Every Girl Does It (16 page)

“Amanda, I was kidding
.
I don’t
have to build y
ou a castle
.” He
looks
concerned as he notices my tears.

Embarrassed
,
I turn my head and try to hide the
emotion
now
ravag
ing my face. “It’s not your
fault
.
I don’t know
what’s
wrong with me.” I sit in a huff on the sand.

“Castles make you cry?” Preston
interjects
.
“
N
o
.
T
hat’s normal for
a
girl,
right?” He nudges me with his elbow making me laugh.

“
It’s
just,” I start to explain
.
“
M
y dad used to call me his little
princess
. We
went to the beach every year. Seaside Oregon was the spot
,”
I say laughing at the memory. Preston listens intently as I continue
.
“We had lots of traditions
,
but one
of
them while we were at the beach was to
build a
sa
ndcastle. I
’
d look forward to it every year. Not just becaus
e of the castle, though he
rocked it
.”
I laughed
.
“
B
ut it was special to have time with him. He always told me that the man I marry better know how to build sandcastles or else
.”
I roll my eyes in remembrance. “When he died
,
the trip was already booked
.
M
y mom thought it would be good for us to go in honor of him.”

I p
ush myself off the ground
and begin to
walk
,
knowing Preston will follow
. “I built him a sandcastle.” Shrugging
,
I turn
to Preston
. “
I build
him one every year
.
I want to think
he can se
e it from
Heaven
. So,
that’s why sandcastles mak
e me cry. You must think I’m emotionally unstable
.
Y
ou can say it.”
My eyes
rise
to meet his gaze
,
and
I
notice he has tears in his eyes.

Preston pulls me into his chest and let
'
s me cry. It’s not until I open my eyes that I realize he
’
s led me all the way back to our room. Without a word
,
he draws a warm bath for me in the tub and leaves.
I force myself to remember that he annoys me
,
but it’s hard to feel irritated when he’s so good at comforting me.

Who is this guy?
There’s no way I can figure him out,
but at this moment there
’
s nowhere I
’
d rather be tha
n with him.

After a long bath
,
I
sink in
to bed with dreams of sandcastles floating around in my head. Sandcastles and a certain someone who offered to build me one
.
S
omeone
who is both the
most irritating and
the most
handsome man on the planet.

I wake up the following morning with a pounding headache that is not remedied by the loud coffee grinding going on in the kitchen. I open my door and growl as I see Preston making coffee and
pulling pastries
out of the oven
. What
so he cooks
,
too?

“Morning
,
sunshine
!
G
et in a fight with a semi truck?” Preston says as I sink into the bar stool. I let out a low grunt before
holding my hand out for coffee.

“Bite me,
” I
say before I take my first sip.

“That can be arranged.
”
H
e smiles as he hands me a hot pastry.

“
You’re
like
Diet
Pepsi
,” I say
.

“Um
,
I prefer
being
compared to things like wine
,
but okay
,
Diet
Pepsi
it is
,
”
h
e says sitting down next to me. I can’t help that my voice is extremely low in the morning
,
so I just go for it.

“Fine wine means you get better with age,
Diet
Pepsi is the beverage that pretends to be something else
,
but
actually
it’s
just pop,
” I say
,
meeting his gaze.

“I’m sorry, do you always talk t
heology in the morning?” He shakes his head
.
“We’ll have to fix that when we get married.”

My eyes bug out as if he
’
s just said my coffee had
poison
in it. “
We aren’t getting married
!” I yell a little too loud for my headache.

“Ooo
,
this is fun
.
S
ee
,
I
’
ve decided that I like bothering you. I am attaching myself to you forever. Like a
leech.” He looks bemused as I continue to glare at him.

“Le
e
che
s
suc
k
the life out of people
,
” I state dryly.

“
Yes
, I believe they do
,
”
h
e answers
.
“
S
o
, why diet
?
W
hy
can’t
I be normal Pepsi?”

At least he can keep up with me this much. “Because,” I say
while
grabbing the pastry with one hand and my coffee
with
the other
,
“Diet makes people think it
’
s better for you when
actually
the fake sugar causes cancer
.
S
o
in reality,
it’s
just as bad as the real thing
.
O
nly people don’t know it
,
because on the outside it says
zero
calories.” I
’
m shaking my head
. Why
doesn’t he get this? I walk out toward the patio and sit with my breakfast.

“So wait,” he says following me
.
“Are you saying I
’
m a fake? Not as good as the real thing
,
even though I pretend to be?” He asks innocently.
H
e puts his hand over his heart
with a wounded look
then shrugs
.
“I
think
you
’re
projecting
,
”
He takes the newspaper off the chair and sits down.

