A Little bit of Shade

T W E N T Y - F O U R

"Good morning loser" I say as I walk past Jack's room. "Wow, Okay!" He acts hurt, then chases after me down the hall. "Why are you so happy today?" He asks. "I'm feeling good about everything for once and I think I'm actually happy" I smile, walking down the stairs with him trailing behind.

"You talked to Daniel?" He asks. "Yeah, we had a good chat last night" I say, heading into the kitchen. "So you made up? Did you say you loved him?" He asks. "You love who?" Kristen asks. Kristen and all three of the girls were sat at the table eating waffles. "No one" I answer.

"But someone loves you?" Sydney asks. "Yeah, but I explained that I'm not sure how I feel, I just know I like him" I explain. "And he's okay with that?" Ava adds in. "Yeah, he wants to try the long distance thing" I say. They all cringe. "I said it won't work but he believes it will" I say.

"Who's the guy?" Isla asks. I look to Jack and he just smiles. "Um-" I look around at all of them, they all stare right back. "Daniel" I say. "I knew it!" Kristen yells. Everyone looks over at her in shock. "I was guessing it was one of the boys and I know it's not Corbyn, you said it wasn't Jack so my guess was Daniel" she explains.

"I thought it was a girl" Sydney says. My head snaps in her direction. "I always thought you might be bisexual" she shrugs. "I am" she looks to me. "Really?" I nod. "Wow, I'm amazing" she laughs. I smile.

"Not a ton of people know that though" I add. They all nod. "I'm glad you told us" Kristen says, hugging me. "It's not something I hide, I just never really know how to tell people"

"Anyways," Jack sits at the table, I follow and sit next to him. He grabs two waffles and some fruit. I grab fruit and skip waffles.

"What's the plan today?" I ask. "Surfing" Jack smiles. "Oh you know I can't surf" I sigh, shoving cantaloupe in my mouth. "Today, you will learn"

"Oh god"

***

"Okay just stand up" Jack says. He was holding onto the board for me. I hop up but fall off immediately. "You missed the wave" he laughs. "This is too hard!" I whine, swimming back over to him. "It's not that bad, you just need to get the hang of it"

"I don't want to do this anymore" I complain. "Fine" he sighs. We walk to the shore, him carrying the board. "Done already?" Kristen asks. "She doesn't want to do it anymore" Jack places the board on the sand.

"You know what we should do tomorrow..?" Jack says, sitting down. I sit next to Isla. "We should go to Hersheypark" he suggests. "What's that?" I ask. Isla gasps. "It's an amusement park"

"Oh, sounds fun" I smile. "Yeah we can go on the biggest rollercoasters and play the games!" Isla cheers. "She loves going" Jack whispers and chuckles. "Mhm, I can tell" I laugh.

"What about the rest of today?" Kristen asks. "Let's just go swimming, no surfing" Jack suggests. I stand up and dust the sand off of myself. I take off the water suit and am left in my bikini.

We go to the water with Isla and start walking out deeper. "You can get on my back Isla" Jack says, noticing it's hard for her to touch the bottom. "I'm fine" she starts to swim.

"We can go back a little" he suggests. "No, I want to go to the ball" she whines, continuing to swim farther. The ball is the marker than tell swimmers how far they can go and how far boats must stay.

We start swimming out, to the point where Jack and I can't touch. I start to float on my back, barely pushing my self further. "What are you doing?" Jack asks, laughing lightly. "I'm floating, taking in the moments" I take a deep breath. He swims beside me and lays on his back. "This is nice" he says. "It is"

"C'mon you weirdos, we're almost there" Isla yells back to us. Jack rolls his eyes and we both roll over. Isla was already at the ball as Jack and I raced to catch up.

"This isn't as exciting as I thought it would be" Jack laughs, placing his hand on the marker ball. "Yeah, kinda boring" I laugh along, poking the ball and floating again. We swim back to where we can touch.

"I'm going back in to get some food" Isla says, swimming away. "Be careful" Jack says.

Jack turns to me. "Tell me all about Daniel, like when did you realize, when did all of this happen?" He asks. "Isn't this something I should be talking to girls about?" I laugh. He smiles. "You don't have girl friends, so you're stuck with me"

"Well," I start, thinking about my story carefully. I can't tell him I kissed Daniel so that he wouldn't tell anyone I actually liked Gabbie.

"At the beach house we got closer, that's when I realized I liked him. He said he had liked me since we met but I never really noticed, other than his awful flirting" we both laugh. "Now he says he loves me but I don't want to love him back" I explain. He nods. "But you do love him, don't you?" He asks. I sigh. "I don't know"

"I can't, I leave in two months. I won't see you guys for months at a time. You'll be on tour, meeting hundreds of girls a day and forgetting about me" I feel my eyes water, but I refuse to cry. "Ky, we will never forget about you, no matter how many girls we meet" he hugs me.

"I just can't deal with this... I don't want to have him wait for me, I know he will" I mumble into his chest. "Of course he will. You're the first girl he's ever loved... in a romantic way" Jack chuckles. "Were good right now, I don't want to ruin that but he's getting too attached to me. I'm not good for him, he deserves better" I whine.

Jack pulls back and looks at me. "Okay now you're being stupid" his face was as straight as I've ever seen it. "What?" I ask, closing my eyes and holding in tears. "Do you even hear yourself? He deserves better" he mocks. "That's the dumbest thing you've ever said, which is shocking" he laughs, I nudge his hands off me. "Kylie, you deserve to be happy. You're an amazing person and I'm so happy that you and Daniel are together. Everyday you've been 'in like' with each other, you've been happier and happier" he rambles. I giggle.

"I just don't know what to do" I sigh. "Just wait, let things happen, see how it goes, take a risk, and you both know that you're leaving. Might as well be together for now" He shrugs and I nod. "You're right, which is shocking" I mock him. "Haha, sooooooo funny!" He rolls his eyes.