Us at the Beach

by Stephanie Street

  “Large,” I whispered, grabbing his forearm. “I can’t drink a large shake.”

  Walker leaned close, an amused smirk curling his lips. “Don’t worry about it. I was hoping you’d share.” And then he winked. Winked!

  “How come I’ve never seen you around, Blythe. Are you new this year?” Abby asked, leaning around Walker to peer at me.

  “Are you serious?” Walker exclaimed before I could answer. “She’s been here as long as you have.”

  “Well, I’m a junior, so not quite as long,” I added, feeling a little uncomfortable with Walker’s reaction.

  “Right. I keep forgetting that.” Walker nodded and slid his arm to rest behind me on the back of the booth.

  “Do you play any sports, Blythe,” Abby asked.

  “I run cross-country,” I answered, keenly aware of Walker’s proximity as the warmth from his body permeated the air between us.

  “Oh my gosh. I could never do that. I hate running,” Deidre announced, sipping loudly from her diet pop.

  Abby nodded. “Me, either. That’s why I like the dance team. Running is just so boring.”

  “It can be,” I agreed. “I don’t like running on the track for sure. But outside,” I shrugged. “Outside running is just so freeing.”

  “Bly likes running on the beach,” Walker threw out there, sending me another wink.

  “Oh, yeah.” Deidre eyed him speculatively. “How do you know?”

  “Cause I’ve seen her,” Walker answered. Just then our shakes arrived. Walker pushed mine in front of me.

  “On the beach? Where?” Mike asked, finally coming up for air now that he’d demolished his hamburger.

  “Couple of weeks ago in North Carolina,” Walker said after a long draw on his shake. “Man, that’s so good.” He gestured toward mine. “How’s yours?”

  “It’s good, too. Want a taste?”

  Walker

  Man, did I ever! But I refrained from acting on my hormones and took a sip of her strawberry shake instead. It was pretty good. But I knew her lips tasted better. Probably amazing after drinking her shake. Ugh. I should have suggested the drive-thru.

  “Wait. You guys went to North Carolina? Together?” Mandy asked. I liked Mandy. Mostly, because she was into Jason and didn’t try to flirt with me very much.

  “Well, and our parents and five siblings,” Blythe answered wryly, shooting me a look. I had a feeling she was thinking about our night of babysitting. I grinned back at her, enjoying our insider knowledge of each other.

  See, coming here had been a two-fold plan. One, I wanted to spend time with Blythe. Two, I wanted my newfound friends to see me with Blythe. I knew part of the problem was that she was a junior, but so were Mandy and Alex. This wasn’t some exclusive seniors only club. And I wanted Blythe to get in. Or I would be getting out.

  I also wanted to send a message to some of the girls that have been following me around relentlessly this week. The message had been loud and clear about their interest in the new meat on the market. But, I’ve determined that I have to somehow convince Bly that we are good together. That we can have an amazing year if she will just be my girlfriend.

  “Running on the beach, huh?” Alex waggled his eyebrows. “Was there a bikini involved?”

  “Oh my gosh, Alex, grow up,” Deidre rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.

  “Dude, not cool,” I pinned the guy with a hard stare. I felt Blythe tense up beside me and let my hand fall to her shoulder. I gave her a light squeeze and leaned in closer. I could sense how uncomfortable this was for her without Alex being a first-class douche. I wanted to light that guy up! Idiot.

  “Sorry, man.” Alex’s grin fell when I didn’t let up on my disapproving glare. He cleared his throat. “I was just kidding, Blythe.”

  After that, I was ready to go. We stayed another few minutes to finish our shakes and discuss the highlights of the game. Blythe couldn’t finish her shake and I was happy to take care of that for her.

  “You ready?” I asked Blythe. She nodded and rose from her seat in the booth. “See you guys, Monday.”

  Blythe waved goodbye to everyone and then we made our way to the door of the diner. The crowd had thinned down some, but I still had a few that were anxious to let me know how much they enjoyed the game and how excited they were about the win. I must admit, the attention is kinda cool. I’m glad we had a good game and that people were having such a fun time because of it.

  “It really was a good game, Walker,” Blythe said once we made it outside. I opened the door for her to get in the car.

  “Thanks, it was a lot of work getting ready. I hardly had a minute to breathe between vacation and school starting.” I waited until she sat down and then closed the door, but not before I saw her frown.

  “I guess, I never thought about that,” she said once I got in on the driver’s side.

  “What’s that?”

  “How much work it must be to get ready for a game,” she answered.

  “You can’t even imagine. Football is a lot harder than people think, and not just physically. I mean, it’s that, too, but there is a ton of memorizing and organizing and reading. Ugh. And studying. I was up all hours trying to memorize the playbook before this game.”