“Wow
,
thanks
,
Doctor,
” I answer with sarcasm.

“No
,
seriously
.
I think you want me to be fak
e
so you don’t have to like me
.
I
t would just be easier for you
.
Y
ou wouldn’t have to put yourself out there
and
be vulnerable.” He looks at me
critically
,
before going
on. “Like I said before, you’re afraid of me. But
it’s
okay
. I’ll get you through it.” Then
he
suddenly
gets up and goes back into the kitchen. How in the world did this conv
ersation
turn on me so fast?

I
’
m
scowl
ing
a
fter
him
when
I hear a knock on the door. Preston rushe
s
to open it
, and
i
n walk
s
Kristin and Brad. Kristin immediately walks
to where I am sitting
and
grabs a seat
,
taking my coffee and
pastry
i
n the process.

“Whoa, rough night?” Brad asks as he joins us on the patio.

“You have no idea
,
” I say squinting my eyes
at
Preston
, who
gives me the
I-have-no-idea-what-
you
’
re
-talking-
about look as I pull my coffee from
Kristin’s
hands.

Kristin
appears
as animated as ever
.
“You will
never
guess what happened last night
,” she
says
,
looking
back and forth
between us.

“I’m sure I could,” Preston coughs to himself
,
masking the words
while
I hide a chuckle.

“We saw
them
!” Kristin exclaims
,
throwing her hands in the air
.
“And they were so nice
,
and we bought them champagne
,
and they toasted to us!” She
’
s now yelling
,
making my headache all the worse.

“You don’t say
.”
Preston
plays along, making me smile
even harder.

“Yes!” Kristin say
s
,
totally not getting Preston
’
s sarcasm. “And you know what
’
s so great?” She turns back to me
.
“I hear they
’
re going to be staying the rest of the week
.”

“They are?” I say through clenched teeth
,
glar
ing
at Preston.

“Yes!” Kristin does a little fist pump
.
I never knew she was
so
in
to celebrities
.
Must
be the new mom thing
.
S
he
definitely needs
to get out more
,
poor thing.

“So
,
you guys ready to go or what?” Brad asks
,
looking directly at me and my
train wreck
face and
just-rolled-out-of-bed
clothes.

“Ready for?” I ask
.

“Snor
keling,” Brad says, standing up. “
I thought Preston told you
.
T
he boat leaves in like a half hour.”

I bite my lip so I
w
on’t lunge for Preston
’
s face
,
then smile. “Of course, I’ll go grab my stuff.”

I
hurry
into the bathroom
,
throw on my swimsuit, brush my teeth, put on waterproof mascara
,
and am out the door. I
’
m wearing my new swimsuit cover up as well as my giant sunglasses to hide my swollen eyes.

“For later
,
” Preston whispers
and
drops something in
to
my beach bag.
I can’t seem to be able to keep my stomach from doing a flip flop as my eyes scan his kissable lips. And o
kay
,
I
know
I
’
m supposed to hate him
,
but it
’
s hard not to feel
totally
007 right now with us sneaking around together. I mean
,
it
’
s fun pretending to be someone else
, and it’s
not like I
’
m going to marry the guy
.
C
learly he
’
s not marriage material
.
P
lus
,
he’s probably just stringin
g
me along until he can embarrass me like I did him
. Although
, in his defense
,
he
’
s
had many opportunities to do so
already
.

Today he
’
s wearing long board shorts
and
a tight muscle T. His skin is more bronzed than mine
,
making me all the more pathetic
-
looking next to him.
We drive our rental car to the spot where the boat is waiting and get out. Preston and I are the last to leave the car
,
but only because Brad
has
to chase down Kristin as she charges the boat
.
L
ike I said
,
she needs to get out more.

“I think you
’
r
e
wine
,
”
Preston
says
and takes
my bag from the trunk.

“What do you mean?” I fall into step with him
,
and we head
in Kristins direction
.

“I mean,” he says
.
Wait
,
is he turning red
? “Y
ou
’
re anything but diet.” It was as if the mask
which
was once in place
—the
mask dripping with selfish pride and sarcasm
—had
fallen
away,
and it
’
s just us. Me and Preston. I
stop and
look
him square in the face and
grin
. H
is eyes light up
,
and before I kn
o
w it
,
he lean
s
over and kiss
es
my cheek.

“But don’t go around telling people about this side of me
.
I
t might ruin my reputation
,
”
h
e says, then he playfully
trips me
as we walk onto the
dock.

“
That’s
the last thing you should be worried about
,
” I say
,
returning the trip
and
causing his flip flop to sail into the water.

“Go get it
,
”
he
says seriously.

“
No
, you get it
.
”