Chapter 2

2

17 years old - Lily

Summer Break

O h God, I am not ready for this . I never thought I would see him again. That's why I did what I did. I'm not proud of it, but I wasn't in a place to think thoroughly. Prolonged grief disorder , my therapist called it. I stand behind my mom and Arthur like a scared child needing their protection. Looking down, I fiddle with the hem of my baby blue sundress. My head feels dizzy imagining the anger Nick must feel toward me after all these years, when someone grabs my arm.

"Oh Lily, look at you!" Mrs. Johnson says. "You're all grown up now, such a beauty! Nick, Jeremy, look at her! She is so pretty, isn't she?" Lucy Johnson opens her arms and goes for a hug. As I put my arms around her, I spot a pair of familiar hazel eyes glaring at me. Only this time, they don't belong to a gangly thirteen-year-old.

If I knew we would eventually meet again, I obviously would have thought twice about what I did. By the way the Johnsons gushed about Tokyo and how wonderful it was, I could have sworn they would've stayed there permanently. I guess with Jeremy's dad having cancer, they don't really have a choice but to come back since he is an only child. Is Nick happy that they're back here? Or does he hate being in Elsham Cove as much as he probably hates me?

After hugging Mr. Johnson, I have no choice but to approach Nick and give him a forced smile. I hear my own heart pounding. "Hey, you," I say to him, relieved that I manage to get even two words out of my mouth.

Nick runs a finger through his golden brown hair and snorts. "So, you're finally speaking to me, huh?" Puberty did him good. Not only is he way taller, but his voice is deeper, too. His shoulders are broader, and although he's not jacked like the football players at school, his biceps are well-defined, peeking through the white T-shirt he's wearing. He raises an eyebrow, waiting for my next move, but I just stare down at his sneakers as I feel my face redden, not knowing what to say.

"Come on, you two," Lucy says. "Just hug it out and get it over with so we can start eating brunch!" When neither of us moves, she puts herself in the middle of me and Nick, putting her arms around our shoulders. "You guys…It has been years. You both are big now. Let's be friends, okay? Let's be friends." Nick and I let out a forced smile.

One hour passes by and things are finally looking up. With the sun beaming on us, we all sit outside around the dining table next to the pool. Our moms have moved on from embarrassing the both of us and now the focus is on Nick's parents getting to know Arthur. Arthur tells them the story of how he met my mom, his fancy career in banking, and how incredibly grateful he is that Bryce and I get along so well as stepsiblings, even though we didn't grow up with brothers or sisters around the house. Everything is going so smoothly that I almost forget Nick is observing me like a hawk.

I walk back inside toward the buffet spread in our kitchen. Every time we have guests, Mom always goes all out with the food, so I intend to enjoy this while it lasts. From the corner of my eye, I see Nick's arm grabbing a piece of French toast next to me.

"Nick, look. I'm sorry," I blurt out. I know if I don't do this right now, it will get harder and harder to rip the Band-Aid off. "You are probably still mad. I had no right to just block you and ignore you like that without an explanation, but I was going through a really hard time, and I didn't know what to do, so I panicked."

For a while, he just stands there and stares blankly at the plate of French toast in his right hand. "I get it," he finally says. "I see how hard it is for my dad to accept that my grandpa will die soon. I didn't get it three years ago, but I get it now. It must have been tough for you."

I let out a relieved sigh. Okay, so he's not that angry anymore, at least. That's good. Trying to lighten the mood, I say to him in a playful tone, "Besides, your mom told my mom that you had the time of your life in Japan. She told my mom about what a wild child you ended up becoming, so you can thank me for dumping you. In a way, I gave you the ultimate Japan experience. People would have bullied you for having a long-distance girlfriend at the age of fourteen."

Nick shakes his head and scoffs. "Don't believe everything she says. She always exaggerates. I started getting into a new video game a few months ago, and when my mom realized it was a shooting game, she told my dad I was becoming more violent." His face looks softer now, glancing at me again and then at the assortment of jams and honey on the spread. "So, you've been keeping tabs on me, huh?"

"Your dad used to send my dad emails pretty often before he died," I tell him with a sad smile as I take a strawberry from the table and put it in my mouth. "Since then, we've gotten our updates from your parents' Christmas and birthday emails. The ones where they attach a thousand pictures." We both let out a small chuckle, glad the ice has been broken.

"Alright, now that we have all that settled, what do you say? Clean slate, new start?" he asks me while holding out his hand. "It would be nice to see a friendly face at school. Your mom told my mom that you became really popular or something. I could use the street cred by association." He winks as he says the last sentence, causing my stomach to turn into knots.

I can't help but let out a snort. "Don't believe everything you hear from her, either. The Lily in her head and I are entirely different people cut from two different cloths." I take his hand and shake it, the handshake lingering a bit longer than it should. "See you around, Johnson," I say in a sing-song voice as I leave him there and bring my plate back to the table outside where our families are.

The moment I walk away, I hear him mumble something to himself, his gaze burning the back of my head. So, this is it. Nick Johnson is officially back. I think I'm in trouble.