Present
Me, 2:46 p.m.: The 4th of July festival is all set up. There’s even an ice cream tent.
Me, 2:47 p.m.: We’ve got three more days here. Even more reason for you to come.
When the black SUV pulled into the driveway, I knew we had a problem. There was already something daunting about black SUVs, but when they carried the face of the same realtor who was plastered on the For Sale sign that decorated the front yard…well, that was very daunting indeed.
I leaned over the railing of the top deck. A woman who looked to be about my mom’s age slid out of the SUV, wearing black jeans and a nice blouse, her blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the For Sale sign before smiling up at the house.
She started when she spotted me. “Oh, Daniel didn’t say there would be a family here. I’m so sorry. My name is Maggie Milton. I’m selling the house for Daniel. We got good news today, so I came to take the sign down!” She pulled a large red Sold plaque out of the front seat of the SUV. Peeling off the backing, she stuck it over the For Sale sign.
“He sold the house?” I asked.
She nodded. “To some new-money young couple who wants to rent the thing on Airbnb. They said they could make a killing, and they’re right.”
Maggie walked closer to the house, shading her eyes with one hand and giving me another smile. “Are you enjoying your stay? I could have sworn the dates were blacked out for this week, but it’s a busy time, so my calendar could be a mess!”
Footsteps sounded on the spiral staircase. Glancing back, I saw Noah stop as he reached the top.
“Noah? Is that you?” Maggie asked.
Noah stared at me, eyes wide. How on Earth did this woman know Noah? Noah closed his eyes and whispered, “Busted.” He walked to the railing and looked down.
“Maggie? What’s up?” His voice was filled with genuine shock.
“Your father didn’t tell me you guys were here,” she said.
“He’s not here,” Noah started.
Maggie smiled. “Well, good. I thought for a second there he was standing me up. That’s nice. Just a trip with your friends, then? I’ll tell him you guys are alive and well. I’ve got great news to deliver.”
“What is going on?” I asked.
Noah looked at me. “This is Maggie. My dad’s realtor and…girlfriend.”
“Your dad is sleeping with the realtor?” I asked, my voice a whisper.
“Don’t look so amused. We’re about to get busted,” he said.
We both looked down at Maggie, who was picking up a piece of trash that had blown into the yard and tossing it into the trash can. Noah jerked his head toward the stairs, and we ran down the spiral staircase.
We took the steps two at a time. “What’s the plan?” I asked.
“No clue,” he said, just as we met toe-to-toe with Maggie at the front gate. She smiled.
“Maggie, this is my cousin Morgan,” Noah said. Maggie smiled and shook my hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Morgan!” Maggie said.
“Hi,” I said.
“All right,” Noah said. “Let’s just call a spade a spade. My dad doesn’t know we’re here.”
“What?” Maggie asked.
“He thinks we’re—”
“Taking a summer intensive class,” Maggie said. “Yeah, he told me. Noah, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” She leaned against the front gate and stared at Noah, concerned.
“Well, yes. And no. See, we came here, all of us, to try to, uh…”
“Fix our friendship,” I said, jumping in.
Maggie looked between Noah and me and had an Aha! moment, as if she’d heard the stories of how we all fell apart.
“Well, Noah, I can’t keep this from your father,” Maggie started.
“I’m not asking you to. But maybe…just let me tell him? I’ll call him right now, I promise. He’s not going to be mad—”
“He’s going to be pissed,” I said.
“Yeah. Yeah, he’s going to be pretty mad, so it’s better that I just get it over with. You know, the lying and the coming here even though he told us summers at The Highview were over, blah, blah, blah.”
Noah smiled at Maggie. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Call him, Noah. I’ll pretend I was never here. But if I drive the three hours to his house right now and I get there, and he doesn’t know yet, then it’s my turn to talk. Got it?”
Noah nodded. “Thanks.”
She stared up at the house. “Well, live it up, I guess.”
Noah smiled as they exchanged goodbyes, and Maggie walked back to her SUV. She got in and reversed out of the driveway. She stopped the SUV in the middle of the road and rolled down the window.
“Call your dad,” she yelled and, with a wave of her perfectly manicured hand, was off.
Noah and I stood in the driveway, staring at the Sold sign in front of the house. “Now what?” I asked.
“Now, I call my dad.”
After Maggie left, Noah and I went inside and called a house meeting.
