Clear Skies

6. A phone call

I choked.

And not metaphorically.

"How can anybody choke on their own saliva?" Zoe shakes her head while pouring me a glass of water.

"Th-thanks," I manage while taking small sips of water. That girl was Ian's crush. The one whose cheek he was kissing in that photo. I thought she was already too pretty for the hat to conceal it, but I was so wrong. She's so much more beautiful. Her features are chiselled and glowing at the same time. If that girl is Ian's crush, there's no way I'd ever be able to step up to her.

"You're forgetting that don't have to, Dumdum."

I jolt out of my reverie.

"Jeez. If you're gonna switch to that telepathic system, at least warn me beforehand."

Zoe sits cross-legged on the bed beside me. She has that look on her face which says she's gonna give me a long, useful life tip. She would've looked almost motherly if she hadn't just woken up with a bushy bedhead.

"First of all, we don't even know if he likes her, right? She might be a friend. Shouldn't jump on to conclusions, now, should we? Besides I don't think Ian would've flirted with you if he liked someone else."

She makes sense. It's something else that doesn't.

"Why didn't we see her tagged in that photo?" I say as I reach for my phone from under my pillow. "She must be here som-"

"Oh. She's not on Instagram."

I pause. I look up at her with a scrutinizing look she taught me herself.

"How do you know that?"

She stops mid-yawn. "Well, she wasn't on Ian's follow list."

"Righ-" I'm interrupted by the shrill ringing of my phone.

"Why is this so high pitched, Dumdum?" Zoe complains after dramatically shielding her ears from my ringtone- my attempt at a guitar cover of a song from Moana.

"Because frets are nearer to each other down the board."

Zoe contorts an expression that says 'Really?' and 'shaking-my-head' simultaneously. I pay her no attention, and it's not because I don't want to, but because of the name that flashes on my phone's screen has caught all of it.

Tobias.

"Answer it," Zoe commands, sensing my internal struggle. She's giving sensible advice. I can't block someone out without listening to them, especially when it's not their mistake in the slightest. However, it's exactly one of the reasons why I decline the call.

"Let's freshen up." I try to feign nonchalance by patting down my hair and looking for my acne cream.

"Today is gonna be amazing. I can literally see the rivulets longing for us. The birds singing for us, the winds blo-"

"Stop talking," Zoe says while untangling her phone from her hair, "the stench of your bad breath has positively filled the room."

"-BLOWING FOR US. THE SUN RAYS SOAKING US WITH WARMTH, AND. . . actually, you know what? I suppose you're right."

•×•

I know this is not the time for regret, but our local beaches seem super perfect now that I'm standing opposite huge mountains.

Zoe's and my town Aurville is just adjacent to a moderately popular beach town. We aren't exactly fond of it since anything new hardly happens there, but that did not harm the fact that we are beach girls. We can swim and sunbathe all day because it's inscribed in our DNA. We love the sun for a solo reason being the sea was there to shield us.