Summer Scandles Challenge Entry

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Secrets Under The Sun

Romance Short Story | Word Count: \~1,502

By Indigo Lanee

It was supposed to be a relaxing trip... until he showed up with my ex.

The ocean breeze had barely settled around me before everything unraveled. The resort was perfect: towering palms, cool drinks garnished with tropical fruit, and the kind of sun that kissed your skin golden. I had come to recharge. To breathe again. To forget Alec.

“Moni, you’re going to melt into that lounge chair if you don’t get up soon,” Alicia teased, sipping her mojito from the poolside bar. She wore a breezy white romper, her curls piled high on her head, and the glint of her sunglasses masked her eyes—but I knew that tone. She was trying to get me to live again.

I opened one eye lazily and smirked. “That’s the plan.” I was content in not moving from this spot, even if I turned into a strip of bacon. But my contentment was shattered when Alicia’s expression faltered. Her glass stopped mid-air, mint leaves trembling in the ice.

“What?” I asked, propping myself on an elbow.

She nodded subtly toward the resort gate. “Is that... Alec?”

I followed her gaze.

It was Alec. My Alec. Smug as ever, shades perched perfectly on his nose, walking beside a statuesque brunette with broad shoulders and grey eyes —Micah, his supposed “friend.”

My heart dropped. They looked like a damn catalog ad. Dark and light brown Sun-kissed skin, expensive sandals, laughing like nothing in the world could touch them. Micah had a gold chain around his ankle and Alec carried a bottle of wine like it was a prized trophy.

And now they were here.

Alicia muttered a string of expletives. “He didn’t mention coming here when we last spoke.”

I stiffened. “Wait—'you' still talk to him?”

She flinched. “Sometimes. Nothing serious. We just—Moni, I didn’t know he was coming.”

It didn’t matter. They were here, and so were we. And I wasn’t about to let Alec steal another minute of my peace.

---

The first few days were a mental obstacle course. Every beautiful detail of the resort only reminded me of the life I thought I’d be living by now—with Alec. Every couple holding hands by the infinity pool, every slow-dance under the stars felt like a cruel echo.

Resort life continued—but always with Alec and Micah hovering somewhere in the background. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

He had promised me forever, and instead gave me lies. Micah? was his supposed “friend from work.” Why are Two grown men sharing a suite three floors above mine?

Wednesday morning breakfast, Alec smiled like nothing ever happened. Micah flipped through beach magazines while sipping mango mimosas. Alicia tried to keep things light, but I could feel the cracks forming.

Then that night, Alicia didn’t come back.

She’d gone for a walk, taking her sketch book. We planned to meet and binge eat s'mores, but she hadn’t returned after an hour.

I waited by the firepit, my dress clinging to my skin in the humid air. The tiki torches flickered like nerves.

She was with Alec. I knew it before I saw it.

I walked the beach, each step a drumbeat of betrayal. And there they were—Alicia, barefoot, her hair down, laughing with him. And not just any laugh. The laugh she used to save for me. For our inside jokes.

Something shattered in me.

I turned to leave, my chest burning. But someone grabbed my wrist.

“Don't... Don’t let them steal your peace,” Micah wispered.

I spun around. “You’re the reason I’m in this mess.”

He blinked. Bewildered amusement dancing across his handsome face,“Maybe. But I’m not the villain. He is. And you know it.”

I pulled away. “You expect me to what? Thank you for showing up with the man who wrecked my life?”

Micah’s voice softened. “No. I expect you to see him clearly. You’re not mad because Alicia laughed. You’re mad because you still think you lost something when he left.”

Silence. The kind that cuts.

He turned to go but paused. “Meet me here tomorrow night. If you want truth instead of pain.”

I walked away steaming. Meet here tomorrow, not a chance in hell!

---

The next day dragged like a soap opera on slow motion. I avoided Alec, ignored Alicia, and thought too much about Micah. When night fell, I slipped into a black silk sundress and walked back to the beach.

