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“You’re sure this is Maddox Kessler we’re talking about?” I ask dubiously.
Sloane grins, leaning back on her elbows and gazing up at the canopy of trees overhead dreamily. “I’m telling you guys, it was the sweetest thing. All of it was just so unexpected, it’s like we were seventeen again.”
“Ugh, Ican’t,” Andie gushes.
“You sure this is the same Madd Kessler we all know?” I ask again, arching a brow. “Tall, tattooed, permanent frown on his face?”
Sloane barks a laugh, throwing a hand over to swat my arm. The three of us are lying side by side on the sandy bank of the swimming hole in the woods near the squad complex, drying off in the sun atop our towels after taking a dip. Avery declared that we needed girl time, so we all shirked our duties for the afternoon and hiked up here to indulge her. And speaking of Avery…
I sit up, shading the sun from my eyes with a hand as I glance up to the rocks jutting out from the top of the waterfall that streams into the swimming hole, where my crazy friend is currently climbing.
“You alright, Aves?” I call, watching as she pulls herself up onto a broad ledge, her tanned skin glistening with moisture.
She finds her footing, shooting to her feet triumphantly and pumping her arms over her head. “Never been better!” She proceeds to show off by doing a little dance, spinning around to shake her ass at us in her little pink bikini as I suck in a gasp.
“Be careful!” I scold, all too aware of how close her bare feet are to the edge of the rock.
Andie sits up beside me, laughing as Avery continues her dance, completely ignoring my warning. “You’re crazy, you know that?!” she hollers, pushing her heart-shaped sunglasses up the bridge of her nose as she watches her with a smile.
“No,you’recrazy for not coming up here with me, ya chicken shits!” Avery taunts, still prancing way too close to the edge for my liking.
I hold my breath as she readies herself to jump, Sloane offering to count her down.
“One… two…”
Before she even gets to three, Avery leaps from the ledge with a shout, tucking her legs up and doing a cannonball into the water below. We all shriek as we’re splashed with droplets of water and I throw up my hands to block the spray, peeking nervously between my fingers to make sure she resurfaces.
Avery sputters a cough as her head pops up out of the water, laughing with joy like she just experienced the thrill of her life.
Sloane chuckles, shaking her head as she turns to look at me. “How much you wanna bet she’s about to try to talk us into going back up there with her?”
“Noway,” I declare adamantly.
“Aw, c’mon,” Andie urges, nudging me from my other side. “You could use some excitement in your life, Lolo!”
I whip around, narrowing my eyes on her. “Yeah? You gonna carry me back to the complex when I break both my legs?”
“Oh my gosh, you guys!” Avery exclaims, emerging from the water and walking up the bank toward us. Droplets of water stream down her skin, glinting in the sunlight like diamonds. “Youhaveto try that. C’mon, who’s coming with me?” She claps her hands together, sweeping her eager gaze over the three of us resting in the sand.
“Hard pass,” I say wryly, avoiding her stare.
She rolls her eyes, gathering the strands of her drenched hair over a shoulder and twisting them around to wring the water out. “You guys are no fun,” she pouts, her mischievous gazesliding from me to Sloane. “How about you, babe? Up for another jump?”
Sloane eyes the rock ledge hesitantly, rolling her lower lip between her teeth. “Oh, I dunno…”
“I think Sloane’s jumped from enough heights with you Kesslers lately,” Andie comments, sweeping in with the save. She’s referencing Sloane’s initiation, which was just a couple of days ago- where her last task was taking a leap off the ski-lift with Madd.
“Whatever,” Avery sighs, seemingly giving up her efforts at peer pressure and walking over to her towel spread in the sand on the other side of Sloane, plopping down onto it. “So what’d I miss?”
“Sloane was just telling us about Madd’s big romantic gesture at the lodge the other night,” I provide, shockingly not sounding half as bitter as I feel.
The truth is, now would be the perfect time to tell my girlfriends about Javi. Sloane’s account of what Madd did for her at the lodge- cleaning up the presidential suite for the two of them to share a romantic evening- is the perfect opening to tell them about how Javi cleaned up the cabin for me, getting the lights working and wining and dining me like a perfect gentleman. I want nothing more than to gush about how sweet he’s been, just like Sloane’s has with Madd, but there’s still a little voice in my head that’s holding me back.
I think part of me is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. All of this feels too perfect; too good to be true. People don’t justgetpicture-perfect love stories like this, do they? I mean, Sloane’s on cloud nine right now, but she and Madd went through hellbefore they got their happy ending. Things with Javi almost seemtooeasy.
Or maybe I’m just getting in my own way.
I have a horrible habit of overthinking every little thing. It’s part of the reason that I’ve never really dated- because I always overanalyzed the potential of relationships and zeroed in on every little flaw. In the past, I’ve spent too much energy focusing on why thingscouldn’twork, rather than opening myself up to the possibility of seeing if theycould. And while I’ve let a lot of that go since I’ve started seeing Javi, there’s still a part of me that has to actively fight against that self-destructive mindset.
