Chapter 32

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Okay so make sure you're reading this chapter before the next two because I'm posting them all at once!!

As per usual, I am replying to any comment posted in the next 3 days! I love to see all of your reactions!

Enjoy!

|| Chapter 32 ||

It's one week before Drew and everyone has to leave for college and two weeks before my senior year of high school starts. Still no word from him. My siblings have spent the last few days hanging out with their hometown friends one last time before having to leave for the fall semester. Maddie is getting quieter the closer the time comes.

Harry is back in San Francisco with Natalie, back at work, doing his best. Apparently the only time he can come back is Thanksgiving because he's still a new employee who took his personal days already when he came back to see me.

The house is empty. Mom and dad are at work, Maddie is at a friends birthday party and the others went out a while ago and I have no idea where they went.

I decide that rather than sitting here doing nothing I could take my skateboard and ride around the neighborhood for a while. I change into a pair of grey sweatpants and a tight sleeveless cream crop top and grab a small backpack to fit all my necessary things inside. My skateboard is in the garage so I make sure the front door is locked before heading out by the garage and closing the garage door behind me.

The walk down my driveway is refreshing as I take in the trees around me. Mom has always wanted the house to feel private and secluded from our neighbors, which is why we live on a hill and have trees all the way down to the street.

Once I'm on the sidewalk I place my skateboard on the ground and push off, gliding down the street. There's few children in the neighborhood playing, you can find most of them down at the Hill Street playground where the skate park is located. As soon as I exit the dead end street my house is on, a black car drives past me.

I stop the skateboard and turn my head back to see the vintage black convertible turn onto a different street. My eyebrows furrow but one blink and there's no sign of the car. I push off down the sidewalk again and roll for a few seconds, not fully paying attention to my surroundings. It's only when I see the convertible again that I put my foot down at stare at the car.

The black convertible slows down next to me and I see the hazard lights flicker on. Drew opens his door and climbs out of the car. I stand quietly, my board in hand. "Hi," he says, waving a hand awkwardly.

"Hey," I offer back just as awkward. Even though I haven't seen him in a few weeks he hasn't changed a bit. The only noticeable difference is that his hair is a lot shorter now. "How have you been?"

He runs a nervous hand through his shirt hair, "I've been good. I spent some time in Arizona with my dad."

That explains the short hair.

"Oh, that's great," there's a long pause of silence, "how is he?"

He gives me a lopsided grin, removing his aviator sunglasses off his face. "Still a prick."

A laugh leaves my mouth. "I'm shocked," I reply sarcastically. "What-uh. What are you doing here?"

He moves to stand on the sidewalk, closing his car door but leaves the engine running. "Was working up the nerve to come see you."

I kick up my skateboard and grab the one end of it, holding it with one arm. "You were?"

"I got home last night and the first thing I wanted to do was see you," he shrugs, giving me a small smile. I raise an eyebrow. "And you know, I've been thinking... that I would much rather prefer you as a friend than nothing at all."

My mouth quirks to the side in a crooked smile. "Really?"

"Yup, took me a few weeks to get there but I got there in the end," he grins.

"You leave for college next week, you still doing the road trip?" If he is still doing it, he would have had to leave like, yesterday.

He shrugs, placing is hands in his pockets, "Nah, my dad's son is going to drive it down in a few weeks since I was with him and I didn't get to spend time with my friends before I left."

"You're letting that douche drive your car?" I ask with my jaw practically on the floor.

He laughs looking away for a second. "He's not that bad."

"Then why do you still refer to him as your 'dad's son' and not your brother?"

"Half-brother," he says in a heartbeat. "You hungry?"

I arch an eyebrow, "I'm always hungry."

"Then let's go," he gestures to his car and I head towards it, throwing my skateboard in the tiny back space and jump over the door straight into the passenger seat. His grin is wide when he closes his door, "Is it weird that I missed that?"

Half an hour later we're sitting outside a small lunch spot we've frequented over the school year, waiting for our meal. "So how was your dad's really?"

He sighs, leaning back in his seat, "Fine. He was barely around but that was nothing new. Donna is too nice is physically hurts me when she's around and you know what a delight Reagan is. Will was fine this time round at least."

