Dead Apples

20- Naked Boys

Because of the attempted robbery, the store gave me a few days of paid vacation. I've spent some time working on Amber's mural but that's really the only exciting thing that I've done. But now, it's Sunday and I'm going to the mall with Sage and Amber.

I thought that was the plan, until Amber pulls up into my driveway with Sage crying in the passenger's seat.

"What happened?" I ask as they both get out of the car. I can already tell what happened though. Well, I at least have a vague idea because this is her breakup cry, so I know that her relationship with Tyson is over. That's surprising though, because they've seemed to get along really well. They fought occasionally but it was never anything big.

"We were on our way to come get you," Amber tells me because Sage is just a sniffling mess right now. "And we saw Tyson over by the Handee-Mart making out with Tessa Wilcock."

"That son of a bitch!" Sage shouts. "And then when I got out of the car to go yell at him, he didn't even care. He told me that he was busy, and that we should talk later."

"Wow. Sage, that's really shitty," I mutter slowly. "What a slime ball."

"I could snap his neck right now. I want to put his balls in a meat grinder," She seethes. "God, I'm so stupid. How could I not see this coming?"

"You're not stupid, Sage," Amber promises her. "He was just a good liar."

"Let's get inside. I'll make you some cinnamon pancakes," I suggest, knowing that those are her favorite. Both Amber and Sage follow me into the house. Zero is sleeping on the couch and my dad is at work, so we have the kitchen to ourselves. Sage and Amber sit down at the small kitchen table while I start getting the ingredients out to make pancakes. "Do you want to go egg his house or something?"

"No," She mumbles, seemingly sober up quickly. I know how Sage falls after a breakup, it's very dramatic but it's very quick. She'll cry like the world is ending for an entire day but I know that in 24 hours, she'll bounce back like nothing ever happened. She might need to get drunk, which is fine, and she might want to go to the bar and hit on strangers. But after about a two day chaotic period, she'll even out and go back to normal.

These first 24 hours are rough though, and it takes a lot of work to help get her through it. I'm prepared. I've got the pancakes, I've got some alcohol that my dad won't miss. She'll be okay.

"I'll get you some water," Amber says before she takes a bottle of water out of the fridge to hand over to Sage. "You should forget about that guy. He's an asshole, you know, and he never deserved you."

"She's right," I agree with Amber. I'd always been a little bit uncomfortable with Tyson but I put up with it because Sage seemed to really like him. "He's crappy and gross."

"But I really liked him," Sage sighs, leaning her head on the hard table. "And I thought that he really liked me. I don't get it. I thought that we were going so well, I don't get what happened. I didn't think that I was boring, I thought that the sex was pretty great and he definitely seemed to be enjoying himself."

"Sometimes, there just isn't a reason, and it's definitely not your fault," Amber promises her. "You can't beat yourself up about this, Sage. The only reason that this happened is that Tyson is a piece of shit. He'll get what's coming to him."

"Why are men such assholes," She mutters and then sniffs again. After I've made the pancake batter, I grab her a tissue from the box in the living room. "I don't get it."

"I don't know. But you'll find the right guy eventually. We're still really young, you have a ton of time to find a guy better than him," Amber reminds her.