Page 39 of Second Position (Astor Hill #2)

Gen

Summer after Senior Year

I dip my feet in the ocean, listening to the music drifting over the sound of the crashing waves.

I’m just far enough from the bonfire for the noise of my drunken underage peers to meld into the melody.

It’s some pop song about never being this young again and taking advantage of the here and now.

I can still see Will in my periphery, about a hundred yards away.

The Hamptons house is from my mother’s first divorce—the marriage she jumped into right after my father passed.

The same one that forced us to move to one of the most privileged suburbs in Connecticut.

The house was one of the few good things that came out of it, especially because it was only a street away from the Chapman’s vacation home.

I remember the first summer we spent here after eighth grade; we became truly inseparable, both wanting to escape our families, and finding solace in each other.

All these years later, and that hasn’t changed.

I sink down into the sand watching the waves, periodically checking to see if Will needs me.

He’s standing with a big group, full of people I don’t recognize.

They’re all laughing at something he said, more than one girl longingly staring at him, and I can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

It doesn’t matter where Will is or who he’s in front of—he has this ability to make everyone in the room want to know him.

This total zest for life that I wish I could bottle and take from as needed.

This is the first summer we have ever truly been left to our own devices. Sure, we both still have conditioning for basketball and ballet—the price our parents pay for private training over summer is shocking—but we’ve never truly been afforded as much freedom as this.

Typically, Will’s dad Dan tracks his every move from morning until night, only ever permitting him the rare social outing if Ben is there to watch over him.

His only exception is me, for whatever reason.

I like to assume it's because of how serious I am about ballet, but I have an inkling that he feels I’m a good example for Will, considering my own dwindling social life.

It’s apparent Dan sees Will’s potential, but their relationship isn’t much healthier than the one I have with my mom—in some ways, it’s worse.

Dan can be violent and manipulative in the same way my mother can be passive aggressive and cruel.

The constant harping on basketball is what I find the most confusing though.

Will loves the sport but not in the way Ben does, not in the way I love ballet.

You can tell when he talks about it—it’s like the sparkle in his eye dims ever so slightly.

Basketball doesn’t consume him. It’s hard to even get him to talk about it most days.

When I look at Ben after practice he has that same glint that I recognize in myself, the one that says I need to go back to that place.

Will doesn’t. In fact, sometimes he looks like he’s dreading it.

Especially when I mention playing for the Lions.

It’s like his eyes glaze over and he becomes completely turned off by the conversation.

I, on the other hand, cannot wait to start at Astor Hill this fall.

Escape from the reality that is here, start at the Boston Ballet and meet an entire new group of people.

Sure it’s only a two hour train ride from our home in Connecticut and yes it’s filled to the brim with a similar cluster of elitist assholes, but for once I’ll be on my own, away from my mother and the rumor mill that seems to absorb our community and has a special taste for torturing me.

Being friends with Will has its perks. For the most part people steer clear of me, but what doesn’t are their words.

I constantly overhear talk about my mother’s situation .

How she’s on her fourth marriage and counting, how she’ll steal any woman’s husband who gives her a second glance, and my personal favorite, that I’ve learned my mothers tricks and have my sights set on Will.

I lay back on the sand, my beach towel bunched behind my head, and throw my arm over my eyes, blocking out the evening sky.

I hear feet shuffle in the sand beside me and move my arm slightly to see if someone is approaching or just passing by.

Sure enough, there’s a petite blonde looking down at me.

“Can I join you?” Her voice is more hesitant than the smile she has plastered on her face and I squint up, trying to see more clearly past the shadows cascading around her. She sits down before I have a chance to respond.

“Uh sure…” I say, pushing up on my elbows and glancing around to see if she’s with anyone. My eyes land on Will, still surrounded by three different girls enraptured by him, his expressions animated as he uses his hands to depict a scene .

“Your boyfriend?” The girl asks, gazing past me at the group.

“Oh um…no,” I huff out, embarrassed at getting caught. “Just good friends.”

