I WAKE IN THE morning to the sound of my sister quietly moving around her room. She takes stacks of clothes from her drawers and places them into her suitcase, reminding me she’s leaving tomorrow. The irony that I should be doing the same isn’t lost on me. Unfortunately, I made some idiotic choices last year and now I’m required to repeat half of my senior year. I guess that’s karma’s doing, and man is she a bitch.
“Can’t you take me with you? Hide me in your suitcase or some shit?”
She chuckles, walking to the side of the bed to sit beside me. “You know I would if I could.”
The two of us learned early in life to rely on each other. When our parents would argue. When our sister tried bossing us around and then lied to get us in trouble when we didn’t let her. When our best friend showed up at school after vanishing for years, only to act like she had no idea who we were. It’s always been her and me—the one constant thing I knew I could count on.
“What am I going to do without you?” I murmur sadly.
“The same thing you always do—make dad want to rip his hair out and laugh as you do it.”
I laugh, partly because it makes me sound like a maniac and partly because it’s true. It’s no secret that I’m the menace of the family. Delaney and our older sister Ainsley have always been the ones destined for greatness, but me? I’ve made it a game to see how many times I can get on my father’s shit list. I know they say to love your family and all that nonsense, but whoever said that never had a dad like mine.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand, and my heart sinks when I see the name. Easton—my boyfriend, at least for now, anyway. In a few days, he’ll be leaving for college like everyone else, and I’ll be stuck here. We’ve both been avoiding the inevitable conversation, but it looks like time has run out. I take the device into my hand and swipe it open, seeing exactly what I thought I would.
Easton: We need to talk.
We need to talk. Four words every girl loves to hear. Lucky for me, I’ve always looked at this relationship exactly for what it is—something to pass the time. Don’t get me wrong, Easton has helped me through a lot, but it would be naive of me to think we have any chance of making long distance work. I’m better than letting some high school fling turn into me being cheated on for months.
Tessa: The lake. One hour.
Delaney watches as I drop my phone into my lap and run my hands over my face. The comforting touch she places on my back tells me she’s here if I need her, but this is something I have to do on my own. Besides, as of tomorrow, I won’t have my sister to lean on for emotional support anymore. Sink or swim, bitch.
“Are we still on for the club tonight?” I ask, getting up from the bed.
“Yeah. I think Sav said she wants to leave around nine.”
I nod and head toward the door, only to be stopped.
“Tess?” Laney calls, causing me to glance back at her. “I love you.”
A small grin spreads across my face. “I love you, too.”
With that, I go to get ready for my unavoidable breakup.
AS SOON AS I pull into the parking lot, Easton can hear me coming. That’s the thing about having a jet-black Lamborghini Aventador—it’s a bit noticeable. As much as I love this car, it was a birthday present from my parents. Sometimes, that makes it feel more like a ball and chain than a luxury.
“You look good,” he tells me as soon as I climb out of the car.
I smirk. “Don’t I always?”
The tension between us is so thick I could choke on it. It’s like we both know exactly where this is heading but neither of us want to be the one to say it. I run my fingers through my long brown hair and look him up and down. There are a lot of things that attracted me to Easton in the first place, the main being his tendency to not give a single fuck about authority. His brunette locks are brushed away from his face, and his matching brown eyes are an aching reminder of all the time I spent staring into them. I walk around to the front and sit on the hood of my car.
“So, when do you leave?”
He looks down at the ground and lightly kicks a rock. “The day after tomorrow.”
I press my lips into a thin line, nodding. “That’s cool.”
The two of us don’t say a word as we look out at the water and hope for something to offset the awkwardness. If I’m being honest, the silence is excruciating. I take a deep breath. Since he clearly doesn’t have the balls to do it, I’m going to have to.
“So, it was fun, right?”
His brows furrow. “What?”
“This.” I gesture between the two of us. “We had a good time while it lasted.”
As soon as he realizes what I’m saying, he exhales. “We’re breaking up.”
“Easton, don’t act like you didn’t see it coming. You and I both knew what this was.” I hop off the car and wrap my arms around him. “No hard feelings.”
He kisses the top of my head, releasing me as soon as I move to back away and walk to the driver’s side.
“Are you ever going to settle down?” he calls out. “Let someone make an honest woman out of you?”
The question almost catches me by surprise. Almost. I bite my lip to suppress my grin. “What’s the fun in that?”
I can hear him chuckle as I get in and shut the door. The engine roars to life before I back out of the space. With one last soft smile at Easton, I drive out of there, never looking back. It isn’t that I don’t care about him. He helped me get through some pretty rough times. But I’ve made it a rule not to let anyone get close enough to hurt me. It’s the best way I know to stay unbroken. The single tear that slides down my cheek is the only one I’ll allow myself to shed.
THE CLUB IS PULSING with energy as the music vibrates through the walls and the floor. I slide my fake ID back into my wallet and wait for my sister and friends to do the same. Knox, Delaney’s troublemaker boyfriend, wraps his arms around her from behind, making her smile. The two of them were the most unexpected couple, being as my sister was practically a nun before she met him, but they work in the best possible way.
“All right, bitches,” Grayson says in his best valley-girl voice. “Someone come with me to get a beer. I’m ready to get shwastey.”
We all laugh as Knox smacks him in the stomach. “Remind me again why I’m friends with you?”
Gray falls into Knox’s arms. “Because I’m your soulmate and you love me.”
“Aye, watch it.” Delaney levels him with a single look.
He stands up and raises his hands in surrender. “Uh-oh. Looks like I made your little Bambi mad.”
Savannah rolls her eyes. “You’re not even drunk yet, and I’m already wanting to take your ass home.”
“Ooh,” he coos, bouncing his eyebrows. “For some hanky panky?”
As Grayson goes in to kiss Sav, she stops him with her hand on his forehead. “Call it hanky panky one more time.”
Knox chuckles and grabs Gray by the arm. “All right, let’s get you that drink before you make Savannah realize how much better she is than you.”
As they walk away, Delaney and Savannah watch them, looking so loved up it almost makes me sick. I’m happy for them, of course, but I just don’t understand how you could feel that much for someone. To let them in like that—giving them the ability to destroy you at the snap of their fingers—it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.