The Art of Being Indifferent (The Twisted Family Tree Series)

by Brooke Moss

  “Is there even anyplace open?” I asked, shivering. In the months I’d lived on the island, I’d spent very little time doing social things at night. Most of my nights had been spent listening to music and wishing I was back in the city. That is, until recently.

  He threw his arms out. “This is Washington State! There’s a coffee joint open everywhere.”

  I started to sit down, but popped back up. “Oh, wait.”

  Drew moved closer and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me tight. “You need one of these?” He pressed his lips to mine, his tongue tickling the edge of my lips. A tornado started to whirl in my core, so fast it could’ve lifted me off the ground, if it hadn’t grounded me.

  “Yes.” I smiled against his lips. “But I also need my purse. I left it down on the truck bed.”

  “I’ll get it.” He brushed my nose with his, and handed me his keys. “Start the car, and turn the heater on. I’ll be right back.”

  I tilted my head to the side, offering Drew a deep kiss. “Hurry,” I whispered when we pulled apart.

  He turned and sprinted through the dunes, and I fell down into the car, laughing. Even though it went against all reason, I was falling for Drew Baxter.

  Hard.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Him.

  I charged over the dunes and back down to the bonfire. If that last kiss was any indication of what was to come, I had to get back to my car. And fast. Making out with Posey was like taking heroin. Every time we did it, I just wanted more. I hoped I never got sick of kissing her.

  “Baxter! Dude. Where you been?” Jackson McGowan tossed a beer at me from across the fire. “Good job at the meet, bro. Crack one to celebrate.”

  I caught it and immediately threw it back. “Can’t party tonight. Have you seen Posey’s purse?”

  His eyebrows pinched close together as he caught the can in one hand. “You still hangin’ with her?”

  “Yup. She’s pretty cool.”

  Jackson laughed. “Be serious.”

  “I am.” I scowled at him. “You ought to give her a chance.”

  “Whoa.” He put out his hands. “No offense, man. I’m glad you’re, I dunno. Happy and stuff.”

  “I am.” I sucked in the salty air and smiled. Glad to actually mean what I was saying, for once. I’d gotten so used to lying all the time.

  Hey Baxter, are you proud of your dad getting re-elected?

  Yup. Sure.

  Andrew, you’re not hanging out with that loser, Mac, anymore are you?

  No, sir.

  Dude, how’s it going with Maddie?

  Fine.

  “Well, listen,” Jackson said, his girlfriend pulling him away by the arm. “You rocked the meet today and saved our ranking. If that Posey chick is your good luck charm, never get rid of her.”

  “Don’t plan on it.” I looked across the fire at the truck where the girls had been sitting and bristled. Maddie and Alexis were going through Posey’s things. “Hey. Hey!”

  I stomped over to them and jerked the purse out of my ex-girlfriend’s hand. “What the hell are you doing, Mad?”

  She giggled and batted her eyes at me. “Ooo, someone’s pissed.”

  “Of course I’m pissed,” I snapped, zipping it shut. “You’re going through my girlfriend’s purse.”

  Maddie’s smile dropped. “So you’re official now?”

  I reached for Posey’s cracked iPod. “Yes.”

  “I can’t believe you’ve lowered your standards so much.” Maddie held it just out of my grasp. “I mean, look at her. She’s gross. And look at her stuff. Like, what dumpster did Posey pull this thing out of?”

  Alexis snorted. “Posey’s a trash picker!”

  I jerked the iPod away. “Shut up. You two are trashed. Is someone driving you home?”

  “You can, if you want to,” Maddie said lowly. “Unless your skanky girlfriend’s waiting for you.”

  I looked away from her. “I’d rather see you walk.”

  “Skank.” Alexis snickered at her own joke. Her burp reeked of beer. “Drew’s dating a skank.”

  “Posey’s not a skank.” I shot a dirty look at Maddie. “Though I dated one recently.”

  For a second, I thought Maddie might try to scratch my face off. Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth pulled into a thin line. But as quickly as she got ticked off, it disappeared, and suddenly she sidled up to me.