  I shook my head remembering last week as I backed out of the parking spot and headed out of the lot. I’m just glad I’m intelligent enough I could catch on so quick or tonight might have gone a lot differently.

  “Ridge High has a good program and the offense is complicated. Most of these guys have been playing here a couple of years and so they know the drill. I had to start from scratch and let me tell you- it was work.”

  “Huh. Crazy.”

  I could see the wheels spinning in her head and wished I knew what she was thinking. Too soon, I was pulling up to her house. The front porch light blazed out into the yard and I could see the outline of her dad sitting in front of the picture window. So much for trusting me, huh? I didn’t want her to go in. I should have stalled, taken her to the park or something so we could talk. I wanted to know how she felt enough that I was contemplating just coming out and asking her even if it scared me to death that she might say she hated my guts.

  I sighed, knowing I wouldn’t say anything tonight about it. I would just have to be satisfied with the fact that I’d gotten her to go out with me and that when I’d put my arm around her earlier, she didn’t kick me in the nuts.

  “Thanks for the shake. I feel kind of bad that you have to get me a shake after a win. It seems more like a punishment than a reward, even if it was because you lost our bet.” She smiled a little, her hand on the door.

  “Didn’t feel like a punishment to me. I kind of like the idea of hanging out with you after a good game. I had fun at the diner. I was glad you were there.” Which is the honest truth.

  I waited for her response, but she just stared at me, an unfathomable look in her hazel eyes. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay, well, I mean it, thanks.” She opened the door. “I’ll see you Monday?”

  “Monday. Have a good weekend, Bly.” I wanted to say more. I wanted to pull her back in my car and peel out before her dad noticed we were there. I wanted to tell her how much I’ve missed hanging out with her. I wanted to tell her I never realized how much I liked her before we moved until we were back and I was reminded how amazing she is. I wanted to tell her I didn’t give a damn about any other girls. I wanted to tell her she was it for me. Just her.

  “Goodnight, Walker.”

  Damn.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Blythe

  It was Monday morning again and I was nervous, waiting for Walker to pick me up for school. I hadn’t really talked to him since he dropped me off after the game on Friday, but I hadn’t been able to do anything but replay every second of the time I’d spent with him in my mind. I still couldn’t believe he’d followed through on our bet, that he’d asked my dad to take me out for shakes. He could have just buzzed through a drive-up window aft
er school or something, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d walked into the diner in front of all his friends and treated me like I was his girlfriend.

  I couldn’t get over the warmth that had spread through my body when he remembered the meaning of my name. Or the casual way he’d told everyone about hanging out at the beach with me. Like it was a normal thing for a guy like him to spend time with a nobody like me.

  “Hey, Bly,” he greeted when I slid into the passenger seat of his car a few minutes later.

  “Hey,” I answered, not looking at him as I clicked my seatbelt into place. When he didn’t move to drive away, I glanced over at him. He was looking at me, a huge smile on his face.

  “What? Do I have something on my face?” I ran one hand over my mouth while flipping the visor down with the other so I could look in the mirror.

  Walker laughed. “No, you look fine. More than fine, you look incredible. I love the braids.”

  My hands reached up to pat the two French braids twisting down my head. Was he joking right now? Incredible is not the word I would use to describe my current appearance. Maybe juvenile, but not incredible.

  “Yeah, incredibly young,” I mumbled almost under my breath.

  Walker grinned and shifted into drive. “More like incredibly adorable.”

  I just stared at him a second before picking my jaw up off my lap. I hoped my blazing cheeks would have enough time to calm down before we arrived at school. What has gotten into him?

  Once we arrived at school, Walker parked in his usual spot. Mike and Jason were standing by Mike’s truck as usual, surrounded by the usual crowd. I opened my door and reached for my backpack, searching the lot for Lilly. I didn’t see her, so I started into the school. It took me a second to realize someone was walking beside me. Someone tall. And broad. And hot. I stopped and frowned up at him.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.

  “What do you mean? I’m walking into the building.” He shrugged as though walking in next to me was normal. It wasn’t. At least, for the last week it hadn’t been.

  My gaze flicked to the popular crowd by Mike’s truck. Mandy was flirting with Jason, but both Abby and Deidre were watching us with confused expressions on their faces. I turned back to Walker who regarded me seriously.

  “Is this okay, Bly?” he asked, kind of gesturing between us.

  Was it okay? What was going on with Walker? And did I really want to find out? Hadn’t I already had my feelings hurt by him?

