The Scars That Broke Her

Chapter 14

"Anyway, then she came up to me and had the audacity to spill her lemonade on me. Can you believe that?" Clove's voice rambled away on the other end of the phone. My fingers picked at the lint lining my bed as I listened to her never-ending rant. Apparently yesterday, after I left school, Aubrey only got worse.

Not surprising.

What is surprising, however, is how she has any friends. Do people actually like her? I can tell you right now that I do not.

"I mean who is raising that girl. And do you see the way she's all over your brother? Like can she not take a hint? He's clearly not into her." Clove paused, as if contemplating something. "He doesn't like her, right?"

I sighed, leaning back against the wall. "I don't know anymore."

"It would blow my mind if they got together. Tate is actually nice. Aubrey...well Aubrey's not." Clove sounded disappointed. "Anyway, what have you been up to? I missed you yesterday."

"I'm just living the dream, Clove." My voice was dry and lifeless.

"You don't sound like someone who is 'living the dream'."

"I'm trying to manifest it."

Clove snickered on the other end. "Manifestation huh? I tried that once. I had a thing for Carter James. I spent weeks manifesting his love for me. I would write it down, think about it every single second of every single day. Only to find out he's gay." Clove sighed. My eyes glance down to my unfinished chemistry homework. "I gave up after that."

"Noa." My eyes flickered to my door where Tate stood. His hands were in his pockets, his brow furrowed. His usual caring smile was pushed into a frown. In this light, he looked quite a bit like Cale.

Great, that's just what I needed. Another Cale.

"I gotta go, Clove." My phone clicked off, returning to my home screen. I took notice of the two missed calls from Eli and I internally groaned. I'm sure I'll be hearing about that later when I decide to call him back. I tossed my phone to the side, my eyes turning into a thick glare as I watched Tate enter my room.

"What happened yesterday." Tate's voice was hard, like he was trying really hard not to be mad. He eyed me seriously, trying to understand my actions.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "So now you suddenly care?"

"I always cared, Noa."

I scoffed. "Could have fooled me."

Tate looked down, clearly embarrassed by his actions last night.

Good.

He should be.

I rolled my eyes, I would not be fooled by his puppy-dog eyes. He made a mistake, and now he needs to learn the consequences of that mistake. "For your information, and Cale's for that matter, I was not with Eli, I was with Callan, and I left because I had a migraine."

"Why didn't you just say that? I'm sure-"

"Because you didn't give me the chance!" I exclaimed, feeling my frustration surface. "I would have told you had you not ignored me last night and I tried telling Cale, but he was dead set on thinking I was with Eli."

"Noa I'm-"

I held up my hand, "Save it, Tate."

He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to listen to his next words; the words that I was hoping were an apology. I crossed my arms, sending him a glare. "You're right, I shouldn't have just assumed the worst."