Page 88 of Tell Me It’s Right

I sigh and lie back on the sand, careful not to disturb Liam, and admire the vibrant streaks of pink and orange lingering in the sky. Their reflections skate across the waves gently lapping against the shore. It’s peaceful, and quiet, and?—

“Gracie.”

I startle awake at someone shaking me by the shoulders. When I open my eyes, everything is dark.

“Gracie, wake up.”

It takes my brain another moment to process it’s Liam’s voice, and that’s the sound of the ocean behind him…

And those are the night stars overhead.

“Oh my God.” I scramble into a seated position and look around at the eerily vacant beach. I must have fallen asleep too. “What time is it?”

“Come on.” Liam helps me to my feet, then I hurry after him to where our things are discarded a few yards away.

“Liam—” I start, my voice already several octaves too high.

“I know. I know. Come on.”

My bag and shoes in one hand and my other gripping Liam’s, we take off at a jog toward the parking lot, empty save for Liam’s truck.

“Shit,” I hiss as he starts the car and the time flashes on the clock—nearly midnight. “Leo is going to be so mad.”

Liam speeds down the road as I dig around in my bag for my phone. Unsurprisingly, the screen is covered in missed calls, voicemails, and texts from Leo, wondering where the hell I am, each more frantic than the last.

I shoot him a quick text that I’m on my way back now, hoping that’ll calm him until I get there and can explain, but that just invites a whole new string of messages. The texts pop on the screen, one after the other in a never-ending rampage.

“You want me to…” Liam starts.

“No, no, I’ve got it. Park a little down the block so he doesn’t see you.”

Liam presses his lips together like he’s holding back from what he really wants to say, but he does it, then hops out to help me get my bike.

We both pause for a moment as I take the handlebars from him.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

I shake my head. “It’s not your fault.”

“I’ll call you later?”

I nod and hurry off down the street. It’s not until I reach Leo’s house that I hear him restart the truck. The lights are on as I stash the bike in the garage and head inside. The second I open the door, Leo lunges up from the kitchen table, Keava shortly behind.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demands. “Do you have any idea how close I came to calling the police?”

“Leo—”

“I get it—you’re not a kid and you don’t need a curfew, but you couldn’t have called?”

“I’m sorry—I’m sorry! I ran into Carson after work, and we ended up hanging out and watching TV, and we both fell asleep. I texted you the moment I woke up and realized.”

I wince at how easily the lie rolls off my tongue.

Leo seems to buy it though because he sighs and rubs his eyes.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

He sighs again and slumps into one of the kitchen chairs. “You had me…I was imagining a lot of worst-case scenarios.”

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