Dad peeked at me as we ate breakfast together, mom in the background trying to wrestle a shoe from Michigan. Dad noticed me looking and dropped his gaze quickly, but peeked back up after a moment.

                "Do I have something on my face?" I asked.

                "A sad look," he said. He reached out, patting my shoulder a little. "Did something happen?"

                I looked down at my breakfast, my appetite slowly fading. "I, uh, I broke up with Roan. It just wasn't going to work out."

                Mom abandoned the shoe to its horrific fate at the jaws of our dog. She came over and brushed her fingers through my hair like she had when I was sad as a child.

                "That happens, sometimes. Two people want things to work, they really do. They try. But things just don't. You're young, and I know you're going to be upset about this for a while. But try to remember that now you've learned from it." She kissed my head and ran her fingers through my hair again. "You two weren't the most compatible, but I know you really cared about him. I'm sorry it didn't work out, Garrett."

                Dad pat my shoulder again before giving me a one-armed hug. "You know, I'm thinking we can go get lunch at that place with the good cheesecake tomorrow."

                I brightened a little. "Really? We can?"

                "Sure. Maybe you can even have your own piece instead of splitting with me," he said.

                "Thanks, guys," I said gratefully. They'd let me talk at my own comfortable pace, and they'd just offer me support until then. "Oh, mom, um, Mich has...the shoe is...wow, that's bad."

                Mom spun around, saw the torn piece of shoe on the floor, and threw her arms up in exasperation. "Get a dog, they're great members of the family! I was bamboozled from the damn start." She stalked off in Michigan's direction, giving chase when he darted out of the room.

                Dad frowned at the pieces on the ground. "Hey, that's my shoe."

                "Not anymore," I said, reaching out to pat his shoulder.

                I finished eating and left the kitchen as dad moved to pick up the pieces of his destroyed shoe. I got ready and grabbed my car keys, heading downstairs.

                "I'm going to hang out with my friends," I called.

                "We'll be here spending the day retraining the dog," mom called back.

                I shook my head, smiling to myself as I left the house. I got in my car, driving off to Akira's house. I knew I couldn't avoid them forever.

                I got out of my car and went up to the door, ringing the doorbell. Kaito answered, and by his expression, I was guessing he'd been expecting one of his friends.

                "He's in his room," he said, stepping aside to let me in.

                "Thanks, Kai," I said.

                He just grumbled something out and walked away from me. I sighed and headed for Akira's room, remembering when we were younger and Kaito used to teach us how to make model volcanoes. We'd loved that moment where he'd add the baking powder in and the concoction would bubble up and over the sides. He and Akira had been a lot closer as children, but the pressures of adult life weighed down on Kaito far too fast, and he didn't care to spend time around any of us anymore. It was sad how time changed things.

                I went up to Akira's room, letting myself in. He looked up from his laptop and shut it, pushing it off to the side of his bed.

                "Hey. I didn't know you were coming or I would've texted Jack," he said.

                "I texted him when I left the house," I said, sitting at his desk. "Sorry I went MIA on you guys."

                "You and Roan dated for a long time. I figured you'd need some space," he said.

                "I stood my ground," I said quietly. "It's over. I wish it could've been different but...it wasn't going to work. I'm sorry it took my so long to accept that."

                "It's hard, when you're too close. You want things to work, so you try to ignore the fact that they don't. You have nothing to apologize for, Garrett," Akira said. "As long as you're happy, even if it's in the long run and not in the moment, then you shouldn't be sorry."

                "Thanks, Aki," I said.

                "Do you want to spend the night here? We can night swim," he offered.

                I smiled a little, because Akira knew how much I loved to night swim and look up at the stars. But I had plans tonight, so I shook my head.

                "Thanks, but I have plans," I said.

                "With who?" he asked.

                "Silas," I said. "I took him to the falls last night, and we're going to watch Jaws tonight."

                "I can't see the two of you having much to bond over, but whatever makes you happy," he said with a shrug.

                "Hey, who doesn't love a good shark movie?" I said. "Anyways, let's do something while we wait for Jack."

                The two of us ended up playing video games until Jack let himself into Akira's room a half hour later. We turned the game off as Jack sat on the bed with us. He nudged me a little with his elbow and held out a little bag.

                I took the bag and peeked inside, grinning up at Jack. "My favorite!"

                "Dad and I drove by the store yesterday, so I grabbed one," he said.

                I pulled out the delicious looking cookie. We had a bakery in town that made the absolute best desserts, and their cookies had been my favorite since I was a little kid.

                "Thanks, Jack," I said, really grateful to my friends. They'd look out for me in little ways to support me without making me talk about the breakup before I was ready.

                There was a knock on the door and then Mrs. Riku came in. "Kira, your dad is grilling burgers for lunch. Are all three of you going to have one?"

