Dear August

|Eight|

Dear August,

So, some news. I accidentally spilled the beans about you. Sorry about that. But to make things a little better, they're people I trust. So I'm not very worried about them knowing. But my feelings for August are slowly growing. Cause guess what? He has feelings for me tool. Finley (who's one of my new friends by the way) says she thinks it's true love. I just laughed. Anyways I'm writing this in class, so I should probably go before someone sees me writing it and calls me weird. We'll talk soon.

With love,
Riley.

I set my pencil down and tune back into Luca and Finley, who were trying to think of other names that I could call August, so we could date.

"Auggie."

"A-man."

"Aulumni."

"What?"

"Aust."

"Eight."

"Eight?"

"Cause August is the eighth month of the year?"

"Oh that's smart!"

I look between the both of them and roll my eyes as I chuckle. They turn their attention to me.

"Hey we're helping you here," Finley rests her head on her hand.

"I appreciate it guys, but I don't think I need it right now. I mean, him and I, we just shouldn't date."

"But whyyy," Luca whines. And to think, he's the oldest of the group.

"Well, for one, I'm not exactly looking for a relationship at the moment. And August is my friend. Would you guys date friends?"

"Yes." They say at the same time. Well.

"Well that's you guys, but it's a no for me." Riley and Luca pout at me, giving me glossy puppy dog eyes. "Not gonna work."

"Oh come on, Ry. You know the feeling is mutual between you two, why don't you just go for it?" Finley pleads.

"I'm dropping this," I say, turning around in my seat. They audibly sigh behind me.

•••

"I honestly don't understand what his trip is," Joey complains from across the table from me.

After school she decided to treat Luca and I to a lunch dinner type thing at Mo's. She was complaining about the college guy she was flirting with.

"We're not dating," she pauses, taking a sip from her shake. "I should be able to talk to whoever I want until we make it official."

"How old is this guy again?" I ask, taking a bite of my salad.

"Twenty."

Luca and I raise our eyebrows. It's not a huge age gap, but still. You can never trust college guys, they really only want one thing. And it's not a relationship.

"So how about you and August?" She asks, dropping her boy drama and picking mine up. I shrug.

"He invited me to the mountains with you guys this weekend. Nothing else really."

"Have you guys been texting?" Luca asks. He was calmer without Finley. Finley and him are like Phoebe and Joey from friends. When they were together, they said and did odd and dumb things.

"No." Luca suddenly grabs my phone from my hands. Curse me for telling them my password.

I struggle to get it back from him, trying to wrestle it from his hands. I finally pull it free. He shrugs.

"Already done and sent, nothing you can do about it now."

I open my texts and brace myself for what Luca sent him.

Text message to: August🌹

Riley🦋
Hey
You free Friday night?

I drop my phone and lay face down on the table. Joey laughs.

"What's the worst that could happen, he'll probably say yes anyways," she says. I look over at Luca and glare.

"You owe me for this," I threaten. He just laughs.

"You're gonna be thanking him for the sweet kiss you guys are gonna share that night." Joey says with goo-goo eyes and a pout on her mouth as if she was just imagining it now. Luca places a hand on my shoulder and nods his head. I roll my eyes at him.

"You're buying me lunch and a movie Saturday night if we don't kiss."

"I'm only gonna agree cause I know you guys are gonna kiss."

My phone vibrates on the table and the three of us look down at it. Like a storm the three of us all grab for the phone, wrestling it out of each other's hands and hitting each other's shoulders.

Joey finally ends up with it, moving away each time Luca or I try to grab it. She reads it and opens her mouth in shock.

"Yes!" She shouts.

"Let me see!" Luca snatches the phone from her hands and breaks into a smile.

I grab the phone from him and stare at the screen.

August🌹
Hey
Yeah
You wanna go to dinner or something?

I stare at my phone, not knowing what to say. Luca and Joey stare at me, smiles on their faces.

"Well text back!" Joey says urgently.

Riley🦋
I'd like that

So. I guess I'm going on a date with August.