The Replacement Boyfriend

Chapter 2

Zayne

"She's still mad at me about this afternoon, isn't she?" I whispered to Dane, my eyes still on Tace as she scowled at me from across the dinner table.

Tace's mother and step father had called us over for dinner for a celebration of me and Tace both getting into the University of Chicago. Her mother had gone all out with her famous mac and cheese, grilled salami sandwiches, chicken and orange salad and sweet lemon juice with mint ice cubes.

"She was having a panic attack," Dane told me, his voice low. "That was a stupid thing for you to do."

"It was a joke," I pointed out, taking a huge bite out of my grilled salami sandwich. With all her glaring, I was going to lose my appetite.

"It was bad timing," he retorted, smiling at Tace who smiled back, her anger melting away.

God, why was she always mad at me? And why did Dane have to go and make it all better each and every time? I still wasn't sure what she saw in Dane. I mean, we both looked the same, minus the hair and clothes and he was a complete goody two-shoes. Didn't she want some adventure in her life? I could give her that.

"Tacey!" Tace's four year old half-sister – Amara – whined. "Are you and Zayie really going away?!"

"It's just college, kiddo," Tace's step dad told her, messing up her hair.

"It's not that far away," Tace added.

"But what about my birthday?" she wailed, kicking her feet against her chair. "And turkey day?"

"I'll come back for your birthday," Tace told her, finishing the last of her mac and cheese. "And I'll come home for thanksgiving, too."

"But I'll miss you!" she pouted and then looked at me. "And Zayie, too!"

"We'll come back every time you miss us," I told her, which made her smile.

"Promise?" she asked and I nodded, making her eyes light up.

She stabbed her mac and cheese and shoveled it into her mouth, chewing happily. I glanced at Tace and she chewed her lower lip, her eyes on mine, before looking away. At least she wasn't mad anymore.

Tace's mother worked late most of the week and her step father – Amara's dad – was a pilot so he was barely in town. Tace had spent all four high school years taking care of Amara. She had barely gotten any time for herself or to hang out with any of her friends which was new to her since she wasn't much of a social butterfly until high school. Plus, she had Dane, who never left her side. So they had spent four years playing house with Amara and I had spent four years hanging out at parties and kissing all the pretty girls who had thrown their selves at me. It was fun most of the time, but sometimes I felt left out. Tace and I had been closer when we were younger. Well, closer than Dane had been with her. Maybe I was a little bitter about that.

When dinner was over, we all helped with the dishes because Mr. and Missus Garnett had work early the next day. I was putting away the utensils when Amara tugged on my jeans.

"Will you tuck me in?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

She was as cute as he older sister and she knew how to use her cuteness to get her way, something Tace had never tried on me. For the record, it would have worked. I would drop everything for Tace, if only she asked.

"Where's Red?" I asked her, bending down to her level.

"Dane pulled her outside to tawk," she told me so I scooped her up and left the kitchen.