Taking It to the Grave - (The Iceberg Principle) part 1 (Patreon)

The last thing I needed in the last month or so was to be ~struck with the inspiration for Daniele/Norah's story (side characters from The Game Plan, if you have yet to read that!)

But struck I have been, and I am not very good at containing that.

At first, I started to dive into writing them as adults concurrent with The Game Changer - if you are up to date with that story, you see why. But... why shouldn't I start the story where it really begins? (for norah, at the very least)

Taking It to the Grave is set in the past, similar to the idea of Keeping Score/Settling the Score in comparison to The Game Changer

The Iceberg Principle –Taking It to the Grave – ONE

By nineteen, Norah Parker felt like she was more prepared for life than most of her peers.

She hadn’t always felt this way, because she wasn’t really a self-aggrandizing person. No, this feeling came after completing her first year of college. After seeing the dumb shit so many people around her were doing, she now felt wildly confident that she was going to be okay in life.

There were people who didn’t know how to do their own laundry. There were people who didn’t know how to cook a basic meal. There were people who didn’t know how to budget, even for ordering pizza.

That wasn’t even getting into the bigger details of it all.

Norah knew most people didn’t consider being raised by a single father as a huge win in life. By a single parent, at all, really.

And she wasn’t obtuse enough to believe she didn’t have hang-ups, issues that cut at her so deeply that she pushed them into a little box in her mind, over her mom dropping her on her dad’s lap and never looking back.

She wasn’t naïve enough to believe she didn’t have blind spots. Or stupid enough to believe her dad was a perfect person.

But he’d sure as hell taught Norah her value.

She knew the fundamentals around how to restore cars, as that was her dad’s favorite hobby, and she’d spent a lot of time learning it from him.

She also knew how to patch drywall, check for water leaks, clean out gutters, and how to use every power tool that her father, as a contractor, owned.

She’d loved to follow him around in her youth and emulate all of the things he did. And he took a very active stance in teaching her how to do these things when she’d hit her teenage years.

“This way, you’ll never have to rely on any guy–” Her dad had started to say, before Caroline had interjected from the other room to say:

“Or woman!”

Her dad had nodded. “– right, or woman – you’ll never need anyone else to do anything for you. You can do all of these things for yourself. That way, when you fall for someone, you’ll know you want to be with them purely because you love ’em.”

Norah had taken those words to heart.

She didn’t want to need to be with anyone. And, she’d found, it was a little difficult to really open herself up to people. Especially because she didn’t need them.

It was hard to need anyone. If Norah, by nineteen, knew anything, she knew that.

See, she could be self-aware about her hang-ups around abandonment.

She might not need Abbie Dalton in her life, but she certainly loved the daylight out of her. Her cousin by marriage, her best friend by nature, Norah had decided from day one of meeting Abbie nine years ago that they were going to be good friends.

It would have been easy to not like Abbie so much, really.

Because the closest thing Norah had to a mom was an amalgamation of her grandma and her Aunt Caroline. Her grandma did things like cook and bake, and Norah and her dad had lived with her grandparents until she was seven, so she was really close to her.

But Aunt Caroline was so cool. She always wore nice clothes, and she was so much fun and she always was willing to play around, and she had all the subscription services, and the building she lived in had a pool.

Abbie zipped right in and got to have Caroline as a stepmom. Before Abbie, Norah spent a ton of one-on-one time with her Aunt Caroline. Sleepovers and trips to amusement parks and pool days. She’d loved those days.

But she’d always be number one to her dad, at least.

And, ultimately, she loved having Abbie around just as much.

Abbie had always been sweet and just adventurous enough to cause a little trouble with Norah but never went overboard. Norah’s other cousins always went overboard.

Abbie was great, and now – just after Abbie had graduated high school – was the first time she was dating someone. Norah was thrilled for her.

She was also thrilled to scope out her cousin’s lady-love.

She’d wanted to lay eyes on Daniele Garcia for a long time, given Abbie’s very ardent crush on her. She’d offered to go with Abbie to the dance club competitions to watch her crush. The sentiment alone had caused Abbie to blush and shake her head.

