Page 169 of The Plan

“Bye.” I try to hang up before he can harass me, but I’m too late.

“You have to say it back.”This is why I don’t call him.I clench my jaw and let out an annoyed breath.

“I fucking love you, August. Goodbye.” I say through clenched teeth, and I can hear him smiling on the other end. When I hang up, he’s chuckling, and I swear he does that shit on purpose.

When I make it to Hazel’s job, August is waiting for me at the doors with a smile. I try to bite back a smile, but it breaks through because he’s smiling like an idiot. I hand him a bag, and we walk into the animal rescue center.

“You got me a gift?!” He digs into the bag, and I roll my eyes at him.

“Yup, don’t have a heart attack.” I only make it a few steps before he’s hugging me. I stand there with my hands at my side for a second but choose not to be an asshole and hug him back. I tap his back twice, then quickly pull away, but he stays hugging me.

“August. People are staring. Get the fuck off of me.”

He laughs as he pulls away. As we start walking again, he opens his box of Mike and Ikes. “So what’d I do to deserve a whole bag of my favorite candy?” He has a horrible sweet tooth; it’s honestly disgusting, and he doesn’t need the sugar rushes since he’s already hyper, but I felt like getting him something, and candy is what he’d like the most.

“For being a good best friend.” He shoots me a look like he’s offended, and I correct myself. “For being a goodbrother, August.” He smiles, satisfied. I don’t get why he finds so much satisfaction in me calling him my brother. It’s like he needs the constant reminder.

“I’m always a good brother. I should get candy more often,” he says between chews with a handful of candy in his mouth.

“It’s a thank-you gift too.” We head up the stairs, and I glance at him. “You could have let me get my ass kicked at the game, but you jumped in when that bitch snuck me from behind.” I turn to look at him, but he looks confused.

“Did you see Coach Fred’s email?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “Did you read the part when he called us dumb fucking fucks?” He breaks into a laugh, and I can’t help but join him.

“Didyouread the part where you’re suspended for the next three games?” He nods and shrugs like he really doesn’t care, but I still feel bad. “Thanks.” I give him a small smile, but he looks confused again.

“Don’t thank me for that. Was I supposed to let you get jumped? On live TV at that?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Exactly, don’t thank me. And don’t feel bad that I can’t play either because I bet you do. It’s bullshit, but I couldn’t care less. I wasn’t going to let that shit slide, and if I see Walker and his bitch ass teammate, we’re jumping them. See how he fucking likes it.” I throw my head back with a laugh at how mad he sounds. He’s rarely ever mad, but when he is, it’s hilarious.

I figured with how close we are to the playoffs, he’d be more upset, but I was clearly wrong. I should’ve known, though. I mean, it’s August, for crying out loud. Of course he cares more about defending me than anything.

When I spot Hazel bottle-feeding some ugly animal, I make a beeline for her. She sees us before we reach her and rolls her eyes at me. “What do you want?” I swear I don’t see what August sees in her. She’s so mean, and he’s… not. He’s a ray of fucking sunshine, and she’s just… mean.

“He came to hang out with me.” August throws his arm around me, and I don’t need to look at him to know he’s smiling. Hazel looks between the two of us and then scoffs.

“Sure he did.”

I roll my eyes at her and throw August’s arm off of me. “Where are those two stingrays you brought in earlier?” I know she must’ve rescued them today because August usually goes with her on the “rescue missions,” as he likes to put it.

“You mean Mr. and Mrs. Ray?”

I turn to August. “You named them?”

“No, those are horrible names. Sage did. She saw my post and said wemustname them after the stingray inFinding Nemo.” Of course she did. She’s been obsessed with that movie since I met her. I look back at Hazel.

“So where are they?” Whatever the thing is in front of her finishes the bottle, and Hazel stands. She nods her head for me to follow, and a few tanks down are the stingrays in question.

I lean down to get a better look at them. They're about the size of my hand, and they're cute. Perfect. “What’s wrong with them?” They wouldn’t be here if they were healthy, so I turned back to Hazel.

“They have this weird disease scientists just discovered. They’re endangered, so we—”

“Are they going to die?”

“Most likely not. We’re—” I wave her off and try to cut to the chase, but she opens her mouth again. “Don’twaveme off, the fuck?”

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