The Girl of Sand & Fog (6 page)

She grimaces. “I sort of invaded your privacy by
checking out your phone while you were in the bathroom. You should really
password-protect your phone. I saw the Weebly web-hosting icon. I hit it. And,
bam, up came
Kaley’s World
.”

I snatch my phone from the bed. “Fuck, how could
you do that? That’s like an unwritten law. So not cool, Zoe.”

I instantly start to click in a passcode. I hate
codes and I’ve never needed one. Chrissie is not a privacy invader but, fuck,
it seems there are different rules in LA if you want to keep your shit your own
business, even with your friends.

There.

Done.

I toss my cell onto the bed in front of her.

I give her the
black
stare.

She flushes. “Don’t be pissed at me. I know I
shouldn’t have done it, but you’re just so interesting. Probably the most
interesting person I’ve ever met.”

I roll my eyes. Interesting? Me? First I’m
extreme and now I’m interesting.

I shake my head and let out an aggravated sigh.
“Listen, I want us to be friends, but you can’t be poking around in my personal
crap. Don’t do it again. OK?”

She nods. Contrite. “So why do you make those
videos?”

Fuck. Didn’t she just hear me say I don’t want
her snooping in my shit? “I just make them when junk happens in my life. A way
to blow off steam. Nothing more.”

She stares at me like she gets it, but in all
honesty I don’t even really know why I make the
Kaley’s World
videos.
It’s just who I am. I photograph everything. I make films. I post videos. I
blog. It’s how I cope with my thoroughly fucked-up existence.

“Well, they’re hilarious. I didn’t know you were
so funny.” She springs from the bed. “Are you ready to go?”

I shrug in that bitchy girl way that says
I
don’t really want to go anymore
and shove my phone into my tote and head
for the door.

Zoe is silent as we drive to Redondo Beach. Damn
it, why does it make me feel so bad to see her sulking in the passenger seat?
She’s the one who crossed the line.

I glance at her. “Listen. I’m not pissed. OK?”

She looks at me, startled. “Oh. I didn’t think
you were.” She smiles. “Sorry. I guess I zoned out again. I do that a lot. It
really pisses Bobby off.”

Bobby again. They both claim they aren’t
interested in each other, but he invites her surfing and she keeps bringing him
up.

That’s
starting to piss me off.

“Well, we’re in Redondo Beach,” I say stiffly.
“You’re going to have to unzone and tell me where to go.”

Zoe gives me directions. A few minutes later
we’re parked in a nearly full lot hugging the beach. I stare through the
windshield. The waves are huge for California. The water is crowded with guys
on boards. The signs posted on the barrier wall say
High Surf Warning.
Beach
Closed.

We climb from the car and I follow Zoe. As we
cross the sand, I stare out at the ocean trying to figure out which surfer is
Bobby, but from here they all look the same.

Zoe stops at a giant cluster of beach towels,
boards and chairs, the area crowded with fit, tanned bodies. It looks like
they’ve been here all day. There are drinks, food, and music blasting. There
are also girls—
Bobby’s surfer mob is co-ed
—and by the bikinis and bodies
I’m seeing it was definitely lame to leave my hoodie unzipped thinking that’d
wow him and to worry Zoe’s too-small top makes me look slutty.

My gaze narrows.

I wonder which one of those beach bimbos is Bobby’s.

Zoe is quickly swallowed up in fast greetings.
Her face is awash with excitement as she drags me around the circle,
introducing me.

She drops down on a towel and gestures me to join
her.

“This is Seth Morgan,” she says. “He went to the
academy last year—”

“Thankfully paroled for good behavior,” the guy
next to her interrupts, winking at me.

Zoe laughs. A little too loudly for the comment.
“Now he goes to UCLA. It’s where I’m applying.”

My eyes widen. She’s practically gushing over
him. I do a fast, guarded inspection of Seth. Long tousled blond waves. Bright
blue eyes. Deep California tan. Perfect teeth. Perfect body. Wearing a wetsuit
unzipped with the top hanging low on his hips.

Definitely out of Zoe’s league.

He holds out a beer to me. “Do you want something
to drink?”

I shake my head. “No, thanks. I’m driving.”

He offers it to Zoe. She reaches. He pulls it
back, then she laughs—too loudly again—and grows pouty until he hands it to
her.

“Why do you always mess with me?” Zoe chides.

He shrugs and lies back, staring at the ocean
instead of her. Jeez, what a jerk. He seems like a prick. For her sake, I don’t
like him.

She takes a sip of her beer. “Are you going back
out again?”

He shakes his head. “Not all of us are as crazy
as Rowan. Blown out. It’s too intense.”

I stare out at the ocean. “Which one is Bobby?”

Zoe points. “Black board.”

Thirty minutes later, every one of Bobby’s
surfing buddies have left the water except him, and he has yet to take a wave.
I’ve watched Grandpa Jack surfing enough times to know what Seth said is true,
and to know exactly what the guys are saying in their surfer lingo about the
tide, the waves and the current. Conditions out there are getting gnarly.

Why is he still out there?

The way everyone around me is laughing and
talking and waiting for him tells me that I shouldn’t worry about Bobby. Zoe
says he’s into extreme everything, and this is definitely extreme.

I fish through my bag for my camera. I focus the
lens on him. He doesn’t look concerned. He looks almost peaceful out there. I
randomly snap pictures to hide that all I’m really doing is studying him
through the viewfinder.

I can feel someone watching me.

I peek out of the corner of my eye.

I lean into Zoe. “Who is that giving me the girl
stare?” I motion with my chin.

Zoe turns her head in the direction and then
swivels back toward me. “Oh, that’s Caroline,” she whispers. “An all-out bitch.
Goes to Pepperdine. She used to have a thing with Bobby last summer.”

