Pull (Seaside #2)(16)

“Friends,” I repeated.

“Friends.” He leaned closer, finally resting his forearm on the wall above my head.

“I have friends.”

“You said they moved away.”

“So I have one friend.”

“Really?” He looked intrigued.

Crap. I was the worst liar ever. “Yup, I have a friend.”

“What’s your friend’s name?”

My eyes darted to the floor. He even had nice Converse shoes that seemed expensive, even though I knew they weren’t.

Ugh. “Sally.”

“Sally?” He laughed. “Is she eighty?”

I tilted my chin up. “Nope, and we have plans today.”

“You do?” He wasn’t buying it. His grin seemed to widen as my lie got bigger.

“Yup, so if you’ll just excuse me. I’m going to be late.”

With a chuckle, he pulled back and went to the door.

“Alright, Lyssa, I’ll give you this one. You know where to find me, if you need a… friend.”

“No, I don’t.” Crap. The words were out before I could stop them.

“Oh.” He winked. “How rude of me. Here.” He put a slip of paper in my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Have fun with Patty.”

“It’s Sally!” I called.

“Right.” His laugh echoed through the house as he left.

My hand was clenched tightly around the slip of paper he gave me. Unable to stifle my curiosity, I pulled it open and laughed. It had his cell number, his home number, his agent’s number, his email, his Facebook and LinkedIn profile, as well as his address.

Now that was interesting. Mrs. Murray was his neighbor. I’d always been curious about who owned the gorgeous beach house next door to hers. Now I knew. At least I lived a few miles away from him. It was hard enough knowing that we’d been seeing the same shrink.

I threw the piece of paper in the trash. Impossible. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be his friend. When you were friends with boys, it never worked. It always turned into something more, and then when you got really close, the one person you swore you’d give your everything to, leaves. Clearly, I was still struggling with past demons.

Emotion welled in my throat. They leave you with nothing, but sharp jagged pieces of your memories together. Each time I wore the sweatshirt, it was like another cut. Each time I saw the Justin Bieber poster, the cut got deeper.

But as long as I was cutting myself emotionally and not physically… At least I felt pain. At least I knew it was real.

A tear escaped from my eye and dropped to the floor before I could brush it away.

I glanced back at the trash can.

Muttering a curse, I retrieved the paper. Just in case.

****

I only kind of lied. I mean, I was visiting a friend. That is, if a friend is an insanely old seal that lives at the Seaside Aquarium.

The staff knew me by name and always had little fish waiting for me, so I could feed the seals. It was what I did on my day off, another one of my ways to remember the pain. Brady had loved seals. I always thought they were stupid. I mean, who claps when they eat food?

But one day, Brady pointed out to me that I did exactly that.

If I ate something that was really good or that made me happy, I’d clap my hands. He’d roll with laughter. Thus, my new nickname became Little Seal.

It was typical for us to visit the aquarium on the weekdays when it wasn’t that busy, and then a few months before the accident, he got a job there.

I was there every day.

Old habits die hard.

“Hey, Alyssa!” Sam was already standing by the seals, throwing them their morning meal. He graduated a few years before me and was close to Brady, like really close — they were brothers. He was one of the few people who stayed behind after graduation. Consequently, he healed just fine after the accident.

Apparently boys aren’t as emotional as girls. He put everything into his studies and sports, and after a while, we just stopped talking, unless I stopped by to feed the seals. Honestly, it was just too hard being near him. It reminded me of everything I lost that day. Recently we’d fallen into a sort of routine. I think he felt responsible for me somehow, which was ridiculous. He gave me the fish, I fed the fish to the seal, we made small talk, and he gave me a hug.

So, sadly we talked once a day about things that didn’t even matter, and never about Brady. Saying his name out loud was something I never did. It hurt too much.

“How’s work?” Sam threw another fish and politely handed me the bucket so I could join in.

I shrugged. “Well, I figure I’m a few taffy pieces away from curing world hunger, so that’s good.”

“Awesome.” He chuckled. “I know you’ve been working on that one like your whole life. Great accomplishment.”

“Yes, I hope to cure cancer next.”

“My, my, you’re driven.”

I laughed and threw another fish toward my favorite seal.

Sally swam up next to me and splashed water near my face.

“So, rumor has it that one of the famous AD2 members has kind of a thing for you.”

“Rumors suck,” I grumbled, patting the water next to Sally.

“He’s bad news, Alyssa.”

I froze for a minute then shook my head in denial.