You have nothing to worry about with Janae. Was Andrew saying I didn't have to be jealous of Janae and Nate? Was it because Janae had no interest in Nate or because Nate had finally gotten over her? That was going to bug me for the rest of the night.

Nessa and the girls were hanging out in the shallow end of the pool. I handed Nessa her water, pulled off my sundress and climbed into the water, sitting on the steps with Daisy. The water was cool and refreshing. I could've stayed in there forever and let all those annoying questions wash away.

"Charm, you came just in time," Liz said, wiggling her wet toes at me. "We're playing truth."

Great. I had perfect timing.

"My question for Charm is...have you ever swapped spit with anyone at this party?"

I was about to say no until the opening chords of a familiar song started up. I whipped around to get a view of the DJ booth, sure enough Kai was there, talking to the DJ. He must've convinced him to play one of his band's songs. Their rap infused punk rock blasted through the speakers.

When I turned back to the girls they were waiting for my answer. "Yes," I managed to say without cringing to death.

All but Nessa were shocked and gasping and demanding to know who. I kept my lips shut. Kissing Kai was a period in my life I desperately wanted to forget. Funny, I wouldn't have said that two weeks ago.

We continued the game. The questions were mostly silly or about some form of hooking up. Kara left with her boyfriend, Landon, half way through. Liz was long distance flirting with a girl over in the deep end. She seemed so confident at the mall, but at that moment she was being adorably shy.

When Daisy stood to get more beer, Liz got up to join her, but stopped when the girl she'd been flirting with waved her over. Liz nearly tripped over her own feet, playing it off by doing a cannon ball into the water.

Nessa kicked water at me. "I'm bored now," she said when I glared at her.

I splashed her back. "What's that gotta do with you splashing me?"

Before she could answer a body sat beside me, another sitting on the edge of the pool beside Nessa. Nate and Lorenzo.

A shirtless Nate wasn't something I needed at that moment. There was no reason for a gamer who worked in a bakery to have such a muscular body. My eyes kept drifting over to him. I wanted to yell at him to put on a shirt. I also wanted to burn every shirt in the world so he'd have to be shirtless at all times.

Nate's bare arm pressed up against mine, the contact sending my insides haywire. I adjusted myself, hoping it looked natural when I created a little space between us. His brow wrinkled with a questioning look. It definitely didn't look natural. He knew I was moving away from him. Thankfully, he didn't ask why.

"So, this is where the cool people are hiding," Lorenzo said.

"That's right," Nessa said, side-eyeing him. "So, unless you have an invitation..."

Nate laughed, but tried to cover it up when Lorenzo shot him a look.

"It's like that?" Lorenzo said, bumping Nessa's shoulder with his.

"It is." She bumped him back with more force. Lorenzo was solid, though, and didn't budge.

I knew my best friend well enough to know she couldn't hold a grudge if her life depended on it. To the untrained eye, the way she had her mouth screwed up would've came off as annoyance or attitude, but I knew it was her way of holding back a smile. It was only a matter of time before she broke completely.

Nate leaned over me and loudly whispered, "This is when you start groveling."

I froze as he returned to his side, somehow closer to me than before. He casually leaned back on his elbows, the water lapping at his chest, his right arm brushing against my lower back. Fighting the urge to lean into his touch, I turned to him and tried to channel they hate I had for him in the beginning. Talking to him was easier that way.

"I should report you for posting my picture on your Instagram without my permission."

The smile on his face made me want to hit him. "It was a nice picture."

I rolled my eyes and bit down hard on my cheek to stop from smiling.

"Speaking of, when are we gonna do the pictures for Cake Me Up?" He seemed genuinely interested it, which was surprising. "No offense, but the pictures you have up are..." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Good...ish."

My lips pressed together, holding back a laugh. He was trying hard not to offend me, even though my pictures sucked compared to his.

His shoulders fell as he sighed. "Sorry, but why the Hefe filter?"

"I thought it was cute."

He shook his head, his lips curling in disgust. "It's not, like, at all."

