Page 34 of Lost in the Current of You

My heart kicked up a notch at the sound of his name before it sank when I realised he never mentioned this on the phone last night. Was that why I hadn’t heard from him? My chest pinched when my thoughts ran back to when he ignored my existence after Liam introduced us, and I started to wonder if he would throw me aside again with Nate in our presence. If he would walk right past me when he walked into the house like he had last summer before Nate left for Uni.

I tried to tamp my thoughts, knowing Nate was still waiting for an answer. It was hard not to sound vacant when my head was still in a spiral. “Yeah, sure. Pizza’s fine.”

Nate didn’t seem to notice though as he stood from the couch, tapping away on his phone. “Cool. I’ll get your usual. We’ll be in my room most of the day, so try not to disturb us too much.”

I nodded absentmindedly. “Sure, no problem.”

He retreated back to his room, and once left alone, it was harder to tame those thoughts from running wild. The TV show was still playing on the screen, but I wasn’t paying attention to anything that was happening while my focus was elsewhere.

Was he pulling away again to keep us at a distance? Was he trying to hide me being friends with him? Was it so embarrassing to be associated with me that he had to completely ignore me when visiting my brother? God, why couldn’t anything be normal in my life?

It was only the sound of a patterned knock on the door that pulled me out of my head, as if I had been subconsciously waiting for it.

I heard Nate yelling curses and knew he was already absorbed in his world of gaming, so I heaved a sigh and swallowed down the nerves that skittered across my skin with anticipation. With the unknown of which Reece I would get.

It was stupidly over-thought, but I was so used to the hot and cold. I was used to being left behind whenever I wasn’t useful for someone. I was used to expecting the worst from someone.

I could blame my mother for that.

But when I opened the door, I was welcomed by his warm smile, and it was like being wrapped in a warm embrace. My muscles loosened at the sight. I could feel all those probing thoughts that flooded my head just moments before begin to flake away with the way he smiled at me and his eyes swept over my oversized shirt and shorts.

“Where’s Nate?” he asked as he adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulders, snapping his gaze up to mine.

“In his room, where else?”

He lifts a brow, as if expecting something. “Well,” he started as he swept his arm, gesturing further into the house. “Aren’t you going to show me the way?”

I rolled my eyes. “Reece, you’ve been here many times before, you know where to go.”

“That is true,” he hummed. “Maybe I just wanted to spend a few more moments with you before your brother consumes my time.”

I scoffed as I moved past him, making my way back to the lounge and I felt him follow behind. “Be serious, Fischer.”

“I’m being very serious, Summers,” he said and I spun around to face him. “Just because I’m here to hang out with Nate doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you. You are my favourite Summers sibling after all.”

He grinned after that last comment and winked.

My heart, the traitorous thing, stuttered, while my head swirled with too many thoughts to process. I didn’t let the turmoil show as I rolled my eyes with a scoff.

“Come on then.” I ignored the triumphant smile he wore as I breezed past him, his earthy and sandalwood cologne mixing in the wind.

I waited for him at the base of the stairs, and when he stepped next to me, he beamed down at me. “This is very generous of you, Summers.”

I rolled my eyes once again at him. “Don’t get used to it.”

He chuckled. “Now, I think it’s a bit too late, considering all my free time has been spent with you this week.”

And there my heart went again, stuttering at the words spilled from his lips.

I changed the topic to one that had been on my mind all week every time I had snuck out of my house. “Do you think Nate would find it weird, us spending so much time together?”

It was such a small world between us. We went from not knowing each other at all, to finding out I was dating his best friend, and then later on that, he was friends with my brother. We had built a close friendship in the time before that, but after, it seemed like the end of that friendship, no matter how much that gutted me. Nate or Liam never found out that we knew each other. Neither one of us told them anything, apparently. Reece just took it upon himself to distance himself from me. But now that I had him back, was it weird to have the same friends as my brother?

“I don’t think so,” Reece shrugged. “I mean we’re just friends, I don’t think he would care about that.”

It was true, what he said. I agree with that. I didn’t understand, though, why I felt a sharp sting shoot through my chest.

I shook off the feeling, knowing I shouldn’t feel hurt by his words, but it was still there, pulsing and aching, even when I plastered on a smile.

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