Seven Times I Drew Blank, Seven Times They Drew Each Other Chapter 02

Seven Times I Drew Blank, Seven Times They Drew Each Other Chapter 02

I hadn’t grown up with them.

The five of them had been together since preschool. I didn’t meet Julian until college, and he was the one who brought me into their circle.

For the first few years, I tried hard to fit in.

They would talk about stealing peaches from a teacher’s backyard when they were kids. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I laughed along anyway.

They had nicknames for one another that only the five of them understood, so I secretly jotted them down in my Notes app.

I remembered everyone’s birthday, what they wouldn’t eat, and all their little habits. Whenever we went out for dinner, I was always the first one there.

Whenever we traveled, I handled the transportation, booked the hotels, and planned the itinerary.

But no matter how much I did, whenever they talked about the old days, I always heard the same thing.

“You didn’t know us back then. You wouldn’t get it.”

Eventually, “You wouldn’t get it” became “We don’t need to tell her.”

If they changed restaurants at the last minute, no one bothered to let me know. If all five of them switched to matching profile pictures, no one sent me the new one.

Even this trip had been planned without me.

I only found out from Julian and Vanessa’s messages that they had been discussing it for six months.

When I asked why no one had told me, Julian just smiled and ruffled my hair.

“Isn’t that what we were waiting for you to do?”

So I booked the flights, the hotels, and the entire itinerary. I fronted the money too.

In the end, the five of them got to enjoy the vacation while I handled everything.

And now I was expected to give up my room too.

I loosened my grip on the key card.

“You two take the suite. I’ll stay downstairs in the lobby.”

I didn’t argue again.

The next morning, I woke up to an empty living room.

There was a photo in the group chat of the five of them having breakfast together, with five meals spread across the table.

Vanessa: [Nora, we didn’t want to wake you, so we came down first.]

Vanessa: [Just grab breakfast on your own when you wake up.]

By the time I got ready and went down to the restaurant, a server told me breakfast service had already ended.

Right then, Julian called.

“Where are you?”

“At the restaurant.”

“Why are you still there?” Irritation sharpened his voice. “We’ve been waiting at the marina for twenty minutes.”

I checked the group chat.

Not one of them had told me what time we were leaving.

“You didn’t wake me up.”

“Vanessa messaged you, didn’t she?”

“She only said you guys had gone down for breakfast.”

Julian went silent for a second before turning it back on me.

“Any normal person would notice everyone was gone and ask what was going on.”

“Everyone’s waiting for you.”

I never got breakfast.

By the time I reached the marina, the yacht’s engines were already running. The five of them were standing on deck, and no one had saved a spot for me.

Vanessa was wearing Julian’s white button-down. The hem barely covered her thighs.

The moment she saw me, she quickly pulled the collar closed.

“Nora, don’t get the wrong idea. The zipper on my dress broke, so Julian lent me one of his shirts.”

Julian never let me touch his shirts once he’d worn them.

Once, while doing laundry, I had accidentally washed one with darker clothes and left it faintly gray. He refused to speak to me for an entire week.

He said he hated anyone handling his clothes after he had worn them.

Now Vanessa was wearing one.

Julian barely gave it a second glance before telling her gently, “Go put on some pants. You’ll get cold.”

Vanessa stuck her tongue out at me.

“See? He always has to fuss.”

I held on to the railing as I stepped aboard.

Miles immediately shoved a pile of things into my arms.

“Perfect. Sunscreen, camera, water. Keep an eye on these for us.”

Holding all their things, I sat in the seat closest to the engine.

The ocean wind whipped across the deck, and with no breakfast in me, painful cramps kept twisting through my stomach.

I had started learning to swim six months ago just for today’s dive.

Julian loved the ocean. I was afraid of the water, but I had secretly signed up for scuba lessons anyway.

I had wanted to surprise him on this trip.

But when we reached the dive site, the instructor told us only five people could go down at a time.

Derek looked at me with a grin.

“Isn’t Nora scared of the water? She can stay on the boat and watch our stuff.”

I opened my mouth, ready to tell them I had already earned my scuba certification.

Before I could, Vanessa suddenly clung to Julian’s arm.

“Julian, I’m kind of nervous. Hold onto me when we’re down there, okay?”

Julian checked her tank.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right beside you.”

I swallowed the words I had been about to say.

The five of them went into the water, while I sat alone on deck watching their clothes and phones.

After a while, the instructor came over.

“You don’t want to dive?”

I pulled the brand-new certification card from my bag and stared at it for a long moment before shaking my head.

“Not anymore.”