The Fill - In Boyfriend
Episode 21

“It's okay, baby,” I told him. Then I looked at him. "I never get angry when people mishear my name because I think, Maybe they have a hearing problem, excess earwax or something."

Hayden coughed once and I knew it was to prevent him from laughing. “You may want to check it out, Eve.”

Eve's expression became ten degrees colder. "I don't have any dirt in my ears. Sometimes you just mumble, Hayden. Like last year in a school play when the whole audience thought you said, 'I want to kill you, ' when you should have said, 'I want to kiss you.' ”

Hayden, who had been quite stoic since we came, smiled. “Yeah, after all my sentence is better.”

"I knew. Why didn't Sky want to kill Sarah, right? ” She laughs.

Ryan seemed lost in this conversation like I was. Nice — jokes inside.

"Kill me, baby," Eve said with a New York accent.

I'd kill him if that's what he's asking. Hayden seemed to disagree with the plan, though, his smile still lingered. Ryan grabbed Eve and Hayden an inch back, his face hardened again. I took her hand and she looked at me. He kissed me on the cheek so I closed my eyes.

When I opened it, she said, "I want to dance with you," using the hoarse voice she sometimes does.

I let him take me to the makeshift dance floor across the sand. I let her wrap my arms around her neck and then put her hands on my hips. For a moment I forgot we had an audience and for them we put on this show. He made me forget that I came here to try to get him out of my head.

He leaned over and I thought he would whisper something sweet in my ear when he said, "You're a better actor than you appreciate."

Those words jolted my mind back to the right place. "Yes, right?"

CHAPTER 14

“So, how's the story? Who's Ryan? " I nodded back to the table where she and Eve were still sitting, her head on her shoulders.

"He was my good friend . . . well, was my best friend since fifth grade. ” A line is formed between his eyes with this recognition.

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

"It happened."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't suck at it."

“We exchanged some black eyes. We're fine now. ”

"Thul? You still friends? ”

"No, not at all, but I don't want to make her faint every time I see her now, so it's a step forward, I guess."

His still tense jaw made me wonder if the statement was true at all, but I did not mention this. I think that's a very good move.

He squeezed my hips and then stuck his forehead to my shoulder. Inevitably I noticed that I was very tall for him to do that. He wouldn't be able to do that comfortably with Eve.

I'm sorry, he said. "I told you we'd come as friends, and then I pulled this. I guess I just thought. . . ”

“That he will apologize tonight?”

I twirled the hair on her nape, hoping Eve watched because the story made me feel completely right in playing the head game. “Maybe this time alone you can give yourself permission to give him the taste of the medicine yourself. And it's not that I don't realize what you're doing. You don't prey on girls carelessly and unsuspecting to make an ex jealous. I am fully aware and wholeheartedly supportive of making this girl feel at least a little regret tonight. "

“Then tomorrow we'll both be better than this, right?”

I laugh. "true."

She wrapped her arms around my waist and lifted me up, twisting me once. "You're the best." He dropped me off and offered me the smoldering look he had revealed at the prom. “So, are you ready for this?”

I laughed, not so sure that I was, was he going to try so hard. "Yes." Yeah."

He took my hand and led me in the opposite direction to Eve, towards the shore.

We went the wrong way, I said.

"No, this is gonna drive him crazy, seeing us sneak out of the party."

Oh, true.

“There's a place here that's a little more private. Hopefully not taken. " He pointed us around the large rocks and then looked back, perhaps to see if Eve realized it.

He's right, it's very personal. A semicircle of rocks blocked us from the party scene, but gave us a perfect view of the sea. He probably spent a lot of time here with Eve. He flopped down on the fine sand and pulled my hand to join him. I'm doing. We sat shoulder to shoulder facing the sea.

“So, you didn't tell me that your sister was dressed like. . . ”

Drug dealers?

"That's not what I wanted to say. But that's why I didn't recognize him at the dance. He looks very different from his performance at school. "

"Yes I know. It was just a phase he went through. He'll do something new in a few months. "

"What's? Why?"

I'm not sure. I think it might be his way of not letting anyone get too close. He likes to keep the world at a close distance. "

“Did he ever burn before too?”

He tilted his head while thinking. “Actually no. Maybe he learned well from the people around him. "

“But you two seem close.”

"We. We have a close family, but maybe it harms him because he thinks no one can love his true self as much as we do. " He took out a handful of sand and let it slowly drip between his fingers. “How about you? Are you close to your family? ”

"Yes," I said instantly, but then I stopped, Drew's words about how my parents weren't really there for me after I broke up with Bradley popped into my mind. I shook my head to get rid of that thought and then nodded. "Yes." Yeah."

Hayden raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure about that?"

“I am close to my parents, but my brother — I do not know — he always tries to cause trouble. She goes to college, so it's usually pretty quiet at home. " I thought about how Drew came home this weekend and offered to help me figure out if Bradley was cheating. “But I think he has good intentions. He wants to be a good brother. Sometimes he doesn't do it the best way. "