                "Hell yea, I'm starving," Jack said. "Count me in, Mrs. Riku."

                "Yes, please," I said. "You'll never catch me saying no to food."

                "I should've just assumed," Mrs. Riku said, leaving the room.

                "I won't be around tomorrow. I promised to help her at the flower shop," Akira said.

                "Does she still have those purple flowers? My dad would love those back in his garden," I said.

                "I'll set some aside. Tell your dad to come in and pick them up this week. I know which ones you're talking about," Akira said with a nod.

                "Enough about flowers! Let's do something," Jack said.

                "The burgers will be ready in a little, so let's eat first, then do something," Akira said.

                "We can swim?" I offered.

                "Works for me," Jack said. "It's damn hot out and I'm not about it."

                "Gee, it's almost like it's summertime," Akira said.

                "Shut it, Riku, or I'll drop snappers in your room," Jack threatened.

                "I'll call the police on you before Ray gets a chance," Akira threatened right back.

                I laughed and leaned back as they playfully argued. This felt normal. Even as the romantic part of my life crumbled down, this part of my life was still consistent. It was relieving, and settled some ease into my mind.

                The three of us eventually went outside to eat the burgers Mr. Riku had made for us. We snacked on chips and gathered soda from the kitchen before changing and jumping into the cool pool water.

                Swimming around on such a hot day felt fantastic, and the three of us raced around the pool, dived off the diving board, and came up with games to keep us occupied. Mrs. Riku brought us out lemonade as we continued to swim, and we were content to spend the day like this.

                As it started to get later, we climbed out of the water and had dinner. I changed back into my clothes and said bye to my friends, heading out.

                I stopped at the store and made sure to grab a few bags of the Reese's pieces for Silas. I chose a few bags of chips and some drinks before cashing out and heading home.

                "Having a party?" mom asked as I walked in and set the bags on the counter.

                "I'm going to Silas's to watch Jaws. Can you grab the DVD while I shower?" I asked. I'd downloaded the documentary onto my drive last night.

                "Sure, I think it's in the living room. Are you spending the night there?" she asked.

                "I don't think so," I said. "Oh! Tell dad that Akira is going to set aside some of those purple flowers for him tomorrow."

                "He'll be so excited. That man loves his garden. He made us a salad for lunch with the tomatoes he grew," she said, shaking her head and smiling fondly. "Alright, I'll let him know when he gets back. He took Michigan for a walk. Go shower and I'll grab that movie for you."

                "Thanks!" I said, heading upstairs. I grabbed fresh clothes and went to the bathroom, stripping down and hopping in the shower. As much as I loved swimming and didn't mind the chlorine smell, I figured it was best to wash it off myself so Silas didn't have to deal with it all night.

                Once I'd showered and redressed, I grabbed my drive and went downstairs. Mom handed me the DVD and pulled me in for a hug.

                "Have fun tonight, Gar," she said.

                "Thanks mom," I said, hugging her back. "I'm okay, really. Thank you."

                "Drive safe, and text me if you're not coming home. I love you," she said.

                "Love you too, mom," I said, grabbing the bags and leaving the house.

                I drove to Silas's house, parking in the driveway and taking a minute to arrange everything so it fit in one bag. I got out of the car and went up, ringing the doorbell.

                Ray answered and let me into the house. "He told me you were coming. Cooking isn't my specialty, so I ordered pizza. We were just eating."

                He led me to the kitchen, where Silas sat at the counter with a slice of pizza in his hands. He got that uncomfortable look on his face again and nodded at me in greeting.

                "Got your Reese's," I said, holding the bag up. "And, well, plenty of other junk food."

                "As long as them Reese's are in there," Silas said.

                "Those Reese's," Ray corrected.

                "Yea, whatever," Silas said. "Those Reese's."

                Ray rolled his eyes and gestured at me to sit. I set the bag down and took a seat next to Silas as Ray set a plate down for me before sitting back down in his seat.

                I grabbed a slice of pizza, everyone's mouths too full to have a conversation. The phone rang and Ray sighed heavily, setting his pizza down and getting up to answer it.

                "Hello?" Ray answered. "We were eating dinner. I know it's late, but Si was having a friend over to watch a movie." At Silas's curious glance, Ray put his hand over the phone and whispered, "Your grandmother."

                "Always calls at the worst times," Silas said, snickering when Ray angrily gestured to the pizza and whispered back, "I goddamn know."

                "Silas and his friend are eating, he'll talk to you later. Hey, don't give me that. You're the one who magically manages to call whenever we're eating dinner, mom," Ray said, leaving the room, his voice fading as we heard him heading upstairs.

                "He won't bug us tonight. He'll stay upstairs after he finishes eating," Silas said, looking down at the pizza.

                "Well, I grabbed Jaws and that documentary. And snacks. And drinks. We're set for a shark themed party tonight," I said. "I even bought gummy sharks."

