Chapter 35

Wes replied to me a few minutes before Adrianna pulled into the driveway. "Hey Keaton do you want us to drop you at your place?" I asked him. He shook his head and looked out the window.

"Nah, I'm fine. A little walking would be good for me." He said. When Adrianna stopped the car he grabbed the handle. "Thanks Aves, you know. For listening." I twisted my body so I could face him.

"No problem Keaton, you know I'm always here for you." And then I saw him smile for the first time in hours. He nodded and hopped out of the car before Wes and Drew pulled in. "My board's under the stairs if you wanna make a quick escape." I told him rolling down the window. 

I saw him skate off as Wes got out of the driver's seat. "KEATON!!" he called, but Keaton didn't turn around. Wes looked over at me sheepishly. I motioned to his car and he nodded. Drew hopped out of the passenger's seat and held the door open for me. I thanked him and watched as he sat down on the porch with Adrianna. 

"Starbucks?" I asked. Wes nodded and punched the key into the ignition. We drove in silence and I realized that this was the first time I'd been in his car. I looked around; it was a typical boy car. Classic black seats, nothing on the dashboard. The only things out of place were a few water bottles rolling around the back seat. It wasn't exactly what I pictured his car to be. At that moment I glanced down into the center console, which was slightly open. I saw a bunch of CDs piled up inside. 

I grinned and slid the console open all the way. I looked up at him. "Can I?" I asked him. He took his eyes off the road for a minute and looked at the console. Just as quickly his vision darted back to the street in front of him. "Mmhm." He said nodding. I took out as many CDs as I could hold in one hand and started flipping through them. 

I saw a few really good ones in there; he had a bunch of Sublime albums, obviously. But there was also a lot of other stuff that I didn't really think he listened to. Mac Miller's Blue Slide Park was towards the bottom of the console. I picked up the other pile in the console and looked at those CDs too. There was a lot of Vampire Weekend and some Green Day in there. But there was one album towards the top that really surprised me.

"Gotye?" I asked him holding the plastic case between my fingers. His head jerked over to me, having no idea what I was talking about. His eyes found the Making Mirrors album. He laughed and grinned at me.

"Haha, that's not mine I swear." He said turning back to the road. 

"Oh really?" I asked mockingly.

"Yeah, the pile on the right is my stuff, and the other side is Keaton's." Wes said. Oh now it made sense. Now it was my turn to let out a chuckle.

"Okay, good cus I didn't really peg you as a Gotye kind of guy." I laughed at the thought. Wes definitely isn't that type. He smiled and turned into the Starbucks parking lot. We both got inside and ordered iced caramel macchiatos- the only thing that I drink during the summer. It was really nice out so we decided to sit outside. 

Wes was really quiet the entire time. "What's up with you?" I asked him. He was acting all weird since we left the auditions. He looked down at the plastic cup in his hand and pretended that it was super interesting so he wouldn't have to look at me. 

"Nothing." He said. I just stared at him, okay. I guess I would have to start the conversation then. "Keaton told me what happened." I said sipping my drink. I made a face. Whoops I forgot to stir it so I just got a mouthful of plain milk. I sloshed the drink around in its cup and rotated the straw. Wes looked up at me.

"He did?" He asked. His voice sounded kind of anxious and a little guilty. Like he was ashamed about what happened. I smiled at him softly; it was really sweet that he cared about his younger brother. "Yeah, and I think you guys did the right thing." I said plainly. And I did think that. I wasn't pretending to side with Wesley just to get him to talk to me, I honestly think that they made the right choice. It didn't hit me until we were in the lobby after the boys left, but looking around at all the acts I wondered if the boys would have a place in the competition.

Wes nodded at me, looking slightly relieved. "Okay cool, because Keaton didn't really understand and now he's mad at us thinking Drew and I are out to crush his dreams or something." 

"He'll cool down eventually. I don't even really think that's what he's mad about." I admitted. When Keaton was talking to me in the car I promised not to say anything, so I had to explain to Wes without breaking my promise to his brother. 

"What do you mean?" He sat up a little taller, genuinely surprised that that wasn't what he was mad about.

"Okay, so from what I can tell I think Keaton just feels a little ignored." I said and Wes gave me the most clueless look. Ugh boys. They never know anything. I spelled it out for him. "I think that the audition thing was just the last straw, like when it looked like you were siding with Drew... I don't know. Maybe he just thinks that you're trying to replace him with Drew or something." Wes looked down sadly like he knew that he was neglecting Keaton a little bit. "Maybe you guys could just chill together sometime and talk." 

"About what? We talk all the time." He said.

"Yeah but that's like small talk, you guys are brothers. Talk about anything. You could help him out with that girl he's always talking about... what's her name? Vanessa? And he wants to try out for soccer this year, you can help him before tryouts." I told him looking at him across the table. I tried to look for some kind of sign that this was registering with him but he just smacked himself in the forehead.

"Ugh, I didn't even know about that!" He said. "Why don't I listen to him?" His arm was stretched out on the table and I took his hand. Wes felt me and laced his fingers through mine.

"Wes, don't beat yourself up about it." I looked at him and he was still mad about not paying attention. He was always so hard on himself. "Just talk to him, apologize." Wes nodded, but he still looked pretty distressed about the whole ordeal. "He'll forgive you."

"I don't know Aves. I screwed up pretty bad this time."

"No you didn't. And it doesn't matter, he looks up to you, like a lot." I told him. He scrunched up his forehead at me.

"What?" He asked surprised.

"Are you kidding? That boy freaking idolizes you Wes." I saw that cute smirk forming on his face and I knew I had won him over. "You're everything he wants to be." That drove it home. Wes full on grinned at me. I couldn't help but grin back, his smile was contagious. He was still holding on to my hand, so we decided to head back to the car. I had my coffee in the other hand and looked down at my shirt.

"Hmm. Well it's a shame these Emblem3 t shirts had to go to waste." I pouted. Wes held his arm away from me so he could look me up and down.

"Yeah, I mean you look super hot." I let go of his hand and smacked him on the arm and he laughed at me. "You hit like a girl." He said hitting me back.

"Well I am a girl, what's your excuse?" I fired back. He laughed and pulled me into his side.

"Okay Avery that was a good one, you win." He said laughing again. We put our identical drinks into the cup holders and I fed a disk into the CD player. Wes grinned as he started up the car and the track started. I looked down at the familiar casing of the self-titled Sublime album and turned up the volume.

"This ain’t no funky reggae party five dollars at the doooooorrrrr." We both sang as Garden Grove played through the speakers. As soon as What I Got started up, Wes turned to me.

"Avery?" He said over the music.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being there for him when I wasn't." Wes said as we pulled up to a red light.

"No problem." I said. And it really wasn't. I liked talking to Keaton. Through these past few weeks he's actually become one of my best friends. I literally tell him anything.

Wes looked at me, his eyes shining. I couldn't take it when he looked at me like that. Whenever he gave me that look I wanted to kiss him. I tried to shake the feeling but then I felt his lips against mine. For a moment I forgot where we were. I wrapped my right hand around his neck, and he turned to face me more. We were brought back to real life when I heard about twenty horns honking at us. I pulled away from Wes laughing as he proceeded through the intersection. 

"Yeah yeah, we're going. Chill your tits lady." He called out the window to the woman honking behind us. That just made me crack up more. Wes kept one hand on the wheel but laid his other hand on the console in the middle. I couldn't just let it sit there. I couldn't help it- I weaved my fingers through his so that we were holding hands. It just felt right, like my fingers belonged there.

Everything with Wesley felt right.

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