Page 57 of Only Some Stars Fall

I decide to omit the fact that I am currently on Nick’s boat. I highly doubt this little fact will make his mood better.

I’ve got a lot of shit on my mind. It’s slammed here and there’s still is no word from my dad. Have fun with your friends.

Hux’s dad was due back yesterday. Hux had told me it wasn’t uncommon for him to be a day or two late depending on how far he travels and the weather, but I know he is still feeling anxious about it.

I’m sure he’s ok. He knows what he is doing and knows the woods better than anyone.

Can we please plan to meet up tonight? I don’t have much more time here, and I’d like you to get to hang out with Hannah and Josh before they leave tomorrow.

I feel like things are weird between us…

“Everly! Come on the tube with me, please,” Hannah whines as she zips up her life jacket.

“No way, that water is still freezing, like hypothermia level cold. Get Alex to go with you.” I’m so distracted and honestly irritated by the situation with Hux that I don’t realize Alex isn’t currently on the boat.

“She and Josh got flipped and are still in the water. Come on! I’m too scared! Don’t make me go alone!”

I look out at the two heads bobbing in the water. Alex winds up, dragging both her arms through the water sending the biggest wave she can muster crashing into Josh’s face. Her head tilts back as she laughs. She looks so happy.

It makes me smile to see my best friend having fun. I know this trip has had its challenges for her. She’s spent a lot of time becoming reacquainted with a place that holds so many childhood memories but was also blamed for so long for the dissolution of her family. Nights when I was out with Hux, she was bonding with her dad, so though we have been together, our summer experiences have been quite different. Josh and she have the same easygoing, child-at-heart vibe, and I am excited to see two friends from different worlds mesh together so well.

“This might be your last chance, Ev, just saying. The rain is coming in tonight, and I’m not sure that we are going to get any more picture-perfect days before we all head back to school.” Nick’s arms are stretched out wide to the lake that surrounds us.

“Fine.” I throw my phone down on the seat and dramatically take off the cheap touristy tank top and shorts I bought earlier. The water will feel like being stabbed with a thousand needles at first, but there is something about being baptized by Aurora Lake that feels so cleansing every time I dare myself to jump in this summer.

Nick is right; this might very well be the last time I get out here on the water, and the idea of that makes it impossible topass up. I take in my surroundings, taking a deep, refreshing breath before clumsily maneuvering myself onto the tube. There isn’t a cloud in sight, and the lake is calm except for the wake from passing boats. With a sky like this, it is hard to believe bad weather could even be coming our way.

But I can feel it, there is a hint of something in the breeze that pushes the loose hair escaping from my ponytail across my face. A storm is blowing in.

It’s almost here.

TWENTY-SIX

HUX

“I probably wouldn’t answerthe phone after the way you treated her friends either.” Elle pours a beer from the tap while giving me the stink eye.

“I was busy! I don’t know what everyone expects. This isn’t a fucking vacation for me like the rest of them.” A couple of fries jump from the plate I place on the bar too aggressively. The patron looks up warily but ultimately returns to the conversation with his buddy, popping the fallen fries into his mouth anyway.

“What is up with you? You’re being a dick! You better start explaining yourself, and fast before you end up wearing this beer.” Elle’s posture proves she isn’t messing around.

She’s always put up with my attitude, but if I go too far, she’s the first to put me in my place. “Sorry.” I huff, putting my hands up in a peace offering. “I don’t know what my deal is. My brain is just all sorts of fucked up.” I take my hat off, pushing the sweaty mop back from my forehead before putting the capback on. “You think you’d be all right to cover for a bit so I can try to clear my head?”

“Yes, please, go.” Elle shoos me out from behind the bar. “And Hux?” I look back at her as I grab my keys from under the counter. “Don’t mess this up. You deserve this, and Everly too.” Her genuine smile and tone, completely void of sarcasm, makes something crack deep inside my chest.

I push out the back door in search of pain relief.

The truck abruptly stops,and my stomach turns as my gaze focuses on that broken screen door. I have been in a daze for hours, and now I’m here. The faded number seven stares back at me.

After driving around aimlessly on dirt roads, blowing off steam, I decided to get over myself, go into town, and find Everly and her friends. I owed them all an apology and didn’t want this to turn into a fight, especially knowing my time with her is running out.

But my search had come up empty after checking every store on Main Street, including the tackle shop, which I couldn’t imagine they would have any reason or interest in fishing gear and buckets of worms, but regardless, I checked.

I felt that shift in mood as I pulled myself back up into my truck. My remorse retreating, the self-loathing and doubt constantly on a low simmer, threatening to boil over, receding. Before throwing the shaft into drive, I tried her phone a few more times, the calls going straight to voicemail.

Muscle memory must have brought me here. My whole life, Storm was the person who I went to with any problem, especially when it came to girls. But Storm’s not here. He’s not fucking here.

Betrayal infiltrates my veins as I walk up on the neglected porch. How could he do this to us? How could he just leave his home, a business he loved, and most of all me, his fucking only brother, to shoulder it all? He knew how badly I didn’t want this life, yet here I am.

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