The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Thirty - Know Your Worth

"Come on." Collins huffed, hauling me up from the hard concrete of the porch where I was curled in the fetal position. There was a weird stain under my face, like it had rained, but the southern California sky was perfect as always.

"Leave me alone." I grunted, leaning heavily on her much smaller frame.

"Dad is inside and he can't see you like this. He will literally go to prison for killing whoever did this to you."

Eli." I breathed, leaving my luggage behind, and letting Collins guide my stumbling feet across the side of the house and down toward the beach.

"I figured as much..." She mused softly, grunting as we made our way past the picture windows of our home and down onto the beach, far enough that my father couldn't see the dead expression in my eyes.

We both sat in the white sand for many minutes, watching the waves crest, as Collins panted from the exertion of dragging me the hundred odd yards out here.

"How did you know it was Eli?" I asked, turning toward her and watched as her cat-like eyes studied me. Collins had always been too beautiful for her own good. Where my features were severe - full lips, tight cheek bones, bright green eyes, Collins had always been soft and warm. Her eyes were bright yellow and brown and her face held a fullness that made her look innocent...it was all so deceiving, much like Eli's intentions this summer. My stomach clenched and I gagged at the way he had so easily dismissed me earlier.

"I know we haven't always gotten along..." Collins' voice soothed quietly, taking on the sisterly quality she so seldomly displayed. I loved this version of her, even if I had only seen it a handful of times. She used this same voice when our grandpa died and she held my hand at the funeral, when Eli left for Vancouver the first time, when Trinity broke up with her the last time...

It was small moments like this that reminded me that no matter how often we fought, she would always be on my team. "I love Elijah. He's practically a brother to me, but you've always put him up on this fucked up pedestal."

I turned to look at her fully and she grasped my long fingers in her small hands. "You made those matching t-shirts in middle school that he ultimately used as a car wash towel. In high school you stuck around after football games, when he was sucking face with Denise, just to congratulate him. Christmas a couple years ago, you let him have a second helping of apple pie, when I know it's your favorite, and you never even had a slice..." I frowned, remembering how Eli had smiled at me as I offered him my piece, completely oblivious that it was my favorite.

"You are so freaking beautiful, and smart, and witty, and deserve someone who can see your beauty. Someone who isn't so hyper-focused on themselves that they can actually see you." I trailed my fingers through the sand between us, casting my gaze down toward the small shells and pebbles that littered the perfect grit.

People payed millions of dollars to get a house on this...dirt, and here I was crying into it and wishing I could burry myself beneath it. Six feet below.

"It's not like that. Eli loves me." I argued, but my denial sounded flat even to my own ears.

"I know he does." Collins was using that soft voice again. "He just loves himself more." My heart stabbed and the words hung heavy between us. He just loves himself more. I ran my hands through the sand, feeling my tears slow and my head clear a little. Collins was right. Eli might love me, but in the end I would always be second runner up to him. I couldn't be what he needed this summer, because all he really needed was himself at the end of the day.

"Something came for you while you were gone." Collins fished an envelope out of the back pocket of her jeans and my fingers shook as I held it. "I may have cheated and peaked." She admitted and I raised an eyebrow at her, flipping the envelope and noticing the back of it had been cut open.

"What?! It was overnighted from Paris, I couldn't help myself..." She batted her eyelashes at me and I pulled the heavy parchment from inside. The paper was a shade of eggshell and slick and felt entirely too expensive.

"What is it?" I asked, my tired eyes unsuccessfully trying to read any of the black words on the twenty odd pages.

"A contract from Blanchette Models International. It's pretty standard stuff. Ten percent commission of every job booked back to Franc, and in return he'll represent you." My eyes scanned the pages and I set it down in the sand, picking up the next stack of pages.

"A contract from Dior for being the face of their fall makeup line with possible extension to other seasons as they see fit." My hands shook as I flipped pages and studied the legal jargon I couldn't understand, until I saw a very substantial number on the third page. "Their offer seemed generous enough." Collins smirked.

"Generous?! They're offering me forty grand."

"I know, it's not as much as some of the higher demand girls make, but it's more than most entry level girls do." Collins allowed.

"I'm not worth that kind of money, Collins." I squeaked, feeling my heart race in my chest. "I have no clue what I'm doing!"

"Stop that!" She pointed her small finger at my chest, but looked scary as hell. Her yellow eyes flashed and her lips pressed together in a firm pink line as I got a glimpse into why she was so fearfully admired at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton Preparatory Academy.

"You've got it inside of you. Franc saw it at the party in Eli's fucking t-shirt, and the Dior scouts saw it from three head shots in our living room." I swallowed looking back out toward the sea.

"Whatever, Avery. Go to Paris, or don't. Either way, just get out of your own way." Collins stood up and walked back toward the house, leaving me alone on the beach, with my contracts and my thoughts, and for the first time in my life - with my wits about me.