Sunkissed by Kasie West (popular e readers .txt) 📕

me. “How lucky is this? I thought I was going to have to beg for your cabin number in the lodge, but here you are. You’re so tan!” I could tell she was nervous. She was my best friend, after all. And right now she was talking fast, her voice an octave higher than normal.

“What are you doing here?” It probably wasn’t the friendliest greeting but I was shocked. She had to drive nearly five hours to get to Bear Meadow from her house. And she didn’t have a reliable car. My eyes scanned the parking lot but I didn’t see her old blue Corolla anywhere.

“I needed to see you,” she said. “Your sister said there was no internet and that’s why you haven’t been able to text me back.”

“Lauren? When did you talk to Lauren?” Did she call the pay phone back and ask for Lauren? This thought made me angry. I was allowed to be angry.

Shay turned to Mari. “Can I talk to Avery alone for a minute?”

And because Shay said things with such confidence and command, Mari responded, “Um…sure.”

I wanted to grab her hand and tell her to stay, back me up, but she had no idea what was going on because I hadn’t told her. I cursed my private nature as she and Clay walked away.

Shay waited until they were gone, then said, “You weren’t talking to me. What was I supposed to do?”

“Wait until I was ready.”

She flinched, surprised. She was used to me trying to smooth things over, immediately accepting her apology. That’s why she was here, after all, because I hadn’t and she was probably positive that she could make it happen in person. “You’re my best friend, Avery, and this has been really hard for me.”

“Hard for you? You kissed my boyfriend.”

“He wasn’t your boyfriend at the time.”

My mouth fell open, but no words came out. I realized I was still gripping my Popsicle stick, my hands splattered with orange. This felt like it was adding to my humiliation.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know it was still wrong.”

I let the anger live, bubble inside me, and said what I’d been wanting to say all summer. “It feels like you don’t know that it was wrong. I thought I was going to get back together with him. I told you that. But even if I hadn’t told you that, you shouldn’t have kissed him. You hurt me, Shay.”

“I know.”

“Was it the first time?”

“What?” she said, even though I was sure she knew exactly what I was asking.

“Had you kissed him before? When he and I were together?”

“No!” Shay said. “No, we didn’t. We talked a few times but we never—”

“What does that mean? You talked about what? When?” I felt a presence to my left and looked over to see Brooks, paycheck in hand. I thought I’d feel even more humiliated thinking about him overhearing this conversation but instead I felt a huge amount of relief.

He gave me a single look that said You okay? When had I started being able to read him?

I honestly wasn’t sure what I was, but it wasn’t okay. My eyes must have said as much because he took a step closer to me.

“Avery and I were having a private conversation,” Shay said with a smile at Brooks. She was pretty. I’d forgotten just how pretty, and how she could get guys to cave with her smile.

He shrugged. “I’ll leave if Avery wants me to.”

“Stay,” I said.

Shay’s eyes were sad as she turned them to me. “Avery, can’t we work this out? Alone.”

Could we? She’s your best friend. And you miss her. I sighed at my own thoughts. Now that I’d said my piece, maybe I should take her to our cabin, where we could sit and have lunch and talk. Maybe…My eyes narrowed as I looked over her shoulder and saw someone in the distance standing by a car. “Shay? Did Trent bring you here?” My voice was even, cold. I almost didn’t recognize it.

“I had no other way to get here! He wanted to help. He feels bad. We did this for you.”

I felt the Popsicle stick crack in my grip. This is what she always did. She pretended her selfish actions were for my benefit. “You need to leave.”

“I drove five hours for you.”

“For you. You drove five hours for you. I’m not okay with what you and Trent did, what you’d obviously been doing for a while, and I’m not okay with you showing up here trying to force me to forgive you for it.”

“I’m not trying to force you, Av. I thought you wouldn’t want to throw our entire history away.”

“Yeah, I thought the same about you.”

She paused and then asked, “So that’s it? We’re done?”

“Yes…No.” I took a deep breath. With Trent standing in the background, my initial instinct had been to say yes, but she was right, we did have a history, and I wasn’t going to make a rash decision, especially one that involved a boy. “I don’t know right now. I need time.”

“You’ve been here like five weeks.”

“I need more time. Are you going to give me that?”

She clenched her fists, but then her eyes shot to the ground. “I’m sorry. I’ll give you more time.”

I nodded.

She took a step forward as though she wanted to give me a hug but my entire energy must’ve repelled her because she swallowed hard, did a one-eighty, and ran back to the parking lot. I immediately felt guilty. She was obviously trying. Why couldn’t I get over it? It’s not like I was still hung up on Trent. I was so over him.

“Don’t do it,” Brooks said, and I realized I had taken a step toward the parking lot.

“Why did she have to do this today of all days?” It’s like she knew the audition was the next day. Knew this would mess with my emotions and my confidence.

“Avery, look at me.”

I turned toward him and met his eyes.

“Repeat after me. You’re