My best friend's brother and my brother's best friend (2016)

Dark places

The distant sun streams over my body as me and Cara lounge lazily in front of her house listening to Taylor Swift's 1989 on full blast. I've been on the same page of Great Expectations for the past forty five minutes, getting nowhere as I constantly keep one eye on my phone lying on the floor next to me.

"We read that in secondary school, all I remember about it is watching the TV series with Douglas Booth. Hm," she adds thoughtfully, unreadable through her dark shades, "needless to say, I struggled to concentrate."

"Tell me how you got accepted into Cambridge again?" I tease playfully, raising my own glasses in examination.

"Because who wouldn't want me?" She laughs pulling a convincing puzzled face.

"Very true," I reply somewhat distantly, returning to my normally favourite but now never ending novel.

"Hey, is everything ok chick? You've been acting weird since last night?" Cara questions.

"Weird?"

"I mean not yourself ... did you speak to Jez last night?" She continues prodding relentlessly, I know she's just worried.

"Um ... no," I reply quickly, pretending to be overtly fascinated with this particular chapter.

"Oh, well never mind, you can call him tonight," she responds eyeing me up carefully, "you can tell me if something's up, you know."

"I couldn't reach Jeremy ... so I called Eli," I waver, glancing nervously at her again.

"You spoke to Eli?"

"No, he didn't pick up."

"Oh! Well, way to get a girl all excited," she grins back before seeing my expression.

"He didn't pick up," I start hesitantly, if I say it out loud it makes it more real, I can't just say that I imagined it in my head, "but someone else did. A girl did."

"Dani don't do this to yourself," Cara insists rolling her eyes, "you know our brothers, they probably just lost their phone and someone found it."

"I know ... it's just for a festival - in the evening as well - it sounded too quiet almost as if she was back in the tents."

"Dani, you know my brother, even if he was that much of a dick - which he isn't - he's not stupid enough to make that mistake again," she reassures with an encouraging smile. "Just stop obsessing!"

"I know!" I laugh back, exasperated by my best friends overwhelming but heart swelling support.

Right on cue, my phone pings loudly and I scramble to see who's name is flashing on the screen.

"Saved by the Bell," Cara utters as she sits up and stretches out in the brilliant golden sun rays.

"You know, it wasn't just that a girl answered, for some reason the voice sounded familiar," I continue, replying to Josh's text with fond smile, "I don't know it's probably nothing."

"Well my fierce flower, I think every girl within a decent enough radius is scared of you now after you slapped Nikki right back to bitch town," she giggles, jumping up and tapping my nose before going back inside.

I stick my tongue out at her as she disappears through the front door before laying back on my front and going back to my book. I'm determined not to let it beat me.

I give it another five minutes before breathing out in defeat and tossing the book to the side. Letting my sunglasses fall back down to cover my face, I rest my chin on my arms and succumb to general weariness. Just as I'm starting to doze off in the rare summer heat a huge waterfall of ice cold water gushes over me, drenching both myself and the garden lounger in the process.