Chapter 12 #2
you gone, but I was okay with that. Excited, even? But . . . I don’t know. The days began to blur, and I felt disconnected.
Like everyone else was riding their own waves, and I was just stuck in the same town, with the same routines. Only, you weren’t
here. There were no Wag treasure hunts. Benny was off at school, and Seb had just gotten back to town—we hadn’t totally reconnected
at that point. I was just . . . alone.”
Battling emotions tugged her facial features in several directions. She swallowed hard, trying to hold back tears.
“Jaz,” I said.
She shook her head. “I know how dumb this sounds. Boo-hoo, I was alone. But it started slowly, like, one bad day, then another. A good day, then back to bad. And before I knew it, Christmas rolled around, and all the days were bad. I mean, winter is never fun—”
Lake-effect snow was a real thing here, and we were often pummeled with blizzards. But it was the unending gray of winter
that was so brutal. No real sun for weeks, sometimes months. And that was especially hard for someone like Jazmine, who needed
to be on the water. Can’t paddleboard when literal boulders of ice are washing up on shore and everything is covered with
snow.
“I didn’t realize how depressed I was,” Jazmine said in a low voice. “It snuck up on me, and by that time, I was too weak
to fight it. That’s when I ended up hanging out with Paul at that party. When it all started.”
Jesus. Now it all made more sense. “When did it end?”
She blew out a hard breath. “For good? Last week.”
“Oh?”
“We had a big blowout in the parking lot of that old roller-skating rink east of town the day before you flew back. It was
. . .” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Messy. I’d just wanted to end things peacefully, but I didn’t know how Paul
would react. So when we agreed to meet, I asked Seb to take me there, sort of as backup.”
“Swear to God, Jaz, if Paul ever lays a single finger on you—”
“He didn’t.” She held up a hand to make it clear. “And I don’t think he ever would. But I didn’t want to take any chances,
so I brought Seb along. In hindsight, a huge mistake.” She mimed punching her own eye.
“That’s where Seb got the black eye?”
She nodded. “It’s where we all got hurt. I was trying to keep Paul and Seb apart, slipped, and fell on this.” She held up
her sling.
Seriously? “Not showing off in front of your class on your board?”
She gave me an embarrassed look and scratched her nose. “Seb took me to the ER that night—which, by the way, was the worst
ride of my life because his eye was swelling up, and he couldn’t see to drive very well. Don’t remember much except for that
Rick Steves audiobook dude talking about the Black Forest over the Speed Buggy’s speakers, and I remember being terrified
we were going to die and thinking at that moment that I’d rather be riding in a car with Benny than Seb—”
I snorted. “That’s saying a lot.”
“Ye-a-a-ah. We flattened a stop sign a block away from Trinity Health.”
“Jesus,” I moaned.
“Don’t be too hard on him. He’s trying. He came back to town at my lowest point, and if it weren’t for him, who knows what
would’ve happened to me. This has pretty much been the worst year of my life.”
“I’m so sorry,” I told her, fighting past a lump in my throat. “You needed me, and I was oblivious. I’m a terrible friend.”
“No, Paige.” Two fat tears fell down her cheeks. “I’m a terrible friend for not telling you I needed you.”
“No. I should’ve been here. I should’ve known without you having to tell me before you resorted to sleeping with the enemy.”
She snorted softly. Then I did. We looked at each and smiled gently.
After a moment, I said, “Is Paul the reason you didn’t pick me up from the airport?”
She groaned. “I’d only had my sling for a day, and I was freaked that you’d somehow be able to tell by looking at me . . . And then you’d be pissed that I hadn’t told you about everything. It was irrational, but I just plain chickened out.”
“For the record,” I said, giving her a small smile. “I clearly had no idea about you and Paul. I thought maybe you’d just
realized after a year apart that you didn’t need me around anymore.”
Jaz gasped dramatically. Then she reached out and offered me her pinkie finger. “I will always need you, Paige Malone. I just
didn’t realize how much until you left.”
A swell of emotion crashed over me, and I smiled at her through bleary eyes while I hooked my own pinkie around hers.
“Forgive me?” she whispered.
“Wags always forgive.” I pulled her into my arms before she could stop me and was enveloped by the familiar scent of her sweet
almond lotion.
She embraced me back, clinging to me so hard that it hurt, and I had to complain through tears and laughter.
“Haven’t lost your brutal hug power,” I said, grinning as I wiped my cheeks. “Spinebreaker,” I added in my best pro-wrestling-announcer voice.
“Ha! No one’s called me that in a long time.” She laughed a little, wiping her eyes on the hem of her T-shirt. Then she blinked
at me and spoke in a soft voice. “Look. Not gonna lie, there are so many more messy details about this year I haven’t told
you yet. Don’t know how much Seb has told you—”
“Seb? Almost nothing. You know him. He’ll keep your secrets if you ask him to.” I scratched the back of my neck. “At least,
he used to. I’m still trying to figure him out. You trust him?”
