19. Summer 17
Iwake with a throbbing in my head. I pull the blanket over my face to shield my eyes as the sunshine streams through the thin fabric of the tent. A groan slips from my lips.
I roll to my right. “Becs, I’m never giving in to your peer pressure ever again.”
When I finally pull the blanket off my head and sit up, I find an empty sleeping bag where Rebecca should be. Jeez, what time is it?
I heave myself out of the tent and find my three camping mates fully dressed and ready to tackle the day. Rebecca sees me first and rushes to me right away. “Are you okay? Andrew said you were sick last night! I’m so sorry!”
I hold out a hand to her. “Don’t yell at me.”
She smiles a little. “Someone is learning her limits early. Don’t worry. Andrew made some great breakfast burritos. A few bites of that, and you’ll feel much better.”
As I slouch into one of the chairs near the fire pit, Andrew rises from his spot. “How’s your hand feeling? I didn’t get a chance to bandage it up last night.”
I look at him confused for a moment. I hold up both my hands and find the angry red line that crosses my entire palm. Then I remember grabbing the fire pit and holding the lemonade can. “Let’s just say it’s the least of my worries right now.” I grimace as the splitting pain in my head persists. “Do we have any Advil?”
Rebecca rushes to the truck and begins digging around while Andrew hands me a foil-wrapped burrito. “Angelina and I are going to head down to the water for a bit.”
Unwrapping my burrito, I freeze at Andrew’s use of his girlfriend’s full name. I assess his face and can immediately tell something is off. I take a bite of my burrito and try to think back to the events of last night. Is he mad at me?
Rebecca comes back with a bottle of water and two tablets, interrupting my thoughts. “Here you go. You better perk up because we still have another day and a half out here before we head back.”
I ignore her remark. “What do you think is going on with Andrew? He seemed upset. Did he say anything to you about last night?”
She sits down in the chair next to me. “He told me you were sick last night and that you were afraid to be left alone. I woke up about an hour after you went to bed, and he was still in our tent.” After a pause, she notes, “He didn’t seem mad at you, but I got a weird vibe too.”
“Do you think it’s because of something from last night?”
Rebecca leans in, even though no one else is nearby to hear us. “My twin intuition is telling me something is off with him and Angelina.”
I pull back, my eyebrows raised. “Why would something be off with the two of them? They seemed fine last night.”
She shrugs with a laugh. “My twin intuition only gets me so far.”
“I’ll give you this, you were right about the burrito and Advil helping my head.”
“See! Would I ever steer you wrong?”
“Too soon,” I deadpan.
She grimaces. “I said I was sorry! You did seem to have a good time up until after I went to bed. Maybe it was being around Andrew’s toxic buzzkill vibes that made you sick.”
I roll my eyes. “After our conversation yesterday, do you think being around Andrew is going to make me feel sick?”
“It might,” she claims hopefully.
I finish my burrito in silence while I reflect on last night’s events, trying to remember all the details. Am I missing something? I can’t think of anything that happened between Andrew and Angelina. I’m fairly certain I remember everything before she went to bed. It’s after that last shot that things get a littlefuzzy.
I hear footsteps before I see Angelina and Andrew briskly walking back to camp. Angelina looks a little teary-eyed. I glance at Rebecca, sharing a curious look with her, and then turn my gaze toward Andrew. His face is completely expressionless. I’m so used to being able to read him, but I can’t now. It’s driving me crazy.
Angelina comes out of the tent a few moments later with her pillow under one arm and sleeping bag under the other. Andrew reaches out to help her grab her stuff, but she presses past him, opening the rear door of the truck and tossing her things in by herself.
Andrew looks visibly uncomfortable as he scratches the back of his head. “I’m taking Angelina home. I’ll be back in a little while.”
He hops into the driver’s side and backs out of the camping spot before I can even process his words.
“What the hell just happened?”
Her disbelief is apparent. “I was right.”
“Why do you look so surprised if you think you were right? And how do you know you’re right? Maybe Angelina had a family emergency.”
