He Dropped Me at the Service Station to Take Her Home Chapter 04

He Dropped Me at the Service Station to Take Her Home Chapter 04

Starfall Amusement Park was far more crowded than I expected.

Izzy and Cas walked side by side ahead of me, laughing nonstop over little inside jokes.

I trailed behind them, head hung low.

I watched Cas snap dozens of photos of Izzy. I watched him hold a portable battery fan directly in front of her face to block the heat.

I watched them huddle together under a tree, shoulders pressed tight, giggling as they scrolled through the photos on his phone screen.

The sight stung my eyes badly, so I tugged my baseball cap lower to cover my face.

Suddenly, Cas glanced back at me.

“Ellie, is there any ride you want to go on?”

Before I could open my mouth to answer, Izzy grabbed his arm excitedly.

“Ice cream over there! I want one!”

Cas’s gaze slid off me without a single hesitation, locking onto the ice cream stand Izzy pointed to. He smiled softly.

“Stay right here, I’ll grab them for you.”

He returned quickly with two mango soft-serve cones.

He handed one to Izzy first. “Your favorite mango flavor.”

He passed the second cone to me. “Ellie, this one’s yours.”

The ice cream had already melted along the edges, sticky cream dripping down onto my palm. It made my skin crawl.

I hated mango with every fiber of my being.

When we were little kids, mango was Izzy’s absolute favorite fruit. There was never enough left for me to try any.

I snuck a bite once, and Mom grounded me for weeks after that, and I was too upset to keep any food down.

I’d told Cas all about it.

He’d looked at me with soft, sad eyes back then and promised he’d never let me feel left out again.

Now he stood there holding a mango cone out to me like nothing was wrong.

I stared up at his face. It was still the same face I’d fallen for years ago, yet he felt like a complete stranger.

I let out a quiet, bitter laugh, my nose burning with unshed tears.

I walked over to the nearest trash can and dropped the entire cone inside.

Neither of them noticed I’d left their side.

Izzy leaned forward to sip straight from Cas’s bottled Coke.

Cas ruffled her hair with fond exasperation, then took a long sip from the exact same spot on the bottle’s mouth.

The summer sun blazed scorching hot against my shoulders, yet I shivered like I was freezing.

Last year we’d gone hiking in the mountains. Cas had finished all his water hours before we reached the trail’s end.

He’d walked the whole rest of the trail parched and thirsty rather than take a single sip from my water bottle.

I’d thought he had a germ phobia back then. Turns out, he just didn’t want to share drinks with me.

“Elowen?”

I spun around to see Sable Quinn, a girl I’d gone to high school with.

Sable laughed and nudged my shoulder playfully. “Long time no see. Did you come here alone?”

Her eyes drifted past me, landing on Cas and Izzy, and she instantly connected the dots.

“Wait, that’s your sister? She and her boyfriend look perfect together.”

“Are you stuck here as the third wheel?”

Her grin faded halfway, and her voice dropped to an awkward murmur.

“Wait a second—isn’t that Caspian? I thought he was dating—”

I smiled at her panicked, flustered expression.

“You think they match well too, huh?”

“Funny. I feel exactly the same way.”