Abbie hadn’t even wanted to scroll Daniele’s socials, because of the fear of accidentally liking something (“again!”). And Daniele’s socials were all annoyingly private, so Norah hadn’t been able to creep on her own.

Hell, she’d offered to go to Abbie’s prom with her, because she wanted to see Daniele before it was all over! Who was the girl that had Abbie – her slightly dorky, but very smart and talented and controlled best friend – falling over herself?!

That had been quashed because Elliston Prep didn’t allow Abbie to buy a ticket for herself and another woman – even if they weren’t going together romantically!

Backwards, homophobic bullshit.

Alas.

Clearly it had been a good thing, because prom had been the game changer for Abbie and Daniele. Whoop, whoop!

That had been three weeks ago.

They’d officially graduated from Elliston, now, gone on a handful of dates, and Abbie was fully smitten.

She was getting ready to see Abbie for the first time in over two weeks. The longest time she’d ever gone without seeing her best friend, given that Abbie was all caught up in her new romance.

And Norah couldn’t wait to hear about it. First, to give Abbie a little bit of shit for having dropped off the earth for several weeks now that she was dating Daniele. But, mostly, to appropriately oh and ah for her. Cheer her on.

They were meeting at one of Norah’s favorite coffee places, near several of the buildings she had classes in, downtown.

Abysmally, the barista she’d been flirting with for the last four months, Brianna, had left to go back home to Minnesota for the summer. As had, apparently, over half of the staff they had working, and a handful of new employees were training currently.

Not ideal.

Typically, her order took about two minutes to be called up.

Right now, she was going on ten minutes.

But when she saw the cup placed on the pick-up counter, accompanied by the call, “Iced matcha latte!” She perked right up.

She wasn’t the only one, she realized, as she reached the counter. Another girl, around her age, had walked up with the obvious intention of grabbing her drink.

The barista – Not Brianna – looked between them, then glanced at the cup with a frown. “Shit, Alanna didn’t write the name for whose this was,” the barista at the counter swore, studying the cup. “She just ran out back to take an ‘emergency’ phone call.” She muttered with an eyeroll.

Norah glanced at the woman next to her, who had just looked right back at her at the same time.

Gorgeous, unblemished bronze skin, dark eyes framed by long lashes, long straight black hair… Norah’s interest meter spiked.

So much so that it was difficult for her attention to be dragged back to the barista who cleared her throat. “Alanna said this was for the short brunette?”

Norah, again, turned her attention to the woman next to her, who’d arched up an eyebrow at her. “I’m short,” the woman said, a gorgeously playful smile playing on her lips.

Norah returned it, arching her eyebrows as she gestured between them. “I’m shorter.”

“True,” the woman agreed, her full lips tugging down in a considering frown.

“I guess I’ll have to fight you for it,” Norah cautioned.

For a moment, the girl’s eyes widened, before Norah winked at her.

She relaxed, shaking her head. “I think I could take you. As we’ve established, you’re shorter.”

Norah eyed the woman up and down, her eyes lingering longer than she’d anticipated. But… yeah, there was an undeniable spark that jolted right through her. “I think I might be scrappier, though.”

The girl was wearing denim cutoffs, leaving much of her legs – which looked longer than they had any right to, given that she really was only an inch or so taller than Norah – bare, and a black tank top tucked in. With so much of her skin uncovered, it was very clear to see that she was in very good shape. Not just thin, but toned.

Definitely more toned than Norah. Not that difficult, admittedly.

But there were also marks that told Norah that she was, indeed, probably scrappier. Even though the other woman wasn’t wearing anything gaudy or flashy, there were signs: she wore a Chanel watch, she had on a bracelet, earrings, and a necklace that all glinted with – to Norah’s eye – real diamonds. Again, nothing huge, but… classy.

Wealthy, but not in-your-face.

The kind of money that Norah could likely only dream of. And did, frankly.

One day. Maybe. If she could get herself there.

Yeah, she was scrappier for sure.

The girl studied her in return, her eyes narrowed. Before she released a long sigh, one that was obviously exaggerated. Adorably, in Norah’s estimation. “You take it.”

Immediately, Norah shook her head. “No, I was just playing. You grab it.” She stepped slightly to the side – not too far, she wasn’t trying to leave the girl’s orbit. She wasn’t crazy. Just enough to back off physical claim of the latte.

