Chapter 28

I’m standing at the corner of my kitchen, silent and my breath held, hoping the boys won’t say anything stupid and make this awkward. Drew’s eyes shift from mine to Austin’s, then his lips tighten in a straight disapproving line as he looks back at me. I look at Austin to avoid Drew’s eyes and to read his mood. Austin might be the only ally I have here.

“You just couldn’t listen, could you?” Drew’s voice finally breaks the silence, and I sigh and look over at him.

I didn’t expect any other reaction from Drew if I’m being honest.

“Hmm?” I decide to play dumb.

“I thought we agreed you would stay away from the girl for her safety and concentrate on the gym first.” Drew raises his eyebrows in question.

I can’t even defend myself here. I know I had gone against our agreement, but it was hard not to; it was hard to avoid Sparks and the weird comfort she brought me.

“Do you think it’s okay to talk about her when she’s seated right here?” I sigh, rubbing my eyes in frustration. Austin awkwardly looks between Drew and me like some kid whose parents are arguing in front of them. So much for ally.

“Okay…” Drew grins creepily at Sparks, who looks so out of place with an adorable frown on her face, before looking at Austin and me, “the living room then… Now,” he nods towards it and walks ahead of us.

“I’m sorry about this. Stay here,” I mutter to Sparks before following Austin.

My living room was quite awkward, and we never really sat here unless we were getting high; the kitchen was more of our meeting spot. Or make that Drew’s house, mine was trashy anyway—Austin’s words, not mine.

“What?” I grit when Drew glares at me for too long.

I didn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

“Dude, I thought you didn’t want her involved, which was a pretty smart decision, but now she’s here… In your house, getting involved, and wanting to help?” Drew questions, and I look over at Austin.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I am just as shocked,” he raises his hands in defense. Austin is terrible at being on my side.

“I know, but she’s stubborn and listens to nothing I tell her…” I shrug, “Believe me, I want her as far away from me as possible.” I never thought lying to my friends would be this easy. “But it’s not that easy to push her away when she wants to stay…” I sigh when their looks get too intense. Judgmental fucks.

“I also want her to stay…” I admit after a minute of silence and eyebrow raises. “If she can help without getting hurt, then it’s fine, but if it gets intense in the process and she decides to run off, which is unlike her, then that’s okay too; it’s her choice, I can’t make it for her.” I fold my arms across my chest.

“So, she knows about Nik?” Austin’s the first to speak, and I nod.

“I told her everything…” The frowns on their faces force me to correct my sentence. “Well, not everything obviously, just the important parts.”

I even told her about the bet, and she still wanted to stay. What choice did I have but to accept her decision?

“And she’s still okay with sticking by you?” Drew asks, eyes wide, and I scratch my eyebrow a little irritated by the questions, but nod.

“Well, that’s a first,” Austin shrugs, and I smile.

She’s the first girl, fuck Hayls, who I’ve told about Nik, and her reaction wasn’t what I expected. She didn’t seem frightened or overtaken by the urge to run away from me. Instead, she offered to help… Be there for me. That’s a first.

“She’s a keeper, Nine, take care of this one…” Drew nods.

“I told you she is not my girlfriend,” I point at him, and he walks past me and slaps my hand away.

“Whatever you simp,” Drew mumbles, and Austin scoffs along with him.

“Simp.”

“Fuck off,” I grit, following closely behind them, “Both of you.”

We walk back into the kitchen to find Sparks still seated on the stool next to the counter, her legs crossed making her cargo shorts rise a little too high up her thighs. Damn, she’s gorgeous… Snap out of it, Cain, you’re never going to have that.

Yes, I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I was never going to have Sparks. She’d made that clear, and besides, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. She’s better as a friend anyway…

“You guys done talking about me like I can’t hear you from a room that’s right next to this one?” Her lips curve into a small smile as she looks up from her phone, and Austin nods, looking between her and I.

“I like you,” he says, earning a smile from Sparks and a huff from me.

“Please don’t make this awkward, Aus,” I warn him.

“What? I’m just saying,” he shrugs his tone defensive, and Drew chuckles.

“Hey, look at that, both of you are simps.”

“Complimenting a girl doesn’t make me a simp, you caveman,” Austin frowns, and my lips instantly crack into a smile, so do Sparks’. Nothing makes my day more than Austin and Drew’s arguments; they argue like a married couple.

I walk closer to Sparks as Austin and Drew go back and forth, leaning against the counter behind her, and moving her hair a little to expose her ear, “I’m sorry about this,” I whisper.

She turns and looks at me, smiling, “It’s okay, I’m enjoying it.”

“You didn’t compliment her; you told her you like her… That’s no compliment,” Drew points at Austin.

“Oh, it’s a fucking compliment if it comes from me,” Austin says, and Drew and I roll our eyes.

“Of course,” Drew scoffs before yelling, “You’re a fucking simp.”

I hear Sparks snort, trying to stifle her laughter, and though I love that she’s enjoying this, I have to stop it. Someone had to, or it would go on and on, and we didn’t have time for that.

