Between Love and Friendship (Completed)

Chapter Twenty One

A/N: Dedicated to storylover5555 because she's an awesome writer and you guys should really go check out her work :)

Chapter Twenty-One

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” I said, shaking my head. Two weeks had passed, and Trevor and I were on our way to Annabelle’s pool party. The sky was getting dark, giving me an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Nothing good ever came out of night parties. I was smart enough to know that.

I almost couldn’t believe that she had invited me, after everything that happened between us towards the end of sophomore year. I figured that since I was with Trevor then, she wouldn’t have to worry that I was trying to steal her boyfriend.

Gabriel. I hadn’t spoken to him much, since I got with Trevor. Things were awkward between us, being that he also had a “significant other”. I guess you could say that neither of us was crazy about the idea of our best friend being in a relationship. Especially since Gabe and I pretty much stopped hanging out afterwards.

Every free second he had seemed to be spent on Annabelle, and every moment I had was spent on Trevor. If it had been up to me, I would’ve rather spent time with Gabriel, like I used to, before we drifted apart. I missed him, more than I should’ve, but it was obvious that he didn’t miss me the same way, if at all.

I was grateful to have Trevor by my side, but I knew I was just using him to lessen the pain of losing Gabriel. I could never care about him the way he cared about me. Of course I had felt guilty, but there was nothing to be done.

“You’ll have fun, I promise,” Trevor said, bringing me back to the conversation I was having. “You should get out more. And Annabelle wanted you to be there.”

“That’s what she says,” I retorted, stubbornly. Who knew what she really wanted?

“Just relax,” He said as he put his arm around my shoulder. “You worry too much about stuff that doesn’t even matter.”

I tried to smile. “Yeah I guess I do.” But what he didn’t understand was this stuff did matter … to me. 

When we finally arrived at Annabelle’s house, we were greeted by a dark haired girl that I recognized from school. Her name was Valerie, or Victoria. Something like that. I’m bad with names.

“Hey, you guys made it!” She said, in an overly happy voice. It was so high pitched that it almost sounded fake.

“Hey Vanessa,” Trevor said, as we stepped inside. I suddenly felt self conscious. The house was full of kids from school, most of them prancing around in bikinis and swimming trunks. As we walked into the living room, I noticed that about nine or tens were sitting in a circle playing a game of ‘spin the bottle’. Gross.

Then I spotted Annabelle. She rushed over and gave us quick hugs. “So glad you guys could come,” She said, smiling. “You should go for a swim.”

She was wearing a hot pink ruffle bikini top and short-shorts. Her hair fell around her shoulder in messy waves. I frowned slightly. She was much prettier than I would ever be.

I was in a dark blue hoddie and white shorts. I had a two-piece bathing suit underneath, just in case, but I didn’t plan on actually being seen in it.

I laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, maybe in a little.”

With that said, she hurried off to join a group of her bleach-blonde friends outside by the pool.

“So are we just gonna stand here the entire time?” Trevor asked, nudging me slightly.

“I hope not! C’mon,” I took his hand and led him outside through the slide-open glass door in Annabelle’s kitchen. When we stepped outside, we found ourselves right at the center of the action. Even though there were people inside, the real party took place out by the pool.