Curvy Girls Can’t Date Best Friends by Kelsie Stelting

Twenty-Nine

Callie

After I got out of the shower, there were several messages on my phone. I held it up, reading through the group chat.

Jordan: Want to come hang out at Kai’s pool tonight? He and his dad are out of town, but they said we could use it.

Zara: YES. Ugh I miss having a private pool.

Ginger: Please? I’m so hot right now I’m practically a ginger snap.

Rory: LOL I’m in!

Callie: What time?

Jordan: Seven?

Callie: I’ll be there.

I dug through my closet until I found an old swimsuit at the bottom. It wasn't really a swimsuit, more like swimming trunks and a tank top, but it was all I had. Swimming was honestly the last thing I enjoyed doing. Mostly because it meant showing off my skin, especially when I had a flare-up, leaving angry red spots on my skin. But it was just us girls, and after everything we’d been through this year, I knew they wouldn't judge me.

I put on the swimsuit and then walked out to my car. Carson was working now, and I was kind of glad for the break. Even though our relationship was fake, my mind was having a hard time remembering that. Getting out of the house and spending time with my other friends would be good for me.

I got into my car and drove across town to the ritzy neighborhood where Kai lived. His house was enormous. Not that my house was small by any means, but four of mine could have fit into his. I drove around the driveway and parked by the others’ cars at the back gate. As I got out, I could already hear sloshing water and the giggles of my friends.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed through the gate just in time to see Rory do a giant cannonball off the side of the pool. I giggled at how carefree she was, especially since she had started dating Beckett. Even though he’d been our school’s star quarterback, he never seemed bothered by her size or the fact that she wasn't the stereotypical idea of beauty. That made me like him even more.

As I got closer, I yelled, “Ten out of ten!”

She pumped her fist in the air, bobbing in the water, and then swam toward the edge of the pool where the other girls leaned against the stone lining.

“About time you showed up,” Jordan called.

“I couldn’t find my swimsuit,” I said, gesturing at my shorts and tank and knowing full well it was all I had.

Zara, who rocked a one piece that was just as revealing as a bikini, looked over at me and said, “That can’t be it?”

“Well, I don't normally go swimming.”

Zara shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Girl, next time I'll bring you a real suit. You gotta show off those curves!”

I didn't think to tell her that there probably wouldn't be a next time. Me going out in public and baring my skin like this just wasn't a thing that I did, mainly because of my size and psoriasis.

Ginger tucked a red curl behind her ear and asked, “How’s work going? Have you murdered Merritt yet?”

Jordan snorted. “She did almost drown her.”

My ears heated. “That was so unlike me. We’ve actually been getting along for the last week.”

Jordan pulled herself out of the pool so only her legs were dangling in the water.

Zara did the same, waving her feet through the clear liquid. “You can’t be serious. Merritt didn’t pull anything?”

I shook my head. “She's not really great with the animals, but she does okay with greeting people for appointments.”

Ginger seem surprised but shrugged. “And how's your boyfriend?”

Just the word made my cheeks warm. “He's fine.”

Jordan made a kissy face. “What's it like to kiss your best friend?”

I hadn't thought it possible, but my cheeks grew even redder.

Rory clapped her hands together. “That means it's good.”

Shaking my head, I sat in one of the open chairs and got some sunscreen from my bag. As I rubbed the lotion into my skin, I asked, “Why is Kai out of town?”

“Business trip with his dad,” Jordan said with a frown. “But it's fine because Mom and I have been getting tons of videos out for her YouTube channel.”

“Is it still going well?” I asked. Last I heard, it had been making them enough money to actually begin investing in a retirement fund for Jordan’s mother.

Jordan smiled and pointed at Ginger. “Thanks to that one.”

Ginger’s cheeks flushed under her freckles. “I’ve already told you it’s no problem.”

I smiled between my friends. If anyone deserved a good home, it was Jordan and her mom.

A small splash sounded as Zara dropped the rest of the way into the water again. She began swimming toward the other side, and Ginger dove after her, yelling, “Race ya!” As she went under the water, her curly hair immediately flattened around her.

They raced to the other side as we cheered for them, and then Zara yelled at me, “You getting in?”

I hesitated and finally shook my head. “I’m going to sunbathe for a little bit.”

Jordan pulled her legs out of the water and said, “I’ll join you.”

“Suit yourselves,” Zara said and elegantly dipped under the water, beginning to breaststroke back across the pool.

Jordan and I leaned back in the comfortable lounge chairs, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sun's rays gently caressing my skin. The longer I sat, the warmer I felt, and it was easy to just relax. For the last week, I'd been so tense, lying to my parents, trying to get Nick to notice me, and figuring out this new arrangement with Carson. For the first time in a while, I just felt like me. It had been far too long.

I let out a sigh, and Jordan shifted in the chair next to me so she was lying with her cheek on the backrest, facing me. “What's up?”

As she untied the back of her suit to prevent tan lines, I lifted the corner of my lips. “Have you ever felt like everything's the same, but completely different?”

“Yeah, that's kind of what it feels like to be out of high school. Like I should just be putting on my uniform and going back to Emerson tomorrow, but instead I'm working and getting ready for college.”

I nodded and decided to tell her the truth. As much of it as I could, anyway. “It kind of feels like that with Carson. Like we're dating, but he's still just my best friend.”

“Dating is like being friends,” Jordan said.

Since I’d never dated before, I had nothing to compare this too other than watching my friends and brother date and fall in love. Carson and Sarah never seemed like friends—they seemed more preoccupied with their bodies, with the PDA stuff. But then again, they’d broken up. I wondered if I would ever get to the point with Nick where I felt like he was a friend and not just some unattainable person in my brother's life.

“If you're just not feeling a ton of chemistry yet,” Jordan said, “it will come. It just takes time sometimes.”

Maybe that was the problem. I was feeling too much chemistry with Carson, and I needed to direct my energy toward something more possible. Toward Nick.

“Did it take time with you and Kai?” I asked.

“Hello,” she said, “I hated him when I first met him.”

I laughed, remembering how she complained about her now boyfriend the first day she and her mom were working to clean his house. “I’m pretty sure the words ‘detestable Emerson rich kid’ were thrown around.”

She chuckled. “See? You already know you like Carson. You're a step ahead of where I was.”

A nagging sense of guilt tugged at me. “He could be dating anyone else.”

“But he chose to date you,” she said. “I know you're so worried about meeting everyone else's needs, but maybe it's time you think about your own.”

I lifted a corner of my lips. She was right. My whole high school career, I'd been worried about filling my time with community service, helping my dad with Invisible Mountains, serving with my mom at fundraisers, and doing my schoolwork. Soon, I'd be going to college and participating on campus there, working toward a veterinary degree so I could help animals like Lorelei did.

I had one summer, three months, to use for myself, and I needed to make the most of it.