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I slide out of bed and stretch in an empty room. Lori must have just left.
I’m not sure what time she came back in, but when I woke up around three, her bed was still neatly made. My phone had messages from Adam asking if I knew where she was, then angrier texts since I wasn’t answering, then nothing. I messaged Dylan right after and he replied immediately saying Lori was crashing with him, and that Adam and Dean had already asked him the same thing. She probably came to get her stuff for the day and left quickly so she didn’t have to see me. I don’t blame her. I don’t really want to see me either.
The night at the club with my head in the toilet was supposed to be my lowest, the night I realized I was acting like a tool and turned it all around. I thought I had. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling this low anymore. I should be happy, living my best life and having the best vacation ever with my best friend and my boyfriend, if that’s even what Kellan was to me for those few precious moments before it went to shit. Instead, I’m alone in a hotel room, friendless and boyfriendless, with a huge knot in my stomach and a stress-induced headache coming on.
I wash my face and brush my teeth, but I still feel terrible. If I were at home, I could wallow in my room or go out to distract myself, but I’m stuck at the same resort with the same people I want to avoid.
Some people might thinkit’s not so bad, at least my brotheris here, and he’ll always have my back. But not me, and that only makes my stomach knot tighten, my mood darken. I wish I could turn to Adam for support, but he’d rather eat his own arms then wrap them around me in comfort, and the thought stings my eyes. I’m basically alone.
But Dylan is here, and he always cheers me up. I send him a text as I change into my bikini. When I step out onto the balcony to gauge the weather, there’s a slight gloominess and chill in the air that’s not usual for the mornings, so I put my jean shorts and a loose T-shirt over it. I really hope it doesn’t rain. It’ll be a lot harder to hide from Kellan and Adam if we’re all trapped inside in a common area.
Dylan messages me back saying he’ll meet me by the pool closest to our hotel—the one that’s not the main party one—in ten minutes.
I’m still fresh out of flip-flops, but I have Kellan’s oversized ones. It feels wrong to wear them now after everything last night, but I slip them on anyway, wanting to be closer to him in any pathetic way.
Dylan’s at the pool before I am, lounging in a pool chair away from other people. None of our friends are here, so he must have left them at breakfast. Or maybe they’re all somewhere else, enjoying their day, oblivious to my inner turmoil.
I refuse to wonder where Kellan is, so I push his sparkling eyes and pouty lips from my mind.
Most of the people here are older couples relaxing in the peace of the morning with a book, or small children splashing around. There’s no music blasting at this pool, not like the others, so the atmosphere is calm. The clouds over us are a deep gray, which only adds to my somber mood.
“Hey,” I say, plopping down in the lounge chair beside him.
“You look like shit,” he greets.
“Has anyone ever told you how charming you are? Because you have a way with words that makes girls feel so special.”
He snorts at my sarcasm. “Would you rather I lie?”
My fingers comb through my hair, sorting knots out of the tangled waves. “Maybe some couth next time? LikeHey,Faye. You’re always gorgeous, but something seems off today. Youall right?”
With a heavy sigh and obvious indifference, he repeats, “Hey, Faye, You’re always gorgeous, but something seems off today. You all right?”
“Why no, Dylan, I’m not. Thank you for making me feel better while also recognizing that something’s wrong. You are so refined and sophisticated.”
Dylan rolls his eyes and lies back in the lounge chair, getting comfortable while we fall into our easy routine. “That’s me all right. My grasp on the English language and manners knows no bounds. I wonMr. Delightful, Intelligent, Couth, and Kindfour years in a row.”
“The acronym for that isDICK.”
His lips turn up at the corners. “Is it?”
“Mm-hmm. Maybe theDelightful, Intelligent, Couth, andKindcommittee is trying to tell you something.”
Dylan shrugs, playfulness in his eyes. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time someone’s called me a dick, and it certainly won’t be the last.”
Despite my gloomy mood, I laugh, mirroring his body on my lounge chair so I’m lying back. I’m already comforted by his presence, his familiarity, his easygoing personality. In so many ways Dylan’s more of a brother to me than Adam is, but a small part of me wishes it was Adam here beside me; Adam amusing me with pointless banter that doesn’t matter but does in the way that counts, Adam who conversation flowed so easily with. But Adam’s not here, and our relationship will never be like what I have with Dylan. I wouldn’t trade Dylan for anything.
We fall into a comfortable silence, side by side in our loungers, staring out at the mostly empty pool.
“How’s Lori?” I ask. Does she miss me like I miss her? Does she hate me?
“She’s . . . having a tough time right now.”
My breath catches. “Because of me?”
Dylan shifts in his chair. “Partly. But it’s not all about you, Faye. She’s going through some stuff right now, and she wants to talk to her best friend about it.”
What stuff? Wouldn’t I know what stuff she was going through? What’s happened from the last time I talked to her to this morning?