“We’re busted,” Noah said as Ryder, Ethan, and Allie settled around the living room. We all tried to think of a plan or an excuse, everything ranging from Ryder’s idea of “It was a spur of the moment thing” to Ethan’s suggestion of alien abduction. In the end, Allie convinced Noah to just tell the truth.
Now, Allie, Ethan, Ryder, and I sat inside, staring out at the back deck where Noah paced, his phone pressed to his ear. He was on minute eight of the phone call and was nodding, periodically opening his mouth to speak, only to instantly close it, as if Uncle Daniel was telling him to “Save it, son.”
“We should’ve gone with the alien abduction,” Allie said as Noah held the phone away from his ear. We all winced.
“I knew he was going to be mad,” I added, “but this seems really mad.”
We all turned our attention back to Noah, who was now hanging up the phone. He stared out at the beach before turning around and walking in.
“Well?” Ethan asked, handing Noah the open beer he had prepared for him for after the phone call.
“My dad had a lot to say. Mostly, he’s mad at us for lying about where we were.” Noah took a long sip of the beer. “He had some choice words, but he ended by saying he knows how much The Highview means to all of us and that he’s proud of us for sticking together.” Noah smiled. “Oh, and that he’s on his way.”
“He’s coming here?” Allie asked.
“He’s probably getting in the car as we speak. He said he doesn’t want us here alone, that there’s too much on the line, what with the house being sold and all.”
“Well,” I said, “we definitely need to do a ten-second tidy. This place is trashed.”
Ethan stood and grabbed a roll of paper towels off the kitchen counter. He opened the cabinet underneath the sink and grabbed the disinfectant spray. “I’ll do the bathroom.”
Ryder grabbed trash and stuffed it into bags. Allie walked to the kitchen and turned on the faucet, eyeing the pile of dishes. I gathered all the rogue beach towels as Noah swept the sand that had fallen off them.
No one talked about the fight from the night before. Instead, Ryder tiptoed around Ethan and me. I put my phone in the drawer beside my bed, deciding to keep it there, at least until things settled down some more. As I looked around the house and saw that we had made it look pretty close to perfect, I felt comforted.
Four hours later, on the dot, we heard Uncle Daniel’s SUV pull into the driveway. Noah walked outside, and we watched from the windows as Uncle Daniel pulled him into a hug. They exchanged words, Uncle Daniel nodding as they spoke, and then both paused and stared at the house. Uncle Daniel’s eyes wandered to the Sold sign that had replaced the For Sale sign and looked away quickly. He walked up the stairs with Noah trailing, and suddenly, we were kids again, entering The Highview for the first time.
“Well, well, well,” Uncle Daniel said, staring at each of us as he opened the door. He gave a small smile. “Glad to see classes are going so well.” He kicked his shoes off and grabbed the pile of junk mail that had accumulated on the counter. He looked around the living room, where we all sat.
“It’s good to see you, Daniel,” Ethan started.
“Save it, dude,” Uncle Daniel said. “I just got off the phone with your parents. I bet they’ll be calling any minute.”
Allie indicated the bag that Uncle Daniel had left by the front door. “Why the duffel bag?”
Daniel gave a hearty laugh. “As they say in the movies, Allie, ‘the jig is up.’ I’m staying here with you guys,” he said. “And better yet, I’m not lifting a damn finger in that kitchen.”
“Well, you’re just in time for the fireworks! They start at seven,” Ryder said.
Uncle Daniel looked at him. “Ryder, I appreciate you not lying to your parents. When I called them, they said they knew where you were.”
“I’m an honest guy,” Ryder said.
“They knew the rest of you little rats were lying though,”
“Well, in their defense, I’m an only child and an angel, as we’ve established, so I’m not sure they know how to handle lying teenagers.”
Uncle Daniel cracked a smile at that. Ethan and Allie both looked up at the sound of a vibrating cell phone on the counter.
“Is that mine?” Allie asked.
I looked over at the counter to see my iPhone lit up.
“Mine,” I said, and Allie and Ethan both let out a sigh of relief.
“Why’d you tell my mom? Can’t you be my adult?” I asked Uncle Daniel as I walked over to the counter. I picked up my phone and hit the answer button. Before I could even say hello, my mom started talking at me.
“I trusted you, Morgan! Don’t you know how dangerous what you are doing is?” she started with. I pressed my phone against my ear and walked to the back deck, closing the sliding glass door behind me. I looked out at the beach where tents were getting set up for the annual 4th of July fireworks show. From where I stood, I could see our favorite ice cream shoppe had set up a tent, along with the restaurant down the road that served Endless Shrimp every Wednesday night.
