I sighed deeply as my phone started vibrating somewhere behind me on my bed. I turned my head towards it but didn't reach for it, staring at the phone case, letting it ring a few times before I stretched my arm out for it, lifting it to show the caller ID. When Andie's name and picture fell under my gaze, I let the phone ring another moment longer before I reluctantly answered it, put it on speaker, and dropped it back onto the comforter by my shoulders.
"What's up?" I asked, running a few different possible excuses through my mind that I could use to bail on whatever event Andie was about to ask me out to, far from the mood for going out, even on a Friday. I still wasn't talking to Leighton, and Dan was desperately trying to play mediator in the rare moments when all three of us were home. I also hadn't spoken to or heard anything from Isaac since our fight on the beach yesterday, when he walked away from me underneath the peer without a word after my ultimatum. There was silence from him across all social media, and even Andie, who had vowed to update me if she saw him, hadn't mentioned it yet. His silence seemed to be his answer, but I couldn't deny how much it hurt.
"I'm picking you up in thirty, are you ready?" Andie was wondering, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Look, Andie-" I tried to start, but she almost immediately cut me off, shuffling around with something in the background, creating an obnoxious static noise.
"No, absolutely not, you are not bailing on me," she stated firmly. "You promised me weeks ago you would come out with us tonight." I started to ask Andie what she was talking about, until the memory of me in her bedroom nearly two weeks ago flashed back into my mind, when she asked me if I was going to be free on the 21st. At the time, I hadn't t thought much of it, mostly agreeing just because I knew Andie would insist if I said no. Now, I was really wishing I had tried to reject her.
"Andie," I sighed, closing my eyes. It was just past seven, but I was exhausted, and all I wanted to do was sleep and try to forget how quickly my summer seemed to be going up in flames.
"Please, Loren!" Andie begged, her voice rising a pitch with fervent desperation. "It's really important that you come!" I opened one eye, the other partially blocked by my pillow, staring at my phone as if Andie could see my skeptical expression.
"Why is it so important that I'm there?"
"I... I can't tell you. I just need you to trust me that you absolutely have to come," Andie insisted, a fierce determination in her voice, and I knew there was no getting out of this. "I'm leaving my house now. I expect you ready! Dress nice!" She ordered, and before I could muster a half-hearted protest again, she had hung up the phone. I glared at my phone, groaning through closed lips, as I turned my head and buried my face into a moment, letting out an even louder groan before I planted my hands on my mattress and pushed myself up.
Looking around my room, I scowled at Andie's orders to dress nice, knowing she was asking me to wear something other than frayed shorts and a logoed t-shirt. I almost pulled one on, just to show Andie how little I wanted to me going out with her, but tossed the t-shirt I had picked up back onto the floor and instead opened my closet, pulling out the first dress I closed my fingers around. My collection of flowing fabrics had increased significantly since befriending Andie, and the green dress she had coerced me into buying for her Memorial Day party now hung beside three more. The fourth, a white, off-the-shoulder shift dress, was now splayed out on my bed, reading to replace the cotton shorts and sweatshirt I had been wearing in bed. I pulled the fabric over my head and shoulders, adjusting the sleeves to their appropriate place off my shoulder before slipping into my bathroom. I brushed my teeth, ran a comb through my hair, and swiped some mascara onto my lashes. Back in my bedroom, I slipped my feet into a pair of white sneakers before grabbing my phone and retreating downstairs.
Dan met me at the edge of the stairs, looking up at me as I neared, asking, "Where are you heading? We were about to sit down to eat." I stopped at the last step, glancing down the hallway at Leighton moving through the kitchen and dining room, setting up the table for the three of us, the boys already upstairs in their cribs.
"I'm sorry," I said to him, earnestly, because I knew my bailing on dinner with such short notice would upset Leighton. Things were still rocky between us from our fight the other day, and I knew this wasn't going to help. "I made these plans a couple weeks ago, I just forgot to tell you. I'm going to dinner with Andie and some others. I won't be back too late."
"Loren," Dan sighed softly, and I knew what the weariness in his eyes was about. Being at the center of mine and Leighton's fight hadn't been easy on him, and he knew as well as I did that my absence from dinner was only going to be a setback.
"I'm sorry, Dan, I am," I said earnestly. I had given up being mad at Leighton, but was too stubborn to give in yet. "This is really important. I'll talk to Leighton tomorrow, okay? I promise." My confirmation to begin a truce with my sister seemed to placate Dan slightly, and the worry in his expression started to melt away, even if it was only marginal. His eyes glanced down the hallway towards Leighton, and I could see the final debate waging in his mind.
"Okay," he finally sighed. "Let us know if anything changes. Be safe."
"Will do," I smiled at Dan, hopping down the last step and heading for the door. I faintly heard Leighton calling out, asking Dan where I was going as I pulled the door shut, stepping out into the humid air, walking towards the driveway at the exact moment Andie pulled up. She beamed at me through the windshield, watching me as I walked around her car towards the passenger side.
"You look amazing!" She gushed as I lowered myself onto the seat, brushing her off with a dismissive wave of me hand.
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked, clicking my seatbelt into place as Andie reversed out of the driveway. "And what's the special occasion?" I glanced at her, taking in her long, bell-sleeved dress, the same shade of blue as her eyes, thankful that her insistence that I dress nice hadn't left me over-dressed.
"You'll see," Andie responded, smiling at me mischievously. I cocked my head at her, staring at her skeptically.
