Page 10 of Another Love, Another Time

I know what she is saying. I’ve missed River, too. We talk every day on the phone, but sometimes it’s only for a few minutes. It’s not the same. I know that she and Logan talk, but it’s not as much as we do. I look up at the beach house and see some of our teammates walking into the backyard.

“Let’s head in,” I say. “I see a few people showing up. You know our parents will want us to help entertain.”

River, Age 14

I groan and announce, “I hate entertaining people. Why did our parents have to invite everyone over?”

Auggie puts his arm around me and pulls me in for a side hug. “Aw, River. You just want me all to yourself.”

“Yeah, I do. I hate sharing you with other people, and I feel like every dang time we hang out, our parents force us to include everyone. God forbid someone get their feelings hurt.” I know he knows I’m talking about Melissa, but I’m also talking about the other girls who I know will be here.

I have noticed more and more that any time we hang out, girls come up to Auggie and Logan and try to flirt with them.

I mainly notice them doing it with Auggie.

Don’t get me wrong. Both are good-looking, but we are talking about my Auggie.

I think he was checking me out earlier when I took my tank off.

I have grown some boobs since the last time I saw him.

I made my mom buy me a new swimsuit for this trip, one that doesn’t look like I’m ten still.

Then, when he hugged me earlier in the water, my belly did a flip.

“River, I won’t leave your side tonight. We stick together. Got it?” He turns to Logan. “Sorry, bro.”

“No problem. There will be plenty of people. I’m used to it by now with you two,” Logan jokes.

We reach the deck of the house, and our parents start giving us directions about what still needs to be done before the rest of the teams get here.

After everyone eats, Auggie, Logan, and I sit on a log, ready to toast some marshmallows for s’mores. Some teammates are around the fire, doing the same thing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a group of girls huddled around talking.

Most of my team has already left to go home.

A few of them are here, but not as many as Auggie and Logan’s team.

Most of the girls on my team are playing volleyball with some of Auggie’s teammates.

I see one of the girls approaching us. I know where she’s heading; I’ve seen her checking Auggie out all night.

“Hey, Auggie. Hey, Logan.” She looks over at me. “Do you want to come and swim with us?”

Auggie looks over in the direction she came from, back to her, and then at me. He nudges me to imply that I get the final say. I shrug. I don’t really care.

“We’ll head that way in a minute,” he says. Then, he asks some of the other boys on his team if they want to go down and hang out in the water. Auggie grabs my hand and pulls me off the log. “Ready, killer?”

“Let’s do this,” I say before hopping on his back to head to the water. I overhear one of the girls complaining about me tagging along. I know Auggie can hear them too.

“We can go back up by the fire if you want, Riv,” he comments.

“No. Let’s go hang out in the water. I’m not going to let them get to me. I know you want to hang out with me, right?” I squeeze his neck a little tighter. “

You’ll let me know if you want to go back?” he questions.

“Yes, I will. I just want to hang out with you.”

He squeezes my legs, bounces me up higher on his back, and then takes off towards the water. When he gets about waist deep, he lunges so we are both in the water. I come up from the water, squealing, ready to start splashing him, but he’s already splashing me.

Everyone else around us starts to join in; the splashing continues for what seems like forever. I have so much water coming at me, I can barely keep my eyes open. I have lost track of who or even what I’m splashing.

When the splashes lessen, I try to wipe the salt water from my eyes. When I manage to crack open my eyelids, I don’t see Auggie anywhere. Where the heck could he have gone?

I look around and see Logan floating with some of the others. I don’t want to bother him while he’s talking to some of his teammates and girls from earlier. I have talked to a few of the guys before, but I came out here to hang with Auggie.

I start walking back to the house and grab my pullover from earlier. As I pull it over my head, I see Auggie giving a girl a piggyback ride to the house, the one who was complaining about me tagging along. I guess she figured out a way to keep him to herself.

I don’t want to be around anyone right now. I go down to the room where the kids are sleeping and grab my things. I send my mom and dad a quick text and let them know I’m going to go to their room, that I have a headache, and that going to take a shower and a nap.

