Above Water ✔️

5 - that boy is (not) mine

Even I couldn't fight a smile as I sat on the loveseat.

Erick had gone down to the beach and got the worst sunburn I'd ever seen. His skin was blistered red and he winced with every move he made. It wasn't long until Chris saw this and lost his shit, near tears at the state our friend was in.

And it only took one snapped insult from Erick for Chris to pull his sandal off of his foot and hold it in the air. It was amusing enough watching two grown men chase each other around the living room, but when Erick started screaming like a girl was when we all couldn't take it anymore, combusting into a fit of laughter.

The house smelled of mouth-watering spaghetti sauce. I wondered how many nights in a row Phoebe and Ebony would be in there cooking before they got tired of it.

Erick had just barely found a comfortable position on the couch when Dallas wandered in, hesitating in the doorway. "Come on in, brother," Erick called. Dallas obeyed and sat down beside me on the loveseat. He could have sat down on the couch or in the decorative arm chair by the window, but he sat next to me.

I could smell his body wash.

"Are you still with, uh–" Erick paused to rack his brain, it seemed, and Dallas offered no help with the name. Through the overwhelming aroma of whatever the hell Dallas put on his body, my attention was peaked. "I forgot her name. The horse girl."

"Briana," Dallas snorted. I wondered what a girl would look like to pull a guy such as him. Gorgeous, presumably, with tan skin and blonde hair. Smart, athletic, apparently with an equestrian spirit. "No, we broke up. I actually recently met a new girl back at school. Crystal."

Erick shook his head in disapproval. "I don't know why you're wasting your time," he said, wincing at the motion. "You could take some advice from Meek."

He did not just.

I gave him the ugliest, most exasperated look I could muster until I saw Dallas turn towards me in the corner of my eye. Carlos was smirking from the floor where he was coloring with Aubrey. I glared at him instead of Erick so as to not be obvious.

"How do you mean?" Dallas asked.

"Oh, well, I just meant–" Erick made eye contact with me and I mouthed, I will kill you. "He's focusing on work and swore off dating and, well, men in general, it seems. I actually don't really know why he did that. Why did you do that, Meek?"

I sighed. If I hadn't left my phone upstairs, I probably would book a flight back home for tomorrow after he outed me to the hottest guy I'd ever seen that slept in a bed five feet away.

Dallas was looking at me, but I wouldn't look back. I just stared at Erick without saying anything. "Meek's too busy to date," Chris said from the other side of the room. I didn't even know he was in here. "He works too fuckin' much and when he's not working, he's watching anime in the dark with his cat."

For a second there, I thought he was going to vouch for me.

I left the room out of embarrassment, finding it not worth it to smack Chris upside the head at that very moment. How dare he speak of Nelly Furtado in vain. I would remember that.

Phoebe was in the kitchen with Grace, stirring a pot the side of a football stadium, steam flying out the top. "Meek! So glad you're here. Cut this onion for me," she said.

All I get is used and abused by these sick fucks.

"Anything for you," I cooed, hopping onto a barstool.

I loved Phoebe. She was sweet and charismatic and hilarious and, well, way out of Erick's league. When they first met and he showed us a picture of her, we thought he was joking. But she was as smitten for him as he was her. She was short and curvy with thighs thicker than my waist. After Aubrey, she'd put on a little bit of weight in the best way–trust me, I heard too much heterosexual ogling from Erick to prove it. Phoebe always had her dark blonde hair styled perfectly and a fashionable outfit on.