Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I sighed deeply as my phone started vibrating somewhere behind me on my bed. I turned my head towards it but didn't reach for it, staring at the phone case, letting it ring a few times before I stretched my arm out for it, lifting it to show the caller ID. When Andie's name and picture fell under my gaze, I let the phone ring another moment longer before I reluctantly answered it, put it on speaker, and dropped it back onto the comforter by my shoulders.

"What's up?" I asked, running a few different possible excuses through my mind that I could use to bail on whatever event Andie was about to ask me out to, far from the mood for going out, even on a Friday. I still wasn't talking to Leighton, and Dan was desperately trying to play mediator in the rare moments when all three of us were home. I also hadn't spoken to or heard anything from Isaac since our fight on the beach yesterday, when he walked away from me underneath the peer without a word after my ultimatum. There was silence from him across all social media, and even Andie, who had vowed to update me if she saw him, hadn't mentioned it yet. His silence seemed to be his answer, but I couldn't deny how much it hurt.

"I'm picking you up in thirty, are you ready?" Andie was wondering, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Look, Andie-" I tried to start, but she almost immediately cut me off, shuffling around with something in the background, creating an obnoxious static noise.

"No, absolutely not, you are not bailing on me," she stated firmly. "You promised me weeks ago you would come out with us tonight." I started to ask Andie what she was talking about, until the memory of me in her bedroom nearly two weeks ago flashed back into my mind, when she asked me if I was going to be free on the 21st. At the time, I hadn't t thought much of it, mostly agreeing just because I knew Andie would insist if I said no. Now, I was really wishing I had tried to reject her.

"Andie," I sighed, closing my eyes. It was just past seven, but I was exhausted, and all I wanted to do was sleep and try to forget how quickly my summer seemed to be going up in flames.

"Please, Loren!" Andie begged, her voice rising a pitch with fervent desperation. "It's really important that you come!" I opened one eye, the other partially blocked by my pillow, staring at my phone as if Andie could see my skeptical expression.

"Why is it so important that I'm there?"

"I... I can't tell you. I just need you to trust me that you absolutely have to come," Andie insisted, a fierce determination in her voice, and I knew there was no getting out of this. "I'm leaving my house now. I expect you ready! Dress nice!" She ordered, and before I could muster a half-hearted protest again, she had hung up the phone. I glared at my phone, groaning through closed lips, as I turned my head and buried my face into a moment, letting out an even louder groan before I planted my hands on my mattress and pushed myself up.

Looking around my room, I scowled at Andie's orders to dress nice, knowing she was asking me to wear something other than frayed shorts and a logoed t-shirt. I almost pulled one on, just to show Andie how little I wanted to me going out with her, but tossed the t-shirt I had picked up back onto the floor and instead opened my closet, pulling out the first dress I closed my fingers around. My collection of flowing fabrics had increased significantly since befriending Andie, and the green dress she had coerced me into buying for her Memorial Day party now hung beside three more. The fourth, a white, off-the-shoulder shift dress, was now splayed out on my bed, reading to replace the cotton shorts and sweatshirt I had been wearing in bed. I pulled the fabric over my head and shoulders, adjusting the sleeves to their appropriate place off my shoulder before slipping into my bathroom. I brushed my teeth, ran a comb through my hair, and swiped some mascara onto my lashes. Back in my bedroom, I slipped my feet into a pair of white sneakers before grabbing my phone and retreating downstairs.