𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝; 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲.

𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

"It's my turn." Corbyn stuck his tongue out. 

"You don't get a turn!" Eben scowled, rocking the paddleboard from side to side in an attempt to get Corbyn off. I caught Jack looking over at me and I blushed, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. 

"You want a go?" I asked him while Eben and Corbyn were still fighting over the paddleboard and everyone else was laughing at them. 

"Huh?" Jack asked, snapping out of his trance. 

"Get on, Avery." I smiled, slapping the back of my paddleboard. With an unsure smile on his face, Jack swam over and climbed onto the back, so our bodies were inches apart. 

"So... how do you-," Jack started to question but I was already propelling us forward by kicking my legs. "What? How did you..." Jack laughed, looking down at my legs, "How do you kick so... forcefully?"

"I swam for a few years." I smiled, "Come on, I can't do this all by myself."

"Oh, right, right." Jack nodded as he started to kick as well. It took a few minutes for Eben and Corbyn to stop arguing and take notice of us. Corbyn raised his eyebrows at me when he saw Jack and I were in fits laughing. 

"Hey, uh, Jack, can I get a turn with Lana?" He swam over and bit his lip. 

"Weren't you just on Eben's?" Jack questioned, a neutral expression on his face. I buried my head in my hands, I really didn't want them to fall out. If Corbyn found out about Jack's feelings for me, he would flip his shit. 

"Well, yeah, but... I wanna spend some time with Lana." Corbyn gritted his teeth, "My girlfriend." He added with a smirk. I glared at him. 

"Whatever." Jack shrugged, getting off and swimming towards Zach. 

"What was that?" I scowled before Corbyn got on. 

"What do you mean?" He asked, crossing his arms on the paddleboard. 

"That. It's like you're using me to rub our relationship in Jack's face." My eyebrows furrowed together. 

"No, I wasn't." Corbyn spat. My eyes widened. Corbyn took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that." He pulled at his face, "I'm just... really protective of you. You're so pretty and funny and smart, and I don't wanna lose you." 

"You're not gonna lose me, you doofus." I rolled my eyes and smiled, "Get on." Corbyn grinned and clambered on the back. 

"But... why should Jack care if we're doing stuff like this? It's not like he's in love with you or anything." He said, adjusting himself on the board. 

"Do you wanna see how fast I can kick?" I asked Corbyn, ignoring his statement. 

»»————-　　————-««
𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯.

"That lasted long," I said to Zach, through gritted teeth. 

"Hey, a small disagreement is still a disagreement." Zach shrugged. 

"What difference does it make? If they did even break up, what kind of friend would I be if I just swooped in and asked her out?" I muttered, "It's not like she'd come rushing to me, anyway." 

Zach didn't seem to know what to say to that. If I was in his position, I wouldn't know what to say either.

So, we stayed there in silence, hearing the sounds of the water lapping against the shore and Lana's shrieks of laughter. 

»»————-　　————-««
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞. 
𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 
𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐬. 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 

 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞' 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬.