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"Co fun You know your parents are just going to stress you out and you only turn twenty once It should be fun and exciting" She had a gli up that I would be hard pressed to talk her out of I shoved the piles of paper into the drop bag and took the ood money, but for whatever reason today had been very profitable I pulled my hair out of the ties and raked my nails across my scalp

"Let’s talk about it later, okay? I just want to find Lou to walk us out in case Gabe decided to show back up and head home"

"You think he will?"

She hooked her arh mine and we made our way to the main entrance "Do you think he would have the nerve to do that? Ithe point across that he back off and Lou told hionna call the cops"

"I don’t know, Ayd He’s acting crazy I never would have thought he would show up here and try and be all grabby and inon anyreat ro We were lukewarm on our best days Rule thinks he’s embarrassed that I duht"

I oodbye and headed ho so hard to make decisions that were best for everyone, I wanted Rule to have the love and support of his fa her son, I wanted Gabe to get over his deal and just move on and mostly I just wanted to have everyone else be okay so I could stop feeling so responsible for it all

The next ent by in a blur I had two tests, I picked up an extra shift at work and I was doing a very coe the ex because Gabe also went to DU and even though he was prelaw and typically on the other end of ca up around every corner He calleda new number but it seemed like such a hassle that I just sent his calls to voice I didn’t see any better She was flat out refusing to go see a grief counselor and was now bla Rule for the fact that I refused to co to hi he had soainst her He wasn’t coh Rule was harassing hi the faht between his brother and histo be around on my birthday but he had so

When the weekend rolled around I was teive my Sunday shift away just to avoid one more weekend of drama, but the bar was busy and if Rule came in with his friends I didn’t see hile him for family brunch every Sunday but when my shift was over and there hadn’t been any headaches or any accusations and hurt feelings I breathed the first sigh of relief I had in what felt like years I was feeling so oing to grab Mexican food instead It was the first time in forever that I just felt like me and I almost didn’t knohat to do with myself

Since it was the start of a new seave away my Friday shift and my Sunday shift, I didn’t work this Saturday since it was my birthday and everyone at the bar knew that Lou just loved me and would murder anyone that tried to make me work on the day I turned twenty

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around I still hadn’t heard froured I was off the hook for forced fa me to reconsider Sunday this week for ladly co back Ayden was being secretive about what she had planned and it wasain but she kept insisting that we needed to branch out, have an adventure, and do so new Those words and her take no prisoners attitude see to stay positive because she was only trying to be nice toout of irls fro shift tonight when I bumped into someone and i in front of roo his hands through it none stop and when he reached out to steady me I scrambled back so fast that I almost fell backwards onto ?" I wanted to sound indignant and hostile, but ain my composure His blue eyes searched mine intently and I wondered how I had ever found him attractive when now he just weirdedany of my calls and you’ve been really hard to pin down lately"

"That’s because I don’t want to talk to you or see you Get out ofso out of his pocket and held it out towards et you so I was just crazy that you ht have moved on to that freak but your mom explained it isn’t like that between the two of you Here take it" He shoved the velvet box towardsa live snake in his hands

"I’ from you Leave me alone Gabe, I’m serious"

"Look Shaw you can’t honestly believe there can ever really be anything between you and that guy Youra torch for him for years and that he’s never even looked twice at you You’re just not his type, you’re too good for hiive ether"

I wanted to punch hihto build

"No" I didn’t say anything else, just ‘no’, because I didn’t need to explain s or the fact that I knew ood for hi other than how he did and I had had tosteps backwards and then turned on et away from him I think he calledto really freakout the most intimate details of my life to him just made me wanna vomit I couldn’t believe that a wo out of her house because college was starting noticed how I felt about Rule when he was clueless and it just raked acrossto have to look into changing ainst hiot home the apartment was empty so like a dork I made sure all the doors were double locked and that the deadbolt on the front door was closed I hid out in my room and did ho to drownor opti over looked at hoed to pull ed shell I norht for sure that when I left Brookside and went off to college I would co so hard to be all kinds of things to people that just didn’t seem to appreciate my efforts I dressed nice and et I existed I babysat Rule and put up with his awful behavior because I wanted Margot and Dale to remember that he needed and deserve their love just as much as Remy had I wore a ridiculous outfit to work and put up with silly girls and drunk customers because Ayden deserved a solid roommate that she could rely on andhi adult wo sideto turn the little bits that were really me into a shadow

I knew the reason I had initially agreed to go out with Gabe was because he in a very vague sense reht eyes and while he was preppy and clean cut all the way he still had a little bit of ot past my normal reservations I had knoithin the first few dates there was no spark, there never was because I was always looking for so, or rather someone that wasn’t there, but Gabe was polite and coet physical Six , I knew that, but it didn’t justify the bizarre obsessive behavior he was showing now and it was just one more burden I felt I had to shoulder

I was so ready to just let it all go I changed into a pair of sweats and curled up on the bed to watch so that Ayden wouldn’t be ho me to pout alone I should be out and about, should have a phone full of friends I could call to spend a rare Friday night off with, but I didn’t and that was just sad All I needed was a couple of cats and a pint of ice cream to make the pathetic picture complete Sometime after my second romantic comedy and Chinese delivery I vowed to fully embrace whatever Ayden had in store fornoas just sad My roohten up and however she decided toyet another dorky girl get a fantastic uy couldn’t see how beautiful she was under her glasses andto happy birthday texts fro froot didn’t send one I decided to make breakfast I was surprised by a beautiful bouquet on the kitchen table and recoiled when I saho the card was fro about Gabe

Ayden was an early riser; she went running every ht before Sheand scowled "They were on the door step when I got back froet a restraining order"

"Isn’t his dad a judge or so Gabe to back off ht "Do you want me to make breakfast?"