Lauren's Beach Crush (7 page)

“Um . . . huh,” said Charlie, glancing around behind him. “That's cool,” he said. “Yo, Fowler. Do I get a rematch? This time prepare to be crushed in v-ball, man.”

“In your dreams, Anderson,” replied Frank, who was walking behind Lauren.

“See you, guys,” said Charlie to Lauren and Chrissy. He and Frank grabbed a ball and headed toward the net, which was open.

Chrissy and Lauren flopped down next to each other on their blanket.

“I tried to talk about ecosystems, but obviously he knew so much more about it than I do,” moaned Lauren. “I sounded like such an idiot. Plan B fail.”

“IT'S NOT GOING TO BE A LATE EVENING,” SAID
Lauren's dad, peering in the rearview at Lauren and Chrissy. “I'm sure the food will be fantastic. The Claussens don't skimp when it comes to catering parties.”

“And maybe there will even be some kids your age!” added Lauren's mom brightly. She pulled down the flap to look in the mirror as she applied some lipstick.

“There are never kids our age at these things,” muttered Lauren. She glanced up and saw her dad giving her a Look in the rearview mirror. “But don't worry, guys,” she added hastily. “We'll be charming.”

Lauren's dad pulled up behind a long line of cars that were parked along the road, outside a huge house overlooking the beach. It was a much larger party than Lauren had expected.

Lauren and Chrissy were dressed in T-shirts and
shorts and sandals, their hair still damp from showering, their faces pink from a day at the beach, despite the gobs of sunblock they'd applied.

“Why don't you go around to the back of the house, where the pool is?” suggested Lauren's dad. “I'm sure that's where the kids will be congregating.”

“It's so cool that your parents didn't make us get all dressed up,” said Chrissy as the girls walked around to the backyard. “My parents totally make me dress up every time we go someplace with lots of grown-ups.”

“This party wasn't really worth assembling an outfit,” replied Lauren. “I mean, it's bound to be a bunch of three-year-olds. And anyway, as far as personal style this summer, shorts and tees are now my go-to clothing. Charlie's got a really laid back style, and now so do I.”

Chrissy shook her head. “What's wrong with just being yourself, Laur? It's like my sister, Liz, always says—if you have to change your whole personality and your style to get a guy to like you, well, maybe he's not the right guy.”

Lauren didn't answer. But she was kind of annoyed by Chrissy's question, and she was getting a little tired of hearing about Chrissy's sister's supposedly wonderful
advice. What did Liz know anyway? Lauren had always liked wearing shorts and tees. Sure, in the past she would have put a little more effort into her outfit for a party, but now she realized that having a supercasual personal style, like Charlie, was actually really cool. And now that she really thought about it, what did Chrissy know about it? Well, so okay, she was kind of, sort of, seeing Justin, so Lauren supposed Chrissy had more boyfriend experience than she did. But not
that
much more. Chrissy was good at talking to the boys on the beach, but it's not like she was good at flirting with them or anything. Besides,
Chic Chick
had an article all about matching your personal styles. Her style had to match Charlie's.

Chrissy touched Lauren's arm. “Looks like there are kids our age here.”

A bunch of kids their age and a little older were crowded around a table full of food and drinks, talking and laughing. Lauren's heart skipped a beat. Was Charlie here?

A quick scan of the pool area told her he wasn't. But Frank Fowler was. Why was he always around instead of Charlie?

Lauren leaned in to whisper to Chrissy. “Why don't you go talk to Frank? I think he likes you. He's looking over here.”

Chrissy made a scoffing noise. “He doesn't like me. And I told you. I like Justin. I'm not interested.”

“I know, I know . . . Justin. But would you do it for me? For the Plan?”

Chrissy looked at Lauren and opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but didn't.

“Lauren!” said a voice behind them.

It was Mrs. Claussen, the hostess, standing next to Lauren's mom.

“Look at you! You've gotten so tall!” she said, hurrying up to Lauren and hugging her. Lauren was enveloped in a cloud of perfume. Mrs. Claussen's earrings and many bracelets made little tinkly sounds.

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. She really hadn't gotten that much taller. Why did adults always, always talk about how tall a kid had gotten? “This is my friend, Chrissy Porter.”

“Hello, Chrissy!” said Mrs. Claussen. Suddenly she swooped down and caught a little kid who was running by, chasing another little kid. She held up the kicking
child, who didn't seem to know he was airborne.

“This is Bobby! Remember Bobby, Lauren?”

“Gee, yeah, hey, Bobby,” said Lauren to the wiggling toddler. “You've gotten so . . . big.” Okay, whatever. He had grown bigger since she'd last seen him. He had chocolate around his mouth, but he was still pretty cute.

“Hi!” said Bobby grumpily, squirming to be put back down. Mrs. Claussen set him down again as though he were a large sticky wind-up toy, and he continued on his way, chasing a couple of kids around the back patio area, weaving in and around other partygoers.

“These girls look so mature,” said Mrs. Claussen to Mrs. Silver. “It must be so nice to have older, more independent children! I love my boys, of course, but they are always going, going, going. What I wouldn't give for a couple hours of peace and quiet on the beach!”

Lauren could practically see the wheels turning in her mother's head.

“I have a great idea!” her mom said, her eyes dancing with excitement. “Why don't you let Lauren and Chrissy take the boys to the beach one day? They can be mother's helpers and play with the kids while you have a little relaxation time!”

Mrs. Claussen looked delighted. “Really?” she asked Mrs. Silver, who nodded, happy to be helping her friend. “What do you think, girls?” she asked Lauren and Chrissy.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Lauren didn't think a day at the beach with kids would interfere with the Plan. In fact, it might even help, given the fact that Charlie loved kids. “Sure thing,” said Lauren. “No problem.”

“How about Friday?” asked Mrs. Claussen. “I can go get my nails done for the first time in months. Would that be okay? I'll pay you, of course.”

The girls nodded.

“We'll meet you at Crane's Beach at ten,” said Mrs. Claussen delightedly. “Near the lifeguard stand?” She gave both the girls a big, jangly, perfumey hug and then hurried off with Lauren's mom by her side.

The girls watched Bobby whap another little kid over the head with a swimming pool noodle, then drop the noodle and race away.

“Is that Bobby's brother?” asked Chrissy.

“Mmm-hmm,” said Lauren.

Both girls giggled. Lauren felt glad that their uncomfortable moment from earlier seemed to have passed.

“Are you sure you guys know what you're getting yourselves into?” asked a voice in Lauren's ear. She jumped. It was Frank. Yet again. Didn't he have anything to do other than show up all the time? And if he was going to do that, couldn't he at least make sure he had Charlie with him?

“I just heard Mrs. Claussen telling my mom you guys were going to be mother's helpers for her,” said Frank, grinning. “Those kids are, um, shall we say, a tad boisterous?”

“You think?” laughed Chrissy as they watched Bobby's brother fire a supersoaking squirt gun at his brother's back, drenching him.

“Better you than me,” said Frank, and slipped away again.

“You see?” said Lauren triumphantly. Her annoyance at Frank had quickly evaporated in her eagerness to get him together with Chrissy. “You two are perfect for each other! He's obviously smart. He just used the word ‘boisterous' in a sentence properly. And he's funny!”

Chrissy paused for a moment. She seemed unsure of what to say. Finally, she shrugged a little and said, “Well, he does remind me of Justin. But only a little bit! I'm still not switching my crush, Laur!”

Lauren's heart swelled. Chrissy had practically just admitted she thought Frank was cute. She could see it now. Double-dating with her best friend! Chrissy was her best friend now, right? And Charlie would be her boyfriend. It was turning into the perfect summer vacation.

“I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN CRANE'S BEACH EVEN
had a playground,” said Lauren glumly. “I haven't been here since I was a little kid.”

It was the following Friday. Another beautiful, perfect, sunny beach day, but Lauren and Chrissy were stuck at the playground, pushing Bobby and his brother, Kyle, on the swings. Lauren had done her best to convince the boys that they should go straight to the beach, but the boys were insistent about going to the playground first. Lauren knew that sometimes with kids this age, you just had to give in.

