Ethan's POV
I hadn't felt like myself in a long time.
Not since everything fell apart with Aubrey. Even being here, surrounded by laughter and ocean air, didn't help. Every time I looked at her, she looked away. Every time I tried to talk, she found a reason to walk off.
It was like there was this wall between us one I'd built myself, brick by brick.
When Caleb stood up and said, "I'm getting ice cream," everyone just waved him off.
A few minutes later, Aubrey sighed, brushing sand off her legs. Saying she would go with Caleb.
Before I could stop myself, the words slipped out. "I'm coming too."
She stiffened slightly, but didn't argue. So I followed.
We walked across the sand, the sunlight glinting off the water. Caleb was already ahead, humming to himself, completely unaware of the storm brewing a few steps behind him.
I couldn't take the silence anymore. "Why are you still avoiding me, Aubrey?"
Her eyes stayed forward. "I don't know what you're talking about."
I let out a dry laugh. "Right. You haven't even looked at me since we got here."
She kept walking, so I reached out and gently caught her arm. She froze, and I turned her to face me. The anger in her eyes hit harder than I expected.
"Please," I said quietly. "You didn't even let me explain."
Her voice shook when she snapped, "And what's there to explain, Ethan? You cheated. With her."
"It's not what you think," I said quickly. "Please just hear me out. Give me a chance."
For a moment, we just stood there the sound of the waves fading behind us, her chest rising and falling, mine too tight to breathe.
Then Caleb's voice broke through the tension.
"Uh… did I just walk into a soap opera?" he asked, holding up five ice cream cones like a peace offering. "Because I swear I was only gone five minutes."
Aubrey immediately stepped back, pulling her arm free. "Thanks," she said, taking two of the cones without looking at me.
Caleb looked between us, his grin awkward. "Right… I'll just pretend I didn't see whatever this was."
I took my cone, but I barely tasted it. Aubrey had already turned away, walking back toward the others.
And as I watched her go, I realized that the distance between us hadn't shrunk at all it had only grown deeper.
She walked ahead beside Caleb, laughing at something he said, and I trailed a few steps behind, holding my melting ice cream like it actually mattered. It didn't. My focus was only on her how she tilted her head when she laughed, how she avoided looking at me.
When Caleb shouted, "we're gone for five minutes and they are already flirting!" I almost smiled. It was such a Caleb thing to say. Aubrey smacked his arm playfully, telling him to stop, and the sound of her voice—it hit me harder than I wanted to admit.
She walked over to Aria, handing her an ice cream with that easy grin that used to be directed at me. I just stood there, pretending to enjoy mine, but inside, everything twisted.
I missed her.
More than I should. More than I could say.
While Caleb kept teasing and Aria laughed softly, I caught Aubrey's eyes for a second. Just one second but it was enough. She quickly looked away, pretending to adjust her hair. I know she wasn't over it either. She was just better at pretending than I was.
—-
Caleb tossed the last bite of his cone into a nearby trash bin. "Alright, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," he said, dusting sand off his hands.
"Finally," Aubrey muttered, adjusting her sunglasses. "I thought we'd live on ice cream today."
We all laughed lightly, and before long, we were walking toward a small outdoor restaurant tucked near the edge of the beach white umbrellas fluttering in the soft breeze, the scent of grilled seafood mingling with the salt in the air.
We found a long wooden table beneath a palm canopy. The waiter came over almost immediately, smiling, and handed out menus printed on thick parchment-like paper.
I didn't even have to look to know what Aubrey would order. She always went for something colorful, something that looked like it belonged in a travel magazine.
The food arrived not long after, filling the table with bursts of color and aroma.
There were plates of grilled shrimp skewers brushed with garlic butter, golden calamari rings, and a fresh garden salad topped with pomegranate seeds and feta. Caleb ordered a double cheeseburger with fries, of course, Aria had gone for lemon-butter salmon served with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables, something simple yet elegant.
While Liam insisted on chicken tacos with spicy sauce that made him cough after the first bite.
Aria laughed, offering him her water, while Aubrey picked up a forkful of her creamy seafood pasta, shaking her head at him. "You never learn, do you?" she teased.
I leaned back in my chair, letting their laughter spill around me like background music. The sunlight caught in Aria's hair, the waves rolled softly in the distance, and Aubrey's smile God, that smile was the only thing that could still make me feel both calm and completely unsteady at the same time.
When the waiter brought out dessert mini chocolate lava cakes topped with vanilla ice cream and strawberries, Caleb groaned dramatically. "Okay, now this is heaven."
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "You said that about the burger."
"Yeah," he said, already taking a bite, "but this one's the real heaven."
Everyone laughed again. For a while, it felt like we were just a group of friends enjoying a carefree afternoon, not a tangled mess of unspoken things.