Swim Until You Love Me

Part VII

Oh my god get down here rn I want all the tea. She texted back.

I sighed. Maybe talking to her might help.

*****

I reached the beach. Belly was playing with Conrad against some Team A_Team, to get in the finals. I narrowed my eyes. What happened to Taylor? I scanned the crowd to see her cheering and clapping alongside-

Jeremiah. My heart skipped a beat and my breath quickened. Coming here was a bad idea.

"Madi," I heard Shayla call. I waved.

"What happened to Taylor?" I asked.

"She twisted her ankle, so Jeremiah subbed in," she said. I looked away. My stomach felt worse. "But his dive kinda sucked so she subbed in Conrad," she grinned.

I let out a breath through my mouth. "This is hard," I told her.

She smiled sympathetically.

I heard Belly and Conrad yell behind me. I turned around to see them hugging and cheering. They had gone through to the finals.

I caught Jeremiah's eye. He looked back unsmilingly. My breath caught.

I turned to Shayla, "I'm gonna go into the stands. Good luck," I smiled.

*****

Nicole was in the stands.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she smiled at me and then turned away.

"Look I-" "I'm so-" We both said together. 

I laughed, "You first."

"I'm sorry," she said, "About last summer. It was really shitty of me. I have no excuses."

I smiled, "It's alright. He didn't really mean that much to me. Plus he was the one who technically cheated, not you. And I've been seeing how you've been treating Belly all summer. It's nice."

She smiled, "My dad's boat is coming up from Anguilla today. The girls and I are meeting for some pizza and rosé. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure." Better than sulking around all day.

*****

Belly and Conrad had won the volleyball tournament. I was happy for them, but honestly it didn't seem like they were. I wasn't sure what went wrong there- they seemed pretty happy when they were playing.

Jeremiah and Steven were playing video games on the sofa. Jeremiah looked out of it too. Maybe he was upset Belly just threw him aside, I realised as a whole new wave of hurt washed over me. 

"Madi," Mom called. "Susannah and I are going to pick up the dresses for the ball. We'll buy your dress too, c'mon."

"Alright, but we have to be quick. I have to go out later," I said.

"Oh, you're coming to the party later?" Belly asked.

"No, I'm going on Nicole's boat." I didn't stick around for her reply.

*****

After buying my dress, which obviously took way too long, I made my way to Nicole's boat. She spotted me and waved.

My eyes widened at the sight of her boat. I waved back, grinning.

"Didn't think you were gonna show," she said.

"Sorry, I had to go dress shopping for the ball," I said.

"C'mon we're playing never have I ever!"

I sat down and picked up a drink. We went around a couple times, laughing about the weird stuff we had  done.