"Always."
Her phone buzzed. Lily: omg you missed EVERYTHING. Ethan's dad showed up. huge fight. everyone's still weird.
Sophie stared at the screen. Another text: where are you??
"Everything okay?" Jake was watching her.
"Drama at the house." She looked toward the front door. "I'm not ready to go in yet."
Jake glanced at the house then back at her. "Beach?"
They left the bike in the driveway and headed down to the beach. It was empty this late, just the black shape of the water and the stars coming out overhead. They found a spot past the high-tide line and sat.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. Something with Ethan's dad. His parents are divorced." She pulled her knees up. "Half the people in that house are divorced or getting divorced. It's like a support group that accidentally rented a beach house."
Jake grinned. "That bad?"
"No. I mean, they're good. They're my mom's best friends. I've known all of them my whole life." She dug her fingers into the cool sand. "It's just a lot sometimes. Everyone dealing with their stuff, and I'm supposed to be the easy one. The one who doesn't need anything."
"Are you fine?"
She didn't answer right away. The waves kept coming in.
"You know I have a boyfriend," she said. "Trevor."
"You mentioned."
"He's great. He's—" She stopped. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."
"Because I'm here and you wanted to." Jake leaned back on his hands. "Also, I'm very easy to talk to. It's a gift."
She laughed. "Trevor's great, but I'm leaving for college in the fall. And he's got another year of high school. And I keep thinking—" She shook her head. "Never mind."
"You keep thinking it's already over, you just haven't said it yet."
Sophie looked at him. He was watching the water, not her.
"My parents were like that," he said. "Knew it was done for years before they actually said it. They stayed together until my sister graduated, then sat us down like it was some big announcement. But we already knew." He shrugged. "I was relieved, honestly. But it also sucked. Both things at once."
"Both things at once," Sophie repeated.
"Yeah."
Neither of them spoke for a while. Down the beach, someone was walking a dog, a flashlight beam bouncing along the waterline.
"I don't know what I feel," Sophie said finally. "About Trevor. About any of it. Everyone else seems to know when something's over. And I'm just... here. Waiting to figure it out."
"Maybe that's okay," Jake said. "Maybe you don't have to know yet."
"Maybe."
He stood and brushed the sand off his shorts, then held out a hand. She took it, let him pull her up.
"You seem like you're handling things," he said. "Even if you don't feel like it."
"Thanks."
