𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝; 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲.

𝐳𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝.

"I like you, Lana. Like, a lot." Jack said, finally meeting my eye. 

"O-oh..." I said after a few moments, not knowing what to say. 

"But just so you know." Jack took a deep exhale, "I'll still be your friend. You know, I'll... I don't know, 'be there till the end' or whatever." He gave me a small smile, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't want feelings to get in the way of our friendship." 

"Neither do I." I smiled. 

"Cool." Jack smiled, looking at the floor. 

"I'm gonna... go back to ear dinner now. Either that or Maddy and Lili will go without me." I said. 

"Oh, yeah, right." Jack nodded, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah." I said, "I'll see you in the morning."

And then I left the beach with more thoughts in my head than when I left the hotel. 

»»————-　　————-««
𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯.

I watched her walk away. Half of me praying she wouldn't turn around and catch me staring at her, but the other half of me wishing she would turn around and we would make eye contact and she would rethink being with Corbyn and consider being with me. 

But stupid shit like that only happens in romantic movies. 

Obviously, she didn't turn back but I watched her until she was out of sight. I bit my lip and kicked the ground. 

"It's gonna be ok," I whispered to myself.

"How'd it go?" Eben walked up to me with Zach from where they'd been sitting on the rocks. 

"She's with Corbyn, obviously." I said, "I told her how I felt and we're friends." 

"Friends?" Zach asked. 

"Yeah." I mumbled, "And I'm gonna be there for her, no matter what." 

"Isn't that gonna be hard?" Eben said, quietly. 

"Yeah." I said, looking at them both, "Being her friend is gonna be really damn hard." 

»»————-　　————-««
𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯. 

I laid on the bed, my hands on my stomach and my eyes fixed on the ceiling. Lili and Maddy were arguing about something in the bathroom, but it all seemed muffled by the thoughts in my head. 

"Lana? LANA?" I heard Maddy shout. 

"Yeah?" I turned my head to her, not moving my body. 

"Are you ok?" Lili asked. 

"Sure." I shrugged. 

"Do... do you want food?" Maddy asked, gesturing to the room phone. 

"Uh... no." I shook my head. 

"No?" Lili raised an eyebrow. 

"No. I think I'm just gonna go to bed." I yawned. 

"Go to bed?" They questioned in unison. 

"Yeah?" I gave them an unsure smile. Both of their jaws dropped as they looked at each other, before looking back at me. "What?" I asked. 

"Ok, what's wrong?" Lili asked, both of them taking a seat on the end of the bed. 

"Nothing... nothing, really." I sighed, "Just dazed, I guess. So much happened today." 

"Just... try to focus on your relationship with Corbyn. I'm sure you'll be fine in the morning. When you've slept." Maddy rubbed my arm, reassuringly. Lili gave me a smile. 

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys." I half-smiled. Lili and Maddy pulled me in for a big hug. 

"I think we should all get some sleep," Lili said as we all pulled apart. 

"That actually doesn't sound like too bad of an idea." Maddy yawned, making her way towards the light switch. "Night everyone." 

"Night." Lili and I said. The lights switched off and minutes later, I heard them both snoring softly. I gripped onto the duvet and looked through the gap in the curtains at the beach. 

I stared at the beach until my eyelids fluttered shut and I was asleep. 

»»————-　　————-««
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞.
𝐘'𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐍 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐉𝐎𝐃𝐈 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐈-🥺🥺