Before anything else can be said, thunder crashes down the stairs. Bailey appears in full force. She has her wetsuit on (the one Maddy gifted her), a towel over her shoulder and hair pulled into a tight braid. She spots Maddy and instantly lights up. “Maddy!”
“Hey, Bailey,” Maddy says, softer now, smiling in a way that punches straight through my chest.
Bailey pulls her into a quick hug, then leans back and looks between us with a spark of something suspiciously smug.
Maddy gestures to the wetsuit. “Wow. It looks really good on you.”
Bailey spins once like she’s on a runway. “I know, right? Hot surf dudes won’t know what hit them.”
I give her a look.
She snorts. “Relax, protective psycho.” She leans closer to me and elbows my side lightly. “Pretty sure you’ve punched enough guys for one week.”
Maddy and I share a brief, awkward glance.
Okay, now Iamgoing to kill her.
Bailey claps her hands once. “Okay! Let’s go. Waves are waiting. Bye, big brother.”
She breezes past us toward the door. Maddy lingers half a second behind, gives me a tight smile without meeting my eyes and then turns to follow.
I don’t mean to move, but my hand lifts anyway, brushing lightly against her arm. She stops and looks back over her shoulder. Our eyes meet.
“Have fun,” I say, almost whispering.
Something flickers across her face and her lips part with a small breath. “Thanks Ry.”
She gives me a tiny smile, then turns and walks down the path toward Bailey who is already waiting on the passenger side. Maddy unlocks the door with her key and they both get it, the door shutting softly after them. A moment later, the engine starts and they pull away, disappearing out the street. And I’m left standing in the doorway, but then get myself inside. I close the door slowly and lean back against it, dragging a hand over my face. Then my phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out.
Study session at H&B. 9:00
We’ve been sitting in the café for about an hour and a half with textbooks open in front of us, coffees slowly going cold between our hands and half-eaten pastries scattered across the table.
Mel and Liam are side by side on the bench, shoulders touching but unusually quiet. Kiara is across from them, spinning a pen between her fingers instead of writing anything down. Noah sits next to me, elbows on the table, staring at the same page for so long I’m pretty sure he hasn’t read a single word.
No one is talking. The only sounds are the soft turn of pages, someone shifting in their chair every few minutes—and the lowbackground hum of the espresso machine, cups clinking softly, and the receipt printer spitting out orders in short, steady bursts.
Every now and then, someone glances up. At someone else. At me. And then their eyes drop back down so fast I’m sure it can beat Max Verstappen’s record time.
Mel clears her throat first, her voice careful. “So… we heard Maddy is teaching Bailey to surf this morning.”
I keep my head down, tracing the same sentence in my book for the hundredth time, and nod once. “Yeah.”
“That’s… nice of her, right?” Liam adds quietly.
“Mhm.”
Silence settles again. And out of the corner of my eye, I catch Kiara leaning slightly toward Noah, whispering something under her breath while Liam mouths something across the table, barely moving his lips. The others pick it up immediately, like they’re having an entire conversation without making a sound, passing looks back and forth, trying way too hard to stay subtle.
I try to focus on my notes, but it’s impossible. And the second I finally look up, they all snap their attention away way too fast. Like middle schoolers who just got caught staring.
I let out a slow breath. “Just say it.”
Their eyes snap toward me, and Kiara doesn’t hesitate. “What the actual hell happened last night? With Jacob. With you. With Maddy?”
A couple people at the next table glance over. I flick my eyes around the room for a second, then lean in a little, lowering my voice.
“Jacob started talking shit,” I say flatly. “I hit him. End of story.”
