𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 || baxter radic (discontinued)

3.

𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗

I have a lollipop tucked in my mouth. My fingers slipping it past my lips as I go to speak. My hand is placed against my hip as I look at Baxter. He's decided that he's going to spend his summer fighting for Summer. Not under my watch. I wasn't going to watch him try and split the perfect couple apart. A couple I feel like I've been hearing about for over a year. Even if they haven't been together long.

"Like what you're staring at?" Confidence radiates in every word that flips off his tongue. My only reaction is that of a scoff. I turn sassily and storm off, grabbing Summer from the impending doom he'd bring her if she stayed any longer.

"Cove, where are we going?" Summer acts all innocent like she has no idea what Bax's intentions are. Did she forget about their romance? Did she forget how much Bax had slipped for her? It was clear he still had eyes for her. I mean that's why she invited me across the world to begin with, to save her from messing up the future she wanted with Ari. I was to be the distraction.

"Anywhere but here." I let out a heavy breath as I continue to drag her off from Bax. I can still feel his eyes on us. He's watching our every move from across the room. His heart still beat for Summer, though he wouldn't admit that to anyone. He was the player. The one to never settle down. Yet my whole job here was to convince him to fall for me. That was easier said than done.

"Ou, are you embarrassed that Baxter called you out for staring?" Summer pokes at my sides. The blatant call out making my cheeks tint a light shade of pink.

I scoff. "The boy who is still clearly not over you." I look over my shoulder, his eyes still watching us like a hawk. We needed to get out of here before we gave away too many secrets of our own.

"That's why we have to convince him to fall for you instead. This isn't working." She pulls at my clothes and hair. "Make over time!" She calls out, this time dragging me off and away from Bax.

"Who are you trying to make me into?" I stand with my hip cocked, lollipop stick tucked between my teeth as I stare at my reflection in the mirror. Summer is stood behind me, studying my reflection.

"A better version of yourself." She drops a hat on top my head, but I flip it off before it even presses against my perfectly set hair. There is no way you would ever catch me in a hat. I don't know why she even attempted it. Possibly out of torture, who knows.

"You mean a carbon copy of yourself?" I motion toward our reflection, the only difference between us being our height. Our hair matched, minus the colored streaks in mine, our eyes matched, our skin tone. Everything down to a T was identical. Now our outfits matched. Maybe that was the point?

"We want Bax to pick you don't we? We already know he's attracted to me. Might as well replicate it on you." She pats my shoulder. "So we are definitely getting this." She motions to my outfit in the mirror before exiting the dressing room.

"Have you ever thought it's your personality he likes?" I call out after giving my reflection one final look. She doesn't reply therefore giving me the answer that I indeed was getting this outfit and I was slowly going to be turning into her.

After what felt like one hundred more outfits, we walk out of the mall with nearly an entire new wardrobe. I shouldn't have packed a thing. I wasn't going to end up wearing anything of my own. Our styles were completely different. It's the only way people were able tell the difference between us. The height wasn't even a determining factor, just the clothes.

"Summer, be real with me, do you honestly think I could convince Bax to move on from you?" I walk slowly beside her, my hands full of bags way too heavy for my liking. I feel like my arms are about to break off.

"He's a very easy man to swoon. Give him a bit of attention and he will be all over you." Summer laughs as if this man is so predictable. But after the past few weeks, I'm pretty sure he's proven he's quite a complex man. The realization of his own family screwing him over completely switching the way the man thinks.

"If I remember correctly from your call right after you arrived here, he showed interest in you first Torres." The use of Baxter's nickname for Summer has her eyes shooting in my direction. I guess I shouldn't bring up the past, she might murder me on the spot.

"Shut up Cove." She rolls her eyes, our shopping trip coming to a brutal end as the realization sits in for her. This was going to be a lot harder than expected. It was going to be a lot harder to forget the way Baxter made her feel. It would be easier to move forward with Ari if Bax had another girl under his arms. Without that, she was going to struggle.

Because despite picking Ari, there was a lingering sensation that maybe she should have stuck with Baxter instead. The bonds between the two men were different. They weren't even on the same playing field. They were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. From the outside looking in, Summer and Bax made since. But from the inside I knew how deep the connection flowed between Summer and Ari. It was a bond built years ago.

Summer was a creature of habit. She didn't step out of her comfort zone often, but when she did, she became entangled in whatever the new zone was. She proved it by getting lost in surfing like she had something to prove to her new friends. The old version of her vanishing like a distant memory.

But this habit wasn't truly new to her. It was always in her life. In the shadows, but it existed. Her mom tried to stop her from it, but there was no stopping a girl on a mission in fight for a man. When a girl sets her mind to something, most of the time she won't give up until all her options are exhausted.

Summer still had Ari. The option of being with him hasn't fully been explored. So until then, Baxter couldn't exist in her world, even if maybe she wanted him to... just a little. That's why I was here, to hold off the second option in case the first option fizzled out. I was a pawn in Summer's game. Though I didn't mind. I got a free vacation surrounded by cute boys. I couldn't really complain, could I?