The barista looked between them with narrowed eyes, before she turned to accept something another barista handed her. She placed another iced matcha next to the original. “Here,” she stated, sounding put-out. “The mystical second latte.”

With that, she whirled around and stalked away, back into the fray of both the shift change, and the multiple trainees.

Swiftly, Norah stepped back up, grabbed the first latte – which was now older, had more condensation dripping down – and swept up the second one to hand to the beautiful specimen of a woman next to her. “Here, the fresher latte is for you, for so gallantly offering this one to me, first.”

The woman laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Who’s gallant now?”

But she didn’t argue. Instead, she held her cup out to tap against Norah’s in a cheers motion. “I really hope after all of this, this is, like, your favorite beverage.”

Norah tapped her cup against the girl’s, watching with avid interest as she wrapped her full lips around the straw and took her first pull.

It was early June and yeah, it was hot. But she swore the day got a million times hotter in this moment.

“Ah, my favorite drink of the summer,” she remembered to answer, taking a sip of her own. “But I have seasonal favorites, like any reasonable person should.”

“I think that a lot of people have a favorite, and get it no matter what the season,” the girl disagreed, narrowing her eyes in thought.

“And I said reasonable people; most people are far from being truly reasonable,” Norah countered.

The girl tilted her head back and forth, as if weighing her comment. “Fair enough,” she acquiesced with a winning smile.

Like, really, a radiant smile. Holy…

Norah wasn’t very prone to flights of fancy. She’d gone out with a handful of men and women, slept with a few. Testing out waters, finding what she liked. She wanted to fall in love – like, really. She really did – but she’d had very little success.

While she wanted to be swept up by that romantic feeling, she found it difficult to let herself get swept. This far, at least. But, she was only nineteen; she had a lot of years ahead of her.

This girl’s smile, though – it made her swallow tightly, made her knees feel weak. Her heart fucking fluttered. From a smile.

“Hey, you’re already here!” Abbie’s voice cut in through the blood rushing in her ears, through the tunnel-vision lens that had seemed to settle around this woman’s face.

Norah had never been unhappy by Abbie’s arrival. Not that she was unhappy now, given that she was meeting Abbie, but if it could have happened in just a couple more minutes…

“I’m, like, five minutes early? I didn’t think you’d get here before me,” Abbie breathed out, as she maneuvered through the throng of people waiting for their drinks to reach them.

“Ab, I’ve basically lived in this café for months. Of course I was going to beat you here,” she pointed out, tearing her eyes from the woman in front of her to her cousin.

Abbie’s hair was up in a high ponytail, the long golden strands falling down over her shoulder. She wore her trademark sweet, bright smile.

And instead of coming to stand next to Norah, she instead stood slightly more toward the other woman.

Whose smile went from already stunning to even more so. Wider, warmer. Her eyes zeroed in on Abbie’s face, and…

Norah’s own smile slipped slightly as she glanced between them. Not only the way the woman looked at Abbie, but the slight blush rising on Abbie’s cheeks. The way she also was grinning even bigger, like she could hardly contain herself.

Suspicion snapped through her. More than suspicion; she just needed the slightest bit of confirmation, really.

She was going to take the initiative to get that confirmation for herself.

She cleared her throat, glancing between them. “So… should I take it to mean that you’re Daniele?” She asked, landing her gaze on – theoretically – Daniele.

Who looked back at her, head tilted slightly to the side as understanding seemed to dawn on her. “Oh! So, you’re Norah?”

Abbie looked between them. “Glad you’ve met. And you’re both correct.”

“I didn’t realize,” was all Norah said. She didn’t realize it wouldn’t just be her and Abbie, she didn’t realize Daniele was going to be joining them, she didn’t realize Daniele was going to be such a knock-out that her knees got that wobbly feeling.

Yeah, none of that needed to be said aloud.

Abbie’s smile turned a little sheepish. “Sorry. I know I haven’t been around a lot the last few weeks. But! I know you really wanted to meet Daniele, so I thought today would be a good time?”

Those bright blue eyes searched hers, and she could clearly read the question and the apology in them.