"Well, since you're the expert, which filter would you have used?"

"None of them," he said confidently. "I would've made my own preset in Photoshop, one that fit the style of Cake Me Up. I would've made the colors pop. Messed around with the curves and exposure to create a unique look. Then-" He stopped abruptly, looking up at me. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, but I have the urge to call you a nerd right now."

His laugh made my inside bubble and spill over into a laugh of my own. He sat up, jutting his chin out to something over my shoulder. Nessa and Lorenzo were talking in hushed tones, their faces unnecessarily close to have a conversation. Nessa was still trying to deny her feelings, but her eyes were glued to his lips.

"I think we should give them some privacy," Nate whispered, already standing. He held his hand out to me.

I thought about what Liz said about Janae coming back and about what Andrew said to me in the kitchen. Two completely different versions of the same boy.

One who still pinning for his ex and one who was possibly over her. Not knowing which one was real was going to kill me if I spent any more time with him.

I stood up without his help. "I'm going to go find Daisy." When I turned to grab my cover-up, it wasn't where I left it on the ground. Why didn't I put in Nessa's tote bag? Thankfully, my flip-flops were still there.

"You're leaving?" Nessa asked, momentarily broking away from her conversation with Lorenzo. Her eyes darted between Nate and I.

"I'm just going to find Daisy." She looked skeptical, glancing at Nate again. "Try not to eat each other's faces."

Nessa gasped. "Shut up!"

She seemed satisfied then. I walked off towards the house, Nate right beside me. Why couldn't he find someone else to talk to?

"Did I do something?" He asked as we walked across the grass.

"No," I said, not bothering to look up at him.

He stepped in front of me so fast that I almost took him down. He held me steady by gripping my shoulders. His gaze intense. "Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing." I shrugged, still not making eye contact with him. "Nessa needed some privacy with Lorenzo, so I'm giving her some."

"Okay, but-"

When he didn't finish his thought, I finally looked up at him. "But what?"

He dropped his hands from my shoulders, slipping them into the pockets of his swim trunks, already walking away. "Forget it."

He disappeared into the house. That annoyance in his voice had to have been imagined. Why would he had been mad at me for not wanting to hang out with him? He wasn't. It was just my over active imagination running wild. Right?

♡ ♡ ♡

Daisy was nowhere to be found and everyone else seemed to be hooking up. Despite not being the only one walking around in a bikini, I started to feel a little over exposed.

I tried looking for Daisy inside again and was about to give up the search when a familiar voice called my name.

Kailand made his way through the crowd, wearing his usual outfit of cut-off short and a shirt with a band on it. Today it was Fall Out Boy.

"You look cold," he said lips twitching into a smirk. He held up a piece of blue fabric. My cover up.

I stupidly reach for it, only to have him yank it out of reach. He cackled. What did I ever see in that asshole? I flipped him off, which only made him laugh harder.

"I'll give it back to you," he said, stepping closer to me as someone tried to pass behind him. He was close enough for his hot, alcohol stank breath to hit me. "If you meet me upstairs."

He couldn't be serious. I felt sick to my stomach. All the time I spent obsessing over him and for what? Because he was the only guy that showed interest? Did I really have the bar set that low?

"Keep it," I spat, turning away.

His hand grabbed my arm, his nails digging in as he pulled me back to him. "What? You think your fat ass is too good for me now?"

My words got stuck in my throat, my eyes stung. How was that the same person I thought I was in love with two weeks ago?

My view of Kai was suddenly blocked. "Don't tell me I gotta beat your ass again."

Kai released my arm, mumbling something I couldn't make out. Nate grabbed my cover-up from him before he ran away.

Nate didn't take his eyes off Kai until he was gone. Then he turned to me, holding out the cover-up. I instantly felt guilty about pushing him away early. Before I could apologize, though, he spoke.

"Maybe you should go home."

The wind was knocked out of me. His words were like a gut punch. I tried to make sense of it as I watched his retreating form. He was mad at me, but why?