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01. | AWKWARD EXES
Jeremiah and Esenae rushed out of the house as their mom announced the presence of the Conklin family. They greeted the mother first before going on their separate ways.
"Oh, my God! I've missed you two so much!" Esenae exclaims as she hugs Tae and Belly.
"There's so much I need to tell you!" Tae gushes.
"You got taller!" Belly points out, the three all talking over each other before Conrad came out of nowhere.
Tae and Esenae shared a look before deciding to leave the two alone, walking over to Jeremiah, Steven, and the mothers.
"H-Hi." Steven stuttered, looking at the girl.
Esenae cleared her throat, awkwardly avoiding eye contact. "Hey."
"You guys broke up a two summers ago, why are you still being awkward?" Jeremiah questions.
"I'm the reason you didn't see your sister last summer." Steven points out, referring to the girl not being able to come on the summer trip because she couldn't face seeing Steven.
"It's in the past." Esenae mutters.
"You know I'm still sorry, right?" Steven bends down slightly to make eye contact with the girl.
Esenae looks up into his chocolatey brown eyes, getting lost in them for a second before she remembered the whole reason they weren't together in the first place. "It's fine." She mutters.
"To break this awfully awkward tension," Tae speaks up, placing his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "What about a belly flop?"
Steven and Jeremiah smile as they rush over to Conrad and Belly. "Belly flop time!" They exclaim, catching the girl before she could run off.
Steven, Jeremiah, and Conrad carried the girl to the back where the pool was, Esenae and Deonta following behind them. They all counted down before the three threw the girl in, laughs erupting from them.
"How's the water?" Jeremiah jokingly questions. "I think Tae should be next."
"No way in hell." The teen laughs before giving the Fisher boy threatening eyes. "I will take you with me."
"I wouldn't complain." He shrugs with a smirk, giving the boy flirty eyes, causing butterflies to swarm his stomach.
"Ow!" Belly groans. "Guys, I hurt my ankle. Come on." She puts her hand out.
Conrad takes her hand and Belly pulls him into the pool with her. "Belly!" He shouts as he resurfaces, pulling the girl underwater.
❀
Tae and Esenae sat on the girl's bed, talking about all the things they were gonna do this summer before a knock on the door caught their attention. The girl sighed as she saw her ex boyfriend standing there.
"Can we talk?" He questions. "In private."
Tae turned to his best friend, checking if it was okay with her. "Yeah. I'll find you in a bit." She tells him, leaving him to mutter a quiet 'ok' and leave.
Esenae awkwardly looked at the ground as Steven sat on the bed beside her. "I... I know I hurt you, Ess. So bad that you couldn't even come see your family last year, and I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry for what I did to you during our relationship."
"You can't even say it." She laughs. "You cheated on me with the one person I hated, Steven. But what's worse, is that you cheated on me emotionally. You had feelings for her!"
"I know, Esenae." He shakes his head, looking down at the floor. "I can't say sorry enough, and I've spent the last year and half trying to better myself, and I have!"
"Hopefully your next girlfriend will appreciate it." She sighs.
"I don't want a next girlfriend, I want you." He states. "I still have feelings for you."
"I—" She didn't know what to say, she was in shock. Obviously, when she looked at Steven, the love she had for him was still there, but she could never bring herself to get back with him. "I don't have those feelings for you anymore."
"Esenae—"
"Steven, you went to her about all of our relationship problems. All those sweet nothings you said to me to make me feel special, you said to her. I saw it in your phone and she told me herself." Esenae states. "And she didn't tell me because she felt bad for me, she told me to rub it in my face. I'm not putting myself in that position again."
"I've changed though. I promise." He tells her.
"I've changed too." She sighs. "Because I like girls now."
"W-What? Come again?" He choked on air.
"Mhm." She says awkwardly, looking at her hands. "Well, this was a fun chat. I'm gonna go find Tae."
Esenae leaves the room, letting Steven be alone with his thoughts. He shook his head in disbelief as he muttered to himself, "She's gay?"
❀
Tae and Esenae laughed together as they sat on the beach. "You should've seen his face!" The girl exclaims as tears rolled down her cheeks from laughing so hard.
"How could he not tell you're into girls?" Tae shook his head.
"Probably the same way he didn't know you were gay until you straight up told him you liked it in the ass." She laughed.
"You did not have to word it like that." He rolled his eyes, throwing a bit of sand at the girl.
"You do not want to start a sand war with me!" She points a finger at him.
"I think I do." He threw a handful of sand at the tan girl.
