Bittersweet

Bittersweet:Chapter Thirteen

THIS BOOK IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND HEAVILY EDITED. NAMES, PLACES, AND SOME SCENES WILL BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. SOME STUFF WILL BE TAKEN OUT AND SOME WILL BE ADDED.

THE INITIAL PLOT STAYS THE SAME.

So, if you begin reading as of 5/21/2021 and choose to read ahead further than I have updated-some things might be confusing or might not make sense. As of right now and will continue, slowly, adding the new chapters as I write them. CHAPTER THIRTEEN has been rewritten & updated.

**IF A CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN/EDITED THE ^^ABOVE^^ NOTE WILL BE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER.

Chapter Thirteen

Austin

It was a good day. No- a fucking fantastic one. It was surprising since it started out so damn melancholy. The rain was gone as quickly as it came, and I couldn't deny that I was so damn thankful for a break. I knew the moment Eliza knocked on my door and asked me to come with them to the lake, that I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get out of the house. I just couldn't make it easy on her.

Meeting Andy and Layla was more than refreshing. It was nice to be around people that seemed to have their head on their shoulders. They'd both recently graduated from a university a few hours out of town and were working towards taking the next step of their lives. I enjoyed meeting people that I had something in common. Honestly, I had more in common with Andy than some of my best friends I had back at home. At this point, it was a good change of pace for me.

In all, we had a great time. Now, it was just me and Eliza on the top level of the party barge. She was muttering off some excuse as to why I couldn't seem to distance myself from her and all I was thinking about was closing the distance between us.

"Oh yeah?" I grinned lazily at her, watching her pick at an unraveling string from her towel. "What's the solution to our little problem, then?"

Eliza looked down at her hands and tug her bottom lip between her teeth, "Maybe we should try to be friends instead?"

I chuckled, "You think spending more time with each other is going to keep us from wanting to jumping one another? It'll never work."

She looked up at me and shrugged, "I guess it's worth a shot. It ain't like we have any more options."

I shook my head and then looked out onto the glistening lake surrounding us. This was a shit show waiting to happen, I knew that very well. Maybe if we'd tried it at the very beginning, it could have worked but I'd already had her. I knew exactly what she felt like inside and being just friends with her would only make my need worse. But instead of telling her that, I nodded. "Okay, Hart. We'll try it your way. Friends, but don't blame me when it blows up in our faces."

"Well, then it's settled. We're friends." She murmured, as she leaned up and reached her hand out to me.

"Friends," I repeated, trying not to make it sound distasteful as I linked my hand to hers and we shook on it. After a moment, she looked at me expectantly. "What is it?"

She glanced down and grinned, "You know, being friends usually involves knowing one another on a more...Personal level. I don't know anything about you, Austin Burkhalter."

I couldn't help but chuckle. She would never know me like she wanted to, but it didn't mean I couldn't give her a little. "How about a question for a question?"

Eliza leaned up in surprise as if she didn't think I'd give anything away. "Oh, can I go first?"

A smile crossed my lips, "Go ahead, Hart. Lay it on me."