summer of us

6

"How come no one told me doing this tournament was required of the Deb's?" I ask walking into the kitchen.

"They've been talking about it for weeks." Belly tells me as she eats her cereal.

"Yeah, but I thought it was actually a volunteer thing. Not that we were required to volunteer." I tell her with a sigh and lay my head on the table, next to Belly. "I'm awful at volleyball, and I don't even have someone to play with."

"Ask Conrad." She tells me nudging my arm.

"Eh, he's been kind of weird since last week. Very distant. I don't want to bother him." I tell her and she looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Well, think of it as seeing if you guys are okay. He would jump in as a friend either way. Just ask him, he's your best friend. After me of course." She tells me and I laugh and roll my eyes.

"Yeah, of course." I say and stand up. "He's at the docks right?"

"Pretty sure he said he was working with Cleveland today, yeah." She tells me and I nod and grab a muffin from the island on my way out.

As I walk down the dock, I see Conrad and Cleveland at the end of it.

"Hey," I call out when I'm a few feet away.

"Iris, hey." Conrad says when he turns around and sees me. "You remember Cleveland." He tells me and I nod and wave to him when I stop in front of them.

"Hey, nice to see you again."

"You as well."

"You look like you've been crying, you okay?" I ask him quietly as my hand comes up to touch his cheek.

"Um, yeah, I'm good. What're you doing here?" Conrad asks me with his hands shoved in his front pocket.

"I brought food. I figured you wouldn't eat lunch. Plus, it's only a little bit of a bribe." I tell him and he laughs. "Hah, I got a whole smile out of you." I say with a smile and poke him in the stomach.

"Okay, what are you bribing me for?" He asks me and I smile and hand one bag to Conrad and one to Cleveland.

"So, this fundraiser today. I didn't actually know that I had to do it as a Deb. I was just kind of hoping, praying really, that you would be my partner. I don't want to look like a complete fool." I tell him and he nods and sets the bag of food down.

"Can I think about it and let you know soon? I, um, just don't know if I'll have time." He tells me and my smile drops before I nod.

"Yeah, of course. It's totally last minute, I know. Just let me know soon, okay? I'm gonna head to the club now to set up." I tell him and point behind me. "It was, um, nice to see you again, Cleveland. You've got a great teacher here." I tell him with a smile and wave as I head back towards my car.

I had been a complete idiot. Of course he didn't want to do it with me. He was being my escort as a favor because Kyle was a jerk. I completely made up all the feelings I thought he had for me. It was all in my head. It didn't help that everyone around me was feeding into my delusions.

"Stupid, stupid. So dumb." I mutter to myself.

"Iris! Wait, Iris!" I hear behind me and turn around to see Conrad jogging towards me.

"What's up?"

"Of course I'll do the tournament with you. Yeah." He tells me and I smile up at him.

"Really?" I ask and he nods.

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"Cause you don't have to. I completely understand if you have other things going on. Or if you just don't want to." I tell him and he shakes his head.