I lean forward on the table, resting my arms on it, "Well it's been a few years, Will is how old now?"

"Seventeen, going into his senior year and Reagan is fourteen, all she did every day was invite her friends over," he rolls his eyes.

A shit eating grin shows on my face, "Oh please, I'm sure you loved it when they stared at you shirtless by the pool."

"Only the first few days, then it just got creepy, plus they're minors." I snap my fingers in response. "How have you been?"

"Me? Pretty normal, nothing really interesting." He gives me a knowing look. "What? For once I'm being serious. I haven't done anything illegal in weeks-don't look at me like that!" I laugh at his scandalized face. "Sophie took me for barbeque, Sebastian cried when we watched Marley and Me, and Isaac and Addison have started seeing each other."

He perks his head up at my last statement. "Addison?"

"Do you believe me now?" I ask sarcastically referring to his theory of Isaac having a crush on me.

"I believed you the last time we spoke about it-I just, wow, didn't see that coming," he looks up at the ceiling.

"Because of Jesse?" I ask with a smirk playing on my lips.

He leans forward so quickly is makes me laugh. "You know?"

"Hell yeah I know, Isaac told me."

"Oh thank God you knew, I didn't think I could keep it from you," he breathes a sigh of relief, placing his hands on my arm casually.

"How did you find out?" I ask curiously, since he would have known Isaac was never into me if he knew about Jesse.

"Jess told me that day I left. He said I was an idiot and Isaac had never been after you in the beginning anyway." The server brings our food and we start eating in silence. "Don't take this is the wrong way," he trails off, setting down his fork.

"Because that's a reassuring opening to a sentence," I mutter quietly stabbing a piece of lettuce and shoving it in my mouth.

He gives me a teasing smile, "Anyway Joy Killer." I grin at the old nickname. "I was going to say that you're different."

I tilt my head slightly, and furrow my eyebrows. "In what way?"

He throws his hands up in a placating manner, dismissing any negative thoughts running through my head. "Not in a bad way but you just seem less...detached from emotions."

I chuckle lightly, rolling my eyes, "Yeah I'm trying this new thing called empathy," he gives me an impressed look, "It's not fun."

He laughs loudly, placing a hand on his stomach. Few people look over at us but I don't pay attention to them, I just watch my best friend laugh his ass off. After a moment his laughter subsides and there's genuine happiness in his eyes. He reaches over and grabs my hand gently. "That's awesome to hear Tess, I'm proud of you."

I squeeze his hand tightly, "Thank you. I've actually been trying really hard, like for example, the other day when Sebastian cried during the movie, I didn't laugh at him." His grin is bright as he listens to my words. "And I only called Isaac a prick after he walked into the gym, so he wouldn't hear me."

"Amazing," he comments, letting go of my hand and leaning back in his seat, taking a sip of his lemonade. "I'm going to miss you Tess."

"You'll never lose me Drew, I promise." I give him a reassuring smile before taking a sip of my own strawberry lemonade.

We finish our lunch and he generously pays for both of us. Mainly because I hadn't planned on going out so I didn't bring any money with me, but still. "Wanna do something fun?"

We're standing outside of the café, on the sidewalk. People are walking around us, going wherever they need to go while we stand still. "Fun how?"

He gives me a flat stare, "Nothing illegal."

I drop my jaw, placing an offended hand on my chest, "How dare you even assume I was going to suggest something illegal." He continues to stare at me until I cave. "You are so boring."

He just grabs my hand pulling me towards his car, "Come on."

|| ✨ ||

"You said this wasn't illegal," I inform him. We're standing in front an old white shipping container in the parking lot of the town's local Diner.

He pulls his backpack from the backseat of his car. He looks over his shoulder with a mischievous grin, "It's not illegal, I promise."

He opens his bag, holding it up to show me the contents. "My Sharpies?"

"Donna the owner of the Diner said that you can draw whatever you want on this thing." I quirk an eyebrow at him. "She said it's been here for years and that it's on her property so she can decide what happens to it and for now she said you can draw whatever you want on it."

I pull out my black Sharpie, staring at my blank canvas. "Anything?"

He gives me his famous flat stare, "Nothing inappropriate."