“Daddy does, if that says anything. He claims Seb is a hard worker.”
“Our Seb?”
She laughed softly. “Right? I guess he’s sort of half our old Seb, half . . . something new. Something different from what he was becoming the past few years. Going away changed him.”
“No surprise, considering what he endured at that Yooper boot camp.”
Jazmine’s eyes widened. “He told you stuff about it? He hasn’t said but a couple words to Benny and me about his time up north,
but we both suspected something bad happened there.”
“He told me a little,” I admitted.
“Huh.”
Anxiety flared. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” She hesitated. “I was just thinking it was funny he hadn’t shared any of that, but that he had told me a little
about . . . other things.”
“What does that mean?”
She slowly arched a brow.
My stomach lurched with panic as my thoughts went in wild directions. “Oh my God, did he tell you about the cave grope?”
Jazmine’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
Shit! “Forget I said that.”
“Are you joking? I’ll never forget that. Explain!”
“No, you first!” I said, terrified.
She hesitated again, making a strained face, then blew out a breath. “Okay, fine. Seb’s low-key obsessed with you, which you probably already knew if you’ve been groping him.”
“I haven’t groped anything!”
“Jesus, did he grope you?”
“Forget the groping! It was accidental. What do you mean ‘obsessed’?” A tremor went through me. “In what way?”
“What way do you think? He’s all, ‘Paige this, Paige that . . .’” Jazmine rolled her eyes.
“Ugh, at first I thought it was kind of adorable, but it’s getting annoying.
And I’ll tell you one thing. You’re going to have to nip that shit in the bud before he embarrasses himself and gets hurt.
He’s an emotional wreck under all that swagger, you know. ”
I did know, but all my brain could think was:
Seb. Obsessed. Me?
My stomach dipped like it did when I was a ten-year-old kid riding the log flume down the big hill at the Little Dutch Boy
waterpark north of town.
I was being ridiculous. Jazmine was probably wrong about this.
But what if she isn’t?
I realized I’d been quiet for too long by the way her eyes squinted at my face. I regretted bringing up the cave grope. Did
she suspect any of my feelings about Seb? How could she when I didn’t understand them myself?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to delve into them right now, either.
Deflect! Deflect!
“Very interesting,” Jaz said in a teasing voice. “You know, I seem to remember sitting on this very balcony at the start of
our senior year and you thanking the stars above that we’d both avoided dating another Wag.”
“Oh yeah? Well, what about Benny?” I countered. “Come on, Jaz. It’s clear to see that you’ve got some feelings for him that
you didn’t have before I left for school.”
“Benny?” She squinted at me. “I don’t think so.”
Oh. Huh. She was being honest. “You were so angry about Lulu, I just assumed . . .”
“Lulu? Ugh, no. She’s absolutely wrong for him, and I’d like to throw her down some rickety basement stairs, but only because I care about my friend.”
“Fine, but only because I feel exactly the same way about her,” I said, and we both chuckled good-naturedly.
“Hey, Paige?” Jazmine said, looking through the balcony railing to peer out over the dark marina. “Are . . . you and I really
okay now? Because I need for us to be okay. I need . . . the gang back together. I know it sounds dumb, but I need it, Paige.
I don’t really care that much about actually finding the Golden Venus, but I want us all to feel normal again. Like we used
to when the Wags were still Wags.”
Water lapped against the docks below us while distant music played from the food truck court at the marina’s entrance. When
I looked at the person sitting in front of me, I saw a little of the pain she’d talked about, but I saw hope, too. With all
my heart, I believed in the same truth that I’d known back when we were just those kids in paper pirate hats that now hung
in her hallway:
Nothing could ever break our friendship apart.
Not permanently. I would always have her back, and I knew she’d always have mine. Benny, too. And sure, the past few years
I’d given up on Seb, but maybe the boy we once knew really was still there.
I picked up Jazmine’s hand and cradled it in mine. “You and I will always be okay, no matter what. Love you. Always.”
“Love you, too,” she whispered, and I knew by how her upper body suddenly relaxed that we were back to normal.
“Hey,” I said. “It’s still early. Want to—”
“Shit . . .” Jaz’s eyes were fixed on the balcony door.
I squinted through the glass and saw a shadowy figure walking toward us. A man, not big enough and far too fair to be Jaz’s father. “Umm . . . ?”
“Totally forgot,” Jazmine said. “After Benny texted about you, I freaked and texted Seb. Do not tell him I told you about being obsessed with you!”
Oh God.
The door slid open a few inches, and Seb’s upper body poked through. His gaze quickly evaluated Jazmine before flicking to
my face. “Evenin’, ladies. Is it safe to come out there, or do I need to arm myself?”