There aren't many times in my life when I had wished Alex wasn't there. I had wished he didn't have to see me get up on the stage in our school's auditorium and receive an award for my excellent grades every year. I had wished he hadn't come for a movie night when Mum had made pizza and he had his spring allergies, which didn't allow him to eat anything with cheese. I had wished he wouldn't be at school every time we made cards for Mother's Day.

Right now, I'm wishing he wasn't standing right before me on the pavement, looking at me through his squinted light brown eyes. Even if he was eager to talk with me, he'd stop the moment I told him where I was and, if I admitted my feelings for Kal, Alex would delete me from his life with a "K bye".

"Hi," I breathe out. "Hi, how..." My mind is blank. "Hi."

Alex bites his lower lip. It's a nervous habit of his and, judging by the dried blood and chewed-up skin, he'd been doing a lot lately.

"Hi," he says finally. "Look, I wasn't actually looking for you..."

My heart drops to my stomach. Of course. Why would he be looking for me? It's not like we have anything to talk about. Being best friends since birth doesn't mean that much these days.

"Kal is on his way out," I say like I'm not hurt at all.

Alex gulps. "I'm not looking for him, either. I... I was actually going to meet Sofia."

My shoulders fall. "Oh. Okay. That's good."

As soon as I hear my words, the gif I've sent a thousand times come to mind: Thor responding to Bruce Banner, eyes squinted and head tilted: "Is it, though?"

Alex shrugs. "I'm not sure if it's time yet, but she had been texting me a lot."

"You could have muted her," I reply matter-of-factly.

"I... I didn't want to," Alex says. "But we have to talk anyway."

I kick a small rock to my left and let my gaze linger on it. "Yeah, you do."

"Yeah, I've been doing some thinking and I have so much to say," he says.

I shrug and continue kicking the pebble between my feet.

"I guess I should talk with Kal as well. I wasn't in any condition to actually talk the last time," Alex continues. "Olivia made me spill everything today."

I look up at him. "Okay. There's lots of talking in your schedule. Call me if you can ever squeeze me in there," I say and kick the pebble towards him.

I shove past him as I go. It's accidental but it feels good. It's the next best thing to smacking some sense into his stupid head.

No pebble is safe as I walk back home.

Why is he so stupid?

Kick.

Does he care about me that little?

I kick an empty Pepsi can, but then I grab it to toss it to the nearest bin.

He meets with some girl he dated for a year right away, but he doesn't even think to make time for me.

I stand a few feet away from the bin and close my one eye to aim better. I throw the can but miss.

Huffing, I rush to the road and take the can. I squeeze it as much as I can before throwing it in the trash, this time from a closer distance.

One thing. I don't tell him one thing and he's mad at me for days. It's as if I was the one who cheated on him.

I exhale sharply. If I was the one who cheated on him, he would have been pining over me and willing to let it all in the past. If I was his "best man" who made out with his girlfriend, he would have been thinking about me and what to tell me.

The pang of jealousy is growing bigger, and so does my guilt. I should be happy Alex is going to make up with Kal, at least.

When I reach my house, I make a dash for my room, ignoring Lucky, who's jumping on me shaking her tail. She's doing it because she can smell Kal on me, anyway.

Eliza barges inside and smirks when she sees me. "Look who's flustered," she says, her hands on her waist. "My innocent little sister. You should consider auditioning for a Disney channel series. You can do so many explicit things, like hand-holding and-"

I huff. "I'm not flustered because of Kal." Rolling my eyes, I add "Well, not anymore."

Eliza frowns. "What happened?"

I groan. "Nothing." I think about it for a second. "Nothing yet. If you hear Alex died in his sleep, it's going to be because of me. If you could help me get away with it, I'd be glad."

Eliza shakes her head and sits on my swivel chair. "Hang on. You're mad at Alex now? What did he do?"

"Nothing!" I exclaim, throwing my hands in the air. "And that's the problem."

Eliza doesn't speak for a few moments. "Okay, don't talk to me about it if you can't yet. You have to tell me everything that went down with Kal, though," she says with a smile.

Maybe it's contagious, because I find myself smiling too. "Okay, we were sitting under a tree..."                                                       

             ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"...and then we kissed," I say with a dreamy sigh. I hate that bit, but I blame it on it being Kate and Olivia. They are the ones who interrupted me every second with their sighs and "aw"s.