Micah was already there, barefoot in the sand, staring at the tide like it owed him answers.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” He sputterd in shock.

“I almost didn’t.”

Micah handed me a coconut shell filled with rum punch. “You look like you need this.”

We sat on a beach towel he prepared in advance.

He told me Alec was manipulative, had a pattern. That I wasn’t the first woman he had strung along. And Alicia? She wasn’t innocent, but she wasn’t malicious either. Just his latest victim.

“You glow when you’re lost in thought,” Micah said suddenly.

I blinked. “What?”

“You walked into the dark like you were carrying a torch. I couldn’t look away.”

I laughed crossing my arms. “Is that your specialty?”

“No,” he said seriously. “I’m just not afraid to tell the truth.”

'Well your truth is making your pants rise', I said in my mind while inconspicuously glancing down.

We walked. And talked. And suddenly, the tension that had followed me all week dissolved like salt in water.

When without warning he kissed me. Gently. Slowly. Like the tide pulling against the shore.

I didn’t pull back.

Micah was funny. Sharp. Observant. He noticed the way I tucked my thumb under when I was nervous. He quoted poetry without sounding pretentious. He listened. Really listened.

I told him about Alec. About how he made me feel like I was always an almost.

He laughed bitterly. “He does that. That’s his superpower—making people doubt their glow.”

“And what’s yours?” I asked.

Micah didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he brushed a sun-warmed strand of hair behind my ear and said, “I like helping people find their glow.”

---

The next day, the resort hosted a sunset dinner on the beach. White lanterns swung in the wind. Tables lined the shore.

Alicia appeared beside me as I poured a glass of wine.

“I didn’t plan that,” she said quickly. “Seeing Alec. Talking to him. It just happened.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation,” I replied. “We’re all figuring stuff out.”

She hesitated. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

I looked her in the eye. “Then don’t lie. If you want him, say it. If you don’t, walk away. But I’m done shrinking to make him comfortable.”

She blinked. And then, surprisingly, she smiled. “Good. Because he’s not worth it. How could I ever let some silly man come between us.”

She clinked her glass against mine. “To our glow-ups.”

“To our glow-ups.”

---

Later, at the bonfire party, things came to a head.

Alec saw us together. Me and Micah cuddling close to the fire. He stormed over.

“So this is what we’re doing now? Swapping beds like beach towels?”

I stood tall. “You don’t get to slut-shame the woman you cheated on.”

Alicia stepped between us. “Moni, maybe we should go—”

“No. I’m done running.” I faced Alec. “You left me broken. You gaslit me. You made me doubt myself.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re being dramatic!”

Micah stepped up beside me. “No. She’s finally being heard.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. A few phones were already recording.

“I hope your ego enjoys this vacation,” I told him. “Because it’s the last one you’ll ruin for me.”

Then I took Micah’s hand and walked away. My pulse thundered, but my spine was steel.

---

We spent our last two days wrapped in sunlight and softness. Micah kissed me like he was memorizing the curve of my smile. Alicia and I had a quiet talk on the final morning.

“I'm so proud of you,” she confessed. “I can't believe I was so easily caught in his web .”

“I know,” I said. “I was too, glad we both made it out unscathed.”

She nodded. “Yes! I'm rooting for you and Micah. But if he doesn't treat you right, we can always go on another "healing" trip."

We laughed.

---

I left with more than I came with. Clarity. Strength. Maybe even love.

Our Secrets Under the Sun, wasn’t just a plot twist—it was a reckoning. A purge. And in the ashes of old pain, I found something real.

Something warm.

Someone who saw me.

---Fin---

Love a good summer plot twist with real drama? This story was inspired by the “Secrets Under the Sun” July writing prompt from RahBooks22's Pens & Pixels Society on Facebook. Want to write your own story of betrayal, bravery, and bold new beginnings? Join our challenge today! ☀️💘



🔥 Drop your thoughts below. What would *you* do if your ex, your best friend, and your new crush collided at the same resort?!