“Okay, that’s enough. Time for you two to make up and make out.” I speak up, walking between them.

“I’d never-” Austin fakes a gasp.

“Oh, but I thought you were gay, you stupid f-“

“Eh,” I point at Drew, sending him a glare, “Don’t you dare finish that.”

Drew glares back at me, then sighs, “He knows I’m joking… “

“I don’t give a shit, no gross slurs in my house… Now, come on, Austin, what did you call us here for? I had better things to do this afternoon than watch you two fuck in my kitchen,” I huff and look over at Drew’s annoyed face in time to hear him mumble something inappropriate about Sparks and me.

“Come on, dude.”

“I’m sorry then, fuck!” he yells, “You two are so fucking sensitive,” he mumbles the last part, and I open my mouth to retort, but I’m rudely interrupted.

“Can you two settle down?” It’s fucking ridiculous how quickly Sparks can make me smile and forget I was irritated. Hmm, I might actually be a simp.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mutter.

Austin walks back into the room with his backpack in hand and throws it on the counter, then takes out his laptop, mumbling something about exploring his sexuality.

“I said I was sorry, Jesus Christ,” Drew sighs. Austin announced a while back that he wanted to expand his horizon and explore his sexuality, and since then, Drew has taken it upon himself to poke at poor Aus. I’d be concerned if this wasn’t their love language.

“No more jokes about that dude, it’s not funny,” Austin taps on his keyboard, his eyes never leaving the screen of his computer.

“Okay,” Drew sighs again, raising his arms in defense.

“Good, now as you were all busy getting high, wasting your lives and spreading various STDs… ” He sure gets back to his annoying self quickly. “I came up with a plan, and planned it… and made calculations,” he says, then finally turns the laptop so we could see what was displaying on the screen.

I get closer and squint, it was a photo of the gym, I frown, my two shrunk brain cells refusing to comprehend what I was seeing, “A party? In my gym? ” I ask, looking up at Austin, my eyes wide.

“What the fuck?” He turns the laptop and reads the screen carefully, adjusting his big-boy nerdy glasses before looking at me, “Can’t you read?”

“Give me that,” I snatch the computer from his hands to get a closer look. Maybe I need big-boy glasses too…

There it was, my gym, and as I scroll, I see various photos of the machines and the different rooms, like some ad Austin’s created.

“Okay, so since we need new members and an investor in such a short time, I made an ad and invited people to a gathering in Cananiar on Friday,” Austin explains.

“What do you mean by a gathering?” I ask, and Drew takes the laptop from me to take a look at the ad.

“I mean, people who’d like to invest and take a look at the gym before doing that will be coming to check it out. This is how we get investors and new members.” Austin explains, then stands up, “Friday night, so we need food, drinks… You think you can help with that, Dee?” he looks over at Drew.

“You got it,” Drew shrugs, still looking at the screen, and I am still trying to process the whole concept.

“I’ll help spread the news.” Sparks pitches in, “I can also help with the cleanup and preparations,” she adds, and Austin smiles.

“I like hearing that.”

“B… but Friday is the day after tomorrow,” I say.

“Yeah, congratulations on knowing days of the week, buddy.” Drew pats me in the back, placing the laptop back on the countertop.

“No, how are you going to get people to come… Important people?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about that,” Austin sighs. “All you need to worry about is getting more members, and maybe after this, we can expand Cananiar, maybe it’ll have different branches and shit.”

“I like the sound of that.” Drew nods his head, and I exhale heavily, already hating how fast shit is moving and how it’s all out of my control.

I have zero control over my gym, my friends, my fucking life, and I wasn’t even doing anything to change it. Because more than anything, I feel lost.

I tense up as a warm hand slips into mine, and I look to my side to see Sparks, eyebrows raised.

“You okay?” she whispers, and I nod. “It’ll be okay.”

“Come on now, you love birds, we need to get a move on… We’re behind on everything,” Austin says, closing his laptop and throwing it back in his backpack.

“Okay,” I sigh. “First thing, we go check out Cananiar, then, yeah?” Austin nods, patting me on the back as he slings his bagpack over his shoulder.

“You know it,” he waves his eyebrows.

And just like that, we walk out of my house, Sparks’ hand in mine, my two best friends beside me, making stupid jokes and plans about creating several branches of my gym worldwide. The gym that was currently in trouble.

“Oh, come on, get a room, you two,” Austin teases, staring at Sparks’ hand in mine.

“Fuck off,” I flip him off with my other hand as he and Drew get into his car.

“Meet you two there,” Austin says before driving off, and Sparks and I walk over to my bike.

“You have really nice friends,” she says.

“I know,” I smile, watching Austin’s blue compact cruiser shine in the midday sun as he drives off, “I don’t deserve them.”

“Oh, shut up, all three of you deserve each other,” she says, “and it will all be okay, I know it.” Sparks rubs my hand with her thumb, and I look down at our intertwined fingers.

I was really getting used to the warm feeling this brought… Ahhhh, Sparks.

**
I am looking forward to writing the next chapter for real… Ha

Re-editing me here to tell you to vote and comment, make your presence known for fuck’s sake.