AUBREY’S MONTH-LONG GROUNDING WAS HARD on both of us. While she stayed chained to her house, banned from technology and interaction with the outside world, I kept myself as busy as possible with my other friends and volleyball practice. When I didn’t have plans, I’d mope around the house, bored and lonely. One Saturday about three weeks into Aubrey’s grounding, I started getting on my mother’s nerves so much that she forced me to go with my father to Home Depot just to get me out of the house.
Tobias came too, and the two of us trailed behind Dad as he strolled down each aisle, his face the picture of relaxed bliss. I didn’t know if he even intended to buy anything; Dad just liked being there, among the tools and flooring, breathing in the scent of fresh-cut lumber. I didn’t mind it myself, but I wished I was still back home, wearing sweatpants and watching YouTube.
“Dad, I need to pee,” Tobias said after we’d been browsing aimlessly for a while.
Our father glanced up from the paint swatches he was comparing and said, “Can it wait a second, bud? I need to find someone who can tell me where this paint is, because I don’t see it anywhere on the shelf.”
Tobias crossed his legs and hopped up and down. “No.”
It never changed. We could be anywhere in public—a store, the park, the beach—and Tobias would need to pee. His bladder was the size of a walnut.
“I’ll take him,” I said. I was getting bored, anyway. Picking out paint was about as exciting as watching it dry.
Tobias and I headed for the front of the store, where we assumed the bathrooms were located. In the kitchen fixtures aisle, he darted ahead of me, making a beeline for the assembly of display kitchens set up a few feet away. Full bladder forgotten, he tossed me an evil grin and disappeared behind a partition. I quickened my pace and swung around the corner, ready to grab him, but he wasn’t there. I passed through two more sample kitchens and finally found him in the third one, playing with the knobs on the (thankfully-not-hooked-up) stove.
“What’s for dinner?” I said as I sneaked up behind him.
He let out a yelp and took off again. Laughing, we chased each other through the kitchens and then spilled out into the main aisle, where I almost collided with a man pushing a shopping cart. Tobias took advantage of the diversion and zipped around a corner. I apologized to the man and took off in the same direction.
“Kids! No running in here!” called a woman in an orange Home Depot apron as we ran past.
Her reproach made Tobias pause for a moment, and I used the opportunity to close in on him. “Gotcha.” I wrapped both arms around him and lifted him off the floor, proving once again that I was the faster, stronger, smarter one. The little imp.
“Stop,” he said, wiggling out of my grasp. “You’re gonna make me pee my pants.”
I set him down and took his hand, holding on tight so he wouldn’t run off again before we reached the bathroom. He didn’t even try, so he was obviously busting. Before he went in the bathroom, I peeked inside, like my mother taught me, to make sure there were no creepy men hanging around in there. Then I waited for him right outside the door.
“Race ya back to the paint,” Tobias said two minutes later as he swung open the door and bolted past me. Cursing under my breath, I hurried after him.
I only made it about ten feet before I skidded to a stop, almost plowing down an old lady this time. “Sorry,” I mumbled in her general direction. My attention was completely focused on the sight in front of me: Justin, standing near the customer service area at the front of the store. Aubrey’s Justin, who’d been avoiding her since the day her mother caught them in the park and grounded her.
An unexpected burst of anger swept through me. I had no interest in talking to the guy who’d caused my friend so much unhappiness, so I continued to follow Tobias, who I could still see up ahead, sprinting toward the paint section and our waiting father. Hopefully Justin hadn’t seen me.
“Dara! Dara, wait up.”
Damn it. I stopped and spun on my heel. Justin was walking toward me, a thin sheaf of papers in his hand and an expression of firm resolve on his face. Damn it damn it damn it.
“Hey,” he said, coming to a stop in front of me.
Under his jacket, he wore a dark blue button-down shirt that made his blue eyes look almost indigo. I did my best not to notice. “What are you doing here?”
He held up the sheets of paper. “Dropping off résumés. I’m trying to secure a summer job. What about you?”
“Oh, I just hang out here sometimes. You know, for fun.”
His eyebrows shot up at my tone. “I take it you’re pissed at me?”
I looked away. Of course I was pissed at him. Aubrey had chosen him to be her first, and then, when their relationship hit a rough patch, he dumped her. He didn’t fight for her, didn’t try to work through it, didn’t tell her he’d stick by her no matter what. He just gave up. So yes, I was mad, because Aubrey was worth the trouble and only an idiot wouldn’t see that.
An employee pushing a trolley squeezed past us, making me realize we were blocking traffic. Justin realized it at the same time and moved out of the aisle, motioning for me to follow. We stopped near a display of hardwood floor cleaner, our bodies barely a foot apart. It amazed and horrified me that even though I was mad at him, and even though my best friend was in love with him, my stomach still tingled when he stood this close. Stupid, traitorous body.
“You’re not being fair,” he said in a low voice.
“How am I not being fair? You’re punishing her because she happened to get stuck with parents who are assholes. That’s not being fair.”
“It’s not really any of your business.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yes, it is. Who do you think stays with her when she’s crying in the bathroom at school after you refuse to talk to her? She’s my best friend and you hurt her.”
“Well, she hurt me too,” he snapped.
A middle-aged couple sauntered past us, discussing what shade of grout they needed to buy. When they were gone, Justin focused on me again, his gaze intense. I felt exposed and slightly uneasy.
“She refuses to stand up to her parents, even when it involves me,” he went on. “She lets them run her life and I got sick of dealing with it. If that makes me a dick, then I guess I’m a dick.”
I understood now why Aubrey got so damn frustrated sometimes when they fought. “You agreed to be patient with her. Remember? That day in the tree house?”
Was that amusement flickering in his eyes? What could possibly be funny about this?
“Yeah, I remember.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I’ll stop avoiding her, okay?”
I gave him a pointed glare I’d learned from my mother. “And you’ll talk to her? Let her explain?”
“I’ll call her tonight. How’s that?”
“She lost her phone privileges, so you can’t call her. But you can talk to her at school on Monday instead of running in the other direction like a coward.”
He flashed his perfect smile at me. “Done.”
“And don’t tell her about this conversation,” I added. “Forget you even saw me today.”
His gaze flicked down to where my arms rested over my chest. “Impossible.”