Be My Anchor

Chapter Fourteen

Tristan and Rhea stood side by side a few feet away from us. Tristan shifted uncomfortably, but Rhea smiled, her eyes glinting.

"Sorry, we can talk later-"

"Don't start, Tristan. We're doing this right now." Rhea flaunted over and plopped down in front of us. She smiled broadly.

Gabe and I exchanged confused glances. In the few encounters I'd had with Rhea, I had never seen her so jubilant.

"Hi, Rhea," I said with difficulty.

She clasped her hands together and wiggled her eyebrows at us. "So, I see you two are a thing," she concluded. She nodded at Tristan. "Unless we can join you." I almost choked on my spit before she quickly added, "Kidding!"

Rhea looked at Tristan and patted the spot on the sand next to her. He sat down reluctantly right in front of me. Rhea looked at me with her unwavering smile and waited.

We spent a moment in unbearable silence. The whole time Gabe glared at Tristan, Tristan stared at his own fidgeting hands, and Rhea waited expectantly.

"Did you need something?" I asked apprehensively.

Rhea raised her eyebrows at me to show she was listening. "Oh, yes. I'm glad you asked," she said before blinking at me. A couple of seconds of confusion passed before Rhea elbowed Tristan in the ribs.

"Ow," he complained, rubbing where she had hit him. She gave him a look and he sighed. He looked at me and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He continued to try in vain to form the right words. Eventually, Rhea got fed up with waiting and spoke for him.

"He wants his necklace back," she stated simply. I had to blink a few times to comprehend her words. Tristan wanted his necklace back? The necklace that he bought for me?

Tristan looked at me apologetically. "It just seems like you don't want it. So, I thought..."

I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised. How often does somebody ask for their gift back? But if I'm being honest, I was relieved. I had no idea what to do with that necklace. It would be weird if I wore it when I liked Gabe and not Tristan, but I didn't want it to go to waste either.

I touched the bare spot on my chest where the necklace would hang if I had it on.

Next to me, Gabe ground his teeth. "Well, obviously she doesn't have it on her," he spat, annoyed that he was interrupting us with this. Tristan met his eyes with a bored look.

He couldn't care less what Gabe thought.

"Actually," I said, reaching into my bag. I pulled out the necklace with the blue stone and held it out to Tristan.

A pained look crossed Tristan's face. He didn't reach out for it. "Are you sure? If you do want it-"

"No, you should take it." I gave him a reassuring smile. I didn't want him to feel bad for asking me to do something that I wanted to do. My smile didn't convince him. I took his hand and put the necklace in it like he had done to the first time around. "Really, don't feel bad about it," I assured him. "I think this is the best thing to do."

At my last words, he nodded slowly and thanked me.

Rhea, who had been watching our exchange intently, leaned forward into the circle. "Poor guy was worried about being rude," she said to me.

Tristan groaned. "Rhea."

She just crossed her arms. "Relax, will you? You are always so uptight, brooding around and muttering to yourself."

Tristan shook his head at her before returning his gaze to me. "We'll let you get back to- er, you know what I mean." A blush crept across my face at the implication as Tristan and Rhea got up to leave.