Beth was already there.
She sat on the stoop with her knees pulled in, a cigarette glowing between her fingers. Fireworks still popped off in the distance. The multicolored sparks lit up the sky before fading out and falling.
“Hey,” she said quietly.
“Hey,” I answered, settling beside her. “Looks like the two of us can’t sleep.”
She gave a small, tired smile.
We smoked in silence for a moment, the night wrapping around us.
Then the words came out before I could stop them.
“Beth… something weird happened tonight.”
She leaned in, listening.
I told her about the guy at the bar—the stare, the way he knew Sage’s name, the way he said they’d been engaged. As I spoke, the story sounded stranger out loud than it had in my head.
Beth frowned.
“That’s weird. Because she grabbed me out of nowhere on the dance floor and dragged me to the bathroom. I thought maybe she’d seen an ex or something.”
She took another drag.
“Something spooked her. She was weird all night. There were girls staring at her—like they knew her—but no one said anything. Just… cagey.”
I exhaled slowly.
“Yeah. I mean, she told me she was engaged before. So it’s not like she lied. And she lived in New York. Everyone from New York comes to the Hamptons in the summer.”
I shrugged. “Small world, right?”
Beth nodded, though she didn’t look convinced.
“She’s been really nice to me, Ethan. Really nice. I’ve never had a friend like her before.”
I smiled faintly. “Yeah. Never had a girlfriend like her before.”
She raised a brow. “She gets jealous.”
“Sometimes,” I said. “But that’s normal when you’re crazy about someone, right?”
Beth considered that. “I guess.”
I took another sip of beer.
“She’s just… intense. I’m head over heels. Totally.”
We fell quiet again, smoke curling into the dark.
Then the door creaked open.
I felt it before I saw her.
Sage stood there, framed by the light from inside, eyes scanning the scene. Her smile was soft—but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“What’s going on out here?” she asked.