                "Fucking nerd," Silas said, reaching out and grabbing my bag. He dug through the snacks and drinks in there. "Good haul. Guess you're useful for that, at least."

                "I know my unhealthy foods," I said, then frowned. "Damn, I've been eating horribly this summer. I need to go for a hike or something."

                "There's a really good mountain trail to hike about two hours from here. It's worth the drive. We stayed out there with Ray's friends for a week one summer and he took me up on the mountain," Silas said. He shut his mouth, turning his head as he blushed a little. "You know, it's alright. If you like hiking."

                "I do like hiking. Maybe we can go sometime," I offered.

                "We'll see if I ain't sick of you after tonight," he said.

                Ray came back downstairs, setting the phone back down and sitting in front of his pizza. "I'm going to block her damn number. I don't know how she always knows when we're trying to eat dinner. Now I see why you're such a pain in the ass; it's genetic."

                Silas just raised an eyebrow. "It's your mom, not mine."

                "Still your grandmother," Ray said. He stood up and set two more slices down on his plate before picking it up. "I'll finish eating upstairs so you can get to your movie. Don't worry about the volume or anything, I'll be up all night doing work anyways. Si, there's popcorn in the bottom drawer there."

                Ray left the room and Silas led me to the living room. I handed him the DVD and began pulling out the snacks and drinks as he set the movie up. He left and came back a few minutes later with a bowl of popcorn, sitting on the couch and motioning me over.

                I turned the lights off and sat next to him on the couch as he started the movie. Ray did have an impressive movie set up; the TV was one of those huge flat screens, and he had an impressive surround sound speaker system. I felt like we were at the cinema as we watched the opening scene, Silas playing with the volume until he'd found a good setting for it.

                Silas dragged the coffee table up to us to put our snacks on. He set the popcorn between us on the couch and lounged back to enjoy the film. I copied him, opening myself a soda and relaxing.

                Throughout the film, I peeked over at Silas. He looked immersed in the fiction of it all, leaning forward a little every time he knew a shark attack was going to happen, and never taking his eyes off the screen.

                "It's a load of shit. Sharks don't act like that," he said as we got to the climax of the film. "Great whites ain't even the most aggressive. Woulda made more sense to have it be a bull shark."

                "They didn't know as much about sharks back then," I said. "Peter Benchley wasn't a shark expert at the time or anything. Just a guy trying to support his family. He did a lot of great marine based work later in his life."

                "You ever been in a shark tunnel before?" Silas asked.

                I nodded. "Yea, a few times growing up. My parents would take me to aquariums and the shark tunnels were always my favorite."

                "Ray took me to one, few years back." His eyes were still on the movie, but his hands nervously fidgeted with his drink as he spoke, as if he'd never told anyone this before. "It was after we'd gone to Niagara Falls. He let me walk through it as many times as I wanted. There were all kinds of sharks and fish in it." He clutched his drink a little tighter. "You probably would've called it beautiful."

                "Would you have agreed?" I asked.

                He was silent for a moment before speaking. "Yea, maybe."

                "Sometimes you're so caught up in the moment that you don't even realize how you're feeling about it until you look back on it," I said, turning my attention to the movie as well. "You've found things beautiful all along. You just never gave much thought to it."

                "You got that documentary you were talkin' about? This is almost over," he said, hastily changing the topic.

                I hid a smile and pulled the drive out of my bag, setting it on the coffee table. "It's on there. I won't tell you the name of the file it's under unless you make more popcorn first, though."

                "Can't even watch a few movies without being a pain in the ass," he grumbled, but set the nearly empty popcorn bowl on the coffee table in front of us. "You set this one up while I make it."

                "Sounds like a deal to me," I said.

                We finished Jaws and Silas left the room to make popcorn as I got to work setting up the documentary. He came back with a full bowl of popcorn, and the two of us resumed our spots on the couch as the documentary started up.

                "Can I ask why Reese's pieces?" I said as I opened a bag of them.

                "They're my favorite," he said, looking down at them. He dumped some into his hand and held the bag out to me. "You paid for 'em. Help yourself."

                I took a handful for myself before passing the bag back to Silas. He seemed mesmerized by the documentary, his full focus on the screen.

                By the time the documentary had ended, we were both starting to get tired. Silas brought up Netflix and scrolled until he found a random shark movie, putting it on and passing me a blanket. He grabbed another one and draped it over his own body as I curled up in the one he'd given to me.

                I fought to keep my eyes open, but when I looked over, Silas was asleep already. His head rested against the back of the couch, arms crossed and feet kicked up on the coffee table, his feet poking out from the blanket.

                The movie was still going on the TV, though I'd been so tired I'd barely been paying attention to whatever thin plot it had given. I closed my eyes, sinking back against the couch and letting myself nod off.