Songs for Cricket by Laine, E. (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📗

prolong the conversation with talk about my grandmother, but we finally said our goodbyes.

I lay back on my bed and began to toss the ball in the air again, trying not to be pessimistic about the outcome of things. But I was pragmatic enough to know I needed a contingency plan. If I was forced to quit school, where would I go? With Mom in a relationship, as much as she loved me, would she really want her grown son to move back into a cramped two-bedroom trailer with her and Grandma?

29

finley

Shepard’s door was closed when I opened mine. I could hear the sounds of faint conversation and smiled. Finally, August and Shepard were working things out. I slipped back in my room, placing the sheets on the dresser. Maybe one good thing could come out of today.

While passing the time, I did some more searching for an alternate class to take instead of the one with Professor Wright and still came up empty. I vacillated on whether or not to contact him for assistance but opted not to. He’d written me off as a pre-madonna. I highly doubted anything I asked of him would be taken seriously.

Instead I opted to write my original advisor and asked for her help. In my email, I acknowledged my reassignment but requested that she take me back.

When I checked the hallway again, Shepard’s door was still closed. I wasn’t sure what the protocol for a girlfriend was, but I decided to give him a little more time. Things might not have gone well with August.

Just as I was about to turn, August’s door opened. So Shepard and August weren’t talking. When my brother’s eyes barely glanced at me, I decided enough was enough.

“August, wait!” I said when he stepped back into his room.

I darted forward and stepped far enough into the doorway, so my foot could stop him from shutting me out.

His eyes finally met mine.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and I was. “I never meant to come between you and Shepard.”

“But you did. You forced me to choose between you.”

It wasn’t the response I’d expected, and I inadvertently took a step back.

“Why do you have to choose?” I asked.

He gave me a look like I didn’t get it, and I didn’t.

“You’re my sister. I’ll always choose you. And when things eventually go south, I’ll have to kick his ass.”

I hated to admit his words stung. He’d known Shepard better than me. What did he know that I didn’t?

“Why do you think things will go south?”

His brows rose in that come on look. “When has Shep ever dated a girl for more than a couple of months?”

It was true, Shepard didn’t have the greatest track record when it came to relationships.

“He dated that one girl for six months.”

August rolled his eyes, probably annoyed that I remembered information like that. And I felt a little foolish that I’d paid so much attention to Shepard’s dating life.

“So what do you want?” I asked. “Should I break things off? Then can things go back to the way they were?”

I wasn’t sure I was ready to do that. I hoped he’d see the stupidity of my offer and patch things up with his best friend.

“Things can never be the same, Bea.”

I didn’t admonish him for using that nickname because he spoke like there was nothing to be done.

“Shepard was supposed to protect you, not fuck you.”

My jaw dropped as August’s eyes focused over my shoulder.

“Stop being an asshole, Auggie.”

Cooper stood in his open doorway.

“Don’t call me that, Coop.”

“Don’t be a dick,” Cooper snapped back.

August pointed at himself. “A and B—” he said, pointing at me, “—are having a conversation. C your way out of it.”

Cooper came forward. “Really funny, Auggie.”

I stepped between them, not liking the growing tension. I didn’t need my brothers at odds too.

Cooper surprised me and didn’t back down. “But the joke’s on you. You’re the only one who didn’t see that they’ve been into each other for years. They just didn’t act on it because of you and maybe Dad.”

August’s reproachful eyes landed on me. “What else do you want from me, Bea?”

Cooper cut in. “This isn’t about them, Auggie. There’s something else going on. Is it Emily?”

His contemptuous words lashed out. “There’s nothing going on between Emily and me, not that’s anyone’s business.” He glanced over at Shepard’s closed door as if in reminder.

I knew my brother. Cooper had been right. Something was eating at him.

“What did she need to tell you?”

Our fight momentarily forgotten, he answered.

“Nothing. There’s nothing to say. We broke up. I moved on. So should she.”

And that was the end of that. August stepped back and shut his door, leaving Cooper and me in the hallway.

“Do you believe him?” I asked.

Cooper shrugged. “He isn’t talking. Maybe you should ask Emily.”

I added her to the list of people I needed to talk to. I’d planned to call Mom tonight as well.

I broke out of my thoughts when Cooper’s hand landed on my shoulder.

“August will come around,” he said. “Don’t break things off because of him. Do it if you want to, not for any other reason.”

I hugged him. “I just hate I came between them,” I whispered.

“You can’t choose who you fall for.”

I looked at Cooper, like really looked at him. There was sadness in his handsome features.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

He gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m okay, Finley.”

He left me for his room, and then I was alone.

I walked over to Shepard’s door and put a hand on it to knock. But when I overhead him mention something about his grandmother, I assumed he was on the phone with his mother. Back in my room, I turned on Netflix and watched one of their original series about cults. I found it fascinating.

Not knowing I’d fallen asleep, I awoke warm with Shepard wrapped around me. I hated to get up, but my alarm had gone off.

When I moved, he reached for me. “Don’t