Page 12 of The Summer of Us

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I forgot you like to sleep in. How do you manage to get up for college?”

Paige shrugged. “Most of my lessons don’t start until after eleven, so it’s not so bad.”

Olivia snapped her gaze towards her. “What? All of mine have nine o’clock starts,” she groaned. “How lucky are you?”

Paige merely smiled.

“How are you getting on with your courses? I feel like we haven’t spoken much about it recently,” Olivia said, tapping her fingers against her bottom lip.

So she was aware that they hadn’t been speaking? Paige wondered if it had bothered her at all, not spending as much time together. Olivia was a natural at making new friends, but not Paige. It was unlikely she’d missed Paige as much as Paige had missed her. But then again, why had she invited her on this holiday if not to make things right again?

“Yeah, I’m enjoying them. For the most part, anyway. Coursework is kind of a pain.”

“Tell me about it,” Olivia said with a dramatic sigh. “I know our timetables are different, but maybe we should try and meet up more between classes. I miss hanging out, you know.”

Paige’s gaze softened. “Me too.”

They reached the bottom of the slope and took off their shoes, sinking their bare feet into the sun-warmed sand. It had been a long time since Paige had felt the sensation of sand shifting between her toes, shells and pebbles cracking underneath her heel. She found herself thinking of her parents, and all the seaside holidays they had gone on when Paige was young. It was a shame not all relationships had a happy ending; her parents’ had ended when Paige’s dad decided to move to London, leaving them behind.

Olivia threw out her arms and spun round, kicking up the sand with her feet, and Paige found herself entranced with the girl in front of her. The girl who had found her crying on the playground one day after her parents had spent the morning arguing. The girl who had invited her to play hopscotch and draw pictures with chalk and swing hula-hoops around their waists. The girl who had wiped away her tears and reminded her how to laugh.

Since that day, Olivia had been the only friend Paige had needed. Even now, watching that carefree smile, the bright glimmer of her emerald eyes, her long, fluttering lashes, was enough to pull Paige out of her slump and let out a smile.

“I’m so glad you agreed to come with me,” Olivia said, grabbing Paige’s hand and pulling her through the sand, her skin warm and soft and dewy from the seaspray. “I’ve been so caught up with the newness of college that I forgot what things used to be like. When it was just me and you.”

Just me and you. That’s all Paige had ever known. It’s all she had ever needed.

“So, are you joining me for a paddle?” Olivia said, leaning towards Paige, her lips parted, her gaze expectant.

Paige could hardly bring herself to refuse, so she simply nodded, wordlessly, as though Olivia had asked her to follow her to the ends of earth.

Together, they weaved between deckchairs and parasols and stepped over shoddily-built sandcastles fortified with shells and seaweed, until they reached the sun-kissed shoreline. The waves were calm, lolling back and forth over the sand. Children squealed and laughed as they ran in and out of the water, splashing frothy waves.

“Do you think it’s cold?” Olivia said as she dumped her bag and sandals onto a dry patch of sand.

“Probably,” Paige answered, dipping the edge of her toes into the water and instantly recoiling. “Yep. Definitely.”

Olivia laughed, offering her hand once more. “Well? Shall we go together?”

Paige eyed Olivia’s outstretched hand, her stomach fluttering, before she slid her fingers against Olivia’s. Warmth spread along her skin, curling around her wrist and up to her elbow, but she tried not to think too much about it, or what it meant.

“Ready?”

With a grin, Olivia stepped into the water, pulling Paige alongside her.

The coldness hit her with a shock as it enveloped her feet, lapping along her ankles, and goosebumps broke out along her bare legs.

“Next year, we’re going somewhere tropical,” Olivia said between chattering teeth as she stomped her feet up and down, splashing water against the back of Paige’s legs.

Paige was already acclimatising to the temperature, wading further out with her hand still clasped between Olivia’s. “It’s not so bad, once you get used to it.”

Olivia stopped shivering as the water adjusted to a more comfortable temperature, sloshing around their ankles, and then up to their calves as they went deeper in, leaving the sandy shore behind them.

Droplets of saltwater glistened on Olivia’s skin as she closed her eyes against the sun, her golden hair framing her face. “This feels so nice,” she said, and Paige flicked a glance down at their hands, still laced together. Should she say something? Olivia hadn’t seemed to notice, so Paige decided not to bring it up.

A white-crested gull swooped low over their heads with a shriek, and Olivia released Paige’s hand to shoo it away. A cold patch formed on Paige’s skin where Olivia had let go.

“Damn seagulls. That’s one thing I hate about the seaside,” Olivia muttered, glaring at the bird as it winged away with an indignant squawk.

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