Aggro - CoraLee June Page 0,106
me. “So, are we done? I mean, we never had an official break up. I’ve just kind of assumed since you stopped returning my calls, haven’t stopped by to see me, and pretty much avoid me in public...”
I prayed that he’d correct me. I wanted him to tell me that this was just a temporary lapse in our story—that he’d worked through his reservations and we could move past it all. “Breeze,” he murmured, his tone tinged with regret. I watched as he scratched the back of his neck. “I really have to get ready for the competition, okay?”
“Right,” I whispered. “The competition.”
“Take care of yourself,” he said before brushing past me. I was just about to walk off when anger unfurled in my gut. No. I wasn’t going to let him walk away. He didn’t even have the balls to say it to my face—to end this? After everything we’d been through.
“Kai!” I yelled. He stopped walking and spun around to face me. I marched up to him without a care. Fuck this. “You don’t get to just walk away. You don’t get to just ghost me.”
“I’m not trying to ghost you, I just—”
“You’re just ignoring me. And when I asked, you couldn’t even give me a proper break up. I’m not ready to end this. I love you, Kai. But I’m not going to wait around forever, either. This year, I’ve lost my best friend, my father, the surf shop, my sense of normalcy. But I haven’t lost hope. You and I could be really good. We were really good together. I hope you figure out what you want, and I really hope what you want is me. Good luck today.”
Kai frowned at me but didn’t say a word. Seconds passed, and he disappeared into the throng of people. I lowered my hand with the wax and let my head and shoulders slump as I tried to keep myself together. I walked back to where Celeste was waiting. It was obvious from the look on her face that she could tell what happened, even though she hadn’t heard our words. I sat down next to her on the sand, just waiting for some kind of backhanded comment from her.
“It’s okay, Breeze. It doesn’t mean anything. He’s a dumbass for not jumping on you.”
Between Celeste actually being nice and the painfully uncomfortable interaction with Kai, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I discreetly wiped them away as they fell, embarrassed that I wasn’t able to stop crying. Especially in front of Celeste. I guess that made us even now, both crying in front of each other over boys.
“It’s okay to cry. You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Celeste said, reading my mind. Her voice was shockingly gentle. “But when you’re ready, we are going to show that dick exactly what he walked away from.”
I took a couple of deep breaths and blew them out. I looked at Celeste and nodded my head. “Okay, I’m good.”
“One second,” she said as she started digging through her massive designer bag. It was beyond me why anyone would need an expensive bag just to bring to the beach where it was going to get covered in sand and water. Violet had them too. Celeste surfaced from her tote holding some makeup. “I meant what I said before, you’re hot without even trying. But let’s step it up a notch,” she said, confidently waving tubes in front of my face.
She got to work on my face. First she smudged some pink into my cheeks and then layered some sparkly highlighter onto my cheekbones and in the corners of my eyes. The last thing she did was apply a coat of shiny lip gloss to my lips. She pulled out a mirror and held it up to my face.
“Wow, Breeze. You are seriously gorgeous. I am so good it’s scary,” she congratulated herself.
I took the mirror from her hands and examined my face. The makeup wasn’t thick or caked on like Violet used to do to me. It was subtle and soft, my skin looked like it was glowing. I had to admit, Celeste was pretty talented with a makeup brush.
“Ow owww.” I heard a wolf whistle as Chase plopped down next to me. “Look at you, hot stuff.”
“Excuse me,” Celeste said, standing up and glaring at Chase. “I need to be anywhere but here. I’ll catch up with you later, Breeze.”
“Are you two friends now?” Chase watched her walk away. “How the hell did