Chapter 9

I pulled up to Sidney’s house and got out of the car. I made my way over to the passenger side and let Bauer out. There were already people there. It was Canada Day and Sidney was throwing an all day party at his house. Bauer followed me to the back and immediately spotted Sam. He tore off after her and I made my way to where Sidney and Jack were sitting.

“Misty!” Jack called in greeting as he saw me walking up.

“Hey guys,” I returned with a smile.

I sat down at the table with everyone else and Jack handed me a beer. As the party filled in I helped Sidney set out food and drinks. He kept insisting that I go hang out with everyone, but I wasn’t about to let him do everything on his own. I always felt bad for the hosts of parties. They were so busy making sure everyone had what they needed that they never got to have fun. I didn’t want that to happen to Sidney.

Later on we separated and I found myself talking to Zara and some of her friends. We were laying out on the dock in our bathing suits joking about the guys. At some point I looked over at the rest of the party and saw Sidney talking to a blonde girl. I slid my sunglasses down my nose to get a better look at her. She was lightly touching his shoulder as she laughed at something.

“Who invited the street trash?” I heard Zara say. I turned to look over at her.

“You guys know her?” I asked. They all rolled their eyes.

“Sid made the mistake of dating her last summer. It took him about a month to realize she was a slut gunning for his money and fame before he dumped her,” one of Zara’s friends, named Valerie replied.

I looked back over in shock. Was that Sidney’s type? I just couldn’t see him going for someone like her. I mean, she was pretty, if you liked the overdone blonde porn star look. Still, she wasn’t what I thought his type would be. I felt a slight twinge of disappointment. It caught me offguard and I tried to shake the thought out of my head. What did I have to be jealous of? Sidney was just a friend, and there was no reason to get jealous over a friend’s ex.

“Are you okay?” Zara asked me. I turned to her and smiled.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I responded. She smiled back.

“I just thought maybe it bothered you that his clingy ex was here.”

“Why would it bother me?” She just gave me a look without responding. I laid back on the dock, sliding my sunglasses back into place.

As we all laid there talking and taking in the sun I thought about what Zara had said. Or more about what she hadn’t said. Did she think I had feelings for Sidney? Did I? Sure he was sweet, funny, and cute, but I couldn’t date right now. I’d come to Cole Harbour for a reason and starting a relationship wasn’t that reason. I wasn’t going to deny that if it had been a different time maybe I’d have felt something, but that just wasn’t the case. We were just friends and that’s all it was going to be.

“Anyone up for a swim?” a voice asked. I looked up to see Jack looking down at me. I smiled and popped up from my spot.

“I’m in,” I said. The rest of the girls declined and I dove into the water. Jack and I swam around and talked for a while just enjoying the day. When we tired of swimming we both climbed out.

“What happened?” Jack asked. I tilted my head and gave him a strange look.

“What do you mean?” I returned. He smiled before reaching out to touch my side. I looked down as he traced his finger along the scar I had.

“Your scar. What happened?” he repeated.

“Oh, that. My appendix ruptured and had to be removed. I almost died. No big deal,” I joked.

“How did you almost die?” I didn’t have a chance to respond before we were interrupted.

“What the hell is going on here?”










Sidney tried to remain focused on the conversation with Wesley and Caden but Misty and Jack were swimming in the lake together. He’d had an eye on them all day. Jack was laying it on thick with her and it was really getting to him. Before it was just annoying. Now he was getting mad.

He knew what kind of person Jack was. Jack was one of his best friends, but he was also a player. While it never bothered Sidney before, it was bothering him now that Jack was honing in on Misty. She was too good of a friend for him to let Jack do that to her. She didn’t deserve to be another notch in Jack’s bedpost.

“Earth to Sidney. Are you there?” Wesley asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t hear you,” he responded turning back to his friends.

“You’re upset that Jack’s moving in on your girl,” Caden said.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, you heard him, Crosby. We can all see that you have a thing for Misty. Now Jack’s here trying to get in her pants. It’s pissing you off because you’re too pussy to say anything,” Wesley continued.

“Yeah, have another one,” Sidney cracked while rolling his eyes.

He glanced back over to them and saw that they were now out of the water. He felt anger boil through him when he saw Jack flash one of those smiles as he ran a finger along Misty’s side. Now he wasn’t just flirting with her, he was touching her too? He’d had enough. This had to stop.

As he made his way over to them he told himself that he was only doing it to protect a friend. There was nothing more to it. Even as he said that to himself he knew he was lying a bit. If it had been a different time he would be going for Misty. Even so, that’s just not what was in the cards for them.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked through clenched teeth when he reached them. They both turned to look at him in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what?” Misty asked him.

“This,” he said pointing at them. “Why are you touching her?”

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t touching her!” Jack defended himself. Misty looked just as confused.

“I just watched you!” he exclaimed.

“Sidney, Jack wasn’t touching me!” she yelled back. Sidney reached out and ran a finger along her side.

“That’s what he was doing,” Sidney explained. Misty’s expression changed to one of understanding.

“He was just asking me about my scar,” she told him with a roll of her eyes.

“Scar? What scar?” Sidney asked in confusion.

“This one,” Misty replied pointing to her side. Sidney looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough there was a faint but noticeable scar. Suddenly he felt extremely embarrassed.

“Oh man. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said running a hand over his forehead.

“It’s okay, I get it,” Jack told him. He looked over at Jack who gave him a knowing look.

“Are you drunk?” Misty asked him. He paused for a minute. Yeah, he definitely was.

“Uh, yeah, I am,” he responded, embarrassed again. She smiled and shook her head.

“Then you’re forgiven for being an idiot this time. I’m going to go grab another drink.” She shook her head at him one more time before leaving him and Jack standing there.

“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t realize. Why didn’t you tell me you had a thing for her?” Jack asked. Sidney turned to him.

“I don’t. I just know how you are. She doesn’t deserve it. Not after what she went through with Mason.” Jack gave him a look that told him he didn’t believe a word he’d said.

“Come on, Sid. I know you better than that,” Jack prompted. Sidney sighed and turned back to see Misty laughing with Zara about something.

“It’s just not like that with us. She’s here to figure out what she wants from life and I’m way too busy to even think about dating. There’s nothing about the two of us that would work.” Jack threw an arm around his shoulders.

“If it makes any difference, she’s been immune to my charm. She’s too busy talking about you,” Jack assured him. Sidney smiled. It was something.










As night fell Sidney started a fire. Most of the people that were left gathered around the fire. I took a seat next to Sidney. He’d apologized to me a few more times about the incident earlier, but I just blew it off. It wasn’t a big deal. He was drunk and did something stupid. Hadn’t we all been there?

Even so I couldn’t quite shake the incident completely from my head. Why had he been so upset in the first place? He had obviously been angry when he first reached us, but I couldn’t figure out why. I also couldn’t figure out why I’d felt a shiver run through me when he’d run his finger along my side. I hadn’t felt that when Jack had touched me. I blamed it on the alcohol consumption and tried to push that out of my head as well.

At some point they put the fire out and moved the party inside. Almost everyone that was left was crashing at his house somewhere. I was squeezed in on the couch next to Sidney talking with the group. After that things started to get blurry.