  I waited for my body to respond. Hell, it always did. But this time, nothing happened. No twitching in my pants. No fire in my belly. Nothing. I didn’t want Maddie. Crap, maybe I never had.

  “You know, Drew,” Maddie said in her little girl voice, sliding her hand up my arm to my chest. “You’ve changed. What’s wrong with you? I’m worried.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about.” I stepped away from her, shoving the iPod back into the purse. “Go get a ride home. Take a cold shower.”

  She wound her arms around my waist underneath my hoodie. “Wanna join me? My parents aren’t home.”

  Pastor Mulcahey and his wife were either in hard core denial about their daughter’s virtue, or simply too focused on saving the souls of everyone on this freaking island to see how out of control she was. Mount Maddie had been conquered more than a few times since we’d broken up. And yes, guys really did brag in the locker room, and from the sound of it, she got raunchier with every passing weekend.

  “Mad, I’m serious.” I tried to make her focus on my face. “Look at me.”

  She rested her chin on my chest, and her fingers climbed up my back. “What, baby?”

  “You need to chill out,” I told her, not pulling away. I had her attention, and I didn’t want to piss her off and send her into a screaming fit—which was pretty much her M.O. “Go home. Sleep. Stop screwing around all the time.”

  “Why?” Maddie blinked up at me, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. “It’s not like we’re together anymore. What do you care?”

  “I care because someday you’re going to look back on this year and feel like hell that you were so…” I paused, wincing. Don’t call her a slut or she’ll wig out. And her knee is really close to your balls right now. I cleared my throat. “That you partied so much.”

  “Awwww.” She licked her lips and stood on her tiptoes. “I knew you still cared, Drew.” Her breath tickled my lips, and she leaned in close. “I knew you still wanted me.”

  Oh, snap.

  “No. Wait, Maddie.” I tried to unwind myself from her grasp, but she was too quick for me. Her mouth slammed into mine before I could process what was happening, and she’d lifted her feet off the ground, smashing her body against mine. We stumbled backwards, and my hands went to her waist as I tried to find my balance.

  “Excuse me.” Posey’s voice was crisp and clear and very close.

  I looked to my left with my ex-girlfriend still attached to my face, and sure enough, there was my current girlfriend. She folded her arms across her chest, and red splotched her white skin. Shoving Maddie away, I dropped her on the ground half a foot away

  She bounced..

  My hands immediately went up like I was in the middle of a robbery. “I didn’t do it. She kissed me. I didn’t kiss her.”

  “Drew!” Maddie yelped, stumbling.

  “Woo hoo! Yeah, Baxter!” Jackson held up his beer to me as he passed by. “Caught red-handed.”

  Most of the kids around the campfire watched us like the evening’s entertainment. But instead of taking a bow like the cocky jerk I’d been up until now would have done, I turned away from the crowd and pulled my hood back up onto my head. “Nice, Maddie. Real nice.”

  “I thought so, too.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grinned wickedly at Posey. “You saw it for yourself.”

  “Knock it off, would you?” I looked at Posey and my throat clenched. Her eyes were wide and damp. I took her hands “Po, listen. She kissed me. I was just trying to talk to her, I—”

  Posey put her hand up. “Shut up. J
ust shut up.”

  I laced my fingers around the back of my neck and stepped back. Dammit. This was not how I’d envisioned my night panning out.

  Maddie snorted. “Posey, why don’t you just leave? It’s clear he doesn’t want you anymore—”

  “Yes, I do,” I interrupted.

  Maddie sneered at me. “Any guy here would be lucky to be with me.”

  I ground my teeth together so hard, my head started to ache. The ego on this chick was insane. What had I seen in her? “Then go bug someone else for a change,” I muttered. “Come on, Posey, let’s go.”

  She moved away from me. “No. Just a minute.” Posey strode over to Maddie, getting right up in her face. “You and I need to talk.”

