Coming Up For Air | ✓

22 | we

"Why?"

For one flickering moment Stella wonders if she should simply blurt it out. If she should just tell Faye she's begun falling for the boy they both once—at Faye's 10th birthday party—declared they'd rather eat worms than lock lips with.

In Stella's defense she'd been seven years old, and rumor had it boys had the cooties.

Then again, maybe she should give herself a chance to figure this thing out on her own before dragging her (sometimes stubbornly opinionated) sister into the mix. After all, she likes Jake and she wants this to work out—whatever this is.

"I guess he..."

She trails off, lips twitching dangerously as Jake raises his brows, mouthing a "Me?". His t-shirt rides up as he stretches his arms overhead, and Stella's gaze lingers on the lines of his abs a moment too long.

Shaking her head, she straightens up. "— didn't feel entirely done here, or something."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," She lies again, hoping her sister's 'is-Stella-telling-the-truth?' detector has been forced into the backseat now that she's arrived to the office. "Maybe he wanted to put the opportunity of a vacation to full use."

Faye sighs. "I could use a vacation," A beat of silence passes between them, exchanged for the soft tapping on keys. "Maybe I should've just gone with you while I had the chance."

Stella presses her lips together. "Yeah, maybe."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knows she should ask her sister to come join them. Just as Jake and she spoke about back in Acebridge, dancing in the dark by the sea. She'd been the one to bring it up, the one who'd said her sister could use some time off. Somehow though, the words remain lodged in her throat—kept back by the knot having nestled its way into her heart.

A stubborn kind of selfishness; she wants to keep the lake house all to herself.

Realistically, she knows it makes no sense. This isn't her house. At the beginning of the summer she doubted she would ever feel at home in this town, never in the same way the rest of her family does. Now however, this time she's got left in the house—the time she has left with Jake in this house—seems far too important to share: to just let it slip away.

She clenches and unclenches her jaw, lips parting with an invitation even though her heart beats hard in wild protest.

Then, before she has the chance to speak, easing the fresh taste of guilt at the tip of her tongue, Faye says, "Not that I could. I have too much on my plate over here as it is."

Stella's brows draw together as her chest fills with concern instead. "How's everything with that?" She asks, fingers tightening in their clutch of the phone. "I tried asking mom but I don't know... it felt like she's holding back on me."

"Nothing you have to worry about."

"Well I do worry. Shipping me off to the lake won't magically stop that."

She can practically hear Faye's frown through the call. "Stella."

"Come on Faye."

"I'm not even working on mom's thing right now," Faye says, that sound of fingers pressing down on keys filling the silence again. A beat passes before she says, "We have it under control. Or something."

Stella swallows. "Or something?"

"It's fine. Ignore me, I barely got any sleep."

"Yeah, okay," Unconvinced, Stella nods. Pulling at a loose thread in her shirt, she begins to bid her sister goodbye. "I should probably let you focus on wo–"