☆

"CAN I INVITE ALEX over for dinner?" Silvia asked, leaning against her doorframe after a series of annoying knocks. Amara glanced up from the page she was writing on in confusion, meeting her sister's gaze

"Alex?" She questioned in response. "Who's Alex?"

"The boy I'm dating."

Amara sat up and flipped her journal shut. "You have a boyfriend? Since when?"

"Well it's not official," Silvia grinned and flopped down next to her. "But I want you to meet him. He's nice. Funny. Bought me flowers yesterday at school."

Amara raised her brows with a smile. "Well, I promised Fi I would go to this club with her tonight. Why don't you swing by the pool later and bring him with you? I can meet him then?"

"Yeah," Silvia nodded. "That'll probably be better, anyway. Don't want him to have to eat your terrible cooking."

"Hey!" Amara protested, chucking a pillow at her as she darted out of her room. "It's not that bad!"

"Whatever you have to tell yourself!"

Amara scoffed in offense, and fell back against her wall, grabbing her notebook again. "Rude."

"Oh," Silvia poked her head back into Amara's room. "Lip is downstairs. He said he wanted to walk you to work."

"Tell him to lick a butthole," Amara replied, not looking up. "I don't want him to walk me."

Silvia groaned. "You know, this whole thing you've got going on between you two is very annoying."

"Uh-huh."

"Why don't you just woman up and tell him how you feel? It's obvious he still-"

"Because I don't know how I feel, okay?" Amara rolled her eyes. "I want to hate him, and a small part of me does. He dumped me for someone else, and if he did that once, who's to say he won't do it again? He's an asshole, and I deserve better."

Silvia scrunched up her nose. "He's trying so hard to make it up to you. I can tell. He keeps asking me how to fix things, I mean, he's like a lost puppy."

Amara sighed. "I don't know what it'll take for me to forgive him, and walking me to work sure as hell isn't going to change anything, either. I'm not sure anything will. He treated me like garbage. So tell him to go home."

Her sister hesitated, but nodded. "See you at the pool later? I'll bring Alex."

Amara waved her off. "Sure, whatever."

☆

"You know sneaking out the front door isn't going to keep me away," Lip's voice said from below, but Amara didn't remove her gaze from the pool. "We've done that trick together so many times. Did you honestly think I couldn't tell that's what you were doing?"

She didn't answer. Lip heaved a sigh and shifted on his feet. "Will you at least look at me?"

"I'm at work," she replied dryly. "Gotta make sure there aren't any drowning kids."

"Right, yeah, I get that."

Amara tried her best not to, but her eyes darted down to him for a split second. Luckily, her sunglasses saved her, and she looked away again. "So why are you still here?"

"Because I know I messed up. And I'm really sorry. I've been beating myself up over it for months. Rehab really cleared my mind. And I miss you."

"Bet you miss that professor you dumped me for to fuck more, though, don't you?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck, you still on that?"

"Evidently so."

Lip huffed, glancing over his shoulder, then back at her. "I know I hurt you really bad. And that's on me. But what I felt for Helene... I thought cheating on you would be way worse. And I didn't want to put you through anymore shit, so I broke up with you."

She swallowed and forced her gaze to remain over the pool. "You love her?"

Lip was quiet for a moment before he replied. "I might've."

"Did you love me?"

There was no answer. Her gut clenched and she finally let her dead tip down to face him fully, and was surprised to see that he was already staring at her. "Uh, I'm not sure."

Amara scoffed. "Right. It's like Karen all over again. You know, we just keep going around in circles. Clearly we're just not meant for each other."

Fuck, what she would do for a new Taylor Swift album right about now.

Lip's face fell and she pretended not to notice. "Maybe you're right. But we've always been there for each other. I can't remember a time where you weren't by my side. We're best friends, Amara. Please don't throw a decade of our friendship away because I fucked up our relationship."

She was looking over the pool again. "Yeah, I'll think about it. Can you go, now? I need to focus on my job, and you're distracting me."

"Yeah," his response was quiet, and he tapped the stand before turning to leave. Lip got about five steps away before facing her again. "You look really hot in that uniform, by the way."

Her heart fluttered and she glared at him through her sunglasses. Stupid fucking feelings—they just kept on betraying her.

☆

"All right!" Amara yelled, bounding down the stairs. "I'm coming! Stop knocking like a maniac. Lip, I swear to God-"

Payton looked down at herself and then back up. "Nope, I'm definitely not Lip."

Amara grinned, taken aback. "Hey, I didn't think you'd come back."

Payton shrugged and leaned forward to hug her, and once they pulled apart, Amara led her into the living room. "Turns out my ex-girlfriend and her entire family is just full of psychos."

"Oh yeah?" Amara raised a brow and looked at her. "What happened?"

Payton shook her head. "Just for future reference, if you're ever staying at a new boyfriend's, make sure to wear your hair up when you sleep."

Amara blinked. "Yeah, I'm not sure I want to know."

Payton snorted, and leaned her head against the couch cushion. "It's quiet in here."

"Margot's at work and Silvia is out with Carl I think."

Payton cocked her head to the side. "What about your grandma?" The question felt like a punch in the gut. Amara shifted on the couch and looked away. "Fuck," she realized. "Oh my God she's not- she's not like... You know... Is she?"

Amara's throat felt dry. "She is."

Payton was stunned into silence for a moment. "Jesus. How long?"

Amara shrugged, blinking rapidly to calm herself before turning back to her friend. "A month. My dad even came to the funeral. I chased him out with a rolling pin," she managed a small chuckle.

Payton blinked as if realizing she didn't want to talk about it. "Right. Guess what?"

"Hm?"

"They've rebuilt the dorms. Going back, now. We've been given a week to return to campus."

"That's good. Bet you miss it, huh?"

She nodded. "You don't?"

"Everyday," Amara answered honestly. "There was no chaos there. Just us three having a good time."

"You and Lip still not back together?"

Amara ran a hand down her face. "I have mixed feelings on him and the entire situation. A small part of me wants to be with him, you know? I've always thought he was it for me. But, God, he's just such an asshole. And after what he said and did... Ugh."

"What about that James guy you told me about?"

Amara pulled a look of disgust. "No way. I've tried that door before. It ended up badly, and even if I did like him, I wouldn't go for him again. We just never... Clicked? Like romantically. But he's alright. I guess he's redeemed himself."

Payton sighed and stared out the window. "I'm gonna go to University of Maine."

Amara straightened up, intrigued now. "To see Logan?"

Payton glanced to her over her shoulder with a smirk. "Yeah. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve before I have to go back to school."

☆