She hums with understanding, observing me in a way that makes me feel a bit too seen. I shift in the sand, feeling embarrassed for being so transparent.

“Really. We’re just friends.” I wonder if she can hear the small hint of sadness in the phrase.

The one that lands like a thud whenever anyone asks how I feel about Will.

I never tell them that friends is an understatement.

That ever since I met Will it feels like a part of us has fused together.

That we aren’t just friends—we’re each other's person, our relationship surpassing labels, our tether a lifeline keeping us going.

“I have a friend like that,” she says, sinking her toes into the sand. Understanding laces her tone and I feel myself blush, slightly embarrassed for being so transparent.

“Oh…” I scan the party wondering if I can spot them.

“They aren’t here,” she says, more to the crashing waves than to me.

“I’m trying to be more independent this summer, at least until we start college in a couple months.

Trying to figure out who I am without them.

” There's a tinge of emotion in her voice but her eyes are determined and I envy that. The ability to pull away.

“Did you just graduate, too?” I ask, my curiosity piqued and she smiles, glad for the subject change.

“Yes! Heading to Astor. How about you?” There’s a gleam to her now, like she can see all the endless opportunities in front of her and I immediately relate. This want for a new life outside the one I currently am living.

“Also going to Astor,” I smile and she returns it.

“Maybe we can distract each other this year, from our respective security blankets.” She gestures toward Will’s direction and I can’t help but let out a chuckle.

“C’mon,” she quips, pushing up off the sand before wiping her hands and extending an arm to me.

“It’s summer! We’re in the Hamptons . We should be having fun, not staring forlornly into the ocean.

” I’m about three inches taller than her but something about the way she carries herself makes it hardly noticeable.

Her bright blue eyes have a hint of mischief as she drags me toward the makeshift tiki bar to the right of the bonfire.

The sun has officially set by the time we’ve both had three strawberry margaritas.

Considering I’ve only ever had a drink once before, and it was the peach schnapps Will stole from the bar of his dad’s annual Christmas party, I am well past my limit.

The flames from the tiki torches create a glow over the party and I can’t help but let the beat of the music take over as I sway alongside my new friend.

We’re both giggling at the group of guys hovering closely near us.

One of them, Dean I think his name is, keeps looking shyly in my direction, his dark curls falling in his eyes.

I blush, continuing to sway, but she instantly clocks the expression.

“I think he likes you!” she shrieks in a whisper. I playfully roll my eyes.

“I doubt it. He’s caught up in the moment.” I spin and drunkenly crash into the sand, sending her toppling over me. We both burst into a fit of laughter—the real kind, the kind where we have to hold our stomachs because it aches with the movement, tears falling down our cheeks.

“Everything okay over here?” The voice is familiar and causes something to bloom in my chest. I smile up drunkenly at Will whose hands are on his hips, eyebrows raised.

He wears this pleased grin and moves to help pull me up.

I’m dusting myself off just as Will extends his hand again, pulling up my new friend.

There’s something that shifts when he meets her gaze.

It stops me in my tracks, this shift so small that only someone who knows him inside and out would notice.

That glimmer of light he has when he looks at me seems fully turned on… but he’s looking at her.

“I’m Will.” His voice is steady but has a nervous edge to it as he pulls her up and I tense, watching as she remains blissfully unaware of his attention on her. She steadies herself in the sand, brushing the yellow sundress she has on with the back of her hands.

“Wow. I just realized I never got your name,” she says to me, completely bypassing Will. He’s too enraptured by her to care and follows her gaze to me. There’s a conflict happening in his eyes that I don’t think either of us quite understand. I shake myself out of the trance.

“It’s Gen,” I say, forcing myself to smile.

“Lily.” Her smile is blinding and she pulls me in for a hug. I hug her back but feel less enthusiastic than I would have moments ago.

“And I’m Dean.”A heavy arm slinks over my shoulder and I feel slightly nauseated. With Will here, I don’t think Dean is quite as cute. Lily casually nudges Will with her elbow as if they go way back and didn’t just meet two seconds ago.