"Well that's no fun," I comment, uncapping my Sharpie with a grin. He stands behind me and watches me draw for a few minutes. It's nothing impressive or memorable but just simple enough to make it a tradition for everyone who wants to.

"Maybe now you don't have to vandalize other peoples property anymore." I whip my head to face him but he only gives me a smirk in response.

"'Artist's Corner'?" He reads the words I had written in the middle of the container.

I draw a yin and yang symbol for the fun of it and look over my shoulder at him with a grin. "Yep, a place for anyone who needs to let off some steam once in a while."

He grins, sliding an arm around my shoulder, "I think it's a great idea." He pulls out one of my Sharpies and draws a simple stick figure and puts his initials D.B. next to it. I do the same with my own drawing, signing it with T.H. "I think we've just started something great."

"Me too." I hug him to my side, hoping that other people will use this place to let out whatever they need. We spend the rest of the day sitting in front of the white container, making little drawings all over it to start off.

Drew manages to borrow some tape from the Diner and tapes the caps of all my Sharpies onto the container so that you can still pull off each marker, leaving the cap stuck in place.

My siblings have all made their own marks on this town and our school whether it be from sports or just their popularity in general, but this is going to be my mark, and it's going to be anonymous.

|| ✨ ||

"Finally! We've been waiting for ages," Jesse calls out as we get out of Drew's car and head over to the skatepark where all of our friends are waiting for us the next night.

This is the last time all of us are going to be together since Benji has to leave for M.I.T. in a day or two because his parents want to scope out the area with him before he moves into his dorm room next week. The rest of Drew's friends are leaving shortly after in the next couple of days.

Kendall is attached to her boyfriend Liam, hugging him constantly. He kisses her every chance he gets, keeping a hand attached to her waist while they talk to Alyssa and Mateo, Isaac's cousin and Drew's friend.

Isaac is sitting at the top of a mini ramp and Addison is attempting to skate back and forth in front of him. Drew nods at me and heads in the direction of Jesse, refusing the beer he's holding out for him. Jesse is sitting on a cooler where everyone's drinks are. He salutes me and I give him a little teasing smile in response heading over to Isaac and Addison.

"You are no help at all," Addison laughs, jumping off the skateboard before she crashes.

Isaac looks offended, "What? I told you to stand on it and push, what more direction do you need?"

She rolls her eyes, stopping them when she catches me walking closer. "Tess! Isaac is a useless teacher!"

Isaac leans back on his hands. "Baby the subject I teach best is a little inappropriate for public spaces," he gives us a cocky smirk and winks at her.

She raises an eyebrow slyly, "Maybe you can quiz me later." His eyes widen and his smile is scandalous.

"You two are weird," I comment sitting down next to Isaac. He leans his head on my shoulder. Addison gets back on the board and immediately slips to the side stepping off the board quickly. "Plant your feet when getting on, if you lean more on one foot than the other, the board will go in the direction of the most weight."

Addison nods her head, listening intently before trying again, this time managing to keep the skateboard stationary. She glares at Isaac, "Now why couldn't you have told me that earlier?"

"Because I was having fun watching you fall," Isaac casually tells her. She narrows her eyes at him. Instead of giving her an innocent smile which would have been my go-to, he gives her a sly smile.

"Tess, we're killing Isaac next weekend, cool?" She looks at me expectantly. Isaac stares at me, waiting for me to side with him.

I don't bother to hide my smirk, "Whatcha thinking?"

She places a finger on her chin. "Slow death, maybe he can slip on a banana peel, then I can have fun watching him fall."

His mouth pops open at the idea. "You two would die without me."

"Don't worry we have each other," Addison says winking at me. "Besides we'll just go out and not invite you places, how does that sound?"

He grins at their banter. "Bite me."

Addison doesn't miss a beat, "Where?"

"Oh shit," I voice, choking on a laugh. Isaac bites the bottom of his lip in an exaggerated attempt to look sexy.

"Wait," I interrupt their moments when last few words exchanged catch my attention, "How are we supposed to invite him places if he's in college, that's kind of redundant."

Isaac pats my head roughly. "Then it's a damn good thing I'll be an hour away at USC then, huh?"

