ADRIANBetrayal cut through me as sharp as a knife; I actually wished Maggie had used a knife. Physical injuries could heal up before your eyes. They might leave behind scars, but they wouldn't linger open without healing forever. Inside my head, I felt as if I was already cut open, left to bleed out by the one girl I'd ever really loved. Now she was hanging with my best friend behind my back? Turning him against me too? Wasn't it enough our parents were on her side already? Why did she have to cut me off from everyone?"Back up," Luke snapped, fire in his eyes as he held a hand up to me, "Like Maggie said, man, you've got the wrong idea. We weren't anywhere near ready to start taking off clothes. A guy can be alone with a girl without trying to screw her." "A guy can, sure, but can you?" I bit back, knowing Luke would hate me taking a cheap shot at his player reputation, "Last time I asked you about casual sex, you said 'Why not? Everybody does it.' Do you think little Maggie ther
MEGHANI couldn't say a word as Adrian went off on me, then spilled every detail of what we had done. I stayed silent, avoiding Luke's eyes.Luke acted like he didn't want to judge me, but who knew what he was really thinking. Why did Adrian have to say those things to Luke? It was between him and me!It took me a few minutes to gather myself after Luke left. The fog in my head started to lift when I felt Adrian's hands on my shoulders as he shook me lightly."Maggie, are you listening? I'm asking if we could talk," he said.I looked him in the eyes. He didn't look as angry anymore. I grabbed his hand and then dragged him to my room. Part of me wanted to be angrier with him, but the other part was glad that he was finally ready to talk about everything. This was long overdue."Is it true? Were you really in love with me?" I asked after I closed the door.He stepped back, startled. "It doesn't matter anymore. How I felt about you back then is ancient history now.""So you aren't in lov
ADRIANEveryone was always right except me! What did I do to my parents to make them always, always, always take the other side against me? In some bizarro world, I could blame Natasha's behavior on her trying to live up to the Evil Stepmother stereotype. She might just be hardwired from pop culture to think it was her "job" to be mean to me. I'd buy it except Natasha had never been remotely Evil Stepmother material from the first date she'd gone on with my dad. There was something kind about her I could sense from the very first meeting; she reminded me of Meghan which had always made me think Meghan must have taken her sweetness after her mom.My dad might claim he had issues with me because I looked so much like my dead mother, but what the Hell? He was taking his heartbreak out on me after he'd already moved on? Remarried and started a new life with a new wife? Neither of my parents had any obvious reason to be biased against me. I didn't do drugs, wasn't a terrible student, d
MEGHAN"Meg...Meg!"I didn't even realize Chase was shaking me as I stood there frozen. Adrian was long gone, but I couldn't move from my spot as I tried to process what had just happened.I mean, how could I not realize Adrian had feelings for me? How could I be so dense thinking he only wanted to play around that summer?"Meghan, are you okay?"I came back to reality this time and looked at Chase. He was staring at me with a worried expression on his face. I had forgotten he was here. He was the one who created even more disaster between Adrian and me. When will I be able to catch a break around here?No, I shouldn't blame Chase. Things have been bad since the beginning."Chase, you shouldn't be here. This is Adrian's room. He will be pissed!" I exclaimed."Yeah, I figured as much. The dude seems to get pissed a lot. What is his problem anyway? Is he in love with you or something?" he said nonchalantly.I let out a small gasp but then quickly recovered. "No, no, of course not. He is
ADRIAN "Things didn't go so hot with Maggie, huh?" Luke asked as I let myself into his room. A part of me knew I should knock first, but Luke's family seemed to actually like me so they told me to let myself in the front door anytime; I chose to use the 'welcome anytime' rule to apply to Luke's room, too. The meaner part of me wanted to catch Luke out someday. He'd seen me embarrassed or at my worst, why couldn't I catch him doing something stupid just once? He was a 'cool guy' though and apparently 'cool guys' didn't do stupid things even when they were alone.Her fratboy boyfriend showed up. You'll probably love him. He seems like he's more your type of guy than I am," I said with a bitter edge to my words.Luke rolled his eyes at me, "You realize I'm never going to be into you, right? You're wasting all your emo energy on me since I've put you firmly in Friend Zone Territory." "Shut up, dick," I sniped, knowing I was being a bitch and not being able to stop myself at the same t
MEGHANI leaned into his hand, then jolted back when I realized what I was doing. Again, I was acting like a lovesick puppy just because he was touching me. No, I couldn't let him sway me this much. I smacked his hand off my face."I can do better? And how would you know? Since when are you an expert on my relationships? I have tolerated everything you've said and done so far, but you are going too far. You can't treat Chase like this. You don't even know him!" I said. It was time I defended Chase. Adrian wasn't even giving him a fair chance."What would you like me to do, Maggie? Take him on a fishing trip and spend quality time?" Adrian scoffed.Always jumping to the extreme, this one."No. I am not asking you to be his buddy. But you could at least try to get to know him. For my sake. You still care about me, don't you?" I looked at him expectantly. No matter how hard he tries to push me away, I won't back down.Adrian sighed. "Yeah, look, I do care about you. I am willing to toler
MEGHAN"Your stepbrother really has it out for me, huh?" Chase said on our way to the beach.I didn't say anything and kept thinking about Adrian. He wasn't as hostile as the first time he met Chase but was it really a good idea to take him to Luke's party? What if it makes things worse for us? I could imagine how jealous Adrian would be if he saw me be close to Chase."Meg? Are you okay?" Chase nudged me when I didn't answer."Sorry, I was thinking about something. What were you saying?" I said and smiled at him. I should be focusing on Chase instead of thinking about Adrian all the time, I thought to myself."I said, your stepbrother really hates me for some reason. Did I do something wrong that I don't know about? Or is he like that with every guy in your life? I just don't understand." Chase raised his eyebrows.I shook my head. "He doesn't hate you, Chase. Adrian and I had a fight before I left, so things hadn't been good ever since then, but he will get over it eventually. We ar
ADRIAN So this is really happening. I am going to now have to compete against Maggie's wimpy boyfriend? Great... so now I have to make sure he does not win. It's not that I was worried or anything. I've been playing beach volleyball since I was a child, so this rich asshole doesn't stand a chance so even if he had played before, he didn't have years of practice like I did. Chase didn't seem very sporty either. I couldn't underestimate him, though. I wouldn't make an arrogant mistake like that, so I decided to take this game seriously. It started out as a friendly game. Maggie played a few rounds and decided to sit out for the rest of the game. But since I won against Chase twice, he kept wanting a re-match. "Don't be a sore loser, Chase. You lost, so just go home," I barked after a while. I was all sweaty and irritable. "Just one more game," Chase insisted. "Chase, come on. I want to go back home already," Maggie complained from the sideline. "Yeah, come get your man, Maggie.