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Exhausted

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Chapter 21: Exhausted (Emilia's POV)

"Can we wrap it up now? I'm tired," Ava whined, kicking the sand. 

I turned away from Brett and faced her. "We're down to the last point, we're tied." I faced the others. "Why don't we end it after this last point? Whoever scores first, they're the winners. I'm kind of tired too," I sighed, tucking the flyaway hairs behind my ears. 

"All right. That sounds fair," Brett nodded while Emma shrugged. 

I haven't even been able to look Adam in the eye after what happened earlier. 

Adam has... I want to say he's never acted like that with me, but that would be a lie. He has and there was a time when he would act like this at any and every given moment. It started off when we were younger and he would just use it as a way to tease me because he knew it always flustered me. 

But he would intentionally flirt with me just to get a rise out of me or see me feeling embarrassed and humiliated. And then one time it ended up saving me from rejection when I asked a boy out in sophomore year and Adam had magically already heard from his friends or something like that, that I was going to be rejected. 

Adam swooped in, flirted with me in front of the guy, pulled me aside, and told me what would have happened if he didn't intervene. As we got older, his flirting got more and more daring, but we always knew where to draw the line. At the end of the day, we were just best friends who would sometimes flirt with each other for our own entertainment. 

I never did it back until one day I was so sick of his tricks that I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. And then the one time I did it, I almost ruined everything. I mean everything. I chose the worst night to do it but we weren't young enough to call naive. It was during the spring break of our senior year, so we were almost done with high school. Honestly, if I knew we'd have the fallout we did, I might not have fought so hard to save our friendship back then. 

Because having sex most certainly ruined our friendship when it happened. Actually, scratch that. Me being a virgin and then us having sex with each other most certainly ruined our friendship when it happened. 

I looked over to the other side of the night, finally looking at Adam. He was sweating now and a little out of breath while he ran a hand through his hair, pushing the damp strands away from his forehead. 

"Can we take like a two minutes break?" Ava asked. "I'm taking a break," she said, not waiting for anyone's reply and heading to the seats, lying back with a dramatic sigh. 

I caught my breath and then went and sat down as well, my heart pounding because of the exhaustion but also because of Adam heading this way. He sat down on the seat beside mine, lying down and catching his breath. 

"Em." I looked up at aunt Christy who was holding out two sandwiches in clear wrap. "I went and bought some for everybody while you all played. Here. One for you, one for Adam." 

I caught it as she tossed it to me gently. "Thank you," I grinned, reaching into my bag and taking out some sanitizer before I unwrapped the sandwiches and held one out for Adam, trying not to look at him. 

"My hands are dirty," he mumbled. 

"Then take the sanitizer," I mumbled, clearing my throat. 

He groaned softly, "Just feed it to me." 

I turned to look at him, stunned. "Are you serious?" 

He nodded. "Come on, you used to do it all the time. Plus, aren't you tired of our forced hostility? Come on, Emilia. See, I don't even call you Emmy anymore just because you told me not to." 

He's starting to feel like the old Adam again. And that's not very good for my heart. 

I held my arm out, holding the sandwich for him. He leaned forward, taking a bite out of it, glancing at me. I tore my gaze away, taking a bite out of my own sandwich, looking around the beach. 

I took my earphones out as I spotted Adam running over, drenched in sweat. He panted, plopping down on the bleachers beside me, and groaned loudly. "This is hell," he complained. 

"Then quit," I said, staring at him. 

"Not a choice. I'm not this good at anything else, Ruby." 

"You're good at a lot of things, Adam. You just don't know it," I shrugged. 

"Look at you. Sounding sappy today. Are you feeling down?" 

"Not really," I mumbled, taking his late lunch out of his bag. 

"What happened?" he asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, looking at me. 

"Nothing," I shook my head. 

He nudged my knee with his. "Rubes. Talk to me." 

"I don't know. I just feel sad." 

"No reason?"

 "No." 

"Do you want a hug?" 

My nose scrunched up. "Not from your sweaty ass." He chuckled as I unwrapped the sandwich. "Here." 

He held up his dirty hands with grass stuck to them and dirt staining them. 

"Go wash up." 

"The break's not that long. Ah." He opened his mouth leaning forward. 

I sighed, feeding the sandwich to him. A soft breeze blew, pushing some of my hair into my face. I shook my head, trying to get rid of it since I was holding a sandwich in my other hand too. 

"Here," he mumbled with a mouthful, reaching forward and using a single finger, tucking my hair behind my ear. 

