Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

046. Trouble in Paradise

046. Trouble in Paradise

The next day I have some semblance of a normal vacation.

By the time I'm downstairs in the kitchen eating breakfast, Celia is already fully dressed and ready to leave. She chirps to anyone that would listen that she's heading to the mall. No one, not even Allison, wants to go with her. So she leaves alone with a toss of her hair, and I'm left with my real friends.

I peel a banana and sit at a barstool to eat it, swiveling back and forth. Nathan is at the stove making eggs, streaming music from his phone. It's peaceful. Almost like nothing can go wrong ever again.

"Want some?" asks Nathan, spooning the eggs from the frying pan onto some glass plates.

I pick a long string off my banana. "I'm good for now. Thanks."

"Pretty awesome basketball game last night, huh?"

"Yeah." I hadn't paid attention at all. "Apparently it was a pretty big deal."

He grins, pulling forks out of the drawer. "For me. Huge upset."

I nod and the conversation fizzles. Nathan and I aren't exactly good friends. He's super sweet and I love him with Cassidy, but we haven't had too much one-on-one time to bond. He's not like the rest of the guys in the group.

As if on cue, Spencer and Cassidy come into the kitchen together, laughing. Spencer grabs a plate of eggs and climbs into the barstool beside mine, but Cassidy tugs Nathan away. They slip around the corner and I take another bite into my banana, watching the spot where they disappeared.

"Seems like everyone's having a pretty chill day today," says Spencer, stabbing at his eggs. His hair is still wet from a shower, and water droplets stain his gray shirt black. "Why don't we go outside and sit in the hammock? Hang out some?"

Just like last summer. Is that what he's trying to do? Recreate our happiest moments so maybe we'll start feeling that way again?

"That sounds good," I say. I want to feel that happy again, desperately. "Most everyone's still sleeping."

"Liam's snoring like he's possessed. Dude's gonna wake up with a killer headache."

I chew the inside of my cheek but don't comment. Part of me wants to say serves him right, but another part of me pities him. Liam's trying really hard to be a better person. He's just losing traction on a slippery slope.

Voices in the hallway raise. I recognize Cassidy's snap and Nathan's deeper, biting reply. Spencer glances sideways at me and I shrug.

"Since when are they having problems?" he asks.

"I didn't know they were. It's probably about college."

"The fact that they'll be on opposite sides of the country?"

"Maybe. I don't know." I really don't want to have this conversation right now. At least Cassidy and Nathan are talking through their problems—Spencer and I are ignoring our long-distance future. That's almost worse.

I expect Spencer to say something about us. That'd be the responsible thing to do, and ever since he's started prepping for college he's tried to be grown-up. But he just scoops up his last bite of eggs and says, "Hurry up and finish that. It's super sunny out."

I almost take a super small bite of banana just to spite him—his tone was a little too bossy for my liking—but ignore the urge. This vacation is about getting along. I'm not planning on starting any petty drama.