“Morgan? Talk to me, please,” my mom said.
“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry I did it?” I asked.
She sighed, “I’m calling Dr. Mackintosh. This is not like you, Morgan,” she said.
“Who?” I asked.
My mom was silent on the other end.
“Oh, Jesus. I’m going to kill your cousin,” she finally said.
Neither of us said anything else for a few moments as I watched the bustle on the beach continue.
“The fireworks are tonight,” I said.
“Great.”
“Look, you can’t be mad at me. I’m an adult,” I argued.
My mom laughed on the other line, one of those ‘what are you even talking about’ laughs, “I can be mad at you, my dear, for lying and for putting yourself in danger. God, what was Noah thinking going back to that damn house?”
“It’s been helpful,” I said. I felt defeated. I wanted to tell my mom it took a lot of courage for me to even agree to come here. It took a lot to face Ethan, Ryder, and Allie. It took everything I had in me to not completely lose it as the days ticked away, and Bailey still didn’t show up.
“How helpful can it be if you’re still texting Bailey?” my mom started, “You don’t need a summer vacation, Morgan, you need a God damn reality check.”
On the other end, my mom gasped and exhaled with so much force I could almost feel her warm breath against my ear.
“I’m sorry, honey, I…” She stopped, “I’m going to come, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that, Mom,” I said. I picked at a frayed piece of denim on my shorts.
“It’s fine,” she said, but her voice was strained and tired. A sure sign that she thought this was anything but fine. We talked for a few more moments, forced pleasantries about her 4th of July plans and whether or not we’d been eating enough before I hung up. I stood on the back deck and put my phone back in my pocket. The beach was starting to fill up quickly, and I saw tents spread well down the shore. I walked to the back door and slid it open. Inside, everyone sat silently, the tension again so high I thought the windows would break. Allie stood at the kitchen island, talking in a hushed voice to Ryder. I didn’t have the energy to figure out what they were whispering about now, but I had a pretty good feeling it was probably about me. Ethan looked up from the couch just as his phone started to vibrate in his hand.
“Let’s go down to the beach, Morg,” Noah said as he walked out of Uncle Daniel’s room. He grabbed his portable speaker off the kitchen island and passed by me, walking towards the sand.
Noah and I walked straight down from the back deck to the beach to claim a spot big enough for all of us. I dropped the three chairs that I had while Noah spread out the large blanket we always used on the beach. Allie and Ethan were still inside, getting reamed out by their parents. When we walked by Ethan on the back deck, we heard his mother in tears, repeating that she couldn’t believe her son didn’t trust her enough to tell her where he really was.
“Don’t you think they’re all over-reacting?” I asked Noah as he put our flip-flops on the corners of the blanket to weigh it down. He shook his head.
“They’re definitely not over-reacting,” he said.
“It’s not like we’re in any grave danger,” I said.
“Let’s just enjoy the last few days,” Noah said. He sat down on the blanket and looked out at the ocean. He checked his watch—I felt like my cousin was the only person left who wore a watch to strictly tell the time—and then turned around to look at the house.
“Just tell me something,” he started, “has being here helped? Or was this a straight up waste?”
I thought about it for a moment. Surely, being together had helped my mood. Though I knew we weren’t back to being one hundred percent, I at least could enter a room where Allie was and not want to puke. Ryder and I could look at each other again. I had hoped that Ethan and I would get there eventually. But now, as our days at The Highview were coming to a permanent end, I wondered how Bailey and I would ever get back to normal. I was scared that at the end of this if she still didn’t show up, I would have to move on. Give up. Get over it.
“I just miss how we all used to be,” I finally decided to tell Noah. Maybe it wasn’t the answer he wanted, though, because he looked away so quickly as if I’d slapped him and did the weird, twisty thing he always did with his mouth when he was trying not to show how upset he was.
“I really tried. We all did,” Noah said.
Before I could say anything else, I heard Allie, Ethan, and Ryder walking down the beach. Ryder was holding a shopping bag of snacks that Uncle Daniel had made him go to the store and get while we were all dealing with our parents.
“That was brutal, dude. My mom cried so much,” Ethan said. He sat down in one of the chairs that I’d set up.
“Because you lied to her?” Allie asked.
“Not even because I lied. She just rambled a lot about the house and all of us being back together.”
