Page 69 of The Storm

Message received.

SIXTEEN

INDY

So…

We’re back to not talking.

Or maybe not.

It’s difficult to say seeing as I’m doing my best to avoid him.

Well, okay, I do see him. We still live in the same house. We pass each other in the hallway and run into each other in the morning.

And we do talk.

Lots of in-depth conversations about passing the bread at dinner and setting the table.

But absolutely nothing of substance is being said.

Not:Did you actually want me or was it all just the heat of the moment?orWhat changed?

I have no idea what he’d say if I actually asked him.

The fucked-up part, though? He keeps looking at me, and when he does, he seems to get stuck enough that he gets caught. Iseehim looking at me. I watch him watch me. All the time.

And it’s confusing and fucked up because I can’t get rid of him.

Instead, I just want. All the time.

It pisses me off.

We’re on a knife’s edge. There’s this persistent feeling that something has to give. Somebody is going to give in. One of us is going to break, and it will probably be me. He’s going to shut me down. There’ll be another rejection.

I almost want to just get it over with at this point.

SEVENTEEN

INDY

It’s approaching dawn.The sky is still dark but no longer black. A faint strip of blue gathers along the horizon over the water. Most of the stars have already disappeared, with just a few brighter ones remaining. The ocean is a broad, quiet expanse, the surface barely visible except for the slow movement of darker lines where the waves roll in. The air is cool and tinged with salt. There’s a kind of suspended quiet like the world’s waiting for the first edge of light to break to wake up.

I’m itching to get out there.

Once I start to walk toward the boat shed, my shoulders relax, and I can breathe easily again for the first time in forever. I don’t even feel tired, just excited. Mom’s been extra cautious ever since the tornado. Every time I mention rowing she starts scrolling through the weather app and pointing out totally normal things like clouds and the UV index, so I snuck out before anybody was up. What Mom doesn’t know can’t hurt her. I’m being a thoughtful son. I don’t want her to worry unnecessarily, after all.

I’m blissfully alone for the first time in a while, seeing that ever since we got back home, I’ve been surrounded by people at all times. Or at least it feels like that.

I breathe in deeply and my whole body relaxes.

Until I hear footsteps behind me. I jerk to a stop and screw my eyes shut for a moment before I turn around. I sigh and watch Nick catch up to me.

“Are you following me?” I ask.

He sends me an unimpressed look. “Relax. If I were a stalker, I’d put in more effort than this. I’d also pick somebody less boring to follow.”

I throw my arms up. “Then why are you here?”