Shipwrecked Summer (12 page)

“I’m good with water.”

He nodded, then filled a red plastic cup with tap water. He opened the freezer and tossed a few ice cubes in.

“I could look for a lemon in the fridge if you want.”

I smiled at him, trying not to laugh. “It’s okay. I can go without.”

“I wasn’t sure since you had lemon water at Betsy’s,” he replied. “Some people are fussy about that.”

“I--I’m surprised you noticed,” I said, caught off guard.

He shrugged. “Guess I’m just the observant type.”

I took the cup from his hand and sipped from it. “Thanks.”

We walked towards the living room and the house seemed more crowded than it had when we got there.

And then I saw her.

A tall blonde girl scanned the room and I recognized her immediately. Brittany. Jeff’s...girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? Who knows what? I knew what Jeff told me, but I wanted to be sure.

The only thing I knew was that she had to be looking for him.

I glanced over at him and could tell by the wide-eyed expression on his face that he’d seen her, too.

“Do you mind coming with me onto the patio?” he asked.

I smiled, glad that he didn’t want to see her. That had to mean that it was really over between the two of them. Otherwise, they would’ve come together.

We walked out onto the back patio which was much less crowded than the house. Ron didn’t have much of a backyard, but it was nice. Quiet. I liked it better out here.

Jeff took a seat, so I dropped into the chair next to him.

“This is a lot nicer,” he said, and I nodded, surprised that we’d been thinking the same thing. He seemed like the type who would enjoy being around a lot of people. “Besides, this way I can actually get to know you better. You’re an interesting girl.”

I glanced at him, biting my lip, glad that the dark night hid the blush I could feel creeping into my cheeks. “I don’t know what makes you think that, but I can’t complain that you do.”

He laughed, and asked me to tell him more about my life in Spring Dells.

Jeff didn’t interrupt me once that night. We talked and talked, even as the sounds of the party inside grew fainter.

And as the night wore on, we kept talking, laughing, joking, and the smile on my face felt as if it’d been crazy-glued into place. I never wanted to leave.

***

Jeff dropped me off in front of the house a little after three in the morning. I immediately noticed the light flickering on the rooftop patio at Anthony’s and wondered what he was still doing up.

I knew it probably wouldn’t end well if I went up and checked it out, but curiosity got the best of me. I had to ask Anthony what the heck was going on with him and Pia and why he’d told me he wasn’t looking for anything this summer the night before he asked her to be his girlfriend.

With a growing pit in the center of my stomach, I tiptoed up to the second floor of our house before slowly sliding the patio door open. I heard voices coming from the neighboring roof, and knew right then that I should turn around, go to bed, and forget I ever saw the light.

But I opened the gate to the rooftop patio and walked up the steps, biting my bottom lip the whole way. As I rounded the corner and stepped onto our balcony, the first thing I saw was two sleeping bags rolled out in the middle of the Killeen’s patio.

Laying on top of those sleeping bags were none other than Anthony and Pia. They were cuddled up together, laughing quietly, and stopped to kiss.

I froze, planted in place. I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was. I’d already imagined this night so many times. It was supposed to be me with Anthony.

No, I didn’t have an exclusive claim to rooftop sleepovers with him, but I felt like I should. That had been my idea, our plan. Pia had nothing to do with it and I knew she hadn’t been the one to suggest it, but somehow I was angrier with her than I was with Anthony.

I must have gasped or whimpered or cried out or something without realizing it when I’d seen them together because the next thing I knew, Anthony pried his lips off Pia’s and looked up, staring straight at me.

“Lexie?”

“Lexie?” Pia repeated, rocketing to an upright position, smacking Anthony in the face with the top of her head. “Did you just call me Lexie?”

“Ow!” he cried, bringing his hands to his face. “Oh, my God, I think you broke my nose!”

“Good!” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest, making no move to help him. “That’s the least you deserve for calling me Lexie.” The bite in her voice when she said my name let me know that she definitely wasn’t over our fight earlier.

“I didn’t!” he said. “Ow! Jesus, we’ll have to talk about this later. I need to wake my mom.”

Realizing that Anthony’s broken nose was more than likely my fault, I turned and scampered down the steps before Pia turned and saw me and understood what was going on.

And okay, so I sort of liked the idea that Anthony mistaking her for me made her so mad.

It was the least she deserved.

“Oh, my God, she broke his nose? For real?” Gianna started laughing the second the words about last night’s events were out of my mouth.

“I saw him this morning after his jog and his nose is black and he’s got some kind of bandage on it,” I replied. I couldn’t stop the satisfied smile from spreading across my face if I tried. “I don’t know if he eventually told her I was there or not, but it doesn’t really matter.”

“That’s amazing,” she said. “You can’t write it any better than that. And you got yourself a date tonight with that sexy lifeguard.”

I felt a warmth creep across my face. “I wouldn’t call it a date.”

Gianna just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Then what is it? You’ve already gotten food, gone out with him, and now he wants to spend the whole day with you! That’s a date, girl.”

“He just wants to do something fun on his day off.”

