What she left Behind | ONGOING

CHAPTER 05

───── Chloe ─────

As I sit on the dock, I begin to remember, which is the sole purpose of my being here—to remember and reconnect with those beautiful moments I've spent with my best friend here. It hurts, yes, but at the same time, there is so much perfection surrounding me right now that one of the main things I get to feel at this precise moment is serenity

The first time I came to this place, was in our Senior year. Savannah had asked if I had plans for summer and I said no. That's when she said that her parents had recently bought this house, and it became our official spot. The first place we went to the moment we got our driver's license was here, our cherished lakehouse. It was difficult to convince her parents to let us come here unsupervised. Two teenagers in a house alone a few hours away? Luckily, they knew they could trust us and allowed us to come by ourselves, if and only if we followed a set of rules so we don't end up doing disasters.

Oh, the good old times. . .

So many memories give me a lot of mixed emotions.

I feel the air breeze against my skin and I think to myself that this is exactly what I needed: To peacefully read my book as I admire the beauty of the lake and listen to the ruffling of the leaves from the trees.

I am so concentrated on the words of my book that I don't notice Derek standing there beside me. I look up and as an instinct, I roll my eyes at him. At this point, I can't help it, I just do it unconsciously.

He is stretching as he looks at me. Well, I think he's looking at me; I am trying to ignore him so I can enjoy this weekend as much as possible. Honestly, I know he is aware of how I feel about him—his fault, obviously. He is the one who can't stop joking around and has a lack of seriousness, I don't like people like that. If he could try to be a mature adult, perhaps we could get along.

"It's a nice day for a swim, you in?" I hear him ask. I briefly look up at him and then shake my head no.

"No, thanks, I rather keep reading."

"Fine, suit yourself," after saying that, he jumps into the water savagely. He ends up splashing half the lake in my direction, causing droplets to land on my book.

"Seriously, Derek?" I sigh heavily as I dry my book. He just laughs and swims around. He must be so happy to get a reaction from me. I don't want to give him that satisfaction, but I don't know how he does it that he knows how to get on my nerves.

"The water is fantastic, are you sure you don't want to jump in?" he asks as he swims around. He sleeks his wet hair back and stares at me waiting for a reply, but I decide to ignore him since I already gave him an answer a few seconds ago.

He gets out of the water and like a wet dog would do, he shakes his hair, making water splash me once again. I move a little to the side and give him a dirty look.

"Sorry, just drying myself"

"Then get a towel, don't splash me with your water."

"What are you reading?" he asks, and I just want him to stop talking already. What do I have to do for him to realize that I am not in the mood to have a conversation with him? Does he not understand my body language?

Or maybe he does understand and just keeps going to see how far he can go with his annoying self.

That sounds like him. But I don't want him to get a reaction from him, so I decide to ignore him. Eventually, he will leave, right?

"Hey, I asked you something," he pushes. No, he's not getting the hint.

Derek proceeds to abruptly take the book out of my hands, making me bring my attention to him. I stand up and try to retrieve the book from his hands, but he gives me his back as he eyes it over.