It took her a beat, just a second, to shake herself out of whatever weird feeling settled through her. She’d been checking Abbie’s girlfriend out. Didn’t love that.

Still, she grinned back. “I have really wanted to meet the infamous Daniele.” She turned back to look at her, offering her a hand like a normal person. “Nice to officially meet you after so long.”

She pretended she didn’t see the way Abbie slapped a hand over her own eyes. So dang cute.

But she could see that Daniele was pleased by it all. Norah had suspected Abbie’s crush wasn’t as hidden as Abbie likely tried to seem like it was, and with the knowing look on Daniele’s face, she was certain she was correct on that front.

Daniele slipped her hand into Norah’s. “Nice to meet you, too.” She squeezed Norah’s hand almost more than she shook it, her grip cool and firm, but didn’t squeeze too hard. It was a very interesting handshake, but… definitely effective.

Norah’s eyes were glued to their hands, even though she knew it was weird.

Daniele darted her eyes toward Abbie, that radiant smile returning to full wattage. “Even though we might have been busy the last few weeks, Abbie has definitely spent a lot of time telling me about you, too.”

The grin that slid over Norah’s face was easy, even as she made a point to take her hand away from Daniele’s, sliding it into her own back pocket. “I’d love to know whatever she said. We should swap stories.”

“I’d love Abbie stories,” Daniele effused, eagerly.

And that was precisely the right energy Norah wanted to see from someone dating Abbie, even as Abbie groaned.

Norah nodded toward the door. “I grabbed a table when I got here, all my stuff is on it. Ab, I had no idea what you were in the mood for.” Abbie’s drink order changed frequently depending on what training routine she was in, what she’d already had to drink earlier as she liked to limit caffeine – Norah had learned long ago to simply let Abbie get her own drink whenever they met up. “So… I’ll meet you over there?”

Abbie nodded, visibly excited.

Daniele did, too. “I’ll wait here, too,” she asserted, looking at Abbie with soft eyes.

Of course, she would – and should – as Abbie’s new girlfriend.

So… this was fine.

***

By July, only one month later, it was really safe to say that Norah got it.

She’d never questioned Abbie’s crush on Daniele; why should she? But Norah had never crushed on someone so hard, so it had been difficult for her to relate.

But now…

She understood.

She understood that Daniele was stunningly gorgeous. Which – fine. Tons of people were beautiful. Didn’t have to mean anything.

It was everything else added in, though, that really added to the package.

She got the full impact of it when Abbie invited her to go to a dance show the week after the coffee-meeting. Daniele and her dance team had entered a competition beyond the high school sphere, and she and Abbie had been front row. And Daniele moved her body like –

Norah wasn’t going there, even in her mind, but… Daniele did very well.

Now, she understood that Daniele was going to Harvard pre-med. It wasn’t just the perfect outside beauty she possessed, but brilliance on the inside.

She got the full picture of that the next time they’d hung out, when Daniele had excitedly told her about a summer course she was taking, related to organic chemistry. Was it a requirement? No. Did she need to lift some grades or anything? Nope. She simply wanted to do it.

Abbie had watched Daniele explain what they were working on in her lap with stars in her eyes, and Norah made damn sure she did not. In fact, she made sure to treat Daniele exactly the way she’d treat Abbie in that situation: smile and lightly, teasingly, call her a nerd.

Now, she understood that while Daniele was super wealthy – her parents were both surgeons – she was so incredibly kind, you’d never know she’d grown up with money, even more than Abbie had.

She understood that when Daniele had waved her off when she’d tried to pay for her portion of dinner when the three of them had gone out. She’d looked a little sheepish when she’d explained what her parents did but had then firmly doubled-down that it really mattered a lot to her, given the position she was in, to pay things forward.

She understood these things because now that Abbie had made the bridge between Daniele and Norah, they were oftentimes a trio.

Not all of the time.

It was very clear that Abbie and Daniele were both caught up in their relationship. They saw one another multiple times a week one-on-one.

But Abbie had made it a point to not drop off from the face of the planet from her again. And she was very excited about the prospect of them all being friends.

Norah had figured all of that out by the time she swung by Abbie’s house the day before the Fourth of July, bringing over some extra coolers from her dad to give to her aunts because they were expecting more people than they typically had over.