“My mom said that I am, gee, how did she word it, a ‘spoiled little brat sometimes,’” Allie said, “She’s mostly upset that I wasn’t actually taking free courses that would knock off some of the debt I’m going to be in after we graduate.”
Ryder laughed, “See you guys? Let this be a lesson. Telling the truth always works. Now I get to enjoy these fireworks guilt-free, and my parents can rest easy tonight knowing that they raised an angel.”
We all settled down in our respective seats, each of us murmuring some sort of insult directed at Ryder. Ryder looked around the beach.
“Holy shit, Jay’s Crab Shack is here? Endless Shrimp, thank God,” he said. He stood up and ran over to the stand, tripping over himself as he made his way to the line. He turned around and yelled at us, “Anyone else want anything?” Noah and Ethan stood up and jogged over to the line, and joined him.
Allie leaned back on her hands and looked up at the darkening sky.
“I know it’s bad luck to talk about rain right before a firework show, but this looks daunting,” she said.
“Why would you acknowledge the bad luck and then still bring it up?” I laughed.
After a moment, I took a breath. “My advisor from Flagler emailed me. She said I could go back in the fall if I wanted.”
Allie peeked over her sunglasses at me, “Morgan, that’s great. Are you going to?”
I shrugged, “I honestly hadn’t thought too much about it.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking, and you know, Flagler is actually pretty close to UF. And everyone says that sophomore year is easier because you’re settled and everything. I could drive and come visit you. We could…” Allie paused, “We could have been better about that in the fall. And I’m sorry.”
“Allie, I didn’t need an apology—” I started. She held up her hand.
“But you deserved one,” she said.
The simplicity of her statement shook me. Allie never apologized. She was notoriously stubborn. In fact, in 8th grade, she accidentally hit Miranda Simpson in the face with a kickball. Instead of apologizing, she had vehemently argued that she hadn’t been the one to throw the ball. Allie and Miranda never spoke to each other again.
Allie gave me a small smile. “I can’t take back what I did or what I said, but I can try to be better in the future.”
I reached over and squeezed her hand, both of us choosing not to acknowledge that we both had tears in our eyes. That was probably for the best. The only thing Allie hated more than apologizing was crying.
Allie stood up and held her hand out for me to join her. She led us to the ice cream stand, where we got in line behind a family with yelling kids and frustrated parents. Allie did nothing to hide her disgust at the loudness of the children. I offered a sympathetic smile to the parents, though I knew nothing about what they were dealing with.
In the distance, a rumble of thunder echoed across the sky. Allie and I both looked at each other. The radio station that hosted the fireworks show yearly was set up under a tent, blasting top 40s hits, seemingly unfazed by the incoming storm. Around us, crowds of people gathered, all talking about whether or not the fireworks would still be able to go up if there was rain. Maybe they’ll go early, someone suggested. Maybe they’ll postpone to tomorrow, someone else offered up. Allie and I were too focused on getting our ice cream to really care about what that meant for the fireworks. Still, each time the thunder boomed, something deep in my core twisted. Allie must have noticed because she looked at me with an alarmed stare.
“You okay?” she asked.
I shook my head, “I don’t know.”
She gently placed her hand on my arm and led me forward as the line moved, clearly thinking that ice cream would fix whatever it was I was feeling. And normally, it did, but for some reason, being here with Allie as a storm circled around us, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something much bigger that was wrong with today.
I felt alone. I felt like it was my first semester at Flagler again when I’d struggled to even get out of bed because of how lonely I was. I thought back to the days that were good at Flagler and how I’d felt guilty if I’d laugh with someone else or enjoy my classes. I’d felt so guilty for trying to start a new chapter in my life, just like my friends were, and I’d get so mad that they didn’t seem to be feeling that guilty.
I was so alone. They left me so alone.
In the distance, the fireworks started. Ethan, Ryder, and Noah went back to our area with paper trays filled with fried shrimp. Uncle Daniel, who had set up camp when we’d all gone to look for food, took a tray from Noah. Allie handed me an ice cream cone— cookies and cream with rainbow sprinkles, just like she knew I liked— as I stood underneath the tent, holding up the line.
“Morgan? You there?” Allie asked as she nudged me to walk.
In the sky, the fireworks exploded. The sound of them exploding, the colors spreading across the horizon, as spectators “ooohhhhed” and “awwwwweeed.” Families relaxed. Friends clapped. Locals and tourists alike celebrated.
My brain clouded. My chest constricted. My stomach churned.
I’m standing alone in the rain, screaming.