Part of Me

14

14

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"Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
– Joshua Marine

C A Y D E N
• • •

MY eyes narrowed at Micah. "I refuse to lose to someone who can't throw free throws properly," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "It's never been a major problem before, asshole."

He dribbled the ball toward me, meaning to fake left and then go right, but I'd played with him enough times to know when he was going to do that. His right foot always inched forward a second before he tried to fake me out, so I always knew before he did anything.

"Fuck," he muttered as I stole the ball from him and made my final shot.

"Twenty-one to nineteen," I gloated triumphantly. "I believe that gets me a free dinner."

"Aren't you the rich one?"

I chuckled and tossed the ball at him, purposefully aiming at his face, but he dodged it at the last second, glaring at me. "You're really living up to your nickname, aren't you, asshole?" Shrugging, I grabbed my water bottle and chugged it. "Aren't you supposed to be tutoring Devyn?"

"No, she told me Friday she wouldn't be at school today."

She's in trouble, a voice in my head all but shouted, but she'd made it more than clear that she wasn't ready to tell me anything yet, so I wasn't going to push. Still, it was taking all it had in me not to go to the middle school and ask Mary where she was and if she was okay.

"What's the deal with her anyway?"

I groaned. "Dude, really?"

"What? I'm just asking." He knew exactly what he was doing and it wasn't 'just asking'. I knew what he was trying to insinuate, but things weren't like that with Devyn. "Oh, come on. Don't lie to me. I see the way you look at her. Besides, it's been almost two years since things ended with Abby. It's about time you moved on and Devyn is—"

"Devyn is just a friend, Micah. She's not in a place for a relationship right now and neither am I. Mia just went into rehab. She needs my full attention and support right now, especially if Cole is going to come after her again."

A muscle in Micah's jaw ticked at the mention of Cole. Micah always had a thing for Mia. When she started going out with Cole, he was crushed, but tried to be happy for her until Cole started roping her into the gang. Mia had never paid Micah much attention, not the kind of attention he wanted from her, at least. She always saw him as a brother. As her actual brother, I wasn't really bothered by it like other people would be. Crude jokes aside, Micah was a great guy and I knew that if they ever did get together, he'd treat her right, but she never noticed him until she ended up in the hospital last week.

He came to visit her every single day and sat with her whenever we couldn't be there. When she woke up, he was there. When she needed anything, he got it for her. When she needed to talk, he listened. When she needed a distraction, he talked and she listened.

She tried to deny it when I brought it up, but I was her twin. I knew her even after everything.

I didn't tell Micah that, though. If I were, on the off chance, wrong, it would crush him.

"Mia's doing better now. As cruel as it sounds, she's at the point where she needs to stand on her own and learn how to deal with everything on her own sometimes. I'm not saying to just abandon her because she does still need your support, but don't use her as an excuse to push your feelings for Devyn away."