Homewrecker

59 - 𝓻𝓾𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰

Even though she might have been talked into staying, Andi kept to herself in one of the beach chairs closest to the parking lot, as if she were just waiting for the moment she could stand up and trudge through the sand back to Cass's car.

She dismissed the food and lemonade held out to her, ignored most of the conversation in favor of staring down at her phone and scrolling through Instagram, and hadn't looked at me once since sitting down.

And I pretended like I hadn't noticed, listening to the reprise of Taylor-Elise and Cass's argument about the fingertip rule for shorts, and eating cinnamon gummy bears, wondering if texting Ethan the idea I had about Jude would be too weird in front of everyone.

I wasn't even sure if I believed it, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make to me.

While we were still waiting for the official county fireworks to set off from across the lake, Izzie suggested we went swimming, which was meant with immediate approval from Ryan who tossed off his shirt at the mention and went running into the water with his sandals still on.

I tilted my head just slightly to look over my shoulder to see if Andi had noticed or if she was still following him under the moonlight, which she was, and I looked back before she saw me. She was lingering behind when I stood up and shrugged off my shorts, grateful that I was actually wearing a swimsuit this time, followed them out into the water, telling myself that if she didn't want to come, she didn't have to.

But there was a part of me, as I felt the water lap around my ankles, that felt like I was taking over. A month ago, it had been on the beach behind everyone else after stumbling upon them while I was out walking Miles, not a part of this, not a part of the friendships more than a decade's worth of summers had built. But now that was Andi, furthest away from everyone else but these were her friends.

Ethan had apparently taken my side, Taylor-Elise hadn't gone back to ignoring me like she did at the beginning of summer, and Cass didn't bring up the argument we had in front of her, so I wasn't sure where she stood. Izzie and Ryan didn't even know, or at least I didn't think they did.

It felt almost unfair, like I was shoving her out of her own life and forcing her to take my old place. And that wasn't what I wanted.

I stepped out of the water, feeling as my feet sunk deeper into the air while I watched Ethan and Ryan wade out up to their waists, complaining about the sharp rocks under their feet, and decided I would text him later.

His idea was nice—maybe even other words I didn't want to describe it as because then I started thinking about why he would've cared so much, then I thought about why I might have wanted him to—but it really wasn't going to work if Andi purposefully edged herself out. I was a couple steps from the water when someone called out from my name from the water.

"You're not leaving, are you?"

I looked over, surprised to see that it was Taylor-Elise speaking to me.

She was still in the water, about a couple of inches above her ankles, another stray firework crackling somewhere further down the beach, when I shrugged. "Ethan told me Andi only came because he said I wasn't going to be here."

"Yeah, but she didn't leave."

"You mean that little beach chair she's been sitting in all night?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as she looked over my shoulder, a frown pursing her lips when she saw that Andi was still there by the coolers. "I can walk back. I know the way."

She plodded out of the water, wincing when her footsteps wobbled slightly, probably stepping on one of the rocks Ryan and Ethan had been complaining about. "You can't leave. The fireworks haven't even started yet. And Andi is still going to mope around whether you're here or not."