Chapters 5-7

A/N: I don't own anything. Minor edits.

The next morning, I'm awoken by Winston licking my face. I shove him off of me before sitting up and looking around my room. I hung up Edison bulbs last night that make this room look a little more like my room in Hawaii. I guess it's starting to feel like home. I grab my phone to find a litany of texts from Claire, Jake and Stella. It seems like Stella has made it official with Will and the group is in complete chaos. He's going to join the group to go surfing this morning. They send a picture of the four of them on the beach, tanned and giddy as they hold their surfboards. A pang of envy envelops me as I think about being back there with them, the feel of the sun mixed with cool water on my face when I'm on my surfboard. My mood lightens as I think about Emily. Even sad last night, she looks pretty but I'm a little obsessed with Emily's face when she laughs. She's definitely the kind of girl I fall for, but I don't think she's into girls. I climb out of bed, Winston following behind me so close, his wet nose touches my calf.

I'm antsy as I take Winston out for a walk and instead run with him to a park. I spend a half hour launching tennis balls for him to catch, one of his favorite hobbies. When he's properly tired, I make my way back to the house.

"Hey," my dad says when I make it to the kitchen to pour myself cereal. It's been really nice to have my dad around the last couple of weeks as we worked on packing up our old home. "Want some coffee?"

I nod and he pours me a cup in a mug shaped like a soccer ball, one of the few items we've unpacked from home. We sit in a companionable silence at the dining room table drinking coffee while my dad reads the newspaper.

"No donuts today?" my grandmother asks as she walks into the kitchen slowly. She has started using a cane since the last time we were back here to visit and she looks frail as she shuffles slowly into the room, her eyes glued to the ground in front of her. I blush deeply and my dad chuckles. I had thought coming out to my grandparents would have been incredibly difficult. I just wasn't even sure what words to use and how to actually say the words out loud. So, instead of ever telling them outright, I had FaceTimed with my first girlfriend last year. I can never be more thankful at how accepting they were, although I suspect my dad might have talked to them when I wasn't around. He has, being a dad, taken every possible opportunity to tease me about girls I might like but he's never made me feel uncomfortable about it.

"Nope," I say, trying to sound nonchalant and I jump up to pour her a cup of coffee. I had actually thought about going to Nina's bakery this morning but I'm not sure if Emily is working there today. Emily and I traded numbers yesterday, but I want to give her space, to not make her feel like she has to hang out with me.

I go to instagram to see Emily's page, wondering if she's taken my advice and started on the list. When she decides to, I hope she'll involve me. Instead, I see that she has watched my story and my heart flutters a little. I'm going to have to start posting more to make her think I'm interesting. After breakfast, I go back to my room to work on the sketch of Emily's house, but I find myself distracted, pulling up Emily's instagram every few minutes or reading her name on my "watched" list. I know it means nothing, but I kind of like that she's watching my stories. Suddenly, I'm tempted to put this sketch on my instagram, but I want her to be surprised when it's finished.

I'm in the middle of shading the roof pink when the phone rings and I grin when I see her name. She is going to do it with me after all.

"Alright, when are we starting?" I say, hoping that this is why she's calling me. She pauses and my breath catches, wondering if I've made a mistake.

"I honestly have no idea," she says and I laugh with relief.

"Perfect. Maybe try to figure out the backstory of some of them. Maybe that'll tell you where to start."

We spend the next few minutes talking about the list generally and I suggest the Huckabee lake trip as the due date. It's three weeks away, which means I have three weeks of romantic as hell activities planned with a really cute girl. Even though I know there's a very real possibility it'll all be platonic, I can't stop my heart from beating wildly as I feel like I'm completing my summer bucket list too.

Later that afternoon, I call my maternal grandparents and show them the new house and my bedroom, speaking in broken Japanese. I don't want them to feel like I've forgotten about them. But, when I hang up, it feels like I've picked my dad over my mom all the same and the feeling settles in the bottom of my stomach uncomfortably.

