Page 41 of Our Darkest Summer

I sighed but mirrored the action, letting my own head fall against his, inhaling the familiar scent of coconut from his shampoo.

“Sorry I threw you into the water,” he whispered, his voice barely above the summer breeze. “I really thought it would be fun for you too.”

To be fair, it wasn’t as bad as I made it seem.

“Sorry I was mean to you,” I muttered back, closing my eyes as the wind carried the warmth of grilled food and the distant sound of laughter.

“You weren’t mean to me,” Connor said, confused. “But I could see you were trying,” he added after a pause.

I snorted.Ass.

The moment I opened my eyes, Thomas sat down across from me, and my pulse spiked, betraying me completely.

I forced my gaze away, pretending to be very interested in watching Braxton pile his plate high with fries and chicken while Samantha went straight for the bacon. Aaliyah took the vegetarian option—mostly vegetables and rice—while Kevin and Cora both grabbed from the grilled cheese plate.

Meanwhile, Connor had already devoured half of his Dino Bites.

Thomas and I were the only ones left with empty plates. I gestured for him to go ahead. He stood up, filling his plate withexactly what I had been planning to get—rice, cheese, and grilled veggies. My mouth watered just looking at it.

Then, before I could even process what was happening, he set the plate down in front of me.

I froze.

Did he just…know what I would’ve chosen?

My eyes snapped to his face, but he was already filling up his own plate with different cuts of meat, as if nothing had happened.

I cleared my throat, which suddenly felt abnormally dry.

“Thanks,” I said softly.

He barely glanced up, but the small, fleeting smile he sent me was enough to wreck me. For a second, I wasn’t there. I was back in school, sitting across from him, in the library.

Missing someone who wasn’t there was hard. But missing someone who was right in front of you?

That was worse.

I took a slow bite of food, forcing myself to eat even though my appetite had taken a nosedive. Instead of letting my thoughts spiral, I focused on the conversation around me.

The words melted together. Laughing, teasing, inside jokes that I wasn’t fully present for.

Then—

I felt his eyes land on me. My body went rigid. I swallowed hard, gripping the stem of my wine glass. As much as I wanted to be angry with him, as much as I told myself to keep my distance… I still wanted him close.

I took a mouthful of the wine Connor had poured for all of us, regretting it instantly as the alcohol settled hot and heavy in my stomach.

God, no. No more of that.

I slid the glass farther away as if it were poison, sinking deeper into my seat.

The rest of dinner passed in a blur. Laughter, drinks, teasing. Until the plates were empty, and the night carried on into the kind of chaos that only came after food and too much alcohol.

Bullshit.The game of bluffing and analyzing. Except everyone was drunk.

“Two fives,” Aaliyah announced, pushing her cards onto the pile in the center of the table, her grin sly.

“B.S.” Braxton jumped to his feet confidently, and Aaliyah’s smile widened. She reached for her cards and turned them up for us to see. “Fuck,” Braxton muttered, reaching for the pile of cards in the middle of the table, taking them all to himself while Kevin laughed.