Caroline opened the door for her, ushering her in with a grin. “You got the goods?”

She snorted out a laugh. Really snorted it out, because the cooler on the bottom that she’d hefted up was pretty fucking heavy, as her dad had filled it with ice. “Sure do. What’ll you give me for them?”

Caroline grabbed a cooler from her and led her to the kitchen. “Whatever’s in the fridge.”

“Raw deal,” she muttered. She was relieved when she was able to put the cooler down on the marbled floor. “Dad filled this thing with ice like I’m some kind of champion lifter. Has he met me? Who does he think I am?”

Norah was in… fine… shape. But she wasn’t Abbie; she wasn’t out here training every day of her life. She was a little soft around her hips and stomach. The trade off, she figured, was having much bigger boobs.

Caroline scoffed. “Yeah, your dad is too helpful sometimes, huh.” She shot Norah a wink over her shoulder as she grabbed an already arranged fruit and cheese tray from the fridge. “So, how’s everything going, kiddo?”

“Did you arrange this?” She asked rather than answer, when Caroline set the board down in front of her.

It was absolutely artistic.

“I don’t appreciate the tone,” Caroline muttered, tossing a grape at her.

It hit Norah in the chest, then rolled down into her bathing suit top, which she was wearing in preparation for spending some time at the pool.

She grimaced, reaching between her breasts to pull it out. Somehow, Caroline had gotten the perfect aim, and the thing had wedged between her breasts, so when she pulled it out, the grape split open a bit.

She pointedly put it down on a napkin on the counter. “I’ll be washing that off in your pool, you know.”

Caroline shrugged. “Worth it. I could have put this together. If I wanted.”

“So who did?” She pressed, laughing.

“Abbie,” Caroline answered on a sigh.

Norah paused. “I didn’t think she was home.”

In fact, she’d been counting on it. Not that she was avoiding Abbie; that was ridiculous. She’d still seen Abbie at least once a week for the last month. Maybe that was a little less than they usually hung out during the summer, but still.

Caroline’s eyes were sharp and observant, and Norah winced the second she locked gazes with her aunt. “She’s not,” Caroline answered, slowly drawling the words as she studied Norah. “Is there something going on between you two?”

“No,” she was quick to say, truthfully, and held Caroline’s all-seeing stare, not backing down from it.

Norah was trying to be a lawyer of Caroline’s caliber; having that Parker poker face was one of the things she needed to hone and perfect. She felt like she did a decent job of it already, but could be better.

“Everything’s fine with me and Ab,” she assured her, because it was.

“All right,” Caroline accepted, still studying her. She didn’t look or sound like she thought Norah was lying, though, which was a relief. “So, what’s up? Why didn’t you want to come when she was home?”

Norah didn’t pause again, didn’t allow herself. She shrugged instead, reaching out to pick a square of cheese from the board. “I just…” She held up a finger as she popped the cheese cube into her mouth, brilliantly buying herself more time.

Caroline was frowning at her, chin popped on her fist as she leaned against the island across from Norah. “You know, you can tell me if there is something. I’m Switzerland. I’ve also heard I’m great with advice.”

Her aunt flashed her a winning smile.

One Norah couldn’t help but return to the best of her ability.

She knew Caroline loved her. She really did.

But… she couldn’t truly believe that Caroline would be Switzerland if there ever was a real issue between her and Abbie. Her aunt loved Abbie like she’d raised her from birth. And Norah, honestly, loved that. She loved Abbie like she’d always been a part of her family, too.

There was absolutely no way in hell she’d ever tell Caroline that she had… weird… feelings about Daniele. Never. Ever.

Ever.

Much like she’d never tell Abbie.

Ever.

She was simply hoping that it would go away. Being attracted to Daniele didn’t really have to mean anything, and Norah really did believe that. Even having this small, tiny little seed of a crush on her didn’t have to mean anything.

She was never going to feed the crush. Never going to water it, let it flourish.

It was barely even a crush. It was a crushling.