“Yeah,” she said. “With you. He could do whatever he wants with that day and he wants to spend it with you. What the heck are they teachin’ you in those Southern schools? This is a textbook date. Look, all I’m saying is that if Joey asked me to spend the day hanging out on the beach with him, I’d be a little more excited than you are right now!”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Look, Lexie, I know you don’t want to get hurt. Nobody does. It’s the worst feeling in the world and I get that. But being in love with someone and having them love you back? Nothin’ out there beats it. One day, you’re going to find the guy that’s perfect for you and he’s going to think you’re amazing and you’re going to think he’s the greatest and nobody will make you happier. But first you need to take a chance on all the wrong guys. Your heart will heal. You’ll be okay. But it’ll never recover from losing out on the one person that could make you happier than anything you can imagine because you were too scared to try.”

I stared at Gianna, speechless. What could you say to that? She was right, of course she was, but it didn’t make me any more willing to risk being happy about Jeff. What were the odds that he was the right guy, anyway?

And was the disappointment of being wrong worth it? I wasn’t so sure.

“Lexie,” she said with a sigh. “Will you just trust me? Be happy. It’s not gonna kill you, for Pete’s sake.”

I blew out some air and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. “Yeah,” I finally said. “I’ll have a good time with him.”

“Of course you will,” she replied. “Because he’s gorgeous and he makes you smile and he feels really badly about how you guys met! He’s perfect for you.”

I shrugged. “I said I’d have a good time, not get ready to marry him, Gi.”

She only rolled her eyes. “You’ll see. One of these days, you’ll wish you listened to me. Because that boy has the hots for you. You’re just too stubborn to see it.”

***

Jeff knocked on our front door at nine a.m. sharp the next morning, just like he said he would.

He stood there on the front porch looking handsome as ever in bright purple swim trunks and a black University of Colorado sleeveless shirt. His hair was pushed back out of his eyes and he smiled at me as soon as I opened the door.

“You ready for today?” he asked as I stepped out onto the porch. “It’s gonna be a heck of a ride.”

I grinned at him, remembering my promise to Gianna, and tried not to ignore the happiness that I could feel bubbling up inside me just from being around him.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked. “What’s the plan?”

He only shrugged, looking down at me with a glimmer in his eyes. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Oh, come on! Can’t I just have a hint?”

He shook his head, but couldn’t hide his smile. He was enjoying this way too much. “Nope! It’s a mystery.”

“Mystery’s so overrated,” I grumbled under my breath and he laughed.

“Just go with it, would you?” he said. “Not everything has to be so planned out. Things can still be fun if you don’t know what’s coming next.”

I was beginning to think that, for all the things I planned and how much I craved structure, nothing ever really went the way you wanted it to, not really, but somehow, at least for the moment, that was okay.

Maybe someone out there knew what I needed more than I did.

We walked down Gull Boulevard and over Central Avenue to the bayside of the island and a sense of dread washed over me. There was, in my opinion, no good reason to cross from the oceanside of Central Avenue.

Unless you lived there.

Or were about to get on a boat.

“Uh, Jeff?” I said, slowing my pace just a hair. “Why are we going this way?” I held my breath, hoping the answer would surprise me, but knowing it wouldn’t.

He groaned but smiled at me anyway. “You really can’t be patient, can you? I thought we’d go out on the boat this morning, anchor out at sea, and swim around for awhile. I’ve got inner tubes!”

I shook my head. “I--I can’t.”

“What? Sure you can. I’ve got it all figured out.”

I stopped walking. “No, you don’t understand. I really can’t.”

He turned and faced me. “You’re not scared of the water, are you? I see you in the ocean all the time. I rescued you from the surf that day!”

“No,” I said. “It’s okay when I can touch the bottom, but I just really...I don’t like deep water.”

“Nothing bad’s going to happen to you, Lexie.”

“That’s what he said, too.”

Jeff frowned. “That’s what who said?”

I took a deep breath. “I--we don’t have talk to about this now.”

“We can,” he replied. “It’s okay.”

I stared down at the street, not saying anything.

“Okay,” Jeff said after a few seconds passed without me finding the right words. “We can either go on the boat or just go lay on the sand for awhile and swim where you’re comfortable. It’s up to you.”

I looked up at him, into his bright green eyes that now radiated concern but the willingness to accept my answer--or lack of one--without pushing it any further and I knew what I had to do.

“Let’s go on the boat.”

He cocked his head slightly, raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Okay,” he said simply. “Cool. Good choice.”

I swallowed hard, not sure that I entirely knew what I was doing, what I was getting myself into. But Jeff had this quality about him, this air that told me I could trust him and everything would work out okay, and I believed it. I’d be alright on the ocean with him.

We were at the dock in no time and my palms grew sweaty at the sight of the small speedboat he led us to.

“Is this your boat?” I desperately sought conversation to distract me and it was the only thing that sprung to mind. “The Lady & the Tramp?” The words were embossed in deep purple on the back of the boat.

“My dad’s,” he replied, then shot a quick glance over at me. “It was my favorite movie when I was a kid. Don’t worry, I’ve been driving it for years. Only crashed it a few times.”

The look on my face must have been one of sheer terror because Jeff’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Lexie, I’m kidding. Sorry.”

I nodded, but my legs weren’t steady beneath me.

“You can get in,” he said, looking at me as though he half-expected me to turn and run screaming all the way back to Gull Boulevard.

And, believe me, I wanted to.

Instead, I remembered what Gianna said, about the best things in life requiring some risk and not being too scared to try. And I thought about Jeff’s warm, concerned eyes, and somehow I put one foot in front of the other and climbed into the speedboat. He followed right after me.

“Do you want me to show you how to drive it?”

I looked around nervously. The only place to sit wasn’t very close to the steering wheel and I thought it’d be better if I stuck close to him.