It Had to Be You

Torture

The universe had to be having a laugh at her expense because this was pure torture. The notion that she had two more days of sitting idly by as she watched someone be in love was not her idea of a good time.

"Everything okay?" Nina was staring into space trying to figure out the mental gymnastics it would take for her to leave this weekend early and not have it look weird. Henry's voice pulled her out of the abyss.

"Yea, everything's fine. Just zoned out for a sec." She sat up straighter in her lounge chair and picked up the book she was clearly not reading.

"All good, just checking on you. I'm going to throw some hot dogs on the grill. You want one?"

"Yes please." Nina pretended to go back to reading as Henry walked back towards the house. The larger group was opening white wine and chatting at the table. But Nina wanted to keep her distance. It wasn't that she didn't like Gabby. She didn't know Gabby. It was that she hadn't been chosen. She had assumed this summer would be the grand finale of the last few years build up. She had thought somewhat stupidly that this summer Walker would visit, declare his love and suddenly they'd be engaged by end of day Sunday. She was having a hard time recalibrating to the reality that A) he was not in love with her and B) he had been in love with someone else this whole time.

Frustrated from her lack of attention span, Nina put her book down and walked to the pool. A few laps would help clear her head. She stepped into the cold water and it seemed to soothe her. She wasn't a particularly good swimmer. She didn't even really like the water. But all of this pent up energy needed to go somewhere. She kicked off the wall and started her slow glide to the other end. She kept her head underwater intentionally wanting to mute out the sounds of happy voices catching up over lunch. She was being a brat and she knew it. But she couldn't explain to anyone why she had a broken heart. No one but her and Walker knew what had gone on and that meant she had to grieve alone.

When she made it back to the original starting point she came up from air and heard her name. She brushed the water out of her eyes and looked up to see Walker looking down at her. Her instinct was to run away, to push away from the wall and just keep swimming. He would eventually give up trying to get her attention and she could keep this up the rest of the weekend through shear will.

But she had made eye contact and it would be impolite to cut and run. So she forced herself to stay put.

"Hey." He stood awkwardly above her forcing her to tilt her head up to an uncomfortable angle.

"Hey." She wiped water off her face waiting expectantly for him to state his purpose.

"Lunch is ready." He could have easily called her from the house. He had no reason to come over here and that fact irked Nina to her core.

"Okay." She kicked her legs underneath her, treading water to move this conversation along. Walker hovered for a second looking like he wanted to say something more but she couldn't bear to hear it.

"Is that it?" She snapped more forcefully than she intended. He looked taken aback by her tone.

"Um yea. Yea I guess that's it." He looked at her for one more second and Nina ignored the look in his eyes. The look that told her there was a whole other conversation he wanted to have.

"It's not the time Walker." She piped up as he was walking away. She had surprised herself with her honesty.

"What's that?" He turned as though he hadn't heard her the first time.

"Whatever it is you want to say to me, about me, it's not the right time." She kept her voice low and gestured towards the house. He barely turned his head to acknowledge what she meant.

"Yea, I guess you're right. I just wanted to see if you're okay." Nina felt the air leave her lungs. She wasn't okay. Of course she wasn't okay. She was staying in a house with a guy she really cared about who cared about someone else. Someone who nobody, not her sister, not her brother-in-law, not him had bothered to alert her about beforehand. She was still reeling from the hurt and anger coursing through her body so no, she was not okay but there was no time for her emotions right now.

"I'm fine. You're obviously fine. There's nothing to talk about." She sent daggers at him through her eyes which caused him to shrink back in hurt.

"Tell Alexa I'll be out in a few. I'm going to do one more lap." She pushed off the wall and swam as fast as she could away from him. Whatever peace she had gathered in her previous laps had evaporated and now she swam with rage.