I'm sitting on my bed in the evening, talking to Claire on FaceTime.

"I convinced her that we should finish the list in three weeks," I say. "And there are plenty of romantic activities on the list."

"Oh my god, you actually look dreamy," Claire laughs and I blush, wondering what my face looked like as I imagined Emily and me sitting at a picnic, feeding each other grapes.

"And the last item on the list is kiss J.C. which could totally be kiss B.C.," I tell her.

"Maybe the tattoo could be your name," Claire says, raising her eyebrows and I laugh.

"Tell me about surfing! How's Will? Is he a good fit for Stella?" I ask.

"Oh my god, Will's the exact opposite of Stella, but I think perfect for her," Claire says. She launches into a long discussion of every moment of their interactions this morning. Stella's basically like Emily's mom pre-bucket list and Will always seemed carefree.

"How are things going with Jake and you?" I ask. It's Claire's turn to look dreamy.

After my conversation with Claire, I decide to start my search for a summer job in earnest. I'm thinking about getting a job at the pool as it's the closest I'll get to water this summer. On a whim, I decide to see if Emily wants to tag along; maybe we can talk more about the list.

I text Emily what are you doing tomorrow?

I work in the afternoon, but I'm free before that, comes the reply. I guess I'll be getting a donut tomorrow afternoon.

I was going to head to the pool to see if they're still hiring lifeguards. You wanna come?

There's no response for a long time and I sigh. I didn't think I was coming on too strong, but maybe I'm wrong.

No, I just remembered I said I'd help my dad clean the windows before a showing on Tuesday.

I read the text several times and I can tell it's a lie. Is it me? Or is it just something about the pool?

The next morning, I head to the pool at seven in the morning. When I walk in, I see the tall frame of Emily's ex sitting in the lifeguard tower and all of a sudden, it's clear why Emily said no. The blonde-haired boy, who introduces himself as Jake, interviews and hires me on the spot and suddenly I feel a little like I'm cheating on Emily by working with her ex-friends. I stop by the bakery on my way home to tell her the news and Emily's expression is all the confirmation I need that I'm putting myself in the middle of something.

On Wednesday morning, I start my new job at the Huckabee pool. I post a Boomerang to my Instagram story of me on my first day at a new job. Mostly, I want to see if Emily will look at my story again. I've been watching her stories from yesterday where she slowly brought a wedding cake to life on repeat. I can tell she's helping Nina, but this girl is seriously skilled with some frosting. I haven't talked to Emily in two days and it's killing me. I feel like I've somehow messed up this friendship by working with her ex, Matt, before it even began. I've started and erased a hundred texts to her, trying to figure out where I went wrong. She can't seriously think I'd ditch her as these guys. It's obvious to me that Jake is interested in more than friendship, but I have literally no interest in him. Not even as a friend, really, but then I remember that at some point Emily was friends with this group and maybe they can give me insight into her.

Within my first hour at my new job, I know why Emily hated the idea of coming to the pool. A junior named Cassie Evans is talking to her friend, Jane Collins, about Emily.

"Do you think she'll ever show her face here after what she did to Matt?" Cassie asks as she slides off the shirt over her bikini.

"Only if Callum's here too," Jane remarks and the two of them break out into laughter. They see me watching them and they turn their attention to me. After introducing themselves, Jane says, "We're not trying to be cruel or anything but Emily literally kissed a random guy that wasn't her loving boyfriend in front of the entire school. Who does that?"

"And he's so beautiful," Cassie adds, her eyes going dreamy. "I'm hoping he's done with her for good and he'll ask me out this summer."

Jane pokes Cassie playfully and the giggle as they walk away. I can tell these girls doesn't know Emily very well, but I don't like them all the same. I wonder why this random girl cares that Emily kissed someone who wasn't her boyfriend at a dance, although I am curious why Emily did it. She just doesn't seem like the kind of person that would intentionally hurt someone they loved. Cassie and Jane do show me that this town loves gossip. That's going to be just great when they learn I'm a lesbian.