In Waves | ✔️

14 | alone together

There are moments in life that come up so fast that they're over before you realize they're happening at all.

Trapped in Jay Carter's clutches with his boozy breath on my neck, I didn't comprehend what that moment truly was until it was over. Until Harris wrenched him off, and Rachel grabbed me like a mother ripping her child from the grasp of a predator.

"What the hell, Carter?" she snaps, holding me out of reach. She's so enraged I half expect her to take off her high heel and stab him in the throat.

He's laughing, raising his hands like he was caught stealing from a cookie jar. Harris is still in front of him, shielding me from him.

"Chill, guys," Carter says through a wide smile. "We were just talking."

"Oh, is that what we call manhandling someone nowadays?" Rachel retorts.

Carter's eyes do a full roll like a ventriloquist dummy. "All right, all right. We've all been drinking, sometimes it makes us do shit we don't mean to—"

"You knew exactly what you were doing."

His smile wilts slightly, and he gives an amused puff, looking at Harris like, can you believe how overdramatic these stupid girls are?

Harris claps him on the shoulder and directs him to the house. "C'mon, man."

I haven't said a word, and when Carter's cold eyes hold mine as he passes, my voice feels smaller than ever.

Rachel glares at him until Harris shuts the door. "Lia."

"It's fine. I'm fine," I tell her, trying my best to keep my breath from rattling.

"It's not fine. He was practically forcing himself on you."

I flinch when she says that. My arm is still throbbing from his grip. Would he really have taken it that far if they hadn't intervened? Would he have shoved me onto a lounger or dragged me into the pool house?

I stop my mind from going there, because the images are so vivid they feel as if I've taken them from a memory.

"Really, I'm okay." I force a smile.

Rachel exhales, looking at me softly. "Where's Matt?"

"He had to leave. His dad called, he didn't have a choice, it's... whatever."

"You're kidding." Her head rolls back. "Freaking typical."

"Yeah."

"Well, we can still have fun without him. I can't let this party be a bust for you."

"It's not, Rach. I'm still glad I came."

She perks up, outshining the lights in her shining Rachel way.

"But I think I'm gonna stay out here for a while. If that's okay. I feel like I need a breather."

Her glossy lips twist. "You sure?"

I nod, and she hesitantly heads back inside.

〰️〰️〰️

A long piece of grass gets tangled in my shoe as I make my way down the hillside. I stop to pull it out, glancing back at the lights coming through the windows.

Rachel's house has a pathway that leads right down to the beach. Well, to a wooden deck overlooking the ocean. From there you have to go down a sand dune to get to the beach, but I wouldn't go that far. I needed silence. The crashing waves don't give that, but at least they drown out the pumping music as I get closer.