stranger ; 𝐩. 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫

21 | twenty-one

"lucy, how's it going back in queens?"

"oh, you know, it's...normal. quiet without you," lucy replied sadly to her best friend.

"the competition is tomorrow, luce, we'll be home before you know it," liz reassured her. there was a pause before she continued. "hey, are you okay?"

lucy cleared her throat. "yeah, i'm fine. why?"

"oh, i don't know. it's just...Peter's acting strangely. he's not going to come swimming with us—"

"the night before your big day? what a rule-breaker," she teased her, but her stomach did a flip at liz's words.

"it's good for morale," she insisted before going on. "anyway, he's been really down lately, and he and ned have basically barricaded themselves in their hotel room."

"they're probably studying, liz, what else would they be doing?"

"i don't know, lucy, i'm just worried about tomorrow. what if we lose? what if he messes it up?" liz's voice was strained with concern.

lucy's vision tunneled with sudden rage. "you're going to do great, liz, stop relying on peter. he's not worth it."

"are you sure you're okay? you and peter got in a fight, didn't you?"

"i don't wanna talk about it," lucy whined. "now, go for a swim and forget about him. i'll deal with it."

"please don't pound into him too much. we need him tomorrow."

lucy sighed. "i'll do my best."

after hanging up, lucy rolled her eyes. "so this is how you get me to talk to you, by ruining my best friend's chance at a national title?" she pulled up peter's contact and angrily jabbed her thumb on the 'call' button.

[a/n: heyyyy she's calling him! what do you think she's gonna say?

i really appreciate each and every one of you who reads this story, and i'm so excited to wrap it up in the coming days/weeks, however long it takes. please, it means so much to me if you vote, so if you enjoyed this chapter, consider tapping that orange star! see you in the next chapter!]