In Riptides

04 | cold feet

N A T E

"Nineteen! Twenty! Twenty-one!"

Foamy beer splutters from Blake's mouth as he lets out a strangled howl of laughter, relishing in the cheers from the surrounding crowd. Ollie and I help him down from his keg stand, holding him up when he staggers.

"Easy, easy." I laugh, catching him from lurching into someone.

He wipes the spilt beer from his bloodshot face, raking it through his hair. "Lemme go again. Longer! I can do it!"

I look at Ollie and he gives his head a terse shake, shouting over the music, "I'm not cleaning up his barf!"

"Yeah, maybe later, Blazer."

We hoist him up and head for the backyard, bypassing a group dancing, another laughing on couches, another grazing a snack table, and then a flash of red hair grabs my eye through the haze.

"Rachel!" I drop Blake to catch up with her.

She glances back when I call again, stopping with hesitance. We don't really know each other, but I know she's not particularly cool with me. Actually, she is cool with me in a sense. Frosty-cool.

Like most, she figures I'm a downright delinquent, despite what Lia has told her. And being a cheerleader, dating Harris, our social tiers couldn't be more conflicting. I think a part of her can't shake the apprehension, like it goes against her hardwiring. If everyone thinks I'm bad news, I have to be bad news for her best friend, right?

I decide to cut to the chase before I lose her attention. "Do you know if Lia's here yet?"

The edges of her mouth lift in an attempt to smile. "She's not. Should be soon, though."

"If you see her can you tell her I'm out back?" I pull my phone from my pocket, checking the screen. "I'd text her but she hasn't read the last couple, so yeah, just let her know."

"I mean, Matt's probably gonna want to hang out with her all night, but sure. I'll tell her."

I slide my phone away, coming to the realization that Rachel must be out of the loop. I guess it's been less than a day since our confessions went down, but they're usually pretty quick to update each other on what's going on in their lives.

Although, Lia isn't always so forthcoming about certain things because of how protective Rachel tends to be. Her approval of Matt would have plummeted if Lia told her about the bruise he gave her. And yet I'm the one with the low-approval score.

"Hey Red!" Blake stumbles into me, holding a bowl of chips he must have swiped from the table. "You got any resolutions for the year?"

She rolls her eyes, instantly folding her arms as if she's blocking him off. The usual reaction when he's in her vicinity. By all accounts, Rachel is generally a bubbly ball of sunshine, and in a way, Blake isn't much different. You'd think those qualities would mesh well, but all they do is rub each other the wrong way. Through the handful of interactions they've had, it always end in little jibes and bickering.

But I know they were around each other more when I was still in the hospital and she'd visit Rob, and something shifted in that time. It's almost like they enjoy getting a rise out of each other now.

"Yes, but it's not like I'm going to share them with you," she says to him, deadpanned.

"There's one right there to add to the list!" He exclaims through a mouthful of chips. "Gotta be more open to sharing, Red! Thought they would have taught you that in kindergarten."