She huffs as if to say You’re so simple-minded. “Did you not hear him call her Angelina? That’s a clear sign something is off with them. She was crying, and she looked pissed at Andrew. I don’t know how else to prove it to you, but I’d bet you twenty bucks he broke up with her just now.”
I know this news should make my heart leap with joy. I care so much for Andrew, and I know Angelina was not right for him. Even so, my stomach flips. What happened to break them up so suddenly?
I stammer, “You… You don’t think Andrew would be so callous, do you?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Couldn’t he just wait until the camping trip was over rather than breaking up with her and sending her home early? She must feel so ridiculous for coming out here and getting broken up with.”
“That’s not callous. That’s Andrew being his thoughtful self. I thought you knew him better than that.” Her words cut me. “Andrew wasn’t feeling things anymore and didn’t want to waste any more of her time.”
I find myself staring at my red palm as I think about Rebecca’s insight. I guess she’s right, but I still feel bad for Angelina. This isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong.
With that last thought, all of my memories come flooding back, Andrew taking care of me when I was sick. Me begging Andrew to stay in the tent with me so I wouldn’t be left alone. How embarrassing! Oh no, I hope Angelina didn’t get mad at him for leaving her alone in the tent for an hour. That’d be such a silly thing to break up over.
The look of unease must be apparent on my face because Rebecca interjects my thoughts. “You are not responsible for breaking up Andrew and Angelina. They were doomed from the start.” She laughs devilishly. “We can ask him all about it when he gets back, but for now, we should be relishing in the fact that they’re done.”
“We think they’re done,” I add quickly, trying to tamp down my growing excitement.
“You and I both know they’re done. We should be singing from the rooftops. Although, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to Meredith Blake her ass.”
I burst into laughter. “Alright, so how do we celebrate?”
She smiles broadly. “With more tequila.”
I immediately frown and begin to protest when she erupts into laughter. “I’m kidding! We will keep you far away from tequila until at least college.” She winks.
Andrew gets back about an hour later and finds Rebecca and I down at the water. Immediately, when I see him, I notice the gloom he carried this morning is gone. He seems like his usual laid-back self, maybe even happier than normal.
“What took you so long?” Rebecca calls out to him. She sits on an inflatable flamingo raft, sipping canned lemonade with her giant pink sunglasses perched on her face. Iconic. She’s got her phone perfectly situated in the cup holder so she can control the music drifting off the dock from her portable speaker.
Andrew holds up a tub of something in his hands in response. “I stopped for ice cream at the little shop down the street. You guys better hurry. I’m going to eat it all by myself in the next five minutes, so it doesn’t melt.”
I don’t even have to be right in front of him to see the grin spread across his face and feel the peace he is radiating.
“What kind of ice cream is it?” I call out to him.
He cracks open the top and sticks a spoon in, scooping a bite into his mouth before answering, “Oh, just a tub of ooey-gooey fudge brownie.”
Rebecca and I immediately start paddling our floaties toward the dock. We are both huge chocolate fans.
When I hit the dock, I toss my floaty aside and take off at a sprint toward Andrew. I snag the tub right out of his hands and begin grasping for a spoon, but he pulls it away and holds it above his head before I can get to it.
“Andrew, you can’t tease me like that!” I reprimand.
The smirk that crosses his face makes me want to kiss him right then and there. His blue eyes are sparkling with mischief, and his dimples are so prominent. I have to internally scold myself for looking at him like that when I don’t know if he’s a single man yet.
He lowers his hand with the spoon. “I’ll give you the spoon if you will set the tub down for all of us to eat,” he compromises, amusement coating his voice.
“Deal.” I extend the tub out as he hands me a spoon.
Rebecca comes up from behind me. “What did you do that made you feel the need to get us ice cream?”
He scowls at her. “I didn’t do anything. I just wanted ice cream.”
Rebecca scoffs. “You and I both know you aren’t that big of a chocolate person.”
“There weren’t many options at the store.”
Rebecca takes a heaping spoonful from the tub. “I’ll accept that answer for now, but I still have to ask what happened that made you take Angelina home early.”
