Lemonade (WLGYL #2)

Chapter 7-Present

 The swing next to me creaked, the wood chips beneath it shifting. Caleb swayed in the breeze, his eyebrows raised. "So, are you ready to go back to reality?" His hair tousled in the wind.

I scoffed. "You mean a nightmare?"

Caleb rolled his eyes, nudging me with his foot. "Come on, it won't be that bad. It's just Mason."

I didn't say anything, instead focusing on pushing my swing up higher. Caleb looked over at me with a grin and started pumping his swing up too. When we finally came back down, he said, "Are you worried about what Liam will think?"

"Well, yeah." I sighed, dragging my feet on the ground beneath me. "I don't want him to get mad, and I think he's a little threatened by Mason."

Caleb snorted. "Isn't everyone?"

I'd forgotten that once, Caleb had been too. Luckily, Mason and Caleb's rough relationship had been patched up pretty soon after everything happened with us three; the first and only time Caleb and I had been anything but friends. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

I rolled my eyes and kicked some wood chips onto Caleb's shoes. "I just want Liam to know that nothing's going to happen."

"Liam's a cool guy," Caleb reassured. They had talked a few times over video chat when I would call Caleb. "He trusts you."

I nodded. "I know he does. I just don't know if I deserve it." I grimaced.

"I missed this," Jessie said from over Caleb's shoulder. She was coming from the small parking lot. Her brown hair had caramel streaks in it—new highlights, I assumed; I was surprised I hadn't noticed before.

When I looked at her, the desperation plain on my face, I knew Jessie could tell exactly what Caleb and I had been talking about. She laid her hands on my shoulders, stopping me from swinging. "I promise that Mason's feeling just as awkward about this as you are."

I groaned. "How do you know that?"

"Because," Caleb shifted, "he told us," he said with a grimace.

"He told you guys?" I gave Jessie an accusatory look. She shrugged. "I didn't realize I was a topic of conversation."

"Come on, Em." Jessie pushed her hair back behind her ear, huffing in annoyance when the wind blew it back over her shoulder anyway. "He's our brother..." she trailed off.

And you haven't been around, I finished for her.

I looked at the slide in front of me miserably; the one that Jessie, Caleb, and I would climb when we were kids, racing to see who could get the fastest time. Jessie was right, even if she hadn't said it. I hadn't been around. I hadn't been the same best friend to the Mastersons that I used to be. "I get it," I said, not without bitterness.

Caleb placed a hand on my arm, pulling me closer towards him. "We love you, always. I promise it won't be as bad as you think." He tried to give me a smile. "Besides, it's about time you guys worked things out."

I rolled my eyes. Again, Caleb was right. It was time to face my fears.

Jessie stepped in front of my swing, her hands on her hips. "You could always dump Liam and be single," she teased. "Trust me, it's great."

I laughed, knowing that Jessie was joking. But I still disagreed. Although Jessie was having a great experience being single in college, I had been miserable until I found Liam. Jess was the opposite. She and Allison had broken up shortly after we started senior year of high school, realizing they were better off as friends, the spark no longer there. Jessie said that being single these past few years allowed her to open herself up and find out what she wants out of life and out of a partner.

I was a little resentful that Jessie was so charismatic and charming. She had no trouble finding friends or romantic prospects, even if she hadn't had a serious girlfriend since.

When I started college, I wasn't used to being single again. I didn't know what life was like when I wasn't in love with Mason Masterson. I was so confused, and it took me a while to make any friends. Thankfully, the universe had planted a gift in the form of my Freshman roommate, Amara. And, thankfully, the universe had forced me to go to the library to study for one of my midterms, where I had met Liam, studying for the same exam. I didn't know what the universe had in store for me now.

"I don't want to be single," I admitted. "I want Liam." I just had to figure out a good way to tell him about Mason.

Jessie moved in between Caleb and me and tousled my hair. "Yeah, yeah," she said with a wave of her hand, but she was smiling. "I know."

"I'm going to miss you guys," I said suddenly. "Part of me doesn't want to go back yet."

Jessie nudged my swing with her hip. "We'll just keep talking all the time, so it's like you never left." When I didn't say anything, she said, "Promise?"

We said that the last time I left home, too, but college and distance always got in the way. I didn't know how to fix it. "I promise."

How did people keep up relationships long distance, friendships or otherwise? I looked around Jessie. "How do you make a relationship last for four years?" I asked Caleb with a raise of my eyebrows. With Caleb now at the University of Tennessee and Reyna at Vanderbilt, they were about three hours away. But they made it work. Even when Caleb was still going to community college and he was states apart from his girlfriend, he told Jessie and me that he was certain Reyna was the one. They knew they were too young and wanted to wait, but they had already talked about marriage. I had once thought that about Mason, too.

Caleb shrugged but his cheeks reddened. It amazed me that after four years he could still get embarrassed about being in love. "I don't know, it just happened," he said with a smile. "She made it easy."

When Jessie and I looked at him with equal parts happiness and disgust, Caleb said, "God, Jessie. I seriously have to stop watching those rom-coms with you."

We all laughed and, for a second, it was easy to pretend that nothing had changed.