Vile Games (book two)

7 - a day out with osman

song for chapter:
come on mess me up - cub sport
| i fell in love with avoiding problems |
(highly recommend + put on repeat)

jaylee's pov
2 days after the party.

my feet walked through the damp sand along the beach, water occasionally swarming over them. osman walked next to me, both of us holding onto our fruit bowls we had just previously bought.

"is yours good?" he questioned me as he chewed his food, turning his head to the side to look down at me standing next to him.

"it actually is." I admit to him honestly, looking down to my fruit cup as my spoon played with the slices. "I thought you were gonna pick out a bad combination for me." I laughed lightly a couple times.

"strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. anything with berries you're basically obsessed with." he chuckled to himself, knowing he was right.

I smiled widely as I looked up to him, nudging his body with my elbow. "you know me too well." I spoke before putting another scoop of fruit into my mouth.

he shrugged his shoulders, having an overly confident expression on his face. "what can I say? I'm a good best friend." his voice was laced with confidence, yet also cockiness.

"the best." I corrected him, letting out a few more laughs before our conversation died down.

due to the sudden silence between us, I looked over at him as we continued to walk. his lips were rubbing together as if he were holding himself back. his eyebrows were slightly narrowed like he was having a debate in his head.

my eyebrows narrowed in a confused manner as I chewed on the fruit in my mouth. "what?" I questioned, my voice being slightly muffled from being full.

he pursed his lips together as his eyes squinted a little. "so I didn't ask you, but did you ever talk to ethan at the party?" he finally spoke up, turning his head slightly so that he could look at me.

a smooth grin crossed my lips as I slowly looked up at him. "oh now you ask me about it." my voice was threaded with a tone of sass, my eyebrow perking upwards as I questioned him.

he narrowed his eyebrows, letting a very faded smile form on his lips. "what's that supposed to mean?" he sounded confused, not knowing what I meant.

I exhaled a large breath, keeping my eyes on him. "you've been MIA for two days thinking I haven't been noticing that you're hanging out with him." I raised both of my eyebrows, keeping a small smile on my face so he wouldn't feel guilty. "you missed the song recording at the studio yesterday, you said you'd go with me."

almost immediately his facial expressions dropped, his eyes looked at me as if he were about to be in trouble. "jaylee-" he hesitated, about to defend himself and apologize, but I cut him off.

"osman, it's fine." I laughed lightly from his sudden panic, looking down to the sand as we walked. "I'm happy at least one of us gets to spend time with him." I admit, knowing it meant a lot to osman.

he tucked his lips inwards, looking down to the floor. I could tell he felt awkward. he didn't know what to say without hurting my feelings.