The Bikini Syndrome | WATTYS2019

» eighteen: seaside chats (part one)

Holly did not run out of The Cafe By The Sea with tears on her face, she was glad to say. She didn't like to think she was that weak, and over a guy, of all things.

She scoffed, and hurried to her car, shoving her hands into her pocket. There seemed to be an undefinable chill in the air tonight, even though it was barely August. Maybe it was the quickly-setting night.

She got into the drivers' seat and shoved the key into the ignition, but sat for a while, not turning it. She sighed and placed her head against the driver side window, smushing her nose up against it.

She hadn't been able to do what she'd come here to do. She couldn't keep on doing this. She needed to hurry up and find a conclusion to this: either get over Oliver, or get Oliver. No way was she settling for the third option - pining away for him from the shadows, behind phone screens and Instagram pages - oh no, she couldn't deal with that kind of...incompleteness. She needed to get past this chapter in her life.

Written, done, crumpled into the garbage.

What am I going to do? she asked herself.

She needed to be decisive, like Zara had said. But it was easier said than done.

Holly sighed again, and decided the first move would be to get her not-so-skinny butt home safely, then phone Zara and tell her what she hadn't done.

But as she cruising out past the parking lot, and onto the main road, something on the beach caught her attention -- a lone figure, sitting on the sand, her hair glaring a pale silver-yellow in the moonlight. And it wouldn't have caught her attention otherwise, since it could have been any blonde girl in the world. But Holly knew it was Sadie. Call it the curse of loving the same boy.

Against her better judgement, she slowed down and took the next right turn into the parking lot, and precariously picked her way down to the beach on the too-steep steps.

"Hey," she said softly, as if Sadie were a stray cat that would tense up and run away as soon as she approached.

Sadie turned around. Her eyes were, surprisingly, not glistening with tears, considering what had just went down on the phone with Oliver.

"Hey," she said, raising her hand up in greeting. She gestured toward the spot next to her, and Holly sat. They sat shoulder to shoulder, in silence for a second, just enjoying the smell of sea and salt and the crispness that came with night.

"So," Sadie started, "what are you here for?" There was no enmity in her voice, just a sort of curiosity.

Holly hesitated, but as part her new mission to be more decisive, she decided to forge ahead. "I was at work...and I overheard Oliver...talking to you."

Sadie nodded. "So, you heard that."

Holly waited, waited for the moment that Sadie would lash out and start yelling at her about how it none of her business.

But instead: "Well, after I leave, Oliver is all yours for the taking."

Holly blinked in disbelief. Had she heard right?

"What?"

Sadie didn't exactly smile, but she still managed to say, kindly, "I know you like him. And he definitely likes you."

"You're his girlfriend," Holly said, eyebrows quirked in surprise.

Sadie leaned back, staring at darkness above. A rubber band kind of silence stretched between the two girls, and Holly wondered who would snap first.

Probably her.

But before she could say something, Sadie spoke up first. Her voice was so soft that Holly could barely hear her. "Do people ever tell you that you're too trusting?"

Holly thought about it.

"No, I don't get that a lot. My friends think I'm too cynical."

Sadie laughed, but for some reason, it sounded a lot like breaking glass.

Or a breaking heart, Holly thought darkly.

"I'm not Oliver's girlfriend," Sadie said suddenly.

Holly's head snapped around so fast she thought she'd get whiplash. "What?"

"Will you listen to my story?" Sadie asked instead of answering. Her eyes appeared black and sorrowful under the light of the moon.

Maybe Holly should have said no. She did have to get home, after all, it was getting late. And she was sad. And she didn't want to be sad in front of one of the reasons making her sad.

But none of these thoughts appeared in Holly's head.

"Yes, I will," she said.