lucky star // jamie drysdale

12

"I'm fine, Jamie, but thank you," she slowly nods.

"Fine," I lean back, casually crossing my arms over my chest, "How was the event?"

A real smile replaces the fake one as she sits up.

"It was good, really good. I got to meet some people I've followed online for years! I picked their brains about the influencer world," she uses her hands to do air quotes around the word 'influencer'.

Now she's talking a word a millisecond like the Kendall I know, "Mal even got to chat with the company's creative director which could be huge for her!"

She goes on and on, detailing the food, mini ahi tuna tacos and sliders, what music the DJ played, including ABBA, and she details the clothing they were showcasing. I get every little detail.

"Do you wanna go for a drive?"

Why I blurt that out I'm not sure, maybe it's because I know she's still sad or hurting or whatever, I don't know.

She looks at her phone, "Jamie, it's almost midnight."

"Just a quick night drive," I smile.

Our eyes meet, in the dim light her green eyes look a bit darker then usual but they're still sparkling.

"Okay, let me throw on a pair of shoes," she smiles getting out of bed.

I stand up too, "Meet me in my car."

She nods and I leave the room.

And just a couple minutes later she's pulling open the passenger door of my car. I already have the windows down and I'm trying to find the perfect playlist.

"I don't know what to play," I hand her my phone, "You pick."

She takes the phone from me while I start to back out of the driveway.

"This is my favorite album ever," she says as music starts to play, "And it only came out last year," she laughs as she says the second part.

"Who is it?" I ask not recognizing the song.

"It's 5 Seconds of Summer. Mallory and I have seen them in concert five times together. When this album came out she came home just so we could lock ourselves in my family's basement to listen to it," she answers still looking at my phone screen. I lean forward turning up the volume as she click the lock button on my phone and sets it in the cup holder between us.

Kendall closes her eyes and hums along to the music. The l whole ride her hand is out the open window, flowing with the wind.

"We're here," I smile as I turn down the music and then put the car in park.

"The beach?" She opens her eyes sitting up but almost everything is dark besides a few street lights behind us.

"C'mon, trust me," I smile, unbuckling my seat belt.

"Are you gonna try and drown me?"

"Why is that your first thought?" I'm laughing through my words.

"I don't know," she's also laughing.

We get out of the car and make our way down the sand. The tide is low so we sit pretty close to the water, listening to it crash against the sand. The moon is barely a sliver in the sky but it's light is still bouncing off the water. We just sit and listen, neither of saying anything.

"Thank you," Kendall sniffles, after a while. I don't know when she started crying or how I didn't notice.

Slowly she rests her head on my shoulder.

"You sure you don't wanna talk about?" I ask.

She takes a deep breath.

"Connor called again but it was different. He didn't just sound drunk, he sounded high. It was weird, it's," she pauses, sitting up again.

"Never mind," she shakes her head, pushing her fingers through her hair pushing it out of her face.

"What is it about him?" I ask staring at her back as she leans forward and I lean backwards on my palms. She wraps her arms around her legs.

"He was my first everything," she looks at me over her shoulder, "And I mean. Every. Thing." she looks at the water again, "I guess there's just this emotional attachment still because he's defiantly not the guy I fell in love with anymore. He was our high school quarterback, he was friends with everyone. Teachers loved him, he was funny, sweet. Now he's throwing his life away."

"It just hurts to watch," she sighs, "And
I know I should just block his number and move on but it's hard."

She pushes her hands through her hair again. She leans back on the palms of her hands like I am. "I know I don't love him like I did, but I know what he could of become and it sucks seeing him fall apart especially when it feels like it's all because of me."

It all makes sense now.

"You can't take the blame for this, he's doing it to himself."

"But I ended things." She looks over at me. I can see the hurt in her eyes.

"He's the one who cheated though," there should be no more discussion, he's the problem, not her.

"Yeah," she sighs looking forward again. And then we fall silent again.

"Five years," she says after a few minutes of silence, "That's how long we were together," she turns to look at me.

"For five fucking years I didn't even look at another boy," now she just sounds mad, "And he blew it all away in one night! With someone I thought was a friend! Like what kind of bullshit?"

"Men are stupid," I sigh.

With a smile she says, "Not all of them. You're one of the good ones."

"Well thank you," I smile.

"Now don't let that information go to your head," she teases.

"No promises, a pretty girl said I'm a good guy, I'm putting that on my grave stone," I joke. She laughs.

"In loving memory, got told he was a good guy, one time, and he never let anyone forget it," she's still laughing, "And in very small print at the bottom, also played for the Anaheim Ducks."

And then like she just heard it she turns and looks me right in the eyes, "Did you call me pretty?"

"Don't act like this is the first time you've heard it." I refuse to believe she isn't complemented all the time. I mean look at her, she's gorgeous!

"From my parents maybe," she scoffs, "But thank you, it's nice to hear from someone who isn't family."

"Oh c'mon, I bet guys hit on you all the time."

And I know they do, a few weeks ago Trevor drag us to some party in the hills and I watched her fight off guy after guy. It was extremely annoying to watch but she handled herself effortlessly.

"They do but," she pauses then shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know, it's just different. They use words like sexy and hot, not pretty."

I can't see very well but I think she's blushing.

"I mean they're not wrong," I smirk.

"Thanks," she shakes her head with a laugh.