The Wrong One

Sian sat at the desk she’d been assigned when she came to the Jet Propulsion Lab to work the month prior. She was doing an internship with them, and it wasn’t what she’d thought it would be. She expected she’d be working with the scientists and the engineers to work on the actual spacecrafts and telescopes that went into space. Instead, she got stuck in a desk in the back of the building doing paperwork. There had been several times she’d regretted going into Physics because of where she was sitting.

Sighing, she turned back to her desk and picked her highlighter back up. She read over a few lines before she realized she’d read them at least four times and still didn’t understand what they were saying. Rubbing her eyes, she looked down at the paper and tried to focus. A few minutes later, still not able to focus, she looked up at her computer.

The clock in the bottom right corner read four minutes to five, and she was glad. She was ready to get out of the damn office and back home. Lexi and McKenzie had a weekend planned for them; a girl’s week that she desperately needed.

Since she’d gotten back from Europe with Zacky, she hadn’t heard from him or Samantha, and she didn’t mind. She’d had McKenzie drive her back to her mom’s house to get the rest of her things, and as soon as she saw she had missed calls from both of them, she’d tossed the phone into the ocean. She’d gotten a new one, of course, but she didn’t get anything from anyone anymore except Kyle, her mom, or her roommates.

Speaking of her phone, it buzzed from the drawer she had it in, and she pulled it out. McKenzie texted her that they had changed their destination, and they weren’t going to Mexico anymore; they were going to Laguna Beach now, where she was from. Her parents were out of town for a month, and they needed her to check on the house. Sian quickly replied that that would be fine with her, and she slipped her phone into her purse under her feet and locked her computer. She put the pile of papers into her desk and locked it, making sure she had everything before slipping her shoes back onto her feet and standing up to leave the office.

Not only had she kept busy with extra school work and the internship, but she didn’t have much of a social life now, either. She didn’t speak to anyone in the office, and no one spoke to her unless necessary. She talked to those that she needed to and she remained quiet the other times. She’d gone drinking on occasion with Lexi and McKenzie, but other than that, she’d stayed at home, pretty much moping.

McKenzie and Lexi hoped this trip would help her out some. They planned on spending time at the beach, drinking on McKenzie’s deck, and in the pool behind her house. They knew how bummed Sian was, and they wanted to do something about it. They’d made Sian pack the night before so they could pick her up from work with Sian’s parking badge. When she walked through the huge glass doors, she could see McKenzie’s convertible sitting in the parking lot. Lexi was sitting in the backseat, and the passenger seat was left open for her.

She unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it off of her shoulders so she could feel the sun on her skin. She readjusted her tank top and pulled her hair from the clip it was in before putting on her sunglasses. She smiled at her friends as McKenzie turned the radio up and left the building.

Sian leaned back in the seat, letting the heat from the sun soak in as the wind blew her hair while they cruised down the highway. A few times, she opened her eyes to look at the ocean as they drove along Pacific Highway. It was almost as if by instinct she knew they were driving through Huntington, and she looked up as she passed through her hometown. There was one awkward moment when an Avenged Sevenfold song came on the radio and McKenzie had quickly reached to turn the station. Sian stopped her hand and smiled at her friend before leaning back in her seat to listen.

She tried not to think about Zacky, she honestly did, but her mind kept going back to him every chance it could. She was constantly reminded of their time together in Europe, either by something she saw, heard, or an outfit she looked at in her closet. She knew from Kyle that both he and Samantha had come home. Samantha had stayed for two days before announcing she was going back with Liam to Europe. Kyle had said he saw Zacky a few days later, and he’d looked depressed as hell. She attributed that to the fact he’d found out about Samantha and they weren’t together anymore.

After the hour drive was complete, she watched as McKenzie turned onto Moorea Way and around the curve to the end of the cul-de-sac. She kept going straight into a driveway that revealed the huge house to the right of them. Sian raised an eyebrow. She knew McKenzie had come from money, but she didn’t know it was this much money.

They got out, grabbed their bags, and followed McKenzie into the huge house on the hill. She gave them a tour of the house, showed them their rooms, and then led them outside to where the huge pool sat, cool and inviting. Looking beyond the pool, Sian saw the outline of the ocean, seemingly huge, and was taken away.

“Let’s get some dinner, and then we’ll go out for drinks,” McKenzie said to them both.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sian said, smiling.

She moved to the bathroom, grabbing her toiletry bag, and hollering dibs on the first shower. She heard Lexi call her a bitch and she just laughed. When she came out, she heard McKenzie and Lexi talking in low whispers.

“How mad do you think she’ll be?”

“I mean, she can’t be that mad, right?”

“I sure as fuck hope not,” she heard Lexi said.

Walking out, making sure her towel was secured around her, she found them in the kitchen talking.

“Mad about what?” she asked loudly.

Both girls jumped and turned toward her.

“We repacked your bag,” McKenzie blurted out.

Lexi played along with it and acted like she was going to slap McKenzie. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

“Well, she was going to find out when she opened it anyway! Might as well tell her now! She fucking heard us talking.”

“Are you serious?” Sian asked, looking between the two of them.

“As a heart attack,” Lexi said, holding up three fingers in a “scout’s honor” way.

“You guys are assholes,” Sian said and turned to walk back into her makeshift room.

“It’s a good thing we did repack her back, you bitch,” Lexi said as soon as she was sure Sian couldn’t hear them anymore.

“It was the first thing that came to my mind! She heard us, and I can’t exactly tell her the truth!”

“She’s going to be so fucking pissed off,” Lexi said, looking back at the door Sian had closed.