"So, what are you gonna do?"
I groan, resting my head atop my steering wheel. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
Mason snorts from where she sits in the passenger seat of my car. I can feel her hazel eyes searing through me expectantly, like she thinks I have an actual answer to her previous question. The truth is that I hardly know what I'm doing myself, unsure what to make of all that has recently happened.
"Your ex is living across the street from you!" she exclaims–as if I need reminding–shoving my shoulder. "Of course everyone wants to know what your game plan is!"
"Game plan?" I question lamely, glancing up at her with a quirked brow.
Clover rests a combat-boot studded foot atop my center console, leaning toward the front seats to poke her head into the conversation.
"Hadley"–she starts–"your life is a shit show."
I shoot Clover a glare. "Gee, thanks."
The three of us are perched in my car with music playing low and the air conditioning on full blast as we stare out at the soccer field, waiting for Devon to finish with her practice. Now that senior year is coming up, she has started to take the sport even more seriously than before–basically meaning soccer has become a full-time job for her and less of a recreational activity.
Not that I mind. Devon is going to go far with the sport, that much is obvious. I want to be supportive of her and all of her goals, and going pro in soccer just-so-happens to be her biggest dream.
So if I have to sit through hour-long practices to show her I'm there for her, so be it.
"I'm dating Devon," I remind my friends–as if they have somehow forgotten this intricate detail related to the subject at hand. "There's nothing to do."
Mason and Clover share a glance.
"So you're not even going to talk to her?" Mason asks in disbelief, shooting me a knowing glance.
"I talked to her this morning, actually." I admit, ignoring my friends' gazes and staring straight through the windshield, watching Devon as she cuts across the field before me.
Clover and Mason share another look.
"Well?" Clover prompts from the backseat. "How'd it go?"
"It went fine," I mumble with a shrug. "She apologized for showing up at my house uninvited and I told her that I have a girlfriend. Then I left."
"That's it?" Mason cries, as if this answer isn't satisfying to her.
I shoot her a quizzical glance. "What was supposed to happen?"
Mason shrugs. "I don't know. Your long lost lover is back. I guess I thought it would be a little more dramatic than that."
"I have a girlfriend!" I cry. "Who happens to be one of your best friends!"
"Well, I know that!" Mason argues. "I don't know. Are you guys going to try being friends?"
Clover releases a low whistle from the backseat. "Yikes. Good luck with that."
I catch her gaze in the rearview mirror and flip her off. "I don't think so. I'll be cordial, obviously. But nothing is going to happen."
"Easy for you to say," Clover murmurs under her breath.
I turn around in my seat to face her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Clover lifts one of her shoulders in a half-shrug. "You may be over Sloane, but that doesn't mean she's over you."
"So?" I retort, waiting for her to go on.
"So," Mason pipes up, "just because you want to move on doesn't mean she does. The girl is living right down the street from you. If you don't know what kind of relationship she wants, you don't know how she'll keep popping up in your life."
I furrow my eyebrows. "You guys are making no sense."
"Messy," Clover explains. "Your love life is about to get very messy."
———
a/n: hi i'm so grateful for you if you're reading this <3