The tip of my nose heats up at those words.
The thing about August is, he knows how to push my buttons, whether it’s in a negative or positive way. Our friendship always consisted of banter, sprinkled with a bit of flirting.
We’ve taken a more subtle direction after I’ve taken a few steps back from our friendship. The flirting is still there, but it’s hidden underneath a layer of caution as I try not to get swept away in my feelings.
“Riley,” Ellie calls out my name from the other side of the room. “Should we paint the trims the same color? Or do you want to do something different?”
“Uh.” I look at the trim, then to Ellie, then to August.
He has a stupid smirk on his face. He knows what he’s doing.
I narrow my eyes at him, not looking away when I reply to Ellie. “Let’s stick to the color we have now.”
August sticks his tongue out and goes back to painting.
My jaw drops. The moment Ellie turns back around, I kick him in the ankle.
“Ow.” He hops on one foot. “What was that for?”
“For being an ass.”
“But a cute ass, right?” He winks at me, and I all but melt into a puddle.
FOUR
AUGUST
Three torturous hours later, Ellie and Rowan decide to take a food break and grab us some dinner. We’re at the hangry stage. And Ellie ismeanwhen she’s hungry. She’s been like that since we were five.
I’ve learned throughout this process that painting is not for the weak. I think we did a pretty good job, despite being suffocated by paint fumes.
Riley presses her fingers to her temples. “I think I’m getting a headache.”
There’s no way I was going to let her sit in pain. I open the front door to the shop, and a cool breeze sweeps in, taking the strong fumes with it.
Before, the bright walls were giving me anxiety, but I’m a lot calmer now.
Riley takes it upon herself to finish a small section that’s left in a corner.
All I want at this moment is to be close to her, physically. The light floral scent that she carries around with her reminds me of the days she’d have a candle burning in herroom. She had rows of candles for different moods: citrus, earthy, or sweet.
She stands on her toes, stretching her arm up as far as it can go. The tip of her tongue sticks out as she puts all her concentration into the one spot that’s giving her a tough time.
This is my opportunity to get up, grab a brush, and help. I could use one of her infamous eye rolls right about now.
My arm reaches above her, and she drops to her feet to look at me.
I smirk. “You’re welcome.”
She starts on a different section and hums along to a song playing from the small speaker, her phone connected to it. The upbeat sound tugs at my heartstrings when I’m pulled back into the past.
Riley and I had been soaking up the sun during summer break after I finished my sophomore year. Dad let me borrow his convertible on a perfect, blue-sky day. She screamed the lyrics into the sky with her hands raised above her head. I’d just gotten my driver’s license, and Riley started her new job at The Surf Shack. Our friendship blossomed into something I thought I could never have with her.
The ocean shared its salty breeze as we drove by, while the pink and orange sky swept over us. My eyes locked on the girl I’d fallen head over heels for. Her smile was so contagious that my cheeks started to hurt.
“I know I’ve said it before, but you really are good at painting,” I say. “I’m not sure what it is, but you don’t leave any empty spots. You’re a natural.”
She leans close to me, enough that I get to smell that floral scent of hers. It doesn’t smell like a specificflower, more like a field of wildflowers. My knees bend just an inch so I can hear what she needs to tell me.
