FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF THE CHEATER.FAKER.TROUBLEMAKER SERIES (WATTY'S 2016, FICTION AWARDS 2016, HACHETTE AUDIO 2017), JENNY ROSEN & KRISTEN MAGLONZO.
After bullies, braces, and brutal heartbreak shatters his faith in love, soon-to-be fre...
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NOTE: Check out this week's awesome audiobook performance by kaelking12! Featuring music by The Band Camino, Aqualung, and Saint Raymond.
CHAPTER 8
Elias
There's a line halfway to China stretching out from the burrito truck by the time we show up. I don't know if it's the girls or the food that has half of San Diego waiting around in some random parking lot in ninety-degree heat, but from where I'm standing, I see exactly what Tanner was talking about.
Most of these girls make a catch like Nikki Ross look like another face in the crowd. They're all dark haired, brown-eyed, and totally beautiful—wearing sleek-high pony-tails, and flashing million-dollar smiles at every customer who comes by.
If the food truck girls weren't enough to partially take my mind off things, the view just a couple feet behind them zaps all the stress out of the morning.
There's a killer view of the waterfront behind the crowd. The beach is wild, almost virgin. No packs of tourists crowding the water. Just perfect white crests painting the tips of an always restless Pacific.
Tanner brought me here knowing what I needed without me having to ask. Without me having to speak.
And I'm grateful for it.
For him understanding me better than I do.
When things get bad at home or at school or wherever, the ocean numbs part of the pain. It doesn't come with the rush that my usual party favors do, or the high that a little bit of "Mary J" can get me, but it takes the edge off.
Maybe that's why Tanner swims and Caleigh surfs. The two of them spend most of their time on the shoreline, diving into the big blue about five to six days outta the week.
I never got why my brother did it before. Why he'd leave home before the sun was up just to run by the water and watch the sun rise and turn everything gold. But right now, with my phone pinging in my pocket and me starting to notice way too many familiar Mission Bay faces noticing me, I get it.
This is how he escapes.
Maybe there's a way out for me here, too.
Tanner comes jogging over to me from the Wrangler with his Ray Bays on and his t-shirt sleeves rolled up like he's about to enter a burrito eating competition.
A couple girls standing around a red and black polka dot VW check him out and start whispering and giggling to each other like Justin Bieber just dropped in for a visit. As their eyes trail my brother, they catch sight of me staring in their direction.