"Are you going to be this secretive the entire time?" When Andie nodded, I rolled my eyes, trying to insist that she tell me what was happening. She deflected me each time I asked, and I eventually gave up, settling to engage in the off-topic conversation she had last directed me too, my eyes continuously flashing out the windows and at the signs we passed on the highway as I tried to figure out where we were going. When we pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall, stopping in front of a tan building with a massive, circular neon sign above the doors, I leaned forward to get a better look before turning my head towards Andie.
"Seriously? Dave & Busters?"
"And that is why I didn't tell you where we were going," Andie remarked, parking the car but leaving the engine running as she looked over at me, her expression suddenly becoming hard and stern, more serious than I had seen her in the five weeks we had known each other. "But I'm serious, Loren. This is really important to..." Her voice trailed off slightly, her eyes drifting past my head. I followed her gaze, watching as our friends spilled out of two cars next to us. I watched as Isaac exited his jeep with Diego, Sasha, and Connor, as Mac, Alex, and Lee came around from Mac's truck on the other side of the Jeep. I watched as Lee bounded up to Isaac, throwing his arm around Isaac's neck to pull him into a headlock as he pulled him around, saying something I couldn't quite understand as Isaac started to laugh, pushing Lee away.
"Okay, you and I are not getting out of this car until you tell me what the hell is going on." I turned back to Andie as I reached behind me to lock the doors. Andie's eyes pulled away from the crowd on the sidewalk back to my face, her lips pressing together as she eyed me hesitantly before finally sighing.
"It's Isaac's birthday."
"Are you serious?" I exclaimed, feeling mostly surprised but also shockingly disappointed that I didn't know. I glanced back over my shoulder, eyeing the group waiting for us on the sidewalk, catching Isaac's gaze for a moment before I looked back at Andie, frowning. "Why didn't I know that?"
"I don't know why he didn't tell you," Andie said softly, watching me sympathetically. "But I do know he still really wanted you here."
"Really? Even after he walked away from me at the beach yesterday?"
"Yes, absolutely," Andie said confidently, speaking over me before I even finished my thought. As I watched her, I sensed that there was still something that wasn't being said. The way her eyes kept glancing back and forth between Isaac and me, the way she frowned slightly when she looked at him but then tried, and failed, to recover and hide whatever she was thinking from the expression on her face.
"There's something else going on, isn't there?"
"Yes, but it's not my place to tell you."
"Seriously, Andie?"
"Seriously," she replied adamantly, "If Isaac wants to tell you, he will, but for now, just know that he wants you here. Now, can we go inside, please?" She motioned towards the door with her hand, raising her eyebrows slightly in a silent plea as she looked at me. I raised my hands in defeat, rolling my eyes as I reached behind me for the door, while in front of us Mac started to drum on the hood of Andie's car, yelling at us to hurry up. I scowled at him, annoyed and surprised that he had even been invited after yesterday, as Andie and I exited her car, Andie yelling across from me at Mac to stop hitting her car before she sauntered over to Connor, wrapping her arms around his torso as she leaned in to kiss him.
With our emergence from the car, every slowly started to turn and make their way inside. I stepped slowly up onto the curb, watching as Isaac hesitated in turning around to follow our friends, for which I found myself thankful.
"Can we talk for a second?" I asked quietly, stopping a few paces away from him, chewing on my bottom lip as I watched him glance between the door and me, being held open by Diego, finding myself exhaling in relief when he nodded his head for Diego to keep going. When he turned back to me, he didn't say anything.
"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" I wondered, shifting on my feet as I closed my hands together in front of me, watching as Isaac shrugged slightly, pushing his hands into the pocket of his jeans.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."
"It's your 21st, it is a big deal," I insisted, reaching forward to shake his arm slightly, finding myself desperately wanting to reduce the tension that was working its way through his shoulders and jawline, the tightness in his lips as he glanced down at the ground between us. When he didn't react, when he didn't say anything, I pulled my hand back to my side but took another step closer to him.
"Look, Isaac," I sighed, reaching up to brush my hair away from sticking to the back of my neck. "I didn't mean what I said yesterday," I continued cautiously, watching the way Isaac's eyes lifted to mine, a hopeful expression creeping onto his face, and I rushed to try to finish my thought. "I mean, I did, about us just being friends. I meant that, and I have my reasons but I'm not ready to share them yet, and I'm sorry if you're not okay with that, but," I inhaled heavily, holding my breath for a moment, "I don't want to spend the rest of my summer here without seeing you."
"Don't you think that's a little selfish, Loren?" Isaac straightened, holding his shoulders back as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Asking me to just ignore my own feelings for the sake of what you want?" The way he was looking at me made my heart drop, the distance in his eyes and the trace of a frown on his lips a far cry from the confidence and happiness I was used to seeing in his face. The faintest tug of my heart told me to just give in, to stop fighting him, but at the same time, my head was warning be about the consequences of doing so, and my own stubbornness to maintain a friendship with him, and only that, won out once again.
"You wanted me to put your feelings ahead of my own, too," I argued, crossing one of my arms over my torso, closing my fingers around my opposite arm as I sighed, swallowing my pride and stubbornness and urge to argue with him until he saw it my way.
"I don't want to fight with you again Isaac, not tonight. Can we just go and enjoy what's left of your birthday?" I stood still for a moment, debating for a moment before I slowly held out my hand to him. In the back of my mind, my common sense screamed at me to retract my hand, knowing that the gesture conflicted with my words and the lines I was trying so hard to build between us, but, this time, it was lost underneath the desire to try to keep him close to me.
When Isaac's eyes dropped to my hand, then back up to my expectant, waiting face, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, a smile finally breaking out on his face as he uncrossed his arms and reached for my hand.