Page 45 of Sweet Girl
We all know how dedicated Ainsley is with the two jobs she works to support herself and her younger sister, all while attending nursing school. I’ve gotten to know her over the last several months and found her to be such a great person. She has been a great influence on my brother.
“So that means you’re stuck with me today, girls. So...tell me what I can help with.”
My eyes gravitate to Kady, who gives me a shoulder shrug and an expression that clearly tells me, “it’s up to you.”
I figure it couldn’t hurt to share this with Cade. I won’t mention Van or anything, but just my predicament in general. To get a guy’s perspective.
I sigh, pulling my feet out from underneath me. “Okay...so here’s the scoop. And don’t go getting all judgey, okay?” I eyeball him. “I like a guy. I thought he liked me. We kinda hooked-up...”
His head snaps to me and his mouth opens wide. “Wait, what? Did he de-virginize you?”
I groan and Kady smacks him on the shoulder. “You idiot,” she scolds. “That’s not even a word and it’s none of your freaking business.”
He starts to refute this fact but she slams her palm across his mouth before he can speak. “Shut it, or she won’t tell you anything more.” She gives me a meaningful look.
His response is muffled. “Fine.”
“So anyway,” I continue. “I thought we were good...likereallygood. But now I’m questioning my instincts. I’ve heard nothing from him in nearly two days. So maybe he’s decided he doesn’t want anything to do with me. I don’t know. I’m confused. And sorta hurt.”
Cade grows quiet for once. He’s normally a chatterbox, always talking away to anybody and anyone. When I turn to face him, I see the frown and the concern etched across his brow.
“Since I don’t know anything about this guy...”
Um, you kind of do. But I’m not about to mention that.
“I can’t know what’s causing the lack of communication. But generally there’s two reasons a guy will ghost you. The first is simple. He lacks the balls to tell you face-to-face that he doesn’t want to continue things. It sucks, ’cause we guys are notorious for this move. We figure if we quit responding to the chick’s texts and calls, they’ll just go away on their own.”
He gives me an apologetic look. God, I hope that’s not the case with Van.
My brother continues. “He might also be scared.”
“Scared?” I spit out incredulously. No way would Van be scared about talking to me.
“Again, guys don’t want to look like fools and rush in, only to get rejected. So the fear prevents us from doing the right thing and sharing our true feelings. We’d rather put a stop to things before they start so we can’t get our hearts broken.”
“Aw,” my sister whines sarcastically. “Did our big brother get his heart broken?”
“Shut the fuck up.” He argues, giving Kady a good-natured shove so she topples over laughing. Those two.
“Is that what happened between you and Ainsley?”
“Nah...my balls are too big for that.” He snickers, grabbing between his legs crudely. “In our situation, it was kind of the other way around. But regardless, it probably has nothing to do with you, per se, Ky, and more to do with him. He’s probably shitting bricks that you’ll not like him the way he does you and he doesn’t want to face that reality.”
Kady pipes in. “That’s exactly what I said!”
She peers around Cade’s broad body to stick her tongue out at me like a brat. “You just never listen to me, even though I’m clearly always right.”
I give her the middle finger and we all laugh. It feels good to be surrounded by my family. I really love my siblings and I’m pretty lucky to have the relationship we have together. I know it’ll only make it ten times harder when we all return to school in January, but for right now, I’ll soak in all the love I can get from these two.
“So who’s the guy, anyway? You want me to rough him up for you? Punch some sense into him?”
I actually think Cade might be serious about that. Which would only make it worse if he ever finds out it’s Van that we’re talking about. My goodness, that would be ugly.
I pat his hand gingerly. “Thanks, bro. But I’ll figure this out from here. I appreciate the insight, though. It does help.”
Cade leans down and kisses my temple gently. “Anytime, sis. But the offer’s always good, anytime you need me.”
My eyes well with tears at the sweet sentiment as his phone buzzes with an incoming text notification. Pulling it out of his pocket, he opens the box and I hone in on the sender name.
