“Mano?” she repeated, confused, but before she could think it through, a new song dropped and the bass shook the floor.
“Anna!” Christina shrieked.
Both girls screamed and jumped together, instantly swallowed by the music and the crowd.
Ody stood there for a second, the noise washing over him while the knot in his stomach tightened. He stepped off the platform onto the sand, leaving the music and neon lights behind as darkness stretched along the beach ahead. Cool sandshifted beneath his feet while he pulled out his phone, scrolling until he found Mano’s name. He hit call and kept walking, the silence broken only by the soft crash of waves and the distant thump of music.
He tried again. Still nothing.
A flicker of movement caught his eye, a distant shape against the shoreline. Someone sitting close to the water. Alone.
He followed the faint sound of a phone ringing somewhere down the beach. With each step, the figure grew clearer. The moon caught on something glassy in their hand.
The ringing grew louder in the dark, and Ody’s pulse jumped. That’s when Mano lifted his phone to look at the screen, just as he tipped back the last swallow of vodka.
Ody ended the call and slowed, approaching him cautiously. “Mano? What are you doing out here?”
Mano didn’t answer. He only reached beside him and grabbed a beer bottle half-buried in the sand. He raised it and took a long swig.
“Where’d you get that?” Ody asked.
Mano leaned back into the sand, staring up at the sky like he was looking at something a thousand miles away. A shaky, humorless chuckle escaped him. “It’s always like this, isn’t it? I knew it.”
“Knew what?” Ody frowned, lowering himself beside him.
Mano inhaled, his chest rising unsteadily. “Didn’t you say you were… my friend… and you wouldn’t leave?” He used the word friend like it could shrink whatever existed between them into something harmless.
“I did…” Ody answered, unsure where this was heading.
Mano’s next breath trembled. His words came low and slurred, heavy with hurt more than alcohol. “I was right. Again. I’m always right… Always…”
Then Ody heard it. Shaky breaths breaking apart. A sob.
“I knew it…” Mano choked out. “I told you this would happen. I said I’d be right… and here we are.” Tears drifted down the side of his face, disappearing into the sand beneath him.
Ody’s chest tightened painfully.
“Why doesn’t anyone want me?” Mano whispered, raw and broken. “What did I do? What have I ever done to you? Huh?” The words sliced straight through Ody. “I was right not to open up to anyone.”
“Mano…” Ody reached out, but Mano pushed himself up and shoved him hard, tears streaking down his cheeks.
“This isyourfault!” he cried, breath hitching. His eyes glistened with betrayal, the kind that didn’t belong to a simple friendship. “You… you made me think I had a friend.”
Ody stayed frozen, the words hitting harder than the shove.
“Just because you could,” Mano went on, his voice trembling. “You wanted to go shopping… go out to eat… so you thought, ‘I’ll call that fool. Drag him along. Take him on vacation… Then play with him whenever I feel like it.’” His face crumpled.
Ody felt like something inside him was collapsing.
“I never should’ve let you get this close,” Mano said, barely holding himself together. “Never should’ve told you anything. It was all a mistake.”
He stared out at the ocean, shoulders shaking. “You even lied to me,” he said, quieter now, like it hurt to say it. “At the beach… when you said you like me.” His jaw clenched hard. “Must’ve been hilarious for you. Watching me get flustered like an idiot.”
He turned back toward Ody, eyes burning through the tears. “Are you having fun, Ody? Huh? Are you?”
Ody opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Mano’s pain hit him so hard it stole every word from his throat.
Mano started to rise from the sand, but Ody shot forward and caught his wrist before he could stand. “You’re right,” he forced out. “I lied to you.”
