Thieving Florida

chapter 11

Now how many of y'all thought he would ask me to stay, to hold him for the night so his bad dreams would go away? Because you are wrong. Far from what happened.

"Xander, are you okay?"

"Go," he growled. He turned away from me violently.

"Are you sure? I can-"

"Go!" he shouted. Pain and anger were the two emotions that came out of it.

I stumbled back as if he had pushed me. I quickly shuffle to the couch and lay down.

His screams, so real, so desperate, so emotional... what was causing them?

I drifted in and out of sleep. By the time dawn came I had gotten maybe three or four hours of sleep total. After the light had shown through I couldn't fall asleep again, so I decided to clean up a little bit. Quietly, of course.

After two hours of that and twenty minutes of hot water lathering my body, I finally pulled on a black batman tank top and a pair of jean shorts that fades at the ends. My stomach rumbled aggressively, so I decided to put some frozen waffles in the toaster.

 Eden was the first one up. "Am I supposed to have a hangover?"

I laugh at her question. "How much did you drink?"

She shrugged. "A beer or two?"

I shook my head, and she sighed in relief. That's when Liz walked in, hair in crazy directions, make-up smeared, and a scowl on her face. "You would look like that if you had a hangover."

Eden stifled a laugh while Liz looked like she wanted to murder someone.

"Tylenol. Now," she groaned. I pulled the medicine out of the cabinet and got her a cup of orange juice.

"Breakfast?" she asked. I threw her the box of frozen waffles so she could make it herself.

After both of them ate, Liz had somehow gotten over her hang over already or the excitement of a new friend motivated her. Either way, she decided to show Eden the arcade room, being it was her favorite room in the house.

Xander was the last to enter the kitchen. Everything was quiet as he took breakfast into his own hands and put waffles in the toaster.

Halfway through breakfast, Xander decided to speak up. "Let's get this fucking elephant out of the room."

I scowl at him while he takes another bite. "Okay. What was up with last night?"

He spat his food out onto the plate. "No. I meant the conversation with Chris. Not that. Never that."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, care to explain why you were talking about dating me? Like... what?"

"Here's the story. So that asshole shows up here like he owned the place, asking where the hell you were and told me that I needed to go. Of course I'm not going to tell him why I'm really here, and I said you were at the beach with my sister. He proceeded to accuse me of getting too close for comfort or something like that, and then told me not to think about dating you. Well, you don't want to know his exact words, but that's what he meant.

"So then I was like, listen dude. That's not what I'm doing here, no matter how much I'd love to see you pissed off at me for messing around with his crush. Then he tried denying it for a moment, then back tracked and said that I'd never have a chance either way. I told him that he didn't have one either and said that you'd probably choose me over him any day. Then you heard the rest," he said nonchalantly.

"So... what?" I'm so confused. What was the point of that conversation?

"He likes you, Jes. Like loves you. Get it through your pretty little head. Also get it through your head that he's a fucking asshole. Got it? Good. Glad we talked. Let me finish eating in peace," he said harshly.