The best thing for her to do was keep as much space between her and Daniele as possible until this little crushling died an irreversible death, while also not making anything weird between her and Abbie. That was what she was doing.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she cautioned, swallowing her distraction bite. She had to think fast, though, because her aunt was a shark. When she knew there was blood in the water, she knew. Norah was learning to be a shark, too, which meant she had to counter Caroline. Which, right now, meant a little dose of honesty. “It’s just… the last few times we’ve hung out, Daniele’s always there.”

Literally every time, since they’d met four weeks ago.

She darted her eyes back to Caroline’s quickly adding, “I don’t have a problem with Daniele. And I love that Abbie is living her best life right now.”

Which, she did. She loved that Abbie was so clearly falling in love. She wanted that for her. She wanted that for her, with Daniele.

Caroline nodded, her eyes soft and shining back at her with an understanding that Norah had to decide Caroline really felt.

“But… the dynamic is changing,” Caroling said, that understanding also sweeping through her tone. “Which is natural. It’s not bad reflection of you or Abbie or your friendship. And you’re allowed to have feelings about it, too.”

Her voice was so soothing, Norah somewhat let herself buy into it.

She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She didn’t choose to feel attracted to Daniele or think she was such a frigging great person. All it meant was that Abbie was right; Daniele was incredible. Awesome.

Norah shrugged. “Yeah, that’s it, really.”

Caroline nodded, then winced. “I should tell you, then, that Abbie prepared the charcuterie with the intention of inviting you and Daniele over tonight for a movie night.”

Norah slowly nodded, letting out a deep breath. “I could go for some movies, I guess.”

Because what else could she do?

She didn’t want to make her relationship with Abbie weird. She wanted Abbie to be able to indulge in her new relationship with Daniele.

Maybe exposure therapy was the way to go.

She decided to take some chill time out in the pool until Abbie got home from the gym. She was in a summer training camp… thing, preparing for collegiate soccer at Duke in a couple of months.

For all of Abbie’s general pleasant, kind, easy-going demeanor, she trained like a fucking beast, and she deserved all of the recognition for it that was already coming her way.

She was on one of the floats, laid out and letting the sun bake her a bit, her sunglasses on. She had her eyes closed, listening to music she had playing from her phone over by the side of the pool.

“Mind if I join you?” A voice cut into her tranquil afternoon.

Daniele’s voice, specifically.

Norah didn’t jerk to awareness, even if her heart skipped a beat in her chest. She slowly opened her eyes, turning to see Daniele at the side of the pool, her own float on the ground next to her.

She’d already stripped down to her own black string bikini, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked at Norah, genuinely seeming to be asking if Norah minded.

Well yes, yes she did.

“The pool isn’t actually mine,” she called back, skimming her hand over the top of the water.

Daniele rolled her eyes, a smile curling at her lips. “Okay, queen of semantics over there. You seemed like you were having a very relaxing time, and I don’t want to bother you. But Abbie’s training session ran a bit late; she sent me a text, but I’d already left to come here.”

“I mean, I’d be a real asshole if I told you to turn around and go wait in the house.” And Norah was not an asshole.

Daniele slightly tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “I’m noticing that’s not really an answer to my question?”

Norah let out an exasperated laugh. “No, I don’t mind. I mean, I’m not going to be playing Marco Polo or diving for those rings or whatever, the way Abbie likes to do in the pool.” It was, honestly, delightful, the way Abbie enjoyed goofing around. Norah’s preferred style was taking a quick dip in to cool down but mostly staying above water. “But if you want to float…” She trailed off, gesturing widely.

Daniele’s smile turned brighter. She quickly reached up and tied her hair into a bun, as she said, “I’m happy to join Abbie’s fun and games,” she acknowledged, her smile sweet and indulgent, as she bent down and grabbed her sunscreen. “But most of the time, I’m a pool lounger as well. So this works perfectly.”

Norah tilted her head back toward the sky and closed her eyes. She was not going to watch Daniele slather herself up in sunscreen. Why would she possibly do that?

“Um… do you mind doing my back?” Daniele asked her, earnestly. She was holding out the bottle in Norah’s direction. “I already did where I can reach before I came out here.”

Now that cut through Norah’s tranquility. Right through it.

She was only a couple of feet from where Daniele was. It wouldn’t take much to use her hands to paddle over to the edge and fulfil the favor being asked. She’d applied sunscreen for Abbie a million times out here at this very pool; it was perfunctory. She could literally hear in Daniele’s tone she wasn’t flirting or anything like that.

