Page 49 of Another Love, Another Time
“Riv, it might be important.”
I huff. I know he’s right, but I’m so frustrated. I was almost there.
He pulls out. I’m left empty and unsatisfied. He grabs his boardshorts and finds his phone. “It’s Logan.”
I sit up. Logan wouldn’t call unless he absolutely had to. I start to grab my swimsuit bottoms and put them on.
“Hey,” Auggie starts. I can’t hear the conversation on the other end. When he stands up and pulls the condom off, I know whatever we were doing is over.
I want to scream. He’s still listening to Logan and holds the condom up for me. I grab it from him and find the tissue and the plastic bag I stashed earlier. I throw them in the bag and finish getting decent. When I turn around, Auggie already has his shorts back on. I hear him say, “I’ll be right there,” and then he hangs up.
“What’s going on?” I question.
“Melissa. I guess she started crying. She was messing around with that guy she invited over, but in the middle of it, she just started crying.”
“Did he do something to her?”
“Not that Logan said, but the two guys left. I think she freaked them out. Now she’s crying. She wants me to go down there to talk to her.”
Now I’m furious. She interrupted our time together. “Does this happen all the time?”
“No, but I’m usually there to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Why can’t Logan help her?”
“Well, he has to deal with Monica, Melissa, and her friend. He’s kind of outnumbered.”
“Why can’t he just have her friend bring her up to the house?”
“I guess she is being loud. He doesn’t want her to wake anyone up.”
“Why does it have to be you? It’s not like she’s your girlfriend,” I snap partly from my sexual frustration, partly because I knew something like this was going to happen.
“Neither are you, so stop asking questions.” Auggie has never snapped at me like that. I flinch at his words and feel the tears start. He reaches out. “I didn’t mean it like—”
I pull out of his grasp. “No, I get it. Go rescue Princess Melissa. God forbid she has to do something herself.”
“It’s not like that…” he tries, but I don’t hear the rest of what he's saying. I’m walking out of the room with the evidence of what we just did. Almost did.
He doesn’t come after me. I think that hurts worse. I go to my room and cry myself to sleep.
~~
I wake up early, and I don’t see Melissa in her bed. I get this sinking feeling. I know my eyes are still puffy from crying, but I don’t really care. I go down to get some coffee. Our parents are up. Aunt Connie already has the coffee going. I pour a cup without making eye contact with anyone.
“Oh, honey, did you have an allergic reaction to something?” Aunt Jess asks. I just shake my head and walk toward the back deck. I look in the TV room as I pass. What I see hurts my heart.
Auggie is sitting up, head back. Melissa is lying with her head down on his lap. It looks like he was playing with her hair. There is a bucket and a towel at his feet.
He left me to go help her. Blinking back tears, I shake it off and continue to the deck. I find my sunglasses I left on the table and put them on. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I just want to sit and drink my coffee in peace.
Melissa’s mom comes out. I definitely don’t want to talk to her. “Hey, River. Late night?” I grunt my response, hoping she gets the hint. She laughs. “Did you see Auggie and Melissa? So cute. He always makes sure she makes it home safe.”
“Yup. Auggie, always the knight in shining armor.” I can’t listen to anything else she says. I pick up my coffee and head down to the dock. I don’t want to be social right now.
Once at the dock, I take my flip flops off, lower myself to the edge of the dock, and sit. My feet barely graze the water, but it feels good with the sun shining down. It’s not long after I finish my coffee that I hear my mom yell that I need to start getting ready. We’ll have to leave in about an hour to head toward Cabbage Island.
~~