My face freezes and slowly turns to look at him. "USC? Seriously?"

"The fact that you never asked me where I'm going to college this entire summer is hilarious," he laughs. I hug him to me tightly.

"Well now we'll definitely not invite you when we go out," I tell him when I pull out of our hug, winking at Addison who laughs in response.

Drew comes up behind Addison with a relaxed smile on his face. "Hey Addison."

"Drew, hi!" Addison steps off the skateboard and gives him a quick side hug.

He towers over our sitting position as he looks down at Isaac. "Hey man." He holds his hand out for Isaac to slap in greeting.

Isaac stares at his hand for a moment too long before slapping it. "Sup."

Drew glances between him and Addison, "So you two?"

Addison makes unsure noise with a smile. Isaac raises an eyebrow at her but she ignores him, looking around her. "Make a move on her and I'll shove you in a trunk again."

Drew laughs loudly. "Duly noted and don't worry, next time I'll be more prepared."

"Hey Foursome! We're taking pictures, let's go!" Jesse yells across the skatepark at us, waving us over.

Isaac gets up and holds out his hand to me as Drew does the same. I don't look back and forth as I grab both of their hands and the pull me up so fast that I nearly fly into Addison.

"You know, I can see why you hooked up with him." My head snaps to Addison as she speaks, "He is gorgeous." Drew coughs.

Isaac throws his arms wide, "Right?!"

She links her arm with me but continues looking at Isaac, "Is it weird that I'm proud you tapped that?"

"Marry me," Isaac says with a serious expression on his face despite the mischievous glint in his eyes.

She tilts her head, looking at me for my opinion. I quickly shake my head scrunching my nose. She giggles looking back at him. "Hmm, maybe next week, I'm busy this weekend."

I look back at Drew's face to gauge his expression but he's actually smiling, his shoulders relaxed as he walks next to Isaac. He catches my eye and grins. I smile back, scrunching my nose so my eyes half close.

"Move faster!" Jesse calls out, clearly impatient to wait five more seconds.

"Jesus, calm your tits!" I retort making everyone laugh.

"I know I'm god-like Tess, but you don't need to call me Jesus." He winks, pulling me into his arms. I find myself tightening my arms around his waist suddenly hit with the sad feeling that I'm going to miss this asshole over the next year.

He just lets me hug him, not questioning or commenting on anything. I pull back looking at him with a sad smile. He just hugs me again, "I'm going to miss you too Tess."

"Okay selfie time!" Kendall calls out, taking her phone out of her back pocket.

I rip myself away from Jesse. "Nope, no, you know I don't do selfies." I hold my hands up in surrender.

"Theresa Mae Hayes, do not make me call your mother and tell her you're not participating in a group photo," Drew threatens with a grin.

I run my tongue over my teeth, seething in his direction. I take a deep breath, putting a fake smile on my face. "You get ten pictures."

"Fuck yes, let's go!" Isaac yells practically ripping his phone out of his jeans pockets and running over to me. "Someone hand me the selfie stick!"

Everyone sprints over, shoving me from both sides as they try to get into the phone camera Isaac is holding in front of our faces. Drew is at my side with his arm around my shoulder and Isaac is on my other side. Addison and Jesse both opted for the bending down in front of us. Everyone else is scattered around and I take a few seconds to look at each and every one of them as they argue over where they want to stand and what pose to do.

Kendall is on Alyssa's back and they're standing behind us since Isaac is holding the selfie stick at an angle. Mateo, Benji and Liam are standing clustered on either side of Isaac and Drew, placing me smack bang in the middle.

Drew laughs when Liam shoves him, trying to get in the picture which shoves us all over including Isaac and Mateo at his other side. I laugh loudly, looking at the people I've held close to me over the last two years even though I had only met two of them this summer.

The smile on my face isn't fake as I look directly into the camera and enjoy these moments with my friends.

|| ✨ ||

Awww!

So the last two chapters are already posted! I told my sister that she was allowed to genuinely hit me if I didn't finish this story by the end of the month. Accurate to say she was disappointed that she couldn't hit me but it was good motivation for me to finish, lol!!

Until next time...which is right now,

Sammipott xx


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