"Thanks," I replied. 

"How cute, Blackwell." We both looked up as Cole Jackson walked by. I guess he's still angry I didn't kiss him on our first and only date. He's kind of bothered me ever since. I mean we're in junior year now, can't he get over it? "Cozying up with your little girlfriend, are you?" he snickered, grabbing his water bottle from his bag. 

"Sure am, Jackson," Adam shrugged. "Why? Are you jealous? I mean, why wouldn't you be? She dodged your kiss, didn't she?" 

Cole chuckled dryly while I nudged Adam, hoping he'd stop. "Only because she doesn't know how to kiss." 

Adam snorted, "You clearly haven't kissed her if that's what you think." 

"Is that so?" 

"It is, asshole. Emilia's the best kisser out there. And you're just mad you didn't get a chance with her." 

Cole stepped closer, towering over us. Adam huffed and stood up, instantly towering Cole instead, staring down at him. "You want to pick a fight, Blackwell?" Cole asked. 

"Sure. We both know who would win," he smirked. 

"Cole, get the fuck out of here," I interfered, pulling Adam down, grabbing his jersey. "Go find someone else to bother." 

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, walking away. 

"Let me punch him once, Emmy," Adam huffed, turning to me. "Just once—" 

I stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. "Just eat." 

I dusted my hands off, both of us finished eating now. I turned to him and found him already staring at me. "You should take your shirt back," I cleared my throat, reaching for the knot. 

"Keep it. At least until we're at the hotel. I'll forget it somewhere." 

I huffed, narrowing my eyes. "I'm not your little maid, you know." 

"I know. But you're my best friend." He stared at me, acting so innocent. 

I shook my head. "I'm not your best friend, Adam." 

But I want to be. I'm exhausted from pretending to hate him and being angry at him. And we can't solve our mess now, but we can put it behind us for the time being. That's what I wanted anyway. He can't be my friend again. Now, to me, Adam is something else, something... more. Something I don't want to let go of again. 

We couldn't work out all our issues on this trip, that would have to wait until we got back to New York and found space for each other in our lives again. But while we're here, I want my best friend back. 

"Don't you want to be? I want to be yours," he said, picking at the hem of his shorts, not looking at me. 

"I'm exhausted," I blurted out. 

"Of what?" he asked, facing me. 

"Of... being so hostile with you," I admitted, swallowing and staring out at the water. "But we can't be the way we were, Adam. Not until we work everything out."

"Let's do that then." 

"Not here. Once we're back in New York." I turned to him. "I want you to earn your way back into my life and I'll earn my way back into yours. That's the only way we can remember why we..." I sighed softly, "Why we meant so much to each other." 

He paused, "Do I still mean that much to you?" 

"Sometimes," I muttered. "Do I?" 

He nodded softly, "All the time." We sat in silence for a minute longer. "Do I mean enough for you to hear my opinions?" 

"What are your opinions?" I lifted a brow. 

"Ditch Brett." 

I laughed dryly, "Why? God, you just have a grudge against him, don't you?" 

"He's not right for you." 

"Do you know someone who is?" 

He blinked and thought for a while. "No... but I know someone who's willing to change to become right for you." 

"Who?" I asked, genuinely curious. He just stared at me and I didn't know if the answer I read in his eyes was the right one. 

But before I could ask, we were called to finish up volleyball. The ball went back and forth quite a bit before I got a chance. I hit it with the heel of my palm, tossing it back and it was headed straight for Adam. I released a breath, looking at him. 

"Hit it, Adam!" Emma yelled. 

And he did. But only half-heartedly because of which it crashed against the net, scoring us a point. 

"Adam!" Emma groaned while Ava let her excitement slip and hugged me while Toby and Brett shook hands in that dude way. 

I stared at Adam while his whole team pushed him around, criticizing him but he shrugged everything off, glancing at me. 

Emma being Emma saw this and looked at me with a small smile before jumping to Adam's rescue. "All right, everybody makes mistakes! They won, come on now, don't be sore losers!" 

I snapped out of my daze when Brett came to me. "We're the winners. So tell me, what should we ask for?" 

"It's not my win," I chuckled. 

"You scored the winning point, come on. Nobody minds. What do you want?" 

I paused, thinking about it. "You know what, let me think about it. And before this trip ends, I'll take it from someone on that team. Everyone okay with that?" I asked Emma and her team. Everyone agreed. 

When I want something from him, I'll take it.

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Chapter 21

Early update for those who are in the same time zone as me because it's my lunch break

next chapter: heartbeat