Play The Part (Player Next Door Book 3)

73 | Lana Del Ray Summer

I was staring at the countdown, waiting to hit the black button: publish

Here we go!

Chapter 73: Lana Del Ray Summer

Riding shotgun next to Charlotte in her fancy car with the air con on during a hot summer's day and cool girl music playing low, felt like I was living a Lana Del Ray summer.

Charlotte would occasionally sigh if we got stuck in some traffic and glance at herself in the reflection of the car window.

Must be fun to see a lethal face card stare back.

"How are you feeling?" she asked me.

"Lukewarm," I replied.

She glanced at me with a smirk, her blue eyes reminding me of her brother.

"Is that meant to be a pun?"

"Absolukely."

Too much?

Realizing she wasn't used to me yet, I tried to act more normal, "I'm not feeling great about this angel of doom thing around us, but I'm excited to go to the jake house and see Luke soon. I'm also sad that he's graduating, and I'll have to go through another year of high school without him. But then again, happy that he'll graduate and go to the school of his dreams."

Better?

She smiled, "You know most people just say they feel fine."

"But then they're lying."

"We all lie," she conceded, and then frowned, "Wait, did you say jake house?"

"Did I?" I pretended to look surprised and confused.

"I'm pretty sure..." she got distracted as her phone started buzzing again.

"Nicole," I read the caller ID.

She rolled her eyes, "Luke said not to answer anyone."

"Not even your best friend," I shook my head, knowing he forbade me from speaking to Cearra too.

"She's more like a sister. Nicole's known Luke his whole life and he's like her little brother, especially after she lost hers. It would be a lot safer to go to her house than a remote cabin in the woods."

"I'm so sorry about her loss," I said sadly, "I never knew about that until she mentioned it at Austin's party."

I also remembered what Charlotte had confessed at that same party.

"Total tragedy," Charlotte shook her head sadly, "They were younger, twin brothers. We used to spend every summer with them until they left."

I gasped, "What happened?"

Charlotte's face looked like she was holding back emotions, "They drowned. Poor angels, got their wings too soon," she inhaled, "F*cked us all up. Not that we weren't already to begin with. You know what, let's stop here and get some snacks."

She pulled up to a sidewalk and slammed on the breaks. I peered out and saw that we had stopped by a rustic cafe: The Corner Harvest.

Charlotte exhaled and grabbed her phone, glancing at me, "Do you want anything?"

"Maybe a cupcake?" I asked, seeing the water collecting in her cloudy blue eyes.

If there's one thing I've learned from spending so much time with the Dawson family, is that the more perfect a family looks, the more sh*t they could be covering.

Clearly, Charlotte was carrying a lot of emotional baggage; some hers, some borrowed. From the outside, her life looked perfect. Just like I used to think Luke's did, before I got to know him.