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Her face lit up. “Oh, are you, now?”
I looked away. “Don’t make it weird. I’ve just always wanted to try and never really got around to trying it.”
“Paisley convinced you, didn’t she?”
“It’s not that… I can make decisions for myself, too, you know.”
She just smiled knowingly as she tapped away at the screen, and I burned.
Still, it wasn’t long before I was out at the water’s edge, and I had the bright yellow and blue inflatable on the sand in front of me, kneeling and fumbling around inside it to get the tent part of it pitched properly. Paisley was late, because the woman had a god-awful sense of timekeeping and I had no idea whyIof all people was attracted to someone who couldn’t keep time, and Iwas going to jab a hole in the damn thing and let it drown at the rate it was giving me a headache, and I finally gave up and texted her.
Paisley where the hell are you?
She replied immediately.oh shoot!!! I thought we said ten omg I’m cominggggg I’m just getting bubble tea please still love me
I rubbed my forehead. This woman was going to be the death of me. She was a good reminder why I was leaving this damn town. Just getting away from her was reason enough.
She texted again.do you want anything? they have tea!
yeah, of course they have fucking tea. no, I’m good, I just want you to hurry up.
Ugh… I kind of did want bubble tea, now that she asked. The brown sugar milk tea—whatever Dani did to make it, it wasn’t like anything I’d had anywhere else, and I was deeply craving it now that I’d thought about it, but I wasn’t going to go back and tell Paisley I did want one. That would be mortifying.
So I went back to setting up the camper, and I’d finally finished getting the tent up and had it sitting while the inflator pump ran when I got another text from Paisley, a shot of her hands carrying two drinks. She’d… gotten me the brown sugar milk tea. She got it with half sugar, the way I liked it, too. I sighed. I had no idea how I was supposed to pretend I wasn’t enjoying it.
I guess I’m having bubble tea. also, how did you take that picture? your hands are full
She replied right away.paisley has her ways.
Right. So she did. The fewer questions I asked, the better.
At least Paisley had picked a good day for a break, not that I imagine she’d thought about that at all—the air was cool and a nice breeze off the ocean kept it feeling brisk and fresh, but the clear-sky sunlight was warm. The air smelled fresh, clean, thesalty scent of the ocean mixing with the smell of fresh grass and young flowers, and I breathed it in deep knowing I’d probably never get that feeling again.
Every place had its individual smell, and no matter where I went, it would never smell exactly like Bayview did in the spring again—that specific combination of aromas that felt like opening up the door and seeing the sunlight again. And if this was my last time taking a day off to go out and breathe it in…
This was what leaving always felt like, I knew. I had to get used to this kind of life. Bayview wasn’t the last place I was going to have to leave.
“Yo, Harps,” Paisley’s voice called from behind me, and I turned to face her and genuinely, honest-to-god would have kept looking for her if I didn’t see the two cups of bubble tea in her hands.
She looked like a completely different person. She’d switched out the oversized sweater and shorts for a matching set of black sports bra and leggings, both printed with a sleek minimal design, and had a striking yellow coat pulled on over top, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and through the back of a baseball cap—I didn’t think I’d ever once seen her with her hair up, or with a hat. High-top sneakers with a color splash design finished the look, which might have been the first time I saw her wear something other than her ratty old tennis shoes.
And she didn’t have her glasses on. I wouldn’t have recognized her without the big round glasses alone. Everything else? If I hadn’t heard her voice, I’d have thought she’d asked someone else to deliver the tea for her.
She took quick steps from the paved path down onto the sandbar, and she thrust the brown sugar tea into my hands. “Don’t just stand there gawking. You could say hi. You know, the polite thing to do?”
“Uh—hi.” I flushed, it suddenly setting in that it actuallywasPaisley. She was… well, she’d always been more attractive than I wanted to admit, but this look—it worked better for her than I’d have ever imagined. “So… should I assume the reason you’re late is because you had to go shopping for clothes?”
“That took, like, thirty minutes. The reason I’m late is because I had to dig out my contacts and clean them. I probably need a new pair because I’ve had a new prescription since I got these, but I’ll do that another time. So? I look hot, right?”
My throat suddenly felt like it was coated with sand. I looked away. “You certainly went all-out with the restyle.”
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her shoulders slump. “Yeah… just, you know, just trying stuff. It’s the only way to know what works. I guess it’s an exploration.”
Shit, she thought I hated it. Even just out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was mortified. I put a hand to my forehead. “Ugh, all right, fine. Yeah. You look good. It, uh… works well on you.”
She snorted, looking away, sipping her tea. “Oh my god, even I don’t want pity compliments, Harps. How pathetic do I look?”
“No—it’s not a pity compliment, just…” The inflator pump went quiet behind me, and I turned to where the camper was ready, sitting on the sand close to where the waves lapped. It was taller than I’d expected once it was inflated—I wasn’t exactly riding a lot of inflatable dinghies, so I hadn’t really realized how big they got. Paisley followed my gaze.
