The Summer I Drowned (SEA GLASS)

chapter three

"Not a thing. Everyone talks—you know how it is here, everyone talks about everyone. But who knows what's true? Miles and Faye just say that West moved out after getting disowned, and that's that. But there've been tons of other rumours about him over the years."

I glance over at Sun and Roger. He tries to feel her up, but she swats him away with a teasing smile. They're awesome people and I love them, but I don't want them to hear us talking about guys. It's just weird, not that it isn't weird for them to be heading to second base over a pot of tomato soup with two sixteen-year-old girls ten feet away.

"Okay, tell me," I whisper, "please, you're killing me."

Keely shrugs. "The rumours range from everything to drug dealer, to serial killer, to not even being related to the Hendricks."

"Of course they're related. They have the same eyes. And dimples."

"Hey, I didn't say I believed it. That's just what people say."

I scoff. "And serial killer? Really? People need to get a life."

"Eh... I could see it. Well, I can't not see it. I mean, the guy comes from one of the richest families in Caldwell—like literal millionaires—yet he works at the auto body." Keely scrunches her nose. "It's a little weird."

"That doesn't make him a friggin' serial killer, Keely."

And wait a second... that guy I'd seen at the auto body yesterday. That was West. How am I only just making this connection? God, alcohol turns my brain into mashed potatoes.

"So he's what, a mechanic?" I ask.

"I think so, Liv, I dunno. What's with all the West, West, West? What happened to your gross obsession with Miles?"

I flinch. Okay, good point. Why am I thinking so much about West? Miles was my childhood best friend, after all. West had played with us, but he'd had a distinct Miles' Older Brother status. And thinking on it, West had always intimidated me—but if anything, that had made me want to impress him more.

Keely scrolls through her phone. I rest my head on the red tartan cloth of the kitchen table and shut my eyes. There's a comfort in the darkness, and as I rest, I tune out Keely's chewing, Roger and Sun's laughing, and remember a simpler time.

I wasn't always afraid of the water. In fact, I used to love it. I'd wanted to be a mermaid. But Keely wasn't that into swimming—she hated getting her hair wet. So I played with the Hendricks boys.

There's one day that always sticks out to me. I remember how blue the sky was, the smell of the sea, how nice it felt to dip my feet into the cold water after being in the summer sun all day. Miles and I must have been seven, so West would have been nine. Miles was acting like a brat—he was sick of always being the one who had to be "saved", so he wanted to play the villain for once, but West and I wouldn't let him. I don't like change, and West was always the bad guy. In our little minds, it just made sense. West was the oldest—and that made him the strongest. Miles is a month younger than me, so that made him the weakest.

We were out on the floating dock, which we'd always use as our "ship", when Miles had thrown a tantrum.

"It's not fair," he'd sputtered, boogers dripping from his nose, his big blue-green eyes filled with tears. "Liv always gets to decide everything, I don't wanna be the weakest, I wanna be the strongest!"

"Too bad, you little freak," West had spat. "I'm the pirate king, and you're the bitch. That's just how it is."

"I'm telling Mom you said that!"