follow through

chapter 9

betty

georgia has been the most amazing thing ever. i have fallen in love with this place. and its only been two weeks. it's gonna be hard to leave.

i think it'll be hard until i realize what's home. my family, James, my friends. i miss a lot of it.

inez and i are out on the town tonight. figuratively.

"hey are you even paying attention?" inez calls out

"ugh yes i am! just admiring how beautiful this place is. i'm sorry i'm sorry please continue." i respond

"ok anyway, i heard from vanessa that brooke broke up with emmett and not even 24 hours later was on a date with josh! isn't that crazy? like girl at least wait 2 days!" she gasps

"oh my gosh. no way. inez is this fact or rumor?" i ask

"you never know with Vanessa to be honest but it doesn't really shock me!" she reasons

"you are right there." i respond

Inez somehow always knows everything. i'm friends with all her friends and still don't get the same gossip. i don't mind though. inez usually tells me and honestly i wouldn't mind if i didn't know half the stuff she tells me.

the food we ordered finally arrives and i am quick to dig in. we worked all day in the sun and i am exhausted and starving. inez does the same.

"oh. my. gosh. it's so good!" inez exclaims

"i know. i'm literally drooling." i laugh

we eat our meal and continue talking about work and life here in georgia.

we fall into a comfortable silence as we continue eating.

until i look up and she's smiling as she types on her phone.

"inez! who has you smiling at your phone?" i question

her face instantly goes red.

"no one." she quickly says

"absolutely not! who is it?" i call out

i have a pretty good idea who it is. but i need her to admit it.

"ugh fine. you already know!" she adds with an eye roll

"it's dylan. ok?" she continues

"oh. my. gosh!" i squeal

"you guys are seriously the cutest. do you know how many times i've had to listen to him talking about you? oh my gosh you guys will seriously be the IT couple! you guys are seriously-

she cuts me off "hold on! back up! he talks about me?" she squeals

"oh my gosh inez. are you blind? hes so obsessed with you it's painful!" i let out

"i swear to you i'm going to kiss him so hard when we get back." she laughs

"oh my gosh inez!" i laugh out loud

"so anyway...what has he said about me?" she questions

"why don't we plan that party!" i change the subject

inez was trying to convince me to plan an end of summer back to school party at my house. she wants to invite everyone. i told her i'd think about it knowing i'd probably say no to the idea of throwing it. i'd love to go to someone's party but throw my own? i don't know, sounds stressful!

"oh em gee! really?" she squeals

"ugh yes fine!" i sigh

"well we better get started planning." she responds

"i was thinking the Saturday before school starts!" she continues.

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we arrive back at my aunts house at 10 pm not wanting to be too late and wake her up. she doesn't have any kids so she doesn't mind us coming home late.

"goodnight see you bright and early!" i whisper

"night betty! love you!" she responds

"love you too!"

inez goes to her room and i go to mine.

i get in the shower and rinse off. once i get out i hop in bed and pull out my phone.

hey james. be ready for a party the saturday i get back. my house. gonna be crazy. thank inez 🫶🏼😭

i send the text and add a quick message after

miss you by the way 😘

i'm glad we sorted things out a bit. i hate fighting with him. it's so unlike us.

i turn my phone off and lay down.

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i wake up to my alarm, signaling it's time to get up and get ready for work.

honestly this program was not what i expected. i thought it would be a lot of sitting around but there were actually a lot more sea turtles to help than i realized.

i walk into inez room knowing she doesn't wake up to her alarm. this was a fun fact i learned sophmore year when her mom told me she still has to wake her up every morning.

"inez it's time to wake up!" i say in a quiet voice near her ear.

"five more minutes!" inez wines

"inez we don't have five more minutes!" i laugh

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roughly 45 minutes later we are sitting at the beach. today is oddly quiet. not a ton of people on the beach and some volunteers didn't even show up.

oh well. more peace and quiet for us!

the leaders come tell us that we will be working a slow day so it's okay if we hangout until noon.

"score!" inez cheers

i laugh out loud as i watch her jump up and grab my hands and yank me up.

we run to the water and she dives in h2O mermaid style. i laugh and then i jump in behind her.

i run back to our seats and check my phone to see what time it is and read that it is 10:23. perfect plenty of time.

i notice there are also messages from james and i quickly open it.

oh boy.

miss you too

huh. is he being weird? nah. i'm just reading into things.

i'm really not a good texter. i'm always reading into things and trying to read in between non existent lines. i have to remind myself.

i've always been told to trust my gut but sometimes i have to ignore it instead. it's not always accurate.

i set my phone down and run back to the water where Inez is waiting.

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thanks for reading <3