Girl Crush (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 19 - Malibu Nights (Part One)

Chapter 19: Malibu Nights (Part One)

Rachel

"Hey there."

Heath takes a seat at the breakfast table across from me, setting down her own plate of avocado toast. She smiles softly at me.

She has her hair in a bun on top her head with some strands hanging delicately on her face. Her skin looks glowy with pink, tanned cheeks from our swim yesterday. The sun from the window's hitting her eyes just right, showing me different shades of green I never noticed before. That, combined with the ocean view behind her starts making me feel self-conscious as she gazes at me with that expression.

"Rachel? Hello?" She waves her hands in front of my face. "Are you ignoring me?"

I snap out of my daze and focus on Heath looking at me in amusement.

"You're the one that's been doing the ignoring." I roll my eyes at her.

"What? No I haven't..." She pouts, placing her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands. "You're the one who barely talked to me yesterday."

"You've been... pre-occupied." I say, drinking my water as nonchalantly as I can, not realizing it would sound so needy. I am not needy.

She wiggles her eyebrows playfully, taking a bite from her toast. "Is Rachel White... jealous?"

I look at her incredulously, then start laughing at her. "Impossible."

"A girl can dream..." She pouts again, placing her chin back on her hand.

I raise an eyebrow at her. How does she do it? How does she go from a stuttering awkward mess to saying things like that so effortlessly? She frustrated me back when I hated her, but why is it that she frustrates me even more now?

I get an excuse to get away from these unwanted thoughts when the others start joining us at the table. We talk about going surfing after breakfast then heading off to a popular spot in the area for lunch after. After that we'll get a little downtime in the afternoon before going to a nightclub at night, we didn't need to worry about IDs since my cousin owned it.

"Rachel." Aly looks up at me from where she's sitting on the bed, packing her beach essentials. Meanwhile, I'm trying to choose between all the swimwear I brought for the weekend. She insisted that we 'get ready together' after breakfast. "I know something's up."

She wanted to interrogate me again. Figures. "What do you mean?"

"You've been too in your head lately." She stands up and walks over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders. "Is it still because of your dad... Or Alex? Is that why you looked pissed after you guys talked the other day?"

I shrug her hands off. "It's nothing, Al."

"...Just let me deal with this on my own for now. When I have it figured out."

She gives me an understanding smile. "Alright, well I'll be right here when you need me. Okay?"

"You're too mushy." I scrunch up my nose at her but let her squeeze me in a hug.

We head to the beach and spot everyone under an open tent, probably set up by the twins earlier. A refreshment table is set up inside, lined up with fresh fruits and what looks like coconut juice. Good, perfect for hydration. A couple of surfing boards are also lined up on a rack beside the tent.

Ashley's smoking a cigarette near the shore but I don't see a certain blonde around... Not that I really care where she is. I go over to Kelly and Aly and start putting on some sunscreen. Kelly's going on about her new guy and I really can not care any less because he'll probably be replaced by some new fuck boy by the end of the month anyway.