  Maddie tried to walk away, but Posey grabbed her arm and gave it a yank. “What the hell are you doing?” Maddie hissed, glancing at me. “Drew, call off your dog.”

  “No, way.” I laughed. Po was just as mad at me, and I had no intention pushing my luck. “You started it.”

  “Let go of me, you disgusting whore,” Maddie yelled, catching the attention of everyone. “This may be how you handle things in the ghetto, but around here—”

  “Shut up. Seriously, why don’t you ever know when to stop talking?” Posey snarled. “Stop calling me a whore. You don’t even know me. How could you possibly know me enough to call me that?”

  Maddie tried to wriggle away, but Posey’s grip was strong. “I know your mom’s one. It’s all over her Facebook page! Good Lord, she’s got pictures of herself naked. Your mom looks like a crack head, too. She talks about getting high, and doin’ what a girl’s gotta do to pay the rent.” She used her fingers to make invisible quotation marks. “She’s got messages right there on her wall from guys offering to pay her to do things with them. It’s repulsive. And stupid. Good Lord, you’d think she’d be smart enough to use some discretion.”

  A few kids covered their mouths to unsuccessfully hide their laughter. Posey’s face went white, and her hands started to tremble as she held Maddie’s arm. “My mom has nothing to do with me,” she said, her voice shaking. “I haven’t seen her in years.”

  Maddie jerked her arm away. “Well, she’s ready for a reunion. She knows where you go to high school, ‘cause she’s friended me, Alexis, and like a ton of other people. She even offered to party with us if we helped her find you.”

  I looked around and at least a dozen people looked away. Great. For once Maddie was telling the truth. “Let’s go.”

  Posey just shook her head. “She… she’s asking to hang out with you guys?”

  “Uh huh. I’m surprised you didn’t know. I mean, who ignores their own mother?” Maddie folded her arms across her chest. She looked happy to be back in control of the conversation.

  Posey, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to vomit. “You don’t even know what happened. Y-you don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know you’re probably just like her. Even ugly like her. She looks like she got rode hard and put away wet,” Maddie went on. “I tell you, she’s a real class act. I’m sure you’re following in her footsteps. You know what they say, like mother, like daught—”

  Posey’s hand connected with Maddie’s face with a crack, and the entire party went silent. The only sound in the air was the bonfire crackling and the waves lapping up on the beach nearby, which would’ve been relaxing had everybody not been rendered speechless.

  Finally, after a long pause in which Maddie managed to cup her cheek and start crying—she always was an excellent crier—Jackson threw his beer can into the fire, threw his head back, and bellowed, “Catfight!”

  The crowd burst into cheers, and Posey turned to dart for the parking lot, covering her face.

  “Posey, wait!” I yelled.

  Maddie’s hand came down on my arm. The side of her face was bright red. “Are going to let her slap me like that? You should put a leash on that mutt.”

  I yanked my arm out of her grip. “It’s over, Maddie. Get it through your head.”

  Her chin trembled. “Drew…”

  I turned and ran into the dunes after Posey, leaving the party behind. When I found her, she was leaning against my car, with her face in her hands. My heart squeezed inside of my chest, stealing my breath.

  “Po?” Approaching her slowly, like a feral animal who could bolt at any time, I reached out for her. “Are you okay?”

  She dropped her hands and faced me. No tears were on her face, but I could tell she was using every ounce of her strength to keep from letting them spill. “No…” she said, her voice cracking. “I’m not okay. Do I look okay?”

  I watched her for a beat, before shaking my head. “No. Listen, don’t let Maddie get to you. She’s just trying to tick you off, she—”

  “Well, she’s doing a bang up job at it,” Posey snapped, pushing herself away from the car. She started to pace. “I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong here… doing this. I don’t hang with crowds like this. I don’t fit in.”

  “What?” I kicked at the sand on the ground. “Don’t start this. You’re a part of this crowd every bit as much as I am.”

