He takes my hand and squeezes. “It feels like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this night, Summer Girl. I’m definitely ready.”
His sincere words make me smile. We’ve been through a lot to get here today. Having his friendship for the past one and a half years has meant everything to me, even when only two months ago, I thought I would lose him forever.
Two Months Ago
He’s angry at me. That chilling thought crossed my mind after Alchemy class after I declined Alec’s offer to drive me to Island Grille.
“It’s like you don’t even want to be seen with me anymore,” he snapped.
My jaw dropped with shock. “What? No, Alec. That’s not it at all.”
“Then what is it? Because ever since we kissed last month, you’ve been distant.”
My cheeks burned, and I looked around to find several of my peers passing by us on the front steps of our school, trying not to stare. Alec was right. I had been distancing myself since our kiss, but I never wanted to hurt him. I thought maybe if I backed away, he would understand that I wasn’t ready to go there with him—or anyone, for that matter—not when Johnny’s absence still weighed heavily on my heart.
While I couldn’t tell Alec any of that, he stood there silently, waiting for an explanation.
My mouth opened and closed, before I finally said something. “I already told Trisha I’d catch a ride with her.” I frowned, hating myself for lying. That wasn’t like me. And Alec wasn’t stupid. He could probably see right through me.
“Maybe you can give me a ride next week?” I tried. Maybe if I stalled just a little bit longer, I could work out my feelings.
An exasperated look flashed in his eyes as he shoved his hands in his pockets with frustration. “C’mon, Kat. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about us.” His eyes dart between mine. “Unless that’s not something you want. Tell me now, and I’ll back off.”
Trisha chose that moment to bounce up beside me, seemingly unaware of the situation, but I knew better. She grinned up at Alec, eyes twinkling against her fair skin as she pulled her wavy blond hair into a thick bun at the top of her head. “Hey, hot stuff. Want to catch a ride with us?”
Trisha had a magical way of diverting an awkward situation by pretending one doesn’t exist. She was fully aware of Alec’s feelings for me and of my constant need for diversions.
Alec twisted his neck to look at the parking lot behind him. “I’m good. I have my truck here.” His gaze lingered on mine, as if he were holding out hope that I would jump in his truck. When I said nothing, he took a step back. “I’ll catch up with you two later.”
Without another glance, Alec stalked off. Mentally kicking myself, I turned toward Trisha, who was staring worriedly back at me.
“I’m fine if you want to ride with him, Kat.”
Her tone only deepened the hole of guilt in my chest. “It’s too late now.”
Alec’s truck zoomed past us in what I assumed was a deliberate attempt to let me know how aggravated I’d been making him. It had a surprising effect on my heart. “Let’s just go.”
Trisha didn’t let up easily. “It’s been over a year, Kat. How long are you going to wait for him?”
My heart squeezed. We didn’t talk about Johnny. We didn’t even mention him. And until that moment, no one questioned my heart.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I clenched my jaw, opened the passenger door, and stepped inside Trisha’s yellow Volkswagen Bug. My silence was enough to warn her that the conversation was terminated.
I couldn’t understand why my life suddenly felt like it had been thrown into a hurricane, my decisions circling me as I stood there like the eye of the storm, just waiting to be picked up and tossed into the thick of it. It was time to face the hard, cold truth. Johnny wasn’t coming home. On top of that, there was another guy—a great guy patiently waiting—one who had never left.
Alec was my first friend in Apollo Beach. My first crush. My first kiss. Everything between us was just as it should have been. It was sweet, innocent, and blossoming from a genuine friendship into something more. Then Erebus had to come along with Ava and Iris, and royally screw everything up.
Falling in love with Johnny Pierce hadn’t even been on my radar that first summer. He had been growly and cruel, but he also had the ability to make my heart stop and expand all at once. His passion for nature touched me in a way that overwhelmed me, and we shared a fierce connection, an appreciation for each other’s imperfections, and a genuine emotional attraction.
Even after the year and a half he’d been gone, remembering him was like a lit match to my withering heart, and I felt burned by the light that could have been ours. But even after the flame had died, deep down in the depths of my anguish, I still had hope for his return.
In the beginning, Arabella used her abilities to keep tabs on Johnny to reassure me of his safety. Come to find out, message by sea was quite the phenomenon. Mermaids had the ability to speak telepathically, and the range of that communication spanned for miles. But as time went on, the messages came less frequently, and six months later, they stopped completely. She couldn’t explain why.
Whatever the reasons, I felt lost. She was my only tie to him, and without her messages, I knew I had to start letting go.
Eventually, Johnny’s absence was no longer a gaping hole in my heart. I was able to fill that void with other things, like school, my friends, and time with my father. In the process, my friendship with Alec started to become something more on one hot summer day.
I remembered that day well. Johnny had been gone a year at that point, and we were at a sandbar party in Tampa. There were probably thirty of us there. It was our last hoorah before classes started back up, and Arabella had insisted on taking photos, so we’d decided to humor her and began posing. We had gotten carried away, and at one point, Alec had leaned in to kiss my cheek at the same time I turned to face him—and we’d kissed. I wasn’t sure, but that may have been the point of no return for Alec. For the second time, we were no longer just friends.
That was probably the point of no return for me too. I’d been afraid Alec was going to get the wrong idea, so I’d begun doing whatever I could to avoid another encounter like that. My heart was still loyal to Johnny, but I was starting to question why I should I hold on to a man who’d let me go so easily.
“Hey, you ready to go in?” Trisha’s concerned tone broke through my memories, and I looked up to see we’re already in the parking lot of Island Grille.
I considered her words seriously. The truth was, I didn’t know what I wanted. I only knew that something had to change. The dark funk I kept slipping into every time I started to take an actual step away from the pull Johnny still had on me was starting to affect us all.
I nod while taking a slow deep breath in and letting it out. “Yup,” I assert with all the confidence I can muster. “Let’s go.”
The scene was already a lively one inside the restaurant. We spotted Arabella’s bright and beautiful red hair as soon as we entered. She was sitting with her sisters.
“Hi!” I exclaimed, reaching for Zanna first since she was seated on the edge of the booth. I pulled her into an embrace, realizing how much I had missed seeing the girls around.