We're at the skate park. Olivia was here when I texted her, and since Kate also wanted to hang out we all met here. I'm sitting on my usual bench under the willow tree, hugging my knees. It's evening now, and the sky is turning a darker shade of blue with every passing minute. The street lamps are on and the moon is already standing out in the sky, joined by a few visible stars.

"Parfait is so going to be your flavor," Olivia says. She's standing on her skateboard, swinging from left to right.

"Aw, they have a flavor," Kate coos. "How cute is that?"

I feel my cheeks warming up, so I elbow her at the ribs. "Stop it. That's corny."

"Oh, Summer is blushing," Olivia says in a baby voice. She bends a little and pinches my cheek.

Kate chuckles. "I have a confession to make."

Shit, she's going to say she likes Kal and make it awkward

"Remember when we were doing the dare thing on your birthday?"

Olivia and I nod.

Kate places a chunk of blonde hair behind her ear. "Well, the dare was to give a hickey to the person on your right but... I thought fast. I had sensed some tension and wanted to see if there was something more there."

I groan but Olivia laughs.

"And yet she didn't do anything later," she says with a chuckle. "But I have to admit, she was committed to giving Kal a hickey."

"Poor guy, his neck will be purple from now on," Kate says and nudges me.

I hide my face in my hands, positive it's beet red by now. "I hadn't given anyone a hickey before that."

"It's okay, Summer. You can practice now," Olivia says, winking at me when I look up at her. She ties her ponytail tighter. "Besides, Kal wasn't mad about that first hickey."

I squint at her. "What do you mean?"

Kate chuckles. "In case you haven't noticed, Kal is a very open guy. He talks about everything."

"Right, it's his way of coping," Olivia agrees. "Whenever he has something going on, he tells me, whether it's sad or happy."

I notice her smile fades for a second.

"I'm happy he talks," I say. "Knowing what he was going through, I would expect him to explode if he kept all his emotions bottled up."

Kate nudges me. "He talks about you, too."

My heart leaps. "No, he doesn't."

"Oh, but he does!" Kate says with a smile. "I had to force it out of him, true, but since he started talking he wouldn't stop."

I squint at her. "Wait..." I shake my head. "Sorry, I got the feeling you were flirting with him."

Kate bites her lip. "I was. At first it was because he's hot. Then I kept it up to see if I'm attracted to him sexually, and later I did it to make you jealous. He didn't ask me to," she adds quickly.

"So, what's the verdict?" I ask with a chuckle and, let's be real, a sigh of relief.

Olivia stops swaying and hops next to me. "There's a verdict?"

Kate shrugs. "I wasn't. I'm not sure if I'm full-on ace or demi, but I'm somewhere in the spectrum." She huffs. "And here I was, thinking I was faking it to make sure guys weren't being nice to me just to get in my pants."

I pat her back. "You don't have to figure it out right now."

"Yeah, you don't even need a label," Olivia says with a nod. "You'll know when you know."

Kate smiles. "Thank you, guys. But, to be fair, the thought of sex makes me want to gag."

Olivia bursts out laughing. "Then maybe you're just freaky," she says, wiping tears from her eyes.

I chuckle while Kate squeezes her eyes shut.

"Cmon," she says as she gets up. "Teach me how to skate, you promised."

Olivia grabs her skateboard from the cement. "Alright, we're going to the small ramp today."

Olivia proves herself to be a great teacher. Kate soon manages to slide down the ramp without falling on her butt, and I learn, after weeks of practice, how to do the FS 180 Ollie. A few guys approach us, and by us I mean Kate, volunteering to teach her how to skate. She keeps telling them she's got a teacher already, and, when they see Olivia, they back off immediately. I joke about her owning the place but she dismisses it, saying she's just a big fish in a small pond, which is partially true, but it doesn't detract from her talent. Both my friends keep bringing up Kal and I keep getting redder than an overripe tomato.

I don't mind it. I ponder how crazy it is that Kal's name used to make my insides flip buy now it gives this warm, fuzzy feeling.

...................

Hi! I missed this Friday's update by a few days but who's counting? I have a feeling I'll miss it again but I'll try not to.

Thank you so much for 4k reads! Considering how long it took me to reach 2k, this was fast! Thank you for sticking by, voting and commenting. I love interacting with you all :)

Btw, thanks h034flynnrideR for the divider idea :)

How's your week going? 

I'm on Easter holiday and I'm so happy :) I wish I get to catch up on my Spring TBR list.

Has anyone here ever read the Kane Chronicles? I had started reading them years ago but since I was fresh out of Percy Jackson I thought they were boring but, reading now, I love them :)