Because You're Different ✔

44. Cars

Sam

On TV, two women in bikinis ran into the ocean, their thongs so tiny I could see all of their asses. I was lying on the couch, watching Temptation Island reruns. Oh boy, I would have to participate sometime when I was older. Those girls were super-hot. I'd make a deal with my girlfriend beforehand, that we could both sleep with as many seducers as we wanted — would be a great episode. All of these people were such dipshits to be upset over their partner cheating. If you couldn't handle it, you shouldn't have signed up for it.

"Did I miss anything?" Hayley said, as she let herself fall back next to me. June hated reality dating programs, claiming they were 'fake, cringey, and a shame to the human race'. Chill, girl. It was only a bit of fun. At least Hayley understood.

"Nah, Daniel almost kissed Kelsey, but he backed out in the end."

"Kelsey? But she isn't even cute! Like, Rose is so beautiful, why would you cheat on a girl like that?"

Whatever. Like she knew anything about the attractiveness of girls. He was going to bang Kelsey before the episode was over, I was sure.

Ha. Imagine Nathan and Charlotte partaking in this thing. I snickered, seeing Charlotte's shocked, teary face before me as she watched her boyfriend get it on with a couple of sexy girls. He was a weird dude, but not that weird that he'd be immune for babes in bikinis. Mm. Maybe I should try to get them on the show. Guaranteed he'd be home quickly.

We watched in silence for a while, until Hayley sighed, suddenly grabbing the remote and pressing pause.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

She folded her arms. "Don't you hear it? She's doing it again."

I didn't want to hear it anymore. To be honest, June's behavior was scaring me. She'd been listening to crappy old music for a year now, but since Nathan left, she'd taken it a step further. She was playing these whiny middle-aged women on repeat, singing in Spanish and sounding more like they were sobbing than anything else. You'd think someone died around here. It was starting to get more annoying than anything Hayley did, and that was saying something.

"Seriously? We should block her from Spotify, this isn't okay anymore," I said, vaguely hearing the bass tones coming from upstairs. Hayley hit me. "Ouch!"

"That'd just be a treatment of the symptoms," she said, like she was some sort of doctor. I pictured her in a white coat, wearing glasses. Hm. Cute. "We need to kill this at the root."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Fine. Can we finish the episode first, though?"

"No! This is about the well-being of our friend, Sam."

Jeez. Don't look at me like I'm some sort of slimy thing. It didn't suit her. "What do you want me to do? Tell Nathan to come back because June's acting like a baby?"

"She's not acting like a baby, you jerk, she...—" She fell quiet in the middle of her sentence, blue eyes blinking at me like there was dirt in them. "Wait. You don't even realize, do you?"

"Realize what?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. God, boys are totally clueless."

Well, that was something I'd heard before. "If I'm that clueless, why don't you tell me how we can fix this?"

"Because I don't know."

"Great. Then we can keep watching until you come up with a plan." I wanted to pick up the remote, but she was faster than me, holding it out of my reach.

"No. We need to come up with a plan together."

"How?"

"I don't know."

I wanted to curse her, when her lips curled downwards again, making her look like a pouting toddler. I almost couldn't hold my laughter; the sight was too funny, even though I knew this was her genuine sad face. Awkwardly, I patted her shoulder. "She'll be fine," I said. "She's a badass, and yeah, Nathan is cool, but not that cool. She's got us, right?"

Oh no. Incoming emergency. She was starting to sniffle. "It's not fair," she said, dragging out the words, almost wailing. "I really thought... I mean, not at first... But after Christmas... And the — the birthday present... But even a guy like him... It's so unfair... She's — she's like, the best, right?"

Okay. She was officially not making any sense. "Come on, Hayley... Please don't cry. June will be fine. We just need to... need to distract her with something."

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes with her hands. "I'm on my period."

"Too much information."

She rolled her eyes. "Grow up already."

Thank god. That was the Hayley I recognized. "So, you want to distract her? How?"

"Well... What would Nathan have done, if he'd been here?"

I snorted. He'd have done a lot of things. She was his favorite, after all. I swore, there'd been this moment in the airport, during the goodbye, when I'd legit thought he wasn't going to let her go and decide to stay here after all. It'd been awkward to watch because, for a short while, it'd almost seemed like... Nah, I wasn't going to go there. Too gross. "Probably taken her on a road trip again."

"Sam, that's it! We'll have to go on a road trip!"

Nice move, Sam. Really great. In a car with two girls who could burst into tears at any moment. Exactly how I wanted to spend my summer.

Couldn't Nathan just come back already?