Mom sends me a thumbs-up emoji. I jump in the shower to wash the dirty water off me.

The warm water feels so good. I look around to see what my mom has that I can wash my hair and body with.

I’ll have to remember to come up here for the remainder of the week.

My mom brought the good shampoo and soap.

I get out of the shower feeling like a brand-new woman, dry off, and start putting lotion on. I hear my phone ping for a text message. I look down and see it’s Auggie. It took him 45 minutes to notice I was gone.

Auggie: Where r u?

I know I’m being unreasonable right now.

He can hang out with other people. I shouldn’t get jealous, but these people can hang out with Auggie all the time.

They live five minutes away from him. I get five days.

That’s it. I don’t want to feel like this.

I just don’t like to have to share Auggie.

I never have, and the older we get, the more I feel like I’m being forced to share him.

He didn’t do anything wrong. I decide it’s better if I turn off my phone than to respond. I don’t want to say anything I might regret later. I grab the throw folded at the end of the bed and cover myself up with it. I can definitely use a nap.

~~

I wake up to a light tapping at the door. I look up groggily to see who it is—Mom. She comes to sit next to me on the bed. She puts the back of her hand to my forehead to see if I’m running a temperature. I already know I’m not. “Hey, baby. You ready to come down and join the rest of us?”

“Is everyone still here from earlier?”

She gives me a knowing look. “A lot of them went home. There are a few stragglers. Auggie’s been asking about you.” She pauses for a second. “Did you turn your phone off?”

“Yes. I was really tired, and I didn’t want to be interrupted.”

“Well, he was worried about you. He helped one of the girls to the house earlier. She cut her foot on something, and when he went to go find you, you were gone. Did your headache have something to do with Auggie helping that girl?”

“No,” I lie.

She knows I’m lying. They may say I act more like my dad, but my defense mechanisms are the same as my mom’s.

She sighs. She knows she’s not going to get it out of me unless I want to tell her.

“Well, get your booty up. I can’t have you sleeping the rest of the evening. You won’t want to sleep tonight.”

I groan as I stretch all four of my limbs. I roll off the side of the bed and land on my feet. My mom is still standing there. She pulls me into her big mom hug. I wrap my arms around her, too. “I love you, baby. Whatever you think, just know that I love you, and I only want the best for you.”

I have no clue what she’s talking about, so I just say, “I love you, too.” She gives me another squeeze and lets me go. “I have to go to the bathroom, and then I’ll be down. Are there any hot dogs left over from earlier?”

“No, but we are getting ready to order pizza if you want any of that.” She walks out of the room, and I head into the bathroom to pee.

I decide to turn on my phone, and it starts to ping with notifications.

I have five missed calls, one voicemail, and seventeen text messages.

I look at my phone log and see all the phone calls are from Auggie, except for one, which is from Logan.

Logan’s voicemail says, “Hey, River. Auggie wanted me to call you just in case you were only avoiding him. It looks like you are avoiding both of us.” He chuckled and hung up. I hope Logan isn’t mad at me, too. He didn’t sound mad.

I look at the text messages. There’s one from Logan with the same kind of message. There’s one from a friend from back home asking when I’ll be back. I text her, and then I open the messages from Auggie.

Auggie: River? Where R U?

Auggie: I’ve been looking for you everywhere.

Auggie: No one saw you leave the water.

Auggie: River can you just let me know you’re okay?

Auggie: I had to take Amber up to the house to get her foot looked at.

Auggie: I should have told you where I was going.

Auggie: Ok, where r u? I just talked to your mom, and she told me you were taking a nap?

Auggie: I’ll go room by room River.

Auggie: Are you mad at me because I left you?

Auggie: I had to. Her foot was cut.

Auggie: Come on. Don’t be mad, please.

Auggie: I’ll find you. Just tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.

Auggie: I’m feeling tired too.

Auggie: I know you’re mad at me. I told you I wouldn’t leave your side and not even five minutes later, I leave your side. Please forgive me.

