Things had been pretty quiet on the Dahlia front ever since her birthday, and Arden wasn’t going to complain. After Dahlia had kissed her, they’d spent the night pretty tamely, hanging out on the couch. Arden didn’t care, though– the physical stuff was nice, but they’d been friends first, and her primary concern was that Dahlia was having a good birthday. So if Dahlia didn’t want to pin her to the couch and have her way with her? Eh, there would be other times. Like a beach weekend in Myrtle, where Arden had very meticulously packed her best outfits on the off chance that they ran into each other at the tiki bar.
So she had on a bikini top and bottoms, as well as a cover up that really… did not cover much up, and she’d heard that a group of people were hanging out by a bonfire, so of course Arden was going to make her fashionably late entrance. The salt air looked good on her– her hair was loose and wavy, her skin slightly tanned from the sun, and the air of confidence that Arden rarely wore was giving her an edge that she normally didn’t have.
Never did she expect to see Dahlia tangled up in Marie, and never did Arden expect that it would make her react so drastically. Her eyes flew open, and she felt her stomach drop about ten floors, and before she could turn away even faster, Dahlia was running after her.
“Yeah, I’m having a great time,” Arden lied, smiling, even though it didn’t seem to quite reach the fact that her eyes were watering up. “But like, seriously. What are you doing, babe? Like…. don’t leave your girl waiting, yeah?” She mentally flinched at the prospect of Marie being Dahlia’s girl, but that was the situation at hand. “I’m just here for a drink and then I was gonna… head for a walk on the beach.” With a little shrug, Arden looked away from Dahlia towards the black ocean, illuminated only by a series of tiki torches. It was calling her burning cheeks and broken heart. “I’m glad you’re having fun. I’ll see you later, okay?”
It wasn’t like Marie was a secret; Dahlia had been gushing about her for a while now. However, she hadn’t explicitly mentioned her to Arden, and it dawned on her quickly as she took in the expression on Arden’s face that there was a reason for it, a reason for her to conveniently not mention her. She felt like she owed her an explanation, she just didn’t know how. Words had never been Dahlia’s strong suit, after all. She just stared for a moment, wetting her lips, and awkwardly straightening out her open flannel—of course, even over her bikini top and shorts, Dahlia was still totally wearing her signature flannel.
“What?” She finally spoke up, head shaking quickly. “No, it’s not— she’s not—” Dahlia swallowed. “I wanna hang out with everyone, you know? Marie’s... She’s fine,” she motioned over her shoulder again without looking back, “She has those guys.” Gaze glued to Arden’s face, Dahlia took note of every crease in her expression, every sad glimmer in her eyes. Honestly, it made her chest tighten. She really wished there was an explanation for it, at least one that didn’t make her the total jerk she truly was.
While she nodded along as Arden explained her plans, Dahlia spoke up with a certain urgency at the prospect of her leaving. “See me later? What? No,” she shook her head, hands running over her face. “No, I can, like, come with you. I can totally walk with you,” she tried, shoulders slumping slightly. Her voice quietened some, pleading look in her eyes, “Can I walk with you? Please?”
