“So far, so good.”
Finn elbows me from across the table. “It’s only begun, brother. It’s going to be the best summer ever.”
“We should totally plan something fun.” Daisy sits up on the bench and glances around at all of us. “Right, Iv? Now that you’re home and we’ve got the summer to ourselves. We should do something.”
I find myself staring again, and Ivy knows it, but she avoids my gaze anyway. “Uh, yeah, sure.”
“There’s another party next Friday,” Finn says.
“We’re there.” Daisy grins across the table at him. She then turns to Ivy. “Why are you so quiet today?”
Ivy’s green eyes snap to her, and her forehead wrinkles. “No reason.”
Daisy frowns and pulls back. “You sure?”
Pink tones invade her cheeks, and I don’t want to stare to increase her embarrassment, but none of us looks away.
“Just adjusting to being home.” She shrugs simply.
“Oh.” She leans forward to grab her hand. “You have all of us. Being home doesn’t have to be scary.”
Scary?I quirk an eyebrow in confusion.
Why would being home be scary?
“Let’s change the subject,” Finn declares loudly, and Ivy glances towards him gratefully. “Mum and Dad said that they’re going to stay out in Vietnam for a little longer. That means we should have a barbecue around ours?”
Ivy nods in agreement. “I like the sound of that.”
We finish our drinks over the next fifteen minutes, then Finn goes to the toilet, and Daisy’s phone begins to ring. I don’t get to see who it is before she stands from the table and walks towards the beachfront for some privacy.
Then I’m looking at Ivy again, and she pushes her empty glass further on the table. She catches me red handed and tilts her head, eyes narrowing into slits. “Why do you keep staring at me?”
“Didn’t realise staring was illegal,” I say with a playful tone.
Ivy wraps her arms around herself, but she can’t be cold. “You just stare very intensely. You’re making me think there’s something wrong with my face.”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with your face, Ivy,” I state sincerely.
Not a single thing.
I want to know what the hell makes her feel so insecure, when the reason I’m looking at her is because I can’t stop myself. It’s a natural pull.
She inhales deeply and shakes her head, a hand running through the ends of her hair. “It’s just, when people stare at me,I…” She pauses, and I bite my lip to stop myself from cutting in, but she doesn’t finish her sentence anyway.
“You what?”
Ivy glances up at me, eyes softening when she notices that I’m not trying to be intrusive. “I guess it makes me feel a little self-conscious.”
That’s the last thing I want her to feel. Not because she has something in her teeth or has an awkward laugh, but because when I look at her, I want to see that carefree side of her to come out like it did the night we met.
She lit up the entire room, not just with her beauty, but her aura.
And I know something is suffocating that light inside of her because when she smiles, it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. It’s as if she’s trying to look happy, putting on a front and failing miserably.
And that doesn’t sit well with me. At all.
“Ivy, I’m not looking at you because?—”