“I can see the guys from here,” said Chrissy, peering through the tall sea grass on the dune in front of them.

“Me too,” said Lauren gloomily. “To think I had Operation Cell Phone planned down to every possible angle, and I still haven't managed to execute it.”

Below them and straight ahead, close to the water, were Charlie and four or five of his friends. They were playing some sort of running-around game with extremely intense rules that neither girl could follow.

“Higher!” squealed Bobby happily.

Lauren gave him a bigger push, then looked back and forth between Bobby and his brother, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Uh-oh,” said Chrissy. “I've seen that look before. You're cooking something up, aren't you?”

“I might be,” said Lauren with a little smile playing on her lips. “Hey, Bobby,” she said in a louder voice “How old are you?”

“Twee and a half!” he trilled.

“I'm four and three quarters!” chimed in Kyle.

“Wow,” said Lauren. “You guys are big boys, aren't you?”

“I'm a big boy!” agreed Bobby. “Big, big boy!”

“I'm bigger!” yelled Kyle.

“You guys want to get a lemonade at the snack bar?” suggested Lauren.

“Yeahhhhhhhh!” shouted both boys together.

“You are totally bribing them!” said Chrissy.

Lauren shrugged. “All's fair in love and war, right? Besides, Mrs. Claussen said it was fine for them to have lemonade.”

Chrissy laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Okay,” said Lauren, catching Bobby by his chubby arms and skidding her feet forward until his swing stopped swinging. Chrissy did the same with Kyle.

“First we're going to play a fun game,” said Lauren. “Then we'll go get lemonade.”

Both boys bounced up and down excitedly in their swings.

“You see that big boy out there on the beach? The tall one with blond hair and a purple-and-white-striped bathing suit?”

“Yesp,” said Bobby.

“You either say ‘yes' or ‘yep,' ” Kyle explained to his brother.

“Yesp!” yelled Bobby.

“Okay, good,” said Lauren, realizing it would be necessary to keep things moving along. “So here's what you guys do. We'll walk together down to the sand. We'll grab your buckets and shovels and stuff. We'll start building a sand castle. Then both of you can run up to that big boy
and ask him, in your really cute and adorable way, to help us because we're going to build the world's biggest sand castle. And after we build it with him, you can ask him if he wants to come have lemonade with us. Can you remember all that?”

“Yesp!” yelled Bobby.

Kyle nodded excitedly.

“Okay! Race you guys to the buckets!”

A few minutes later, the boys and Chrissy and Lauren were happily digging in the sand.

“All right,” said Lauren to Kyle. “Why don't you go ask that big boy now if he will come help us build the world's biggest sand castle?”

“First we gots to bury you, Lauren!” shouted Bobby.

“Yeahhhhh!” shouted Kyle.

Lauren sighed. “Fine. But then you go ask the big boy, okay?”

The boys were already digging a big hole for Lauren. It seemed to take forever, but finally it was long enough for her to settle into up to her waist with her legs outstretched. The boys heaped mounds of sand over her, laughing delightedly.

Lauren let them pile on more and more sand, and then
told them that was enough. “Now go ask the big boy in the purple bathing suit to come help us make a castle, okay?”

The boys turned and raced toward Charlie and his friends, who'd moved a little farther away and were now involved in an intense game of Frisbee.

“I'll make myself scarce,” said Chrissy, hopping up. “I'll take myself to the snack bar. I'll hang out there and wait for you guys. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” said Lauren, working her legs furiously to free herself from the packed, heavy sand. “See you soon.”

Chrissy picked up her bag and headed off toward the snack bar. Lauren had just managed to extract herself from the hole and was frantically brushing away the sand from her legs when the little boys returned.

“We got the big boy to come help us build a castle!” shouted Kyle. “Just like you tolded us to!”

Lauren froze. Her back was still turned to them. She couldn't turn around. Was it possible to die of mortification? What would
Chic Chick
advise her to do? Damage control. She would play it oh-so-casual. “Aw, you guys, quit being so silly! I had no idea where you just went! Maybe the big boy doesn't want to help us. He looked
pretty busy over there, playing with the other big boys.”