Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
An hour later, Cristiano drops me off at my apartment before his first meeting of the day, and I feel a little silly walking into the lobby wearing his oversized shirt, especially when the elevator doors open and Thalia and Mia step out dressed like they’re headed for the beach. They see me and wave.
“Just getting in?” Mia asks with a coy smile, eyeing my shirt.
I shrug. “Where are you guys off to?”
Thalia hikes her bag higher on her shoulder. “I’m taking Mia to our surf spot, going to see if I can get her up on the board today. Wanna join?”
“I’d love to, but I need to catch up on life stuff, call my family, laundry, all that.” I roll my eyes for emphasis.
She grins. “Yeah, I get it. How’s Annika holding up?”
I frown, confused. “Holding up? Is she sick?”
They exchange a glance. “Didn’t she tell you what happened last night?”
Immediately I’m alarmed. Is she okay? “No. I got cut early and we haven’t talked.”
Thalia grimaces and leans in, lowering her voice even though there’s no one else in the lobby to overhear us. “She caught Ethan the idiot making out with another girl during his shift. Right in front of her! Hugo was seriously pissed when he found out, threatened to fire him.”
“Wait, wait.” I step back, shaking my head, trying to catch up. “Ethan was kissing another girl? Annika saw him do it?”
Thalia’s eyes widen. “Yes. It was so brutal. I hate all the men on this island. They think they can get away with anything.”
“Seriously,” Mia grumbles.
“Isn’t that the case everywhere, though? Summer flings…”
She snorts. “No. Men on Ibiza are notorious. Believe me.”
God, poor Annika.
I ride the elevator up, trying to decide if I should text or call her, but the decision is made for me when I enter my apartment and find her sitting on the couch. She’s looking out the window and doesn’t move to face me when I close the door.
As I step closer, I can tell her cheeks are splotchy and her eyes are swollen. Hopefully she wasn’t crying all night. I set my bag down and go straight to her, wrapping my arms around her and dropping my head on her shoulder. I feel her inhale deeply, but she doesn’t say a word, and neither do I.
Simone comes out of our room and sits on the coffee table facing us. We lock eyes, and she winces and shakes her head. Something in me breaks for Annika.
Annika sniffles and turns to address Simone. “Should I check if he’s called or texted?”
Simone pinches her eyes closed for a second, disappointed by the question. “Does it matter, Annika?”
“I’m just wondering if he’s going to apologize or explain it. I mean, there could be something I’m missing.”
I peel back and she turns to me, hope brimming in her usually tough expression.
“Don’t you think, Elle?”
“She doesn’t even know what happened, babes.”
I don’t bother correcting her. If I were Annika, I wouldn’t want to know people were gossiping about me, not maliciously or anything, but still. I play dumb while Simone explains to me what I’ve already been told. Annika was working Ethan’s section when she saw him kissing a girl.
“Didn’t even bother to apologize, the git! Annika sees them and all he does is shrug like that’s that.”
Fury ignites inside me. Ethan and Annika have been attached at the hip the last few weeks, and I know they’ve been hooking up. For all her pep talks about keeping feelings out of it and remembering that we’re just here to have fun, Annika forgot to take her own advice. Or maybe she was only ever fooling herself, pretending she had the strength to stand against fate.
“Just please will you check my phone?” Annika asks Simone.
Simone sighs and heads to where it’s charging on the kitchen table. She turns it over to look at the screen. “Nothing.”
Annika wilts beside me.
“What does it matter, though? Annika, he knows where you are,” Simone says, somewhat sternly. “If he were keen to talk things through or say sorry, he’d have been here by now, wouldn’t he?”
“But—”
She cuts herself off and drops her head into her hands, breaking into a sob. Simone comes over and together we loop our arms around her, cocooning her while she cries.
“Is it silly that I was falling for him?” she asks once she catches her breath.
I’m the last person she should be asking that question.
All morning, we stay in our apartment, letting Annika wallow while we go through the cycles of mourning with her: pep talks about girl power and strength, furious discussions about the despicable existence of men like Ethan, followed by soft reminders that Annika is only human and this too shall pass.
By late afternoon, she pushes off the couch with a resolved groan. “That’s enough. I’ve had it. My eyes hurt and I’m not going to keep crying like this. I’m rounding up the troops. Someone let Mia and Thalia know we’re going to get ready for this stupid dance party thing at Solaría and we’re going to look so fucking hot that all the men are going to swoon when they see us.”