That Summer (Completed)

Chapter 7

"I'd be smart to walk away

but you're quicksand."

******

"Tell us everything," I said to Anne as we sat down in the cafeteria the next day.

"Yeah, you've been weirdly quiet about this, I thought my Skype would be ringing off the hook last night," Grace said, popping a french fry into her mouth.

We all looked at Anne expectantly and she couldn't hold back the huge smile that lit up her face.

Anne took a deep breath and started to speak. "Ok, here is what I remember. Yesterday I was in the basement with a bunch of people when I bumped into Tyler and Ashley. I wasn't gonna ignore them, cause like, rude much? So I said 'hey what's up' to them and you wanna know what he did? He ignored me. Completely ignored me. I may as well have been gum stuck under his shoe."

My mouth dropped open and Sam looked like she was going to interrupt when Anne held up a hand.

"I know guys, I was livid. They were so rude and that's when I decided to down a couple of shots," she said regretfully. "He can't just choose when he wants to acknowledge me and when he doesn't, that's not fair to me. I told myself that I was never going to speak to him again."

So that explained her attitude in the backyard.

"So when he came into the back yard and had the nerve to try and talk to me, I was like nope, no fricking way," Anne said, flipping her hair.

"Yeah you looked ready to physically fight him," Sam said, trying not to laugh. The red lipstick had been her ammunition.

"I probably would've too if I hadn't seen him look so desperate. Gone was the cool, calm, and collected Tyler. It was pretty hot," Anne said smirking. I snorted thinking about how he had ordered everyone back into the house looking like he was about to blow a gasket. He really was super laid back all the time, it was pretty funny.

"So he basically explained how Ashley and him were never a thing. Their families were really close and they'd grown up together. Everyone was just expecting them to end up together, you know? It was a package deal. No one ever really thought to ask either of them if it was what they wanted."

I nodded understandingly, Ashley and Tyler were always together. Even I thought they would eventually end up together before I really got to know them.

"So Ashley's family has been going through a lot the passed few years with her brother leaving and stuff... Tyler was their rock. They were rooting for them to get together and neither Tyler or Ashley had the heart to break it to them. So they just continued pretending I guess. Tyler told me both of them had planned to tell Ashley's family after college started. It would be the easiest way, a clean break."

"And then you happened," Grace said, sighing romantically. "It's actually really sweet." Grace was definitely the fairytale loving, happily-ever-after girl in our group. I loved her for it and I hoped she never lost it.

Anne smiled. "Yeah he told me that he didn't want to regret never giving us a shot when both of us wanted this just as much. And anyway, Ashley's parents found out about the guy she's been seeing so it all kinda fell apart at the same time. There was no point in pretending anymore."

We all sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about the turn of events.

"So now what?" Grace asked curiously.

"Well, I talked to Ashley last night," Anne said, leaning forward. "And she basically gave us her blessing. She explained everything to me and told me that there was never anything between them. They were just really good friends, she said that he was the closest thing she had to a brother."