The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

August Chapter 8

After that phone call we don't hear from Rory for a whole twenty-four hours.

I've sent her a few texts, mainly because Lacey keeps asking when she'll be coming back. Which is stupid because she said she'd keep Lacey posted on her ETA. Figured that mean that Lacey would know more than I would.

Not that it mattered, Rory didn't answer any of my texts anyway. Which I figured was karma for an entire friendship of ignoring most of hers.

I had dinner at our place, by myself, though. As much as I wanted to go over to Shawn and Candy's I also didn't want to wear out my welcome. And I already knew that I had been spending way too much time over there.

I used to think that I wanted to be alone, that I didn't need people, but thanks to Rory I knew that wasn't true.

When Rory left for Polished Elite, I leant on Shawn and Candy way too much. I missed Rory too much. It had proved to me that I both needed and wanted human contact. I hadn't realized that before Rory left.

But I knew it now. I knew it before we left Rory in Toronto.

So, I sat there, in a quiet cabin, eating a grilled cheese for every meal cause it was the only thing I could make well that wasn't on a grill or mac and cheese which I was tired of, wishing for her there. If only to have her chattering a mile a minute about nothing, or asking me invasive questions that were none of her business but I always answered anyway.

It had occurred to me that Rory knew a lot about me, but I knew nothing about her. Case and point, I had no idea she was rich, or that she had a fiancé, or a brother. So, on my downtime, I made a list. A whole list of things that I should know and would have to ask her about.

You know, if she ever came back.

I mean, I knew she said that she was coming back, but I also hadn't heard from her in twenty-four hours. And she clearly lied to us rather well, so maybe she wasn't going to come back now that her cover had been blown.

I went to bed early that night. The worry turning into tiredness that was leeching down into my bones. Except once my head hit the pillow, I wasn't tired anymore.

My mind had come alive with all the possibilities. I was facing down a reality where Rory might not come back, where I might lose her for good and I already knew that I didn't do well without her.

I would have to go back to Toronto to get her back. Or at the very least to get her to talk to me. I was hoping that if I couldn't convince her to continue to work here, I could, at the very least, convince her to date me. She did have a major crush on me, and we had been sleeping together. Maybe if I offered her a label she'd stay.

We could do long distance, right?

Long distance had killed me and Marnie, and she had only been across the lake. But Rory wasn't like Marnie. She was better than Marnie.

Or at least the Rory I knew was better then Marnie. If she turned back into the Rory, she was before she showed up at Earth and Body, I would not be good enough, and long distance definitely wouldn't work.

To be honest, just thinking about long distance scared me. To go through that again, to miss someone with everything I had, only to find out they're leaving me for someone better... I don't think I could go through that again.

No matter how much I liked Rory.

Despite all the thoughts running through my mind, all the fear and worry, I still had managed to doze, managed to drift off when suddenly I feel the bed creak. When I roll over it's just Rory crawling across the bed to me. I reach out for her right away, pulling her down to my chest and letting her kiss me.

"I missed you," I find myself whispering, because it's true. I had. And she smiled into my lips.

"I missed you too," she whispers back, and I go about stripping her of those clothes before dragging her down into my bed and into my arms where she will always belong.

My list of questions can wait until tomorrow.