Thankfully, really, or else she’d have to burn the world down on Abbie’s behalf.

But… no. That was not a good place for her crushling to go.

She grimaced, exaggeratedly, before holding up her hands. “Sorry; my hands are super wet. I don’t think I’d really help you at this point. But if you’re going to lay on your back, you should be fine? My very pale back is currently unprotected from the sun,” she added, wiggling slightly on her lounger to make the point.

Daniele shrugged. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.”

She dropped the sunscreen down into her bag, before grabbing her float and walking over to the steps, smoothly dropping into it.

“I do hope that you’re wearing sunscreen, though,” Daniele said, as her momentum carried her closer to Norah.

She watched every inch of water Daniele’s float traversed, until it bumped into the bottom of hers, and she surreptitiously dipped her feet into the water in the tube cut out at the foot of her float to make sure they didn’t touch in any way.

“I am,” she assured.

“Okay, good. I’m pretty fastidious about my skin care. You’d really be shocked to learn how many people our age don’t take sunscreen seriously.”

Norah snorted out a laugh, turning to look at Daniele. “No, I wouldn’t. Most people our age are idiots in some way or other. At a party this past year, some guy jumped off a three-story fire escape because he believed he could parkour down between the buildings. He wasn’t even drunk.”

So, yeah, absolutely believed how few people used sunscreen.

Daniele looked absolutely aghast. “He what? Why would be possibly do that? Did he live to tell the tale?”

“He jumped,” she reiterated. “Because… say it with me,” she urged, lifting her sunglasses to look Daniele in the eye as she repeated, “Most people our age are idiots.”

She couldn’t help but laugh when Daniele did, indeed, say it with her.

“And he did survive. I was one of the only sober people still at the party, so I called the ambulance and went with him. Shattered femur. Broken ribs. A ton of cuts and bruises. But he did land in a dumpster, and it kind of broke his fall. One building’s trash was another man’s savior, as the saying goes.”

Daniele groaned and chuckled at the same time. “Jesus. That’s… something. Really gets me excited about college parties next year.”

Norah shrugged. “You’re going to see a lot, for sure. Never put your drink down. Never accept a drink from anyone who isn’t one of your close friends. And if something feels weird, get the hell out of dodge,” she reiterated the rules of party safety she’d honed in high school.

Abbie wasn’t a partier, really. She’d come with Norah to a few house parties before, but it wasn’t her thing. Daniele, as far as Norah could see, seemed pretty similar. Plus, she knew Elliston kept a tight lid on things for the people who’d lived there.

She was curious about that. About living at Elliston, about what that was like. She was curious about what Daniele’s whole life experience was like, really.

Abbie had a lot more money than she did. Both Caroline and Hannah made more money than her dad did; Caroline by a lot. Abbie had a trust fund from her Dalton grandparents, too.

Abbie was like Daniele in the way that you’d never know she had this much money.

But it was really easy for people like Abbie and Daniele to be blasé about it when they had it.

She wasn’t gonna ask, though. One day, when the crushling was dead and buried, she would.

“I’m glad you’re here for the movie night tonight,” Daniele commented.

Somehow, she was keeping exact pace with Norah’s float. She wondered if Daniele was engineering it somehow. It wasn’t like she was actively trying to move away, but shouldn’t the water be floating them in separate directions at some point?

“Yeah, me too,” she responded.

She saw from the corner of her eye, with her sunglasses on, the way Daniele tilted her head at her. Daniele was sitting up more than she was, her eyes trained on Norah’s face.

Had her answer been too glib? She had to wonder what had inspired that slight narrowing of Daniele’s eyes.

“Would you mind lifting your sunglasses again?” Daniele asked, before she assured, “It’s okay if you don’t. I just feel like I have a better grasp on people when I can really see them when we talk.”

Norah’s stomach sank. Her sunglasses felt like a special little shield right now.

Because something else she’d come to understand about Daniele was her demeanor when she interacted with someone. Like when she was looking at you, you were the only person on earth. No matter who else was around. It was like she was so dialed in on being in the moment with you, nothing else mattered.