I turn and meet Caroline’s gaze directly since
she rudely hasn’t bothered to try to look like she isn’t checking me out.
Blond. Beautiful. Petite and built. Your basic worst nightmare any day of the
week.

“Do they still hook up?” I ask.

Zoe shakes her head vigorously. “It’s been over
forever. She was never his girlfriend, but you’ll never convince Caroline of
that. They’re still friends, though. I wish they weren’t and she’d just go
away.”

I pucker my lips to keep from laughing.

“Oh fuck.” Seth springs to his feet. “Look what
the hell is coming in from the south.” He makes a megaphone of his hands.
“Rowan, you fucking lucky asshole,” he shouts even though it’s impossible for
Bobby to hear him.

Everyone stands and clusters together, waiting
and watching.

Seth stares down at me. “You’re going to want to
film this.”

I rise to my feet and quickly switch from photo
to video, then focus the camera just in time to start filming Bobby paddling
hard chasing a wave. Holy shit, the wave is enormous, and as if by magic it
opens up for him in a way you rarely see in California, and he’s shooting
through the barrel.

“Are you getting this?” Seth asks.

“Yep,” I answer.

Bobby rides it into the shore, and everyone goes
down to the water to meet him—even Caroline
—
so I hang back. They all
start patting him, chatting, laughing it up. Caroline is pressed up against him
like they’re still a couple when they are not. And damn, if they don’t look
like they belong together.

My insides start to churn. I drop down onto the
towel and replay the video, focusing on the screen as I try not focus on
them
.
They don’t seem over to me. Not in
her
mind, anyway.
I wonder
if they still hook up and Zoe just doesn’t know it.

Shaking my head, I shift my gaze back to the
camera. I caught the entire ride. Zoe is right—Bobby is incredible. I put the
lens cap back on the camera, debate whether to upload it on one of my websites
since it’s a pretty terrific video, and then shove it into my bag.

I hear Bobby’s mob moving back toward our space
in the sand and I wonder what he’s going to think seeing me tagging along with
Zoe here. I’ve not forgotten that he invited her and not me to join him on this
senior surf ditch day.

I fight not to look up at him and instead make a
pretense of rummaging through my bag as if I’m searching for something.

“Do you mind getting off my towel?”

Oh crap.

No wonder Caroline was staring at me funny. Zoe
parked me in Bobby’s spot.

I look up. “Sure. No problem.” I roll onto my hip
so he can tug it from beneath me, and a smile rises to his eyes as he shakes
his head.

“Never mind,” he says, dropping down on the sand
beside me. He holds out a hand to Seth, who tosses him a beer. “I’m glad you
showed up. I was starting to think this wouldn’t be your kind of scene.”

It’s obvious what he’s thinking: that I’m here
because of him.

I flush. “This isn’t my kind of thing. Just
seemed like something to do.”

He pops open the top on the can. “So what is your
kind of thing?”

“Going around town looking for something
interesting to film. I’m working on documentaries to submit with my USC
application. I got some great footage of you. That might make an interesting
short film if you’d be willing to do an on-camera interview. Do you want to see
it?”

He shrugs. “Maybe later on the video and never on
the interview.” He starts poking through my things without asking. “So that’s
what you lug around with you all the time. I’ve been wondering what kind of
crap you have in your bag. Girls carry so much shit. But yours is full of
cameras.”

“Pretty much.”

He reclines back into the sand, turned on his
hip. “How long have you been into filmmaking?”

I take my lower lip between my teeth. I can’t
tell if he thinks that’s normal or weird. I shrug. “I don’t know. As long as I
can remember.”

“Interesting.”

I tense. “What does that mean? Interesting.”

He runs a hand through his damp hair and gives it
a fluff with his fingers. “I wasn’t sure what was going on with you. Always in
the halls alone, but the film thing tells me you’ve always been a loner. That
it’s not something new because you’ve changed schools. Why don’t you want
people to get close to you?”

My scalp prickles as my cheeks grow warm.

I meet his intense green eyes directly.

“Maybe because I’ve never met anyone worth
getting close to.”

His brows hitch up. “Maybe you would if you gave
people half a chance.”

“That from the guy who doesn’t like anyone.” I
lift my nose. “Maybe I would. But I don’t think so.”

I can feel him studying me and I don’t like it.

“Hey, Bobby, can we go?”

We turn our faces in unison. Caroline is
standing, shorts and tank top in place over her bikini, Gucci carry bag hanging
from her shoulder.

Bobby springs to his feet. My throat convulses as
I watch him walk off across the sand with her toward the parking lot. Once
they’re out of view, I stand up and start to brush the sand from my legs.

I look at Zoe. “I need to go.”

Zoe’s face snaps up, startled. “So soon? It’s
early.”

“I’ve got stuff I’ve got to do.”

“Like what?”

Like not sitting here butt hurt because Bobby left
with Caroline.

My cheeks burn.

Fuck, where did that thought come from?

Stupid, Kaley. You just met the guy.

“Sorry, Zoe. I’ve got to go.”

Zoe’s brows pucker. “Do you mind if I stay and
catch a ride home with someone else?”

My gaze shifts to Seth and for a moment I debate
leaving. Zoe definitely needs a wingman in the pursuing-a-guy thing. She is so
forward and eager with guys she’s going to get hurt.

“Why don’t you come with me, Zoe? We can hang out
at my house for a while.”

“Everyone is going to Seth’s. I’d rather do
that.”

I bet you would, but you shouldn’t.

There is something about that guy I don’t like.

Maybe I shouldn’t take off. It looks like
everyone is paired up. Does that leave Zoe with Seth? I definitely don’t like
that.

“Are you sure?” I ask, hoping to change her mind.

Zoe nods enthusiastically. “I’m sure.”