Right In Front Of You✔️

38. The cold shoulder

There's an important A/N at the end of this chapter, don't forget to read it!

I smile as I see my little brother playing with his new best friend in the sand of the beach. The past couple of weeks have been good. About two weeks after I left the hospital, I got the doctors permission to go back to school.

I was pretty ecstatic because I was so done with doing nothing at home. I had way too much free time and always had my homework finished before lunchtime. The first couple of weeks, I still had to go to the doctor once a week to check up on my injuries, but I had been able to start going back to my life again. 

Jay and Kevin, on the other end, weren't so happy about me going back to school. They had even asked if I was one-hundred-percent certain I wanted it and if I could handle it. In their eyes, I was still a weak little girl, but I had flipped them off. 

Which is what brings me to the fact that I'm giving Jay the cold shoulder at the moment. I had told both boys, they weren't allowed to talk to me unless they got their priorities straight. Meaning I didn't want them as my bodyguards but as my brother and boyfriend. Kevin immediately apologized and promised to be less protective, well as protective as he had been before.

It's not that I don't appreciate that both of them care that much about me. I love them with my whole heart and I get that they don't want me to get hurt. I don't want them to get hurt either, but sometimes they were just too suffocating. 

Jay still refuses to get his priorities straight. Even though I refuse to talk to him, he's still around me like some watchdog. He thinks I'm overreacting and that it's just the way he's always been, but all he does is worrying. It's honestly so suffocating. I get that he doesn't want me to get hurt. I don't want him to get hurt either. In fact, it would kill me if he got hurt. 

But ever since the Matt thing where I landed in the hospital, Jay can't find a stop switch. He doesn't feel like my boyfriend anymore. He's more like my bodyguard. By ignoring him, I try to make him see that he's my boyfriend and not my bodyguard, but he's not getting the memo. 

"Earth to Kailee." Somebody waves their hand in front of me. I blink a couple of times before turning my head towards Jenna. 

Yep, you heard right. Jenna. The girl from the beach. Her daughter Lilly and Evan have grown extremely close in the past weeks. So have Jenna and I. Jenna is a really good friend and even though she's older, she's nice. Lilly and Evan have play dates a lot and that's where Jenna and I bonded as friends. 

The cutest thing is whenever Evan sees a little girl with blond hair like Lilly's, he starts making grabby hands towards that little girl murmuring his version of Lilly's name. 

"What's wrong?" Jenna furrows her eyebrows together as she looks away from the kids. "Jay still acting like a bodyguard?" Liv asks on the other side of me. 

Lately, Liv and I haven't hung out much. Since her relationship with Aria is still fresh and the two of them are still in the honeymoon phase. They practically spend all their free time together, but I can't blame her, I was the same with Jay and she deserves her happiness.

"He refuses to believe I can handle myself," I say through gritted teeth. "I love him and I love that he cares, but I want him to be more than just my bodyguard. I want him to be the guy I  can confide in. I want him to hold me and to love me." I sigh loudly.

"I'm sorry." I hear a voice say softly behind me. I turn around to see Jay standing there with a defeated look on his face. I stand up from the bench the three of us were seated on. "You're right. I'm not your bodyguard. I'm your boyfriend. I should have realized that sooner," he says walking around the bench. He takes my hand as he looks down at me with a pained expression on his face.