Chapter 3

Vera got seasick at lunch, and Joshua never left her side.

My stomach hurt too much to eat, so I asked the server for a bowl of plain oatmeal instead.

Calvin laughed. "What, you're sick now too? Vera gets seasick, and suddenly you have to copy her?"

The others laughed with him.

Joshua glanced at me. "You've never gotten sick on a yacht before."

"I didn't eat breakfast. My stomach hurts."

He turned back to Vera and handed her a glass of water. "Then just deal with it for now. She already feels awful. Don't make things harder."

A little later, the server brought over the oatmeal.

I reached for it, but Joshua slid the bowl over to Vera. "Try to eat a little."

My hand stopped halfway there, then slowly dropped back to my side. I'd ordered it for myself, but no one even seemed to notice what he'd done.

After a couple of spoonfuls, Vera complained that it was too bland. "I don't want any more."

She pushed the rest of the oatmeal toward me. "Tara, didn't you say your stomach hurt? Here, you can have the rest."

She had stirred it into a mess, and there was a lipstick mark on the spoon.

Before, I probably would have eaten it anyway.

Vera used to say, "We're best friends. What's mine is yours."

And Joshua always liked that I never made an issue of it. "Tara doesn't fuss over little things like that."

This time, I called the server over instead. "Could you take this away, please?"

Vera stiffened. "I barely touched it. Are you really that grossed out by me?"

I simply said, "I don't eat after other people."

Joshua's expression darkened. "Tara, she feels awful, and she still saved it for you. Did you really have to embarrass her like that?"

I looked at the five of them, and for a moment, everything felt strangely unreal.

For years, anything they didn't finish ended up with me. If there wasn't enough room at the table, I was the one who had to move.

If the car was one seat short, I had to take a cab alone. And whenever they needed someone to take pictures on a trip, they remembered me.

But all it took was one no, and suddenly I was antisocial, petty, and incapable of taking a joke.

I lowered my head. "Sorry."

Everyone immediately relaxed.

Finn grinned. "That's more like it. We're here to have fun."

I smiled with them.

This time, though, I wasn't apologizing because I thought I was wrong. I simply had nothing left to say to them.

That night, they went back to the terrace for drinks while I returned to my room alone and packed my suitcase.

The trip was supposed to last seven days. We were only three days in, but I'd had enough. I booked the earliest flight home for the next morning.

Once that was done, I noticed my charger was missing. Vera had borrowed it earlier, so I went to her room to get it.

The door was unlocked, and no one was inside. A tablet nearby had been left on, and a new message popped up as I walked in.

The group was named "The Five of Us, Forever."

Finn had posted a video of Joshua kissing Vera the day before. The messages underneath were full of laughing and cheering emojis.

"Finally got them to kiss."

"Told you it would work."

"Tara went completely pale and still put up with it."

"She can really put on an act."