Bad Habits | Herophine #1

VII

-Battle of the Egos-

"The more people the better, no?" Elijah suggested scrunching his face, before we left my place, now I was driving with Hailey in my back seat, not that I cared or was bothered by it, but it was supposed to be my best friend and I enjoying the waves and the sun, at least a warning should have been given, he'd invited her while I was in the shower and putting together a beach bag. I shoved my neediness to the back of my mind, I needed the tan pretty badly and today was the perfect day to do so, it was hot but not scorching, enough to lay comfortably under the sun and get a nice bronze going, but not to hot enough to be the third wheel, I swore that if they started making out in the beach I would leave and have them take an Uber back to downtown LA.

I was almost sure Elijah could feel my annoyance and if he felt it I was pretty sure Hailey did too, she was a very perceptive person from what I heard her speak in the car, and cranking the volume on Blackbear's, Hot Girl Bummer certainly didn't help disguise what I was feeling in the slightest.

And my friends are all annoying
But we go dumb, yeah, we go stupid
This that college dropout music
Every day leg day, she be too thick.

Fuck you, and you, and you
I hate your friends and they hate me too
I'm through, I'm through, I'm through
This that hot girl bummer anthem
Turn it up and throw a tantrum.

Elijah looked at me and lowered the volume, we engaged in a volume battle until we got to the beach. "This is a nice car, Faith..." Hailey said after we arrived at the beach I wasn't sure if she was just trying to be nice or if she was socializing because she felt bad that she made me third wheel, "I didn't know you drove." She smiled, I took the time to analyze the features on my best friend's new flavor of the month, she was pretty, fair skin, her auburn hair was covered in different shades of low lights, the color suited her, she was petite, just right for Elijah who stood at five feet, eleven inches.

"Thanks, it was a gift from my sister..." I was going to begin to explain how Logan said that the car screamed my name before she bought it for me but I quickly got distracted by the dark blue 1967 Mustang in front of my own car, My love for old cars got the best of me and I was drawn in by the beauty in smooth midnight blue paint, Hailey walked a little too close behind me "This is my brother's car." She said with a smile, then I looked over to where her attention was. No. Fucking. Way. Jax was already on the sand, dressed in a white tee and black jeans, his shoes were next to him, along with a cooler and a tiny but powerful speaker next to him. "Jax is you're brother..." I stated meaning it to be a question, but it came out more like a surprised kitten. "Yeah, we're twins." Her voice said in a  playful tone, my head spun faster than if I were to be on a roller coaster.

I gripped the bridge of my nose, he hadn't texted me all week but he's down to come to the beach, fantastic, I went back to my car and grabbed my beach trappings and headed to the sand-filled area, Elijah following suit with Hailey, she greeted her brother, who glanced up almost unbothered that I was there, not a smile.

"What'd you think I'd let you bring my sister to Malibu and not check up on what you're doing?" He said jokingly, tipping an angry orchard beer to his lips. "I wouldn't expect anything less..." Elijah responded, I shook my head and set up my beach blanket a couple steps in front of Elijah and tried my best to ignore how rude Jax was being, this wasn't the guy I was taking shots with or texting for the past week, in his place was a pompous asshole who was more interested in ruining his sister's date than to acknowledge me.

"So Elijah, what's your favorite thing about my sister." He asked. "Jax!" Hailey exclaimed. "Now let him answer, he's old enough."Jax said, opening what seemed to be his second beer, I heard the bottle cap hiss behind me. I couldn't help but listen in while acting like I was minding my business, my back was towards them so it was hard to tell whether I was listening or not. "I like that she's a great listener, she's smart, sassy..."

I looked over my shoulder, to see Jax shaking his head. "No, you've just described half the female population in LA, she's much more than that." He corrected wanting to hear something unique coming from Elijah. "Jax..." Hailey shoved sand towards him to keep him from being rude. "And I suppose you've dated half the Angeleno female population if you're speaking like that."

I butted in before I could contain it. Elijah laughed, Hailey covered her mouth trying not to laugh at her brother in his face. "He's complimenting your sister, you should be grateful. Eli's the perfect gentleman and he doesn't owe you a damn thing as long as he's respecting Hailey." I said crawling to my feet, taking off the rather long white t-shirt dress that was covering the orange bikini I was concealing underneath, I let my hair down and darted toward the water, Elijah's laughter ceased and his eyes fell on me, I noticed Jax staring as well.

I could feel his gaze burning my back, I focused on getting in the water, swimming always cleared my head, I sank into the salty waters and felt the world go silent underneath the water, I broke the surface and Jax was swimming a few short feet away from me. "Had fun making me look like an arse?" He shouted within my hearing range. "Didn't take much did it?" I retorted as he swam closer to me. "You're mad that I haven't texted you, that's what's got the back talk coming in like clockwork...?" He questioned.

"I can't get mad at someone I barely know, that's not how things work Jax. But at least I make sure I greet people when I show up unannounced to my sister's beach date." I swam away from him and out of the water, the angel on my shoulder giving me a high five for downplaying how I really felt, I mean, why does he get to be the only asshole? Right? Wrong... Inside I was fuming.