it we were graduating.
Three days ago, we received our high school diplomas. It was supposed to be the beginning of a new adventure, but to me it felt like the end of something good. Yet another milestone that my mom had missed. Yet another step closer to Jude leaving.
Now, I stared at my phone screen, my initial excitement replaced with a stone of dread sinking to the pit of my stomach as another message came in. I’d just done laps in Christy’s pool and I’d come out feeling all Zen, my muscles relaxed, but now I was all keyed up and tense. Because of a stupid text message.
“They’re home,” I told Christy, who was sitting cross-legged on a lounger, a bowl of cut-up fruit in her lap. It was hot as Hades out here but she looked cool as a cucumber in a black bikini and enormous black sunglasses.
“What did he say?” she asked, popping a grape into her mouth. “Did he give you any more info?”
I shook my head and tossed my phone in my canvas tote. “Nope.” Gathering my wet hair into a knot, I secured it with the elastic band on my wrist and sat on the edge of the lounger across from her. “All he said was that they went camping and it was a male bonding thing. Now he said we need to talk.” I gnawed on my lip, dread pooling in my stomach. It would only take a few words from him to destroy me. “Nothing good ever comes of those words.”
“It might be good news. Maybe he has a surprise for you. Or maybe it’s code for, I’ve been away for three days and I need pussy.”
I laughed but it sounded feeble. “If that was it, he’d be sexting. This is not sexting. It sounds serious.” I stared at the back yard where her mom was teaching a yoga class under the trees. “Ground yourself,” she said as she led the group of ladies through the poses. They were supposed to be trees, standing tall and strong.
“I just don’t understand why they couldn’t be honest. Jude and Brody don’t need to keep secrets from me,” I said, absently spinning the silver charm bracelet on my wrist. It had been there since my eighteenth birthday three weeks ago. The Swarovski crystals on the silver star sparkled in the sunlight. So bright it was almost blinding.
Jude bought me a star for my birthday. An actual star that he named Star of Lila. It was one of the stars in the constellation Orion and it came with certificates and a map to find it in the night sky. When I asked why he chose Orion, he said those were the stars that guided Odysseus home. I’d resisted the urge to ask if he planned to be gone for ten years and if his journey back would be an odyssey riddled with trials, tribulations and temptations.
It was pointless to try and predict what the future held. And it was probably for the best that we couldn’t see into it.
Was he going to break up with me? Would the guy who bought me a star and told me he loved me every chance he got actually do that? I didn’t know. All I knew was that he’d been acting strange.
“Maybe it’s exactly what he said. They went on a camping trip so they could bond. Don’t make a big deal out of it. You’ll drive yourself nuts.”
Too late. I’d been driving myself nuts for three days. Actually, it had been longer than that. Something had been off with him and Brody for the entire week before our graduation. “I just hate feeling left out,” I admitted.
“Triangles are tricky. Unless you turn it into a threesome, one man is always out.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that kind of triangle.”
Her dark brows arched. “Sure it’s not. You live with two hot guys who also happen to be your best friends. Not to mention they’re practically brothers.” She fanned herself with her hand. “God, that’s hot.”
“It’s not like that,” I insisted.
“Yeah, okay.” Christy plucked a strawberry from the bowl and bit into it. “So you don’t notice the way Brody looks at you?”
“Brody doesn’t…” I shook my head, disputing her words. “We’re just friends. How did we even get on this topic?”
“We were trying to work out what went down on this camping trip.”
I stared into the blue depths of the swimming pool as if it held the answers. “What