  “Like hell I am. They only accept me because of you, and even that’s not real. If you weren’t with me, most of those posers wouldn’t even give me the time of day. You heard your ex-girlfriend, my mother’s a whore. She’s a junkie. You’re practically royalty around here. If your parents found out you and I were together, they’d crap their pants.” She looked at me, her eyes wide. “Oh, wait. They already did. That’s why you’ve got a bruise on your face.”

  “Dammit.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody was nearby. “Give me my keys, we’re leaving.”

  She tugged them from her coat pocket. “You mean these? The keys to your own car, the one you’ll park in the five car garage at the damn palace you live in?”

  “Stop it. I’m not the person you’re mad at right now.”

  “Yes I am!” she yelled. “I caught you kissing your ex-girlfriend.”

  “She kissed me,” I snapped back. “Big difference.”

  “Go back to her,” Posey said, her voice wavering. “At least your dad only made you break up with her to concentrate on swimming. They’re going to make you break up with me because I’m trash. Get it straight.”

  I clenched my fists at my sides. “Nobody’s making me break up with you. I told my parents that kissing you was a spur of the moment thing. That we’d just hung out the other day, and that I barely knew you. I let them think I’d done it to piss my dad off. They don’t even know we’re… you know, together.”

  “Of course they don’t.” She looked down, a long strand of her black hair covering her face. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t do the whole meet the parents thing, anyway.”

  Realization washed over me like the cold water in the sound. “Oh, wait,” I blurted, moving towards her. “It’s not like that. I’m not embarrassed of you, or anything. I kissed you in front of them at the meet, remember?” Posey didn’t say anything. She just played with my keys, refusing to look at me. “I’m not ashamed of you. I just don’t want them to make your life miserable. Or mine more miserable, if we’re being honest here.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Yes, you do,” I took another step towards Posey, desperate to touch her, but she stepped away again. God, I hated it when she did that. “I’m not telling them about us until after the season is over. Once the season is over, and my dad doesn’t have anything else to hold over my head, I’ll introduce you to them. Hell, I’ll tattoo your freaking name on my forehead, if it will make you happy. But I’ve got to get that scholarship, or I’m going to be dependent on my dad for college, and I refuse to ask him for a damn thing after high school.” I raked a hand through my hair. “And that’s it. I’m not ashamed of you. You’re not trash, I don’t give a damn what Maddie says.”

  She sniffed. “Well, you should.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She lifted her i
cy blue eyes and glared at me. “Maddie’s right about my mom. She is a whore.” I must have made a face, because she spat out a bitter laugh before continuing. “You think I’m joking? When I was a little girl, it was my job to take my brothers to the park across the street while she hooked up with guys. I wasn’t allowed to come back until the streetlights would turn on. Julian and Rory would be wailing because they were cold and hungry, but when we went back early, I saw things. Gross things I didn’t like to see. So we stayed in the park like she said. When we would finally come back, Mom would have money for everything we needed. We would get some food. Not a lot, but enough. And she would get enough meth to keep her level for a few days. We had a pretty decent system worked out, she and I.”

  I felt sick to my stomach. “I had no idea, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not like I’m surprised she’s acting like a slut online, or anything.” She pulled her hair from its braid and hid behind it. “I’m sure social networking makes her life a whole lot easier. I just wished she’d cleaned up her act, that’s all. And since she hasn’t…” Posey sucked in a deep breath, then released it slowly. “I guess I just wish she would leave me alone.”

  I didn’t know what to say. What was I supposed to do? How did a guy comfort his girlfriend when she was sad because her mother was a drugged out hooker? They didn’t make greeting cards for this stuff.

  “I wish she would leave you alone, too.” I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know… you know what? Come on, let’s go get that coffee.”

  Posey looked down at the keys in her hand and threw them at me. “Here. Go by yourself. I’m out.”

  I barely caught them. “Wait, what?”

  When she took off in a run, I growled and dropped into the driver’s seat. I pulled up behind her on the road a minute later. It was deserted, except for a beat up silver car parked on the side a hundred yards up. Slowing down to a crawl, I opened the passenger’s side window and called out to her. “You know, this seems to be a pattern with us.”