Aves: Carter is bringing me by soon for my car.

My phone had been buzzing nonstop all morning, but I had no desire to get out of bed. This summer was the worst. I was so frustrated, and I just wanted to sleep my days away.

I didn’t hate my job at Between The Pages as much as I thought I would, but I didn’t like Rainier and his attitude. He thought he was so much better than me and it irritated me to no end.

And Avery and I had been fighting off and on more than we ever had. I knew part of it was I was still pissed about missing out on Mexico. Feeling like the third wheel to Carter and her didn’t help either. She’d messaged me several times asking if I was going to come by. She wanted to know how she was going to get her car. I’d been ignoring them until I saw she was on her way.

Me: I just woke up.

Aves: So, what? Are you working today?

Me: Tonight.

Aves: Then I’ll see you soon.

I got out of bed and brushed my teeth and put my bathing suit on. Avery would want to swim with me, and we could work through some of the issues that had been brewing between the two of us. My skin that had been bright red the week before had turned into a dark tan. I’d been worried about peeling, which was worse than being pale or burnt. The idea of flaking skin everywhere grossed me out.

Thankfully, there was Italian somewhere in my family tree that meant I usually just got darker. Genetics mixed with a strict routine of covering my skin with emu oil meant I was ready for another pool day. I just needed to make sure I didn’t fight with Avery and fall asleep again.

I played around on my phone while I waited for her. My dad was working at one of his companies today, which meant I had the house to myself. I saw a few people post pictures from the show last night.

How Owen could manage to look sleazy even in a picture was beyond me. I couldn’t figure out everyone’s obsession with the guy. Carter was looking down in nearly every picture I saw. Matt was hidden in the back behind everyone and his drum set. I saw his face in a few shots, but it was mostly blurry.

I spotted Rainier in some of the shots. Even in pictures, he stood out. Everyone on the group looked relaxed, comfortable. He looked tense. There was even a picture of him scowling. I wondered if someone captured the moment we locked eyes at the show. I smiled at the thought of that expression being saved forever on some fangirl’s feed.

“Hey, what are you looking at?” Aves said from behind the couch I was sitting on. I hadn’t heard her come in and I quickly turned off the screen and put it facedown beside me.

“Nothing.”

“Was that Rainier?”

“No, just some pictures from the show last night. Well, he was in that one. So I guess technically I was looking at him. But I wasn’t like, looking at him.” Yikes, when did I turn into a bumbling idiot?

“You were smiling.”

“He looked upset. So yes, I get a level of enjoyment from that.”

“Okay,” she said with a knowing smile that I didn’t like.

“Aves, it’s nothing.”

“Okay,” she repeated. “But since we’re already talking about nothing, I spoke to Carter this morning. I guess your boy pissed Owen off pretty good last night.”

“He’s not my boy,” I mumbled.

“Of course not. Did you know there was already a band called The Band?”

“You mean they’re not the only guys who thought it was awesomely ironic?”

“Nope,” she said, her smile still huge. “Apparently, Rainier is the one who told Owen. He was so mad.”

“Owen’s a dick.”

“Yeah, I know. But I guess they’re looking for a new band name and are having a contest to see who can come up with their new name.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s the prize?”

Avery’s face scrunched up. “What do you mean?”

“If it’s a contest, shouldn’t there be a prize for the winner?”

“I think being able to say you named the band is the prize.”

I laughed. “Oh, yeah, because everyone's dream is to name some crappy garage band from River Valley.” I clasped my hands together and smiled.

“The same crappy band you were stalking when I came in, you mean?”

My smile fell. “Whatever. Where’s Carter?”

“They had practice this morning, so he left as soon as he dropped me off.”

“Want to swim? You can borrow one of my suits,” I asked changing the subject. One of the advantages of being almost the same size as my best friend was we could share most of our clothing.

She agreed, and we spent the next hour or so swimming while not talking about The Band, or their contest to rename them, or Rainier. Avery was pretty good about keeping the talk of Carter to a minimum too, which was awesome.

She did manage to finally catch me up with the details of her trip to Mexico.

Avery had ended up taking her cousin Zoey. She didn’t live in River Valley but met her down there for the week. They’d had a great time, drank a bunch of frozen drinks on the beach, and worked on their tans. There were some hotties, but Avery only had eyes for Carter. Barf.

As she went on and on, I realized I wasn’t nearly as pissed as I’d been a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t thrilled to be spending my summer indoors at nerd-central, but I wasn’t going to die either. I’d been holding that trip against her and just had an epiphany that maybe that wasn’t fair.

“Oh, Michelle,” she said when I didn’t immediately add anything of my own. “Please don’t be jealous. It was fun, and I couldn’t wait to tell you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try again next year.”

“I’m okay, and you’re right. We can try again.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Don’t sound so shocked. I told you, Between The Pages hasn’t been that bad.” I regretted the words the second they left my mouth. Avery would interpret that to mean Between The Pages isn’t so bad because I get to watch Rainier shelve books all day.

Because that totally compared to a trip to Mexico.

“Well, I should probably get going soon since you work tonight,” she said, completely ignoring the opportunity to rub it in my face. Why wasn’t she rubbing it in my face?

“Hey, aren’t you going to make some comment about why I’m enjoying work?”

“Should I?” she asked getting out of the pool and wrapping her body in a towel.

“No, I just thought you would jump all over that.”

“Looks like I didn’t need to.” She stopped and winked at me. “But, hey, you should consider trying to come up with a name. You’re so good at that kind of thing, and it’s only this week until the next teen night.”

My mind went through all the different rain jokes I’d googled before our latest shift together. Rainier hadn’t been amused, but now I wanted to think of the best pun or joke I could use so that I could stick it to him. I could just imagine the look on his face when I told him it was me that came up with the name of the band he’d be playing with all summer.

“Anyway, Michelle, I’ll catch you later, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I answered wrapping up in my towel barely paying attention. I had one week to come up with the best possible name, and I wasn’t about to waste any time.

I went inside and got cleaned up. I took a shower, did my hair and sat down on my bed. My dad still wasn’t home, and I had the day off. That gave me plenty of time.

Mount Rainier, Rainier cherries, Rainy weather. There were so many directions to go in. Narrowing it down would be my biggest struggle.