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“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s dark and we barely know anyone out here,” she says, putting her hand on mine.
I pour myself another shot, taking it quickly before responding.
“I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl,” I tell her, rolling my eyes.
The alcohol is buzzing in my brain, and I know that’s my cue to stop.
“Marley,” she warns.
I stare across the fire, watching Riley wrap herself around Clark. For some reason, the image feels like it’s being seared into my brain, and honestly, it makes me want to throw up.
“I’ve got my location on. If I’m not back soon, send out a search party,” I tell her, handing her the shot glass.
I ditch my shoes next to the piece of wood that’s being used for a makeshift seat. Grabbing my dress from the bottom, I bunch it up in my hands, walking down towards the edge of the water.
I see lightning off in the distance, and it’s followed shortly with a crack of thunder. That’s probably a sign that I shouldn’t even leave the area, but I can’t find it in me to care.
I didn’t expect coming back here to affect me so much. It’s just another fucking weekend trip to the family beach house. I didn’t know my sister was going to have a bunch of shit stashed in places for me to find. Almost as if she’s leading me on some wild fucking goose chase about why she did what she did.
The water feels cold on my feet, but I welcome the bite of pain that it brings from the sting of it. I welcome feeling any type of anything right now. I want to feel something besides numb for once in my fucking life.
I know I’ve walked too far when I come up to a pier. Instead of walking on the pier, like a normal person would, I walk under, leaning against one of the pillars, watching the waves crash against the shore.
“What the fuck are you doing out here?”
I smell the faint stink of marijuana before I even see him, but that voice is one I’d know anywhere, because when he speaks, I feel it everywhere.
“The real question is, what the fuck are you doing out here?” I bite back, turning to face the water.
The thunder is louder now, but being this close to the water makes it hard to know if the rain has actually started.
“You could fucking drown out here in the dark.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but I know how to swim, and even so, I’m not fucking swimming.”
“You don’t have to be swimming to drown,” he points out, walking over towards me.
I look down at his feet, to avoid any sort of eye contact, and I see that he’s barefoot also.
“Seriously, beauty, why are you out here?”
There he goes again with that nickname. Beauty. It makes me feel like he thinks I’m something fragile. Get too close, you might break me.
Maybe he’s on to something.
“I needed some air,” I tell him.
“You couldn’t have done that a little closer to the group? Delaney was freaking the fuck out.”
“Well, as you can see, I’m fine,” I say, throwing my arms out.
“The problem is, you’re not,” he says, taking one last drag of his joint, before leaning down to snuff it out in the water.
I watch him stick it into his pocket, instead of tossing it into the water like I expected.
“Are you some kind of expert on me? You barely fucking know me.”
“I’ve known you your whole life.”
