Recover: Book 2 of the Magic Mutations Series | ✓

63: Truth off My Chest

Ben and I didn't talk at all that evening, and, I could tell by Ollie's wary glances between us, this was upsetting her.

Nonetheless, when we pulled up at the hotel in Cologne after the long drive in the night back, I all but leapt out of the car the moment we parked, storming away from the couple and up to my room.

I couldn't face him anymore.

And in my current state, I was in no mood to watch the happy couple be in love as per usual.

The moment I walked into my room, I kicked off my shoes, beelined for my bed, and fell face-first onto the mattress. Pillows and bedding consuming me, I wondered for a moment if there was a spell that would allow me to just sink away into the bed, never to get up again.

But the ding from my phone pulled me monetarily from my funk.

Rolling onto my back, I fished my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the screen, wondering what it was that could probably wait until the morning.

But Olivia's name displayed on my screen.

My heart thudded in my chest as I unwaveringly unlocked my phone.

All the while, my mind was thinking, She went straight to her room and texted me?

Olivia: Are we still on for the swim?

Swim? I thought. Swim... Oh. The swim from the bet.

A part of me considered turning her down, saying I was too tired.

But would that just upset her more?

And what if a swim together, the three of us, was just what we needed to bond again? To show Ben that he had nothing to stew about? That Olivia was his, and, once my invitation to her was gone, she and I would just be really close friends?

So I texted her back.

Me: I won fair and square. So yes. Ben is welcome too if he doesn't want to be a sulking idiot.

Ollie responded with a couple of eye-rolling emojis, but I assumed that meant she'd meet me there.

Tossing my phone aside, I quickly changed into my board shorts and ran down to the pool, not wanting to be late.

This late in the evening, there was only one lonesome couple lingering in the water when I arrived.

The glowing blue hue lit up the water's edge, though the lights in the area had been long turned off, leaving only the ones in the pool as the area's light source.

I immediately waded into the water, staring at the ripples as I waited for her to arrive.

But in watching the water ebb and flow long enough for the last couple to leave me alone under the star-less night, I began to get sucked right back into the times Anja and I went swimming in the creek... and Ollie and I showered together. Or when Ollie and I got rained on...

It seemed water had always been my place of romance...

Hopefully now, when Olivia and Ben turned up, it could start to become part of theirs.

Water splashing over my back brought me out of my stupor, causing me to turn around to meet the green-eyed girl.

But she was alone.

"I thought you'd never come," I said, secretly hoping that Ben would show up soon so I wasn't alone with her. So that he wouldn't continue to worry about nothing. But while she forced a smile onto her face, I could see pangs of pain echoing behind her gaze, even in this dark night. "What happened?" I immediately asked, noticing that look all too well.