All Magnolia wants is to spend a quiet summer, just like any other year. But things turn around and this time, the same guy who broke her heart decides to come back as well.
When she thinks that summer is going so well, it turns sour for her taste...
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Elliot and I walked over to the beach to have the talk that I'd been ignoring for the past few years. It's weird being around him, just a foot away.
"I'm glad to see you, Mags," he said, kicking in some sand that covered his toes. Mags... both him and Natalie liked calling me that until mom and dad got used to it as well. I was quiet. I had no idea what to say to him or how would I start.
I should start saying something like I don't want to see you ever again, which I said before. But now that we're older and hopefully matured enough, I think this was really necessary, just to close in some gap. Mom was right. Eventually, we'd meet each other because we lived in the same town.
"When Natalie said your back home as well, I immediately went to your house to check and indeed, a party is being held." He stopped walking. "I saw your dad and he said that you're inside, that I should not be around, but I asked if I can see you." He looked at me with a huge smile on his face. "Then I asked for your number so I can text you and then call you afterwards."
This was why I didn't want to see him. Like what I told mom, he was the love of my life. A puppy love, love at first sight, true love, soul mate... whatever they wanted to call it, Elliot was that to me. Seeing him looking at me like nothing happened put my memory back on that day at the gazebo where I was holding out a single red rose to him. My sweet sixteen birthday party just ended and I promised myself that I'd tell him I liked him. But he said that we couldn't be together and all that shit. Next thing I knew, he and Addison were already a thing. It broke me and I promised to myself that that was the last of Elliot Wilson I would ever see.
For the last two years of my high school, I'd requested to mom and dad to transfer me. They did ask why the sudden change when school was just in a close proximity. So I told them the whole story. For adults like them, it was laughable. But for me, it was more than that. It was my pride and broken heart being stepped on. I made sure that I wouldn't be in the same place as him.
When I graduated, I flew to New York right away and I was glad that for those years I was away, Elliot and I never crossed paths again.
Until today.
"Elliot, I don't think I'm ready," I said.
His smile almost disappeared but he managed to mask the disappointment. "It's been years, Mags. We've been friends since we were kids. Can't you just move past it so we can be friends again?"
It's alright. He didn't have any idea how you changed everything about you because of what happened, I told my mind.
Instead of telling him that, I asked, "How's your life going?"
He suppressed a smile then faked it with a cough. "Good. You know, uni, friends, home. You?"
I sighed. "Same thing." I thought of the next question if I was going to ask him but my big mouth couldn't wait for me to think. "Dating anyone?"
