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“Your hair’s finally growing out, huh?” Olivia observed. “It looks nice.”
Paige subconsciously reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear. “Oh, thanks,” she said. In contrast to her short, dark curls, Olivia’s honey-blonde hair was like molten sunlight, falling around her shoulders in long, beachy waves. It was hard to see her full-ensemble in the cramped space, but Olivia was donning a flowery top with thin straps, and a pair of thigh-length white shorts, her long, tanned legs disappearing beneath the steering column.
“You look great, too,” Paige said, trying to get the word gorgeous out of her head. Olivia had always had that natural sort of beauty that most girls coveted: clear skin, silky hair, natural curves in all the right places.
“Thank you,” Olivia said, her sea-green eyes sparkling as she smiled. “Alright, here we go.” The light changed the green, and the car revved as she hit the accelerator a little too eagerly, sending the car speeding off.
“I hope you’re not going to drive like a madwoman the whole way,” Paige said, gripping the glove compartment to steady herself.
Olivia laughed, blowing a curtain of hair out of her face. “Can’t promise anything.”
As they fell into their usual back-and-forth, Paige felt some of her reservations melt away. She’d been nervous about the trip after the last year of college had chipped away at the sense of familiarity they’d always shared. Their conflict of academic interests had sent them down different paths, and Olivia had grown close to her new coursemates, leaving Paige sitting alone in the corridors outside the science lab on most days, wondering what her best friend was getting up to.
Maybe this was Olivia’s way of saying that nothing had changed between them, but Paige wasn’t sure. After all, compared to Olivia’s new friend group, Paige was… boring. Predictable. Maybe Olivia wanted something else. Something new and exciting.
Or maybe Paige was overthinking it. They’d been friends for just over ten years. Surely Paige wouldn’t be that easy to replace.
Olivia’s phone began to ring from the cupholder, and Paige reached for it before Olivia had the chance.
“Hands on the wheel,” she warned, before glancing at the screen. “It’s your mum.”
“Can’t ignore Mother,” Olivia joked. “Can you answer it for me?”
Paige nodded, sliding a finger across the screen. “Hello?”
“Ah, Paige, is that you?” Rachel Bennett had the same cheery phone-voice as her daughter.
Paige put the call on speaker. “Yeah, Olivia’s driving.”
Olivia kept her eyes on the road as she spoke. “Hey Mum. Have I forgotten something?”
“Your purse,” her mother said with a sharp tut. “I found it on your dresser.”
“Crap, I thought I’d packed it,” Olivia muttered, tilting her head back with a sigh. “Alright, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just gotta do a U-turn.”
Flicking on the indicator last-minute, Olivia swerved the car to the right, climbing up someone’s driveway before reversing onto the other side of the road.
“Jesus,” Paige blurted, reaching for the dashboard again as her heart jumped into her throat.
Olivia blurted out a laugh. “Sorry,” she said without sincerity. “I forgot you have a weak heart.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “Driving a car isn’t supposed to feel like you’re on a rollercoaster,” she shot back.
“Olivia, behave yourself,” Rachel’s disapproving voice drifted from the phone.
“Sorry, sorry,” Olivia said, gesturing for Paige to cut the call.
“We’ll see you in a bit, Ms. Bennett,” Paige said before hanging up. As the call ended, Olivia’s lockscreen popped up, and Paige felt her heart sink low into her stomach. Instead of a photo of her and Paige, like it had been for the past three years, it had been replaced with two new faces—the friends she’d made at college.
Returning the phone to the cupholder, Paige swallowed back the lump in her throat.
Perhaps she was easy to replace after all.
CHAPTER TWO
“Sorry about the detour,” Olivia said as they turned a corner onto the street where Paige had spent so much of her past summers. “I could have sworn I’d packed it.”
Sunlight bounced through the front windshield, making Paige squint as they pulled up outside a two-story detached residence. Compared to the slate-grey ex-council house that Paige shared with her mum, the house’s tawny bricks, pitched roof and rose trellises felt like another world.
