Melted

Chapter 2

"I HATE YOU!" I screamed as I ran out into the rain. Peter smirked and strolled casually. "How do we get back?"

"I don't know," Peter answered with a shrug. I groaned and punched his shoulder. I ran to the boardwalk, which was now completely clear of people. One of the most fun things to do in the summer is to time how long it took for people to disappear after the rain started. I'd say about 8 seconds for this storm.

"Follow the boardwalk back to the pier. I don't think there are any turns," Peter told me.

"You don't think? You're hopeless!" I cried. He grinned again, but seemed a lot less talkative. How could he be so calm? We were getting drenched, and also we just had giant things of ice cream. Was he not hyped on sugar?

"C'mon, I'll lead the way," he said, linking his arm around mine. It seemed to take a lot less time to get back to the pier than it took to get to the ice cream shop. I had a feeling he took an intentionally wrong route on the way their to test my determination and worthiness.

"So would you believe me now when I said it was going to rain?" Peter asked when we reached the pier. The rain began to lighten up as he spoke. I laughed and covered my face. He was right, and it was a little embarrassing.

"Lucky guess," I claimed.

"Brijit?" a voice asked behind me. I whipped around to see Gen standing behind me, soaking wet. "I thought you said you were at home." Peter looked at me, and I looked back at him, then at the ground.

"Well I- it's just that, I was maybe going to go home because I um didn't really exactly totally know exactly where I, um, we were going so I-" I stammered awkwardly. What was I supposed to say? No, I lied to you and ignored you so I could hang out with this mysterious guy I sorta just met. Yeah, I wasn't gonna say that.

"Save it for someone that wants to hear your sorry excuses," Gen snapped and turned away. She stormed towards her house, towards our neighborhood. I tried running after her, but boy she walked fast. Apparently Peter walked faster. When I turned back around, he was right behind me.

"I'm sorry if I caused something between you guys," he said.

"No, it's my fault," I lamented, shaking my head. Peter wrapped his arm around me. It wasn't weird this time. This time, he wasn't trying to be funny or make me feel uncomfortable or anything like that. He was trying to comfort me, even though he didn't totally understand what had just happened.

"You should go home and get some dry clothes," Peter advised. I nodded silently and removed myself from his arm.

"Thank you for everything today," I said with a sniff, "You were right about helping me. You kind of did do me a favor."

"Until now," he added. I smirked a little bit and nodded. I didn't want to prolong this awkward goodbye. What had happened that day? I couldn't really tell. The one thing I did know is that it was fun. I walked away in the same direction of Gen. If I squinted, I thought I could see her figure in the distance.

• • • •

"Well I can't help it if you've practically ignored me my whole life! I'm not going to live with someone I don't know!" I heard coming from inside Genevieve's house as I approached it. There was always yelling there. I mean, we yelled at my house too, but her house was a totally different story.

"You don't get to make the rules!" a man's voice, presumably her father's, hollered back.

"She can make her own decision, and she chose to stay!" her mother shouted. I wanted to ring the doorbell, but I had a feeling I was going to be interrupting something.