They all blasted her with cheery hellos while I could only stare at her.
“Come in!” Faith said to her.
“Oh, no, that’s okay,” she said, looking at me. “It looks like you guys got a good thing going here. I’m just running back to the site for a few more drinks.”
She turned and waved goodbye before they even had a chance to reply.
“See what I mean?” Finley asked, startling me.
“Huh?”
“She hates me,” she explained.
“Oh, I’m most definitely sure that wasn’t because of you, Finley.”
“Yes, it was.”
“No,” I held, “it was because of me.”
Finley furrowed her brows. “Why?”
Everyone broke off into private conversations by then so I proceeded to tell her everything I felt for Cricket, how badly I had fallen for her and how she rejected me.
Finley laid a hand on my shoulder briefly. “I know what that feels like,” she said, smiling at me in understanding.
I squeezed her hand in camaraderie. “Thanks.”
Her hand fell back into the water and we sat there in silence. “Do you still like Ethan?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess I never really got over him. Is that pathetic?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think so. Actually, I was sort of in love with a girl in high school. Her name was Sophie. She was incredible,” I said, thinking back on her.
“What was she like?”
“She had the most awful personality you’ve ever known,” I said, laughing.
Finley looked at me like I was crazy.
“But she was so hot,” I explained. Finley creased her brows in disgust. “Hear me out,” I said. “I used to be totally shallow about shit like that, and Sophie was the ultimate prize. She was beautiful, like, supermodel beautiful.”
o;I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t a little bit pleased to hear that.”
I nodded.
“So, uh, how have you been doing lately?” he asked with pity in his voice.
“Come on, Jonah, don’t do that.”
“What!? We’re just worried about you is all.” When Jonah used the word “we,” it drove me nuts. Not because it was him and Bridge. Well, maybe it was a little bit because of that, but mostly it was because “we’s” meant two people, and I very much felt like one person. “You’re not acting yourself and it’s starting to freak us out.”
I exhaled through my nose. “At the McAllen auction I told her I didn’t want to be her backup. I told her I wanted all of her or nothing.”
Jonah swallowed. “And she didn’t…”
“Are we together?” I shouted.
“Right, well, I’m sorry.”