Wait... is that—? No. It couldn’t be.
“Jeremy?!” I nearly shouted with joy. I couldn’t believe it. He turned abruptly.
“Hazel? Oh, my God.” I jumped into his embrace and hugged him tightly. I hadn’t seen him for so long. “What are you doing here?”
“What’s happening here?” Alex asked. “Do you guys know each other?”
“Do I know him?!” I expressed loudly, smiling from ear to ear. “I peed in his pool.”
“Well, to be honest, everyone peed in our pool.” I hugged him again. I was so happy to see a familiar face.
“What?” Luke straightened, stepping closer. Confused, trying to piece together what I’d just said. So was everyone else.
“Jeremy is Mady’s brother. She’s my best friend.” I turned back to him. “I haven’t seen you since what? High school graduation?”
“I took off after that, traveling, you know. All that stuff. Didn’t spend much time at home until I met these guys.” He pulled Luke into a hug. It felt nice having more than just coffee breaks connecting us now. For a moment, I belonged here. Not just as someone tagging along, but like I was exactly where I was meant to be.
“I can’t believe we’re all here,” Jeremy raved.
“Did you reach Watson?” Ethan suddenly brought me back.
“Oh, sorry, it turns out I haven’t saved his number in my phone, but a friend will send it to me later.”
For a while, we chilled at the beach, taking turns surfing in loose groups, drifting in and out of the water. Next to me, Alex hummed a familiar tune under his breath, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“Not this again,” Luke groaned. “Please don’t—it’ll be stuck in my head forever.”
A brief, expectant silence followed. Then, suddenly, Alex started to sing it louder, completely unapologetic.
“I’m warning you,” Luke said, more serious now, but Alex only sped up, making it even more obnoxious on purpose. I laughed at his dedication to being annoying.
Without warning, Luke jumped to his feet. Alex followed a split second later, sprinting at full speed across the sand. Luke chased him down, and soon they both collapsed near the shoreline, wrestling and kicking up sand.
Silly boys.
A moment later, Ava started humming the same tune.
* * *
The sun was setting as we soaked up the last rays of sunlight. I looked at my legs and saw tanned lines burned into my skin from the shorts. I tugged them up a bit and lowered the waistband to avoid a line across my stomach later.
Logan, Norah, Ethan, Summer, and Ava went to the beach bar, while Luke and Alex paddled back out for one last surf. Jeremy and I stayed behind, letting the quiet settle between us as the waves rolled in and the sky softened into orange.
It was nice. Easy. We hadn’t talked like that in a while.
“What’s with the sad look?” Jeremy’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I looked back at him and gave him my warmest smile.
“Nothing, I missed the sun.” I closed my eyes, soaking in the golden skies.
All of a sudden, Luke emerged from the water and approached, asking Jeremy to join him. Jeremy looked over at me for a second before replying, “I think I’ll stay here.”
Luke didn’t say anything right away, just kept watching us for a moment too long, his face unreadable. Not angry, not even annoyed, just... off. Like he suddenly didn’t want to leave me here. Or maybe he wanted to talk to Jeremy and Alex without me. Maybe I was reading too much into the situation. I smiled at him politely. He smiled back. Sort of. And then went back into the water.
I wasn’t blind. I’d started to feel it—the emotions I shouldn’t have felt, not for Luke at least. The man with a thousand other women, driven by lust, not love. I didn’t want to feel like a shiny little toy, but man, when his eyes were on me, I wanted him. Ah, the tale as old as time.
Don’t be a fool, Hazel. People don’t change just because you really, really want to.
