Page 52 of Enchanted to Meet You

Kelcey stood near the edge of the patio, her arms crossed, her gaze drifting slowly over to me. I thought self-consciously about my wet, slicked-back hair and my plain swimsuit, and wondered what she was thinking about me.

She gave me a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes at all. “Hi, Ainsley.”

“Kelcey,” I said.

My customer service voice activated, so much higher and less genuine than my real one. It felt weird on my tongue. And that was when the realization hit me: for the last two hours, I hadn’t been acting.

When Rhys had dunked me, when I’d laughed until my ribs ached, when I’d reached for his hand in the water—none of it had been for an audience. There had been no Justin to convince, no Kelcey to make jealous, no fake-dating narrative to maintain. I hadn’t been pulling from a script or trying to look like a good girlfriend. I had just been happy with him.

And they came along and ruined it.

With Kelcey and Justin standing on the concrete five feet away, I was forced to put the mask back on—and it felt ten times heavier than it had before.

“We brought drinks,” Justin said, entirely oblivious to the thick wall of tension they’d caused. He unlatched his cooler, pulling out two cans of seltzer and tossing one toward Landon, who caught it with a quiet “Thanks.”

Justin walked over to the edge of the pool, looking down at Rhys. “How’s the water?”

“Fine,” Rhys said shortly.

Kelcey walked closer, her sandals clicking softly against the flagstone. She pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes, hiding her expression, but her chin remained tilted up, her posture rigid. “It looks like you guys were having fun,” she said, her tone carrying a light, dangerous edge of sarcasm. “We heard you yelling from the driveway.”

“Just volleyball,” Landon offered from his tube, his voice completely stripped of the goofy accent he’d been using five minutes ago. He looked deeply uncomfortable, staring down at his seltzer can.

“Right,” Kelcey murmured. Her eyes cut back to Rhys. “You didn’t mention you were having people over when I saw you at the field yesterday.”

Rhys’s eyes narrowed slightly, a cold, sharp spark igniting in his expression. “I didn’t realize I needed to log my social calendar with you, Kelcey.”

Justin laughed, a loud, awkward sound that rang out hollow across the yard. “Hey, come on, man. She’s just asking. No need to get defensive.”

“I’m not defensive,” Rhys said calmly, though the muscle in his jaw flexed hard. “I’m just hosting my friends.”

The silence that followed was excruciating. Justin stood by the edge of the pool, sipping his seltzer, while Kelcey stood beside him like a ghost, her gaze darting between Rhys and me with resentment that made the air feel thick and unbreathable. Every single word spoken felt like a landmine. I stayed in the water, my hands gripping the cold tile of the pool edge, feeling completely out of place in what was supposed to be Rhys’s safe haven.

The awful, stretching quiet went on for five agonizing minutes before Landon suddenly sat up in his float, looking over his shoulder toward the house.

“Hey, Rhys,” Landon said, his voice loud as he cut straight through Justin’s rambling story about a baseball drill. “Can I still borrow your old chem notes? I gotta go home and study before that final tomorrow.”

“Don’t you have your own notes?” Justin asked.

“I do, but they’re useless and I need to pass the exam. And Rhys did so well I figured I’d borrow his.”

Kelcey’s eyes slid to Rhys, almost like the idea of him doing well in a hard class had her seeing him in a new light. I briefly wondered how she wouldn’t have known her boyfriend was a chemistry aficionado while they were together, but after everything I’d learned about her, I guess I wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, I’ll grab them for you,” Rhys said, something easing in his shoulders as he realized he could escape Justin and Kelcey briefly.

Landon scrambled out of the pool with zero elegance, splashing water over the edge as he grabbed his towel and bolted toward the sliding glass doors. Rhys watched him go, then glanced down at me. The cold, sharp look on his face melted slightly as his eyes met mine, replaced by a quick flicker of concern. He leaned down slightly, his voice dropping so only I could hear. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, offering a nod that was hopefully reassuring. “Go ahead.”

He hesitated for a second, his green eyes searching my face, before he straightened up, gave Justin and Kelcey a curt nod, and followed Landon inside, the glass door sliding shut behind him with a heavy thud.

And just like that, I was left alone in the pool with Justin and Kelcey.

The silence returned instantly, heavy and toxic. Justin took another sip of his drink, looking down at me in the water with a vague, disinterested smile. Kelcey didn’t even pretend to smile. She stood at the edge, her arms folded tightly across her white tunic, staring down at me like I was a smudge on her shoe.

My chest was tight, my hands cold despite the summer heat. I couldn’t stay in this pool for another second under her glare. I turned toward the stone steps in the shallow end, determined to pull myself out, grab my towel, and get away from them before I said something I’d regret.

I planted my right foot firmly on the underwater stone step, pushing my weight up out of the pool. But my skin was slick, and the stone step near the drain line was coated in a thin layer of pool algae.