Page 77 of Already Falling

“Great! I’ll make us all some breakfast.”

Tyler and I are sitting at my dining table finishing up our breakfast when Annika and Reid return. Reid has his left arm around Annika’s waist as they walk in, and I let out a huge gasp.

“It’s really happening!” I shout, and I can feel my face split into a wide smile.

“You!” Anni points at me. “You traitor!” she says, and I leap out of my chair and hide behind Tyler.

“Hey, easy there, tiger,” Reid says. I peek out from the side of Tyler and see Reid gently lowering Annika’s pointed finger. “I came in here demanding your whereabouts.”

“I heard you fell to your knees, begging,” Tyler quips.

Annika turns around to Reid, her eyebrows raised. “Begging? You were that desperate to find me?”

“Hey, hey, whoa,” Reid says, pointing at Tyler, who puts his hands up defensively. “First of all, I didn’t drop to my knees. Second, I would have if I felt it was necessary. Third, why are you dressed like a minion, Chloe?” he asks as I stand to reveal my hiding spot.

I look down at my outfit, realizing the error of my outfit choice. “Unintentional,” I say. “Tyler made breakfast. Please grab some plates and tell us everything.”

“I’m not sure you want to hear everything,” Reid says, raising his eyebrows at Annika, who swats his chest. Tyler lets out a cough, followed by a laugh, and I return to my seat next to him.

We spend the rest of the morning gathered around our thrifted dining table while Reid and Annika take turns telling us about the past twenty-four hours. Reid steals a glance at Anni as she describes arriving at the beach and contemplating moving back to Ojai, until she heard Reid calling her in the distance. She fiddles with a pendant around her neck and says that Reid has been holding on to it since college. Reid pulls out a black velvet drawstring bag from his pocket and throws it on the table.

“Finally, this isn’t haunting me anymore. It’s now with the proper owner,” Reid says, sitting back and draping his arm behind Annika’s chair.

“You’ve held on to that since college?” Tyler asks.

“Yep, told ya I was crazy about this one.” Reid and Annika share a quiet moment.

Tyler turns to me and says while pointing at the new couple. “See, passion, that’s what I want.”

Yeah, me too, I think longingly.

But it feels too soon, and I just can’t risk making the same mistakes. Tyler will have to stay in the friend zone. Yep, good luck with that, Chlo.