid, and I’d told him that I needed some time apart but I guess I’d imagined that starting later.
Eventually, Bird was begging to go home—his social battery completely tapped out—and I was begging Nana for the keys to her car. After she agreed to ride home with Pop, Bird and I got out of there, both of us letting out a sigh of relief for different reasons.
“Why don’t you hang out with Titus more?” I asked Bird as we drove home. “He seems cool.”
“What the hell would we do?” Bird asked with a laugh. “Go jogging together? No thanks.”
“You can’t tell me you guys have nothing in common. He’s only a couple years older than you.”
“Oh, so just because of that, we should be best friends?”
“I didn’t say you had to be best friends—”
“I don’t want to hang out with that asshole, okay?” Bird said in frustration.
“What the hell did he do?” I asked, turning my head to look at him. It took quite a bit to get Bird riled and whatever happened had to have been significant for him to call Rumi’s little brother an asshole.
“He’s a bully.”
“Titus?” I asked dubiously. The kid was perpetually nice.
“He hangs out with bullies,” Bird mumbled. “And he doesn’t stop them. So even if he’s not an actual bully, he’s a pussy.”
“Were they bullying you?” I asked tentatively. I was trying not to lose my shit but just the thought of someone giving Bird a hard time made me livid.
“No,” he scoffed. “You think I’d put up with that? It was some younger kid at the skatepark.”
“Did you stop them?” I already knew the answer.
“Busted one kid’s nose,” Bird said, tentatively proud. “Gave the other one a shiner.”
“Shit.”
“Well, did you want me to do nothin’?”
“No, but you could’ve gotten into serious trouble or hurt.”
“It would’ve been well worth it.”
We were quiet for a few moments. “Did they leave the kid alone?” I asked finally.
“They ran off like a bunch of bitches,” Bird replied. “With Titus scurrying on their heels.”
“You guys seemed fine at the barbecue,” I reminded him as I pulled up outside the trailer.
“He came up and started talking to me. What, was I supposed to ignore him?”
“Fine,” I said, following him out of the car and into the trailer. “But I still think Titus is sweet. Maybe you should give him a chance to surprise you.”
I put my hands up in surrender when Bird turned to look at me.
“A man that doesn’t stand up for those weaker than him is a fuckin’ douche.”
“He’s not a man,” I countered.
“Nope, he’s a douche.”
“Good grief.”
“Just because you’re into Rumi doesn’t mean I have to be friends with his brother.”
“I’m not into Rumi.”
Bird just stared at me, emotionless.
“We’re just friends, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” he said sarcastically, stomping toward his room.
“Wait, are you mad at me?” I called.
“I’m not mad,” he yelled back, going into his room and closing the door between us.
“Sure you’re not,” I mumbled. Jesus, what a day.
I wished I could go back and start the last forty-eight hours over again. How had things gone so crazy in such a short period of time? As I got ready for bed, I couldn’t help but run over everything that had happened.
I’d been obsessing over what would happen with Rumi, but every once in a while, the thing that I didn’t want to think about came flying back to the forefront of my mind.
Pop had almost hit me again.
The first time hadn’t been an anomaly. It hadn’t been in my imagination and I hadn’t somehow inflated it in my mind. Pop had shoved me into the wall and screamed at me, and now he’d almost backhanded me, and I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do.
He’d nearly swung on me while Nana and Bird were right there. Somehow, that made his outburst even scarier because he hadn’t cared that we’d been outside for anyone to see.
I wished I could talk to Rumi about it, but I never would. I couldn’t imagine what he would say. I worried that he’d lose his mind and storm over to my house to confront Pop. I also worried that he’d look at me like I was crazy because it was so out of character for Pop.
What did it say about me that I was keeping this secret? I really wished that Meg was home from school so I could talk to her about it. Nana was right, she had been one of my best friends. Then she’d gone out of state for school and the calls and texts had gotten more and more sporadic and distracted and eventually I’d just stopped trying to get ahold of her. I wasn’t mad about it, though. I understood that she was out in the world making new friends and shit. It kind of sucked when I needed her, though. She probably would’ve stopped me from hooking up with Rumi like an idiot.