Riptide

Chapter Eighteen: Making Waves

He downs half the milk, shakes his head as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, and then tears at the envelope. But even when he's pulled the folded letter from the envelope he still can't open it, so I sit down beside him and take it gently from his hands.

I look up at him and he nods. Tammy and Rose sit across from us, and Tammy is wriggling in her seat, waiting for the verdict.

'Dear Mr Fletcher-Galloway,' I read out.

'Hurry up,' Tammy says, leaning over the table.

I look up at Ryan. 'You got in, obviously,' I say, deciding not to draw the moment out longer than is needed. 'Look,' I say, and I point to the big "Congratulations" and details of his enrolment.

'Good work, Ry,' Rose says. 'We knew you would.'

Kris slams into the kitchen, a whirlwind of messy blonde hair and baggy t-shirt tucked into high waisted denim shorts. Meg the juice girl follows her into the house somewhat shyly, but she's holding two bottles of tequila.

'Guess what,' Kris says. She takes a look at the open letter on the table, then scoops it away and grabs the tequila off Meg, putting it on the table where the letter was.

'It's Tuesday,' Kris says. 'So we're doing tequila Tuesday.'

'It's like three o'clock, Kris,' I say, but then Meg shoots me a look over Kris's shoulder, so I take margarita glasses down from the cupboard and Tammy pulls the blender out.

We blend ice, tequila, and fresh lemon, and blast music louder than the blender. Tammy and I dance and Rose takes photos, and Ryan looks bewildered by the amount of girls spontaneously getting drunk in his kitchen.

I know something's up with Kris so I eventually pull Meg away from the rest of the group. 'What happened?' I ask.

'Kris didn't get into vet school,' Meg whispers.

My stomach plummets. 'Are you serious?'

Meg nods.

'Okay, well tequila Tuesday was definitely a good idea,' I say. I'm impressed by Kris's girlfriend, and I hope she sticks around.

'Come on,' I say, and I pull Meg back towards the rest of the group and drag her into dancing with us.

Ryan sends me a questioning look, but I decide he doesn't need to know just yet, so instead I blend us more margaritas and we keep dancing along to pop songs. Kris doesn't seem to be too fussed, but she is getting pretty drunk for the afternoon.
Later in the evening we stumble down to the beach and sit on the sand with plastic cups, a bottle of orange juice and the bottle of tequila. Ryan sits beside me, and when he leans back in the sand he puts his arm out for support and wraps it slyly around my waist. I lean back into him. Kris and Meg are dancing in the ankle deep water, and Tammy and Rose have drifted off to talk to Hayden and a few of the younger local guys and girls.

'So why the tequila?' Ryan asks me.

I laugh at him. 'Because, Ryan, obviously, not everyone is as smart or lucky or talented as you.'

He gives me a strange look.

'Kris didn't get into vet school, but you got into law. And you probably think she didn't try hard enough, or didn't work for it, but she did. Kris deserves to be a vet more than anyone.'

'Hey, where is this coming from?' Ryan says. 'Is that what you think of me?'

'You're all set up, you know,' I say. 'Straight into law, straight into your parents' firm, straight A's all through school. And you think we're fuck ups.'

'When have I ever said that?' Ryan says, his temper rising.

'You think it,' I say.

'This isn't about Kris,' Ryan snaps. 'You're making this about you.'

'What?'

'I don't think you're a fuck up, Indy,' he says. 'And I've never thought Kris is a fuck up. Kris is going to be a vet, you know it. She'll do science and transfer after a year. No trouble. But a career isn't your whole life. That's one tiny bit of it. Sure, I know what I want to do for work. But I haven't got everything sorted, just because I like law. You've been overseas; you've lived by yourself and learned a language and you've got so much more figured out than I do. You know why I had all those suggestions for what you could do for work? It wasn't because I thought you had to figure your shit out and pick something. It was because I could see you doing every single one of those things, but not just one of them. For me, I'm so two-dimensional. I'm the law guy. I like law and my parents are lawyers and I'll spend the rest of my life doing law. But you've got way more than me. You have so many different interests and talents and you'll excel at so much. I hate the idea of you being boxed into one thing, because I know you want to do it all. That's why you went overseas. It wasn't just to escape me, and Nathan, it was because you're way, way bigger than any of us. You're going to be great. So stop fucking worrying.'

I'm still drunk and frustrated so when I kiss him it's harsh and firm, and I dive on top of him and he falls back into the sand. But then he wraps his arms around me and kisses me back harder, and we're absolutely covered in sand as we make out. I realise I'm so drunk and elated. There's explosions of light on my eyelids when I close my eyes and I can't feel my own body but I can feel Ryan.

Eventually we pull apart, and I say, 'I'm sorry.'

He laughs. 'Please don't be sorry for that. That was amazing.'

I glance up at the group of locals over the sand dune, and Ryan seems to guess who I'm looking at.

'Don't worry about Rose,' he tells me. 'We broke up ages ago. We're good friends, and we'll always be mates. I really like that you guys are friends too. But I think we both knew we weren't actually meant to be together. I already knew who I was meant to be with summers ago.'

I laugh giddily and push my face into his chest in embarrassment.

'Hey,' Ryan says, squeezing me against him and kissing the top of my head.

I pull away from him and look up into his face. 'Been a while since we kissed, hey?'

He laughs. 'Far too long. Didn't realise how much I'd missed it.'

'I did,' I say, grinning shyly.

'Next time you run away, take me with you.'

'Deal.'

The End.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought of this short story in the comments! If you like my writing I have a longer completed novel available on Wattpad. Plus, I also write bits and bobs on my blog at ellekirks.com. And you can follow me on Instagram @ellekirks

elle xx