I was used to kicking Dev's ass in Mortal Kombat, but that last round was too easy. When I glanced over at him, I realized why-he was trying swallow Sabrina face first.

"Get a room," I mumbled, turning back to the game.

"This is his room," Sabrina snapped.

Fair enough. The three of us were in Devon's room. It was just Dev and me until Sabrina came barging in on our game night. Alright, maybe it had been a game week, which was why Sabrina kept staring daggers at me. I was hogging her boyfriend.

After that whole thing with Waverly in the woods and that stuff my mom said to me, my house was the last place I wanted to be.

Dev was at the camp site eating hotdogs with Sabrina and some other people. He (and everyone in a five-mile radius) heard Waverly cuss me out. 

I hadn't heard her say a single cuss word all summer. That's what made it really hurt. She wouldn't have dropped an F-bomb like that if she didn't mean it.

"Dev?" Sabrina was usually a happy-go-lucky type of person, but not today. She only said his name yet it was layered with an ultimatum. Him or me.

Dev looked torn between who's side to take. When he asked Sabrina to give us a minute alone, I knew his girlfriend had won that round. She knew it too judging by the bounce in her step as she left the room.

"Steph, man, it's been a week," he said, moving from the bed to join me on the floor. "I know you're still messed up about Waverly, but you can't avoid her forever. You have to go home and face her."

I started up another game, needing to focus on anything else. "She's not even there. She went back home."

"What? When?"

"Week ago," I said, shrugging.

She was gone. I figured that out when I snuck back home for some clothes while my mom was out. Unfortunately, Brad was there and judging from the number of boxes and gym equipment in the foyer, he wasn't leaving anytime soon.

He was the one who told me that Waverly and her mom were back home. Apparently, my mom was losing it without Alicia there to hold her hand anymore and Brad suggested she take a spa day.

Brad told me all of that unsolicited. I didn't say one word to him, yet he just kept talking. Right up until I left with a duffle bag of clothes.

I guess his new method was to pretend he and I had any type of relationship. Fake it 'til you make it, I guess.

Dev snatched the controller from me and stood up. "Then why are you still here?"

That was a fair question. I stood as well, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Brad moved in. Didn't want to be around him."

"So what, You plan on staying here for the next year?"

I glanced around his room. "Didn't you say you always wanted bunk beds?"

He wasn't amused. I let my shoulders drop, defeated. "You're kicking me out." I didn't bother phrasing it as a question because I already knew the answer.

"Did you see what Sabrina was wearing?"

I didn't. The only thing I noticed about Sabrina was that she wasn't Waverly.

"Fine." I sighed. "Go against the bro code."

"That guilt shit is not going to work on me," he said, handing me my shoes. "Go work out you issues with your family."

I barely got my shoes on before he forced me out the front door. I was tempted to rat him out to his folks because he definitely wasn't supposed to have girls in his room while they were out.

I had to admit, knowing he was up there chilling with his girlfriend while I chased the only girl I ever liked out of the city had me feeling a little bitter.

But it was my own fault and no matter how tempting it was, ruining things for Dev wouldn't be cool.

I hopped in my car and headed home.

• • •

My mom tried to play it cool when I came in through the front door. We hadn't talked since that night she basically told me I wasn't good enough for Waverly or any other girl.

She was on her way up the stairs, a notebook in one hand and coffee in the other. A classic sign that she was writing again. I wondered what Avery and Evan were up? Did they're relationship go to shit as well? "You're back?"

"Disappointed?"

"Stephen." She sighed, taking a tentative step towards me.

"Look, I'm tired," I told her, trying to get around her and up the stairs.

"It's two in the afternoon."

I shook my head, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "I meant of having this conversation. I'm a fu—screw up, I get it. You don't need to keep pointing it out."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Shock, guilt, I couldn't figure out the look on her face. Either way, it didn't make sense.

"Why wouldn't I?" I shot back. My fingernails dug into my palms as my hands clenched into fists as I tried keep myself in check. "Don't you believe it?"

"Of course not!"

I scoffed. "Could've fooled me. Every move I make you're there to tell me I'm making you look bad."

She set her coffee and notebook in the side table by the stairs before stepping closer to me. She was nearly the same height as me so she had no trouble meeting my eye.

"I just know you can do better," she said. "All I want is for you to be the man I know you can be."

"Right." I had to laugh.

Now that she wasn't block the stairs, I stepped around her and started to climb them.

"Stephen, I know your father leaving was hard on you," she said, stopping me in my tracks. "That's probably why you've been acting out."

"This has nothing to do with him," I said, turning to face her. I hadn't talked to my dad much that summer, but that was normal. His work kept him busy and I knew if I really needed him, he'd be there in a second.

"Then what?" She threw her hands up in the air. "Why are you doing this?"

I loved my mom, but sometimes she was so caught up in herself that she couldn't see the world around her or her effect on it.

"What am I doing?" My question threw her off. She opened her mouth, but I jumped in before she could say anything. "No, really? Because I've been on punishment for most of the summer and for what?"

"For acting up," she spat. "You can't just do whatever you want."

"According to you I'm not allowed to do anything." I sat on the steps and began counting off on my fingers. "I can't have a girlfriend unless you pick her out, I can't hang out with my friends and, above everything else, I can't say anything negative about Brad."

At that her nostrils flared and she put her hands on her hips. "You're mean to him for no reason."

"I don't know him!" I didn't mean to raise my voice, but I couldn't keep all the build up from that summer inside anymore. I checked my tone and continued, "You came out of nowhere saying were engaged and just expected me to be fine with it."

She came and sat next to me on the stairs. "What's really your problem with Brad?"

I sighed, staring at my hands. "I don't trust him. Who proposes after two months? He could be taking advantage of you. And when I leave for college next year, you'll be here alone with him. It doesn't sit right with me."

She was quite for a long moment before saying, "I'm sorry."

My eyes shot up. That was the last thing I expected to ever hear from her. "What?"

"You're right, I should've been more patient with you about the engagement news and the wedding planning," she said. "You're either in your room or out with your friends that I didn't think you'd really care about my dating life."

I held back a grimace. "I don't care about that, but everything happened so fast—how do you know he's not just trying to use you?"

"Because I had to wade through a lot of the wrong men to get to Brad." She frowned up like she was remembering some bad dates. "When I met Brad, I just...knew. Biggest cliche in the book, I know. But it's true."

She smiled then, staring off in the distance. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her without a scowl on her face.

"We'd been on two dates before something inside me woke up and said 'this is him, this is the one'," she turned to me then. "You'll know what I mean when you're older."

Waverly, in her glasses and wild hair, popped into my head. Maybe I already knew.

My mom grabbed my hand, pulling my attention back to her. "I know this doesn't magically fix everything, but I hope it's a step in the right direction." She kissed my forehead before standing, taking her notebook and coffee up to her office.

That new story she was writing was another conversation we needed to have, eventually.

For now, I needed to mental break. I needed a run.

After switching into something running shoes I headed out. Brad was at the door, his key out like he was about to unlock it.

I stepped aside to let him in. "Hey," I said, making him do a double take. It was small gesture, but it was least I could do.

"Hey." He sounded confused as I jogged down the porch steps and down the driveway.