Auggie: I guess I’ll just talk to you when you come out of hiding.

I walk over to the window in the room. It’s darker outside than it was earlier. It’s facing the beach, where I can still see the bonfire going. The kids and the parents surrounding it are trying to stay warm. It looks like it may have cooled off outside, judging by everyone’s attire.

I'd better put on a hoodie before I head outside. Before I turn away, I spot Auggie talking to a few guys on his team. I can’t tell if he’s having a good time or not.

I want him to have fun, just not with other girls.

Fortunately, it doesn’t look like very many of them are left.

I see Uncle Chris bring out several boxes of pizza.

I'd better head down before it’s all gone. It’s time to face the music.

~~

I go to grab a plate for my pizza when I’m spun around and dragged to the side of the house. I know who it is before I see his face. There is only one person who would drag me away like this.

I look up and see Auggie’s sad eyes. My hand is still in his. “River, are you still mad at me? I promise I was coming right back to you, but she wanted me to hold her hand while her mom bandaged her up.”

I roll my eyes. Of course, she did, and Auggie, always a knight in shining armor, played right into it. I would let it go, but I’m still hurt from earlier. If I don’t get it out, then it’s just going to fester.

I respond, “Why would I be mad, Auggie? You were just helping someone out, right? A girl who had just been talking crap about me just minutes before. Were you the only person who could have taken her up there? No, your first instinct was to leave me. I couldn’t see from all the splashing, and when that finally died down, the first person I looked for was you.

You were nowhere to be found. You told me you would stick by my side, and not even ten minutes later, you went back on your word.

The only other person I know is Logan, and he didn’t promise me he would stick by my side all night.

So, when I couldn’t find you, I just thought I would go inside for a while.

I wasn’t lying. I did need a nap. Besides, it’s not like you missed me, anyway.

I heard Logan is the one who came to you, asking where I went. You didn’t even realize I was gone.”

He looks down. I know I’m being too hard on him. He was just being a nice guy, but because he always wants to be the nice guy, I’m always second.

I squeeze the hand he’s holding. “Look, Auggie. I wasn’t mad at you.

My feelings were hurt. You know I don’t know anybody who was down in the water, and when you said that you would not leave my side, I thought you meant it.

When I looked up and saw you were carrying some girl up to the house, I just assumed you’d be busy for a while.

I figured she must have gotten hurt, or you changed your mind.

” I shrug it off like it’s no big deal. “There was no point in staying down there if you were occupied. I know how you are. You wouldn’t have left her side until she said it was okay.

You care deeply. It’s one of the reasons I love you, but I feel like every time I see you, someone is in need of your care, and I get pushed aside.

Someone else could have taken her up to her parents.

One being her brother. I’m just tired of competing with everyone. ”

“I promise I won’t leave your side for the remainder of the week,” he says softly.

I shake my head before I respond, “No, Auggie. No more promises. You keep making promises and breaking them. You’re my best friend, and I only get so much time with you.

I’m jealous because these people who usually take up our time can see you any time they want.

All I get is a day here and a day there.

I’m done, Auggie. You have zero obligation to me, and from here on out, I will have no expectations.

If you choose to hang out with me, I’ll be elated, but if not, I’ll figure it out on my own.

Right now, you feel bad about something you shouldn’t feel bad about. ”

“River, no. You’re my best friend. I shouldn’t have left you out there by yourself.”

“It’s not your job to keep me entertained. I’m not mad. I’m just feeling sorry for myself, okay.”

He nods. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re second. I’m going to show you. I never feel like I have to entertain you. You’re my favorite person.”

I interrupt him before he can talk further, “And you are my favorite person. I will get over this, okay? My mom says it’s my hormones.” I smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

Picking up on my request to forget about this, he slides his hand until just our pinkies are hooked, and he squeezes.

He looks over at me with a glint in his eyes.

I don’t know what it means, but for the remainder of the week, Auggie doesn’t leave my side, and the ache in my heart turns to butterflies.