where the water meets the moon | e.d.

thirty-four

ethan

june 30

two days.

two days until i see kendall again for the first time in two months, and i'm not sure how i'm feeling about it. obviously i miss her, but something feels off.

and addy has been ignoring me for a week.
not with cold intentions or anything, but more as in dodging me every time i want to talk to her.

and that's been difficult, because right now i need her.

... to give me advice. yeah.

it's after dinner and the sun is just starting to set when i roll out of my position of staring up at the ceiling on the couch.

evan's in the bathroom doing his nightly skincare, avery is up in his area, and addison is in her room.

usually at around 8:30, she comes out to the kitchen for snacks.

but at 8:34 she's still made no appearance.

before i try and attempt to talk to her for the hundredth time, i grab a snack bag of animal crackers and a diet root beer from the fridge.

and when my knuckle raps on her wooden door, she doesn't answer.

"addy," i call out. "are you in there?"

she hesitates before saying, "y-yeah."

so i push open the door and see her sitting on her bed, reading a book with glasses perched on her nose.

i screw my face as i throw the snacks into her lap. "since when do you wear glasses?"

she takes them off and folds them up. "they're for reading. what do you want?"

as i try to come up with a response, she quietly opens the animal crackers and sets the soda can on her nightstand.

i motion my head back behind me. "wanna fish?"

"it's like... 9 pm."

"still light out."

"i dont know how to fish—"

"addison," i sigh exasperatedly. "you're being weird. i don't like it."

she chews on her lip, then slowly stands up, still holding the animal crackers, and pushes past me through the doorway.

"well?" she glances back at me. "coming?"

i smile and follow her out to the observation deck where a couple poles are lined up on the side. she grabs one, fidgets with it, then shrugs.

"don't know how to do this."

"it's so easy," i take it from her hands. "you just bait the hook, reel it in, then toss it out while holding up on this thing."

"easy as that?"

"easy as that," i nod and grab a pole of my own. there's a container of plastic and rubber baits that look like shrimp and other small fish, and i tie one on to the end of my hook.

addy looks like she's struggling, so i silently take the fake pink shrimp from her hands and tie it on as well.

"okay, now cast out," i instruct, pulling my pole back to shoot it forward.

she does, and it lands not too far from mine.

"nice. not too shabby."

"i'm trying my best," she sighs. "so now what?"

"well... we wait."

addy frowns. "that's boring."

"we could talk," i offer, my voice raising pitch at the end.

"okay," she whispers.

"so why have you been so weird?"

"i'm not being weird."

"yes you are. you won't even look at me."

"sure i will," she turns to me, but her eyes land on the spot in between my eyebrows.

"you're hiding something."

"i'm not hiding anything," she lies straight to my face.

"then look in my eyes and tell me that."

they hesitate before finally faltering down and meeting with mine. her bright blue ones widen a little bit and she takes a step back.

"see. was that so hard? now tell me the truth. why are you being so weird?"

she opens and closes her mouth a couple times, trying to spit out the words. i wait patiently.
"because..."

i raise my eyebrows.

then a jerk pulls on her fishing pole, causing both of our heads to snap to the water, and for her to start reeling it in.

"oh my god i caught one!" she yells excitedly, trying to bring it all the way up. i grab her line and hoist the small, flapping fish up to the deck.

"do you want to keep him? i don't know what it is, but avery will," i say and start to take the hook from its mouth.

she shakes her head vigorously. "no. i wouldn't do that. just throw it back in."

"wait— hold it."

she takes the slimy fish by the mouth and end with a disgusted expression as i reach in my back pocket for my camera.

"say cheese, fishy!" she exclaims through a smile, holding up the scaley sucker.

i snap the picture with a laugh and she wastes no time tossing the fish back into the water. now we won't know what the fish was until we get it developed, but that doesn't seem to bother her too much.

"look at me," she brags. "caught a fish before you."

"pure luck."

"you wish."

and just like that— we're normal again.

i really missed her.