It was a really intense quality, something Norah hadn’t experienced much before. Maybe ever.

But she didn’t want to give Daniele a reason to think anything was off. So, she complied, sliding her sunglasses up to rest on the top of her head, narrowing her eyes immediately at the glare of the sun. “Ah, the daylight. My enemy.”

Daniele smiled, looking pleased. “Thank you. I was just saying – I really am glad you’re going to be at movie night tonight. Abbie really wanted you to join last week. I did, too,” she added, looking painfully sincere. “But you had work…?”

Norah nodded, shifting so she was sitting farther up in her float as well. Made it feel like the power balance was a little more even. “Yeah. Now that it’s summer, I’m ramping up my hours so I can save a bit more for next semester.”

Daniele nodded, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. “And you work at an Italian restaurant, right? I just feel like even though we’ve hung out a few times, we haven’t really dug into you.”

Yeah, that had been by design, Daniele!

Norah, of course, couldn’t say that. That she liked to keep the conversation flowing, making her little commentary on stories Abbie and Daniele shared, making quips about whatever was happening in the moment, but never going in detail about herself. Made things feel easier.

“You’re looking at one of the most mid waitresses at Casa de Nonna.” She gestured at herself, like ta-da.

“I’m sure you’re not bad.”

“I’m not bad,” she agreed. “I’m mid.”

And mid was fine; she didn’t want to be in the service industry forever. She just needed to be good enough for decent tips.

Daniele rolled her eyes, even as she pushed, “Abbie mentioned you have another job?”

“Yeah. I do some admin work part-time for the construction company my dad works for. It’s pretty small, family owned. Their other admin is a woman named Sheila, who is seventy-two and still likes to use the landline,” she dryly informed Daniele, making her snort with laughter.

It was true, though.

“So, I come in and digitize Sheila’s notes every weekend. Quite the exciting life I lead.”

Daniele didn’t take the bait and laugh this time, even though she used the same wry tone. She, instead, looked right into Norah’s eyes, in that you’re the only person I am thinking about or aware of way, the way that made Norah’s stomach tie into knots, and she tightly flexed all of her toes under the water.

“It is… maybe not exciting, if that’s not the word you’d use. But I think it’s really impressive, everything you do. Two jobs, and you’re pre-law.”

“How does she do it?” Norah summoned a somewhat joking tone, as she forced herself to breathe normally under that scrutinizing stare.

Daniele didn’t laugh now, either. Or even smile.

Weird, because typically Norah’s deflections were gold.

Her stomach fluttered again, even as her internal voice was railing against this. Why did Daniele want to dig in?! Couldn’t she be like everyone else and accept what Norah was giving her?

“I. Am. Dead,” Abbie announced, as she walked from around the corner of the house. She’d clearly bypassed going through the inside and was heading right to the pool.

Norah nearly melted into the water from relief.

“Well, frankly Ab, that’s on you. You couldn’t pay me to go to the gym for two hours on a hot afternoon when I could be floating in the pool.”

“I have to agree with Norah on this one, babe,” Daniele called out.

Babe. Look at them using little pet names now.

It was unbearably sweet, the way Abbie broke into the biggest smile at Daniele’s use of the word. Even Norah couldn’t help but smile in response to how happy it made her, even as her stomach tied into a mass of stressful little knots.

Daniele, too, looked absurdly pleased. She’d been very intense before, but now that Abbie had arrived, she seemed light. Excited.

Norah, really, loved that for both of them.

Awfully conflicting.

Abbie stripped off her clothes as she approached the pool. First toeing off her shoes, then whipping off her t-shirt, then unbuttoning and shoving down her shorts, leaving her in her underwear and sports bra. She didn’t hesitate before she dove, with a near-perfect execution, into the pool, popping up between them.

Daniele leaned down to kiss Abbie, a quick peck.

Norah maintained her smile. Exposure therapy all the way.

What else could she possibly do about this? Tell her cousin-slash-best friend that she did totally understand why Abbie had made such a fool of herself over Daniele for the last year because Norah felt stomach flutters when near her, too?!

Ha. Yeah, right.

So. Maybe she wasn’t as prepared for everything that might come her way in life as she thought.

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