“Before or after I take her to my room?” Callum lowered his voice, not wanting Sofia to hear his fake ass bragging. “Act, Leif. Or you’ll let every man take her.”
Leif scoffed but said nothing, as if his best friend knew he was putting on a show too, pretending to be confident, which he normally was. He was work-confident, not love-confident. Not since Vanessa, at least. Not since he’d put everything into that relationship and it had gone to shit.
Leif’s eyes followed Asma like gravity had already claimed him, a little bit like when he’d found Alejandra hoisting her shortboard onto her head and heading down to the beach.
Callum sighed, pitying his best friend.
Some people refused to save themselves.
The question was: was Callum one of them, or not?
3
ALEJANDRA
At The Beach, In Every Life - Gigi Perez
When Alejandra surfacedbeyond the impact zone after duck-diving beneath the wave, she spotted Sofia sitting in her usual spot. Her best friend was way off to the side of the lineup, where the waves lost interest in trying to prove anything and just gently rocked you, like a giant salty cradle.
Alejandra paddled closer, careful not to disturb whatever reflection-meditation-crying spiral Sofia had gotten herself into this time. Grief didn’t come with warning signs or a user manual. It just showed up. Loud, rude, and often when you were in the middle of something inconvenient, like ordering coffee or putting on a wetsuit.
Since Antonio—Sofia’s dad—had passed the year before, she had been a cocktail of storm and sunshine. Most days she kept it together. Other days, not so much. And Sofia, being Sofia, texted Alejandra about her breakdowns the way other people sent weatherupdates.
“Today I cried just once while diving.”
“Today I didn’t cry at all. Progress.”
“Today I cried three times because the fucking Spotify playlist he made started in the car.”
Grief was a shitshow. But Alejandra and Sofia had been there for each other every messy, salty, ugly-tears part of it. She wasn’t going to let her deal with the biggest grief of her life alone. They’d met when they were five, on that very beach bonding over a shared hatred of jellyfish and an obsession with pink floaties. Some friendships were built for survival. And Alejandra was sure that this was one of them.
“Look who we have here,” Alejandra chirped as she paddled up next to her. “The most beautiful bride in the realm.”
Sofia sniffed and splashed water on her face like she could hide the redness around her brown eyes.
“Dad won’t be here tomorrow,” she admitted softly.
Alejandra pouted slightly, letting her board drift until they were side by side. “He will,” her voice barely louder than the water lapping around them. “He’s always around.”
“I fucking sound like a broken record,” Sofia muttered. “Always crying. I don’t even know what Ilias sees in me.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Alejandra burst. “He worships the literal ground you walk on. That man would drink your piss and eat your shit if the situation required it.”
Sofia scrunched up her nose, then let out a snort. “You’re disgusting.”
“But I made you laugh. Poop jokes always make you laugh.”
“Eres una idiota, but they are always funny,” Sofia joked, wiping her eyes.
There was a beat of calm. Just the two of them floating in the sea, letting the sun warm their faces and the grief ebb out in manageable waves.
“Funny like you not telling me the nerd trio came outstraight from a fucking runway?” Alejandra cocked an eyebrow, side-eyeing her best friend.
Sofia blinked. “What did you think they looked like?”
“I don’t know, They are the nerd trio.Nerds? Pocket protectors, bad posture, maybe a suspicious number of cargo pants?” Alejandra flailed her arms for dramatic effect.
Sofia broke into a fit of laughter. “You should stop categorizing nerds like that!”