Andrew’s shoulders sag a little. “We broke up.”
“I knew it!” Rebecca exclaims. She turns to me. “You owe me twenty bucks, missy!”
My eyes grow as big as softballs. Before I can say anything, Andrew clears his throat, reminding us he’s still standing there, fresh off of a breakup.
“I’m sorry you guys broke up,” I say softly.
“Oh yeah, I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Andy,” Rebecca teases. “Maybe next time.” She gives me a sly smile.
My cheeks immediately flush, and I have to pray Andrew didn’t notice that. I give her a wide-eyed, raised eyebrow look to remind her not to be so obvious.
I go to scoop another bite of ice cream and bump Andrew’s hand as he reaches in for a bite too. The small contact makes my heart flutter, and I let it.
“Can I ask what happened?” I inquire carefully.
Andrew digs into the ice cream, returning his spoon to his mouth with only a big brownie chunk. I can tell he’s avoiding eye contact. Come on, Andrew.
Once he swallows, he begins to answer. “I guess I finally realized she wasn’t what I wanted, and I didn’t want to drag things out any longer than I needed to.” Rebecca made a point of pinning me with a look as if to say I told you so. Andrew takes another bite, dipping his head down. Then he peers up at me through those beautiful brunette eyelashes and states, “I don’t just want someone convenient.”
His look is too much. I have to break the eye contact, so I quickly look down at the ice cream tub and peel a layer of chocolate off the top. “Thanks for the ice cream. This is hitting the spot.”
A smile stretches across his face. “I knew it would.”
Rebecca looks between the two of us, and I immediately recognize what she is thinking. She feels the tension between Andrew and I too. It’s not a bad tension. Rather, it’s this longing need to say what we are feeling right now and to touch and hold each other. But we won’t do any of that with Rebecca sitting here.
With a large spoonful of ice cream, Rebecca stands up. “The only thing that could make this moment better would be eating my ice cream from my raft on the lake.” Then she’s gone, and it’s just Andrew and me.
We take turns spooning ice cream quietly. Finally, I break the silence. “I am sorry about you and Angelina. I’m sorry about last night too. I’m never having alcohol again.” I laugh with embarrassment. “I guess I do and say some pretty crazy things when I’m drunk. I’m embarrassed now.”
He places his palm on my knee. “You never have to be embarrassed with me, Em. I hope you know that.”
I nod. “I have to say, you can do way better than Angelina. I’ve always imagined someone better for you.”
He looks at me with a playful curiosity. “What kind of girl do you imagine for me?”
I look down at my spoonful of ice cream. The tub is almost gone by now. There’s just a melty layer at the bottom that I will very willingly slurp down if given the chance.
“Obviously you need someone who likes books and someone who can talk about them with you. You need someone who realizes how incredible you are. You’re not just some pretty face. You’re smart, and kind, and goofy. I hope you find someone who sees all of that and appreciates you for the gift that you are.”
I cut myself off there before I make it too clear how I feel about him.
“Thank you, Em.” He brushes a fingertip under my chin to tilt my head up and force me to meet his gaze. “I think I’m finally seeing clearly.”
My heart pounds inside my rib cage, and I don’t even know how to respond to his words. I’m melting into a puddle right now just like the ice cream left in the tub. Say something! I scream to myself desperately.
His smile begins to falter, and he pulls his finger away from my face. I try to smile softly back at him to convey my message since words are failing me, but it feels too late.
My heart breaks a little, and I curse myself for ruining this moment that could’ve been perfect. Was that not the green light from him?Please don’t screw this up, Emma! Say something! Anything!
“I’m glad to hear you’re seeing clearly again, buddy.” I scruff up his hair a little as I speak.
Judging by Andrew’s deflated look, I did, in fact, screw this up. What is wrong with me?Did I seriously just say buddy? I’ve never called him buddy in my life! I’m an idiot.
He stands up and begins walking down the dock to meet Rebecca. I can’t even look at him right now. I just sit there with my head in my hands. What did I just do?