Coming Up For Air | ✓

20 | white horse

"I thought the market is on Saturdays?"

"It is," Jessica looks up from where she's sat across from Stella at the kitchen table, doodling along the margins of the town gazette. "But we're outside the pier Wednesdays."

Lips pursed in concentration, Stella carefully strokes red nail polish over her nails. "And you need my help with that?"

Jessica leans her chin in her hand, tapping the pen absentmindedly against the wooden tabletop. "Well, I mean—it could be anyone, really, but Paige is one hundred months pregnant, I need the help and you need to get of this house. Win-win."

Stella's lips quirk up as she moves on to her next hand, carefully pinching the nail polish brush between her fingers. "I need to get out of this house?"

"Obviously," Jessica reaches for her cup of coffee. "We can't have you sat around moping over Jake forever."

"I'm not moping over Jake."

Jessica raises her brows, looking at Stella over the rim of her coffee cup.

"I'm not," Stella says, carefully—as not to smudge her nail polish—curling a lock of her damp hair around her finger. "See this? I've showered. I've brushed my teeth. I'm perfectly fine. A fully functioning human being over here."

"You're wearing pajamas."

Stella's gaze casts to the striped, slightly tea-stained, cotton pajama pants she slipped into post-shower despite knowing Jessica was on her way over for breakfast. "I happen to like these."

"It'll do you good," Jessica tilts her head to her left as she considers Stella. "Socialize, smile at some kids, have as many berries you can stomach. The sun's shining, and it's only for a few hours."

Stella corks the nail polish bottle, passing it between her hands. "We can eat the berries?"

A satisfied smile—as if knowing she's about to win her over—dances over Jessica's lips. "We can,"

Stella opens her mouth to respond, but her words fade off her tongue as she's distracted by her phone, vibrating against the tabletop with a text message. Reaching for it, she's careful not to smudge her nail polish, lips already slipping into a small smile.

She flickers her eyes between Jessica's expectant gaze and the phone as she quickly types in a response. "Just Jake."

"Just Jake?"

"We're friends," Stella sets the phone down, reaching for her coffee cup to have something to do. She's not sure who she's trying to convince more, Jessica or herself, as she continues, "Friends is good. It makes it easer—considering I'll probably keep running into him for the rest of my life. If Faye ever gets married I'm sure he'll be right there next to me, co-maid of honoring. So, we're friends. It's for the best."

"Okay, you're coming with me today," Jessica sets her cup down, something resolute about the way she tucks her hair behind her ears. "You don't even have to help out if you don't want to—you can just sit there and eat berries, the blackberries are amazing. Or I don't know, entertain yourself around the pier, but I'm not leaving this house before you do. We need to detoxify you of all things Jake, or you'll never get over him."

Stella stumbles over a laugh, though maybe it's more of a throaty cough, as she chokes on a sip of her coffee. "Who says I even want to be more than friends?"

The phone buzzes again and Jessica lets out an audible exhale as Stella's gaze darts to the screen—the sun's rays slipping through the window reflecting in its glass, having her squint as she reads his next message. "That does,"