  Walker reached out and tugged on a loose strap hanging from my backpack. “I’ve missed hanging out with you, Bly. Is this okay?” he asked again and I was struck by the sincerity in his voice and in his eyes as he studied me earnestly.

  What the heck? “Of course, it’s okay. We’re friends, right?” I asked, even I could hear the cautious timber in my tone.

  Walker nodded slowly. “That’s right. We are friends.” He smiled and I couldn’t stop my lips from curling up in response. “Come on, friend. We don’t want to be late.”

  Walker

  I made a point to find Blythe as often as I could throughout the day. I met her between classes at her locker and walked her to class. I skipped eating lunch at the table in the center of the cafeteria and instead, made my way over to the table where Blythe sat with Lilly.

  I watched as her eyes widened when I passed Mike and Jason with nothing more than a head nod and a fist bump. I didn’t need to explain myself to them and they didn’t even raise an eyebrow when I set my tray down beside Blythe’s and settled myself next to her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked me for the tenth time that day. I was hoping she was starting to get it, but she still seemed skittish and confused.

  I shrugged and opened one of the four tiny cartons of milk I drank every day at lunch. Didn’t they realize this meal had to get me through football practice? I really needed to start packing extra food. “Sitting here, that okay with you?”

  “Why?” She’d been giving me this look all day. One that said she was struggling to figure me out. That’s okay, though. I plan to make it easy on her to figure me out. But, I had a feeling words wouldn’t be enough. Blythe needed to see me in action, wanting to be with her and going out of my way to make that happen.

  I shrugged again. “Why not?”

  Lilly made her way over to the table, her expression openly hostile. I didn’t have much experience with girls, but Lilly hated me. And since I haven’t ever really talked to her, she hates me because of Blythe and that meant she was in full protective mode.

  I had hurt Blythe.

  I began calling myself every bad name I could think of. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know exactly what I had done wrong, in fact, that made it even worse. Screwing things up with Blythe was unacceptable. Hurting her was- no, I couldn’t even go there.

  “What are you doing here,” Lilly all but sneered at me.

  “Lilly!” Blythe’s cheeks turned red in response to her best friend’s obvious displeasure. But that’s okay, I was going to have to take her disdain until I could prove myself.

  “Eating lunch.” I held up my barbeque sandwich as evidence.

  Lilly’s eyes narrowed. “Why aren’t you with your friends?” She jerked her chin in the direction of the football team’s table.

  I glanced pointedly at Blythe. “I am with my friend.”

  “Oh, my goodness, Lilly. Just sit down.” Blythe pleaded, her hands on her cheeks.

  I watched with some fascination as the two girls had a silent conversation. After a few moments, Lilly finally set her tray down and dropped into a chair across from us.

  “Fine.” She pointed at me. “But I’m watching you.”

  Blythe’s eyes widened and I’m pretty sure she kicked Lilly under the table. “Lilly!”

  I just shook my head. These two were hilarious. “It’s okay, Bly. She’s just being a good friend.”

  “Which is more than I can say for you.” Alright, that wasn’t so funny and I hoped to prove her wrong.

  “Maybe. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” I met her steady gaze straight on.

  I was willing to sacrifice my friendships with the guys on the team. I was willing to sacrifice my popular status at this high school. I was willing to put up with Blythe’s pit bull of a best friend. But I was not willing to give up on Blythe. At the beach, I discovered my almost lethal attraction to her. I learned about her sweet, fun, witty personality. I discovered her love for kids. Her loyalty to her family. And best of all, I figured out that I didn’t want an existence that didn’t include Blythe. I wasn’t giving up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Blythe

  The pattern persisted. Walker followed me to my classes every day. He appeared at our lunch table and sparred with Lilly like a champ. He waited for me after school to walk with me toward the gym and locker rooms where we separated to go to our respective practices. After practice, I rode home with him. Sometimes, we stopped for food on our way and sometimes we sat in my driveway for fifteen minutes, just talking before I went inside.

  Suddenly, it began to feel like things had been at the beach. Walker didn’t kiss me again, but he was always close to me. Brushing his shoulder against mine as we walked down the hall. Leaning in as I dug books out of my locker. Pressing his leg against mine as we sat next to each other in the cafeteria. Tucking a lock of hair behind my ear as he said goodbye with a smile before I got out of his car to go home.

  “You ready for the game tonight?” I asked as we walked toward his car after school. He would take me home and then come back in time for warm-ups.

  “Yeah, East High is gonna be a tougher opponent.” He paused to grin at me. “I’m gonna have to work hard to get you your shake tonight.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I think I should have to buy you the shake if you guys win.”

  “No way. That wasn’t the deal.” We reached his car, but before I could open the door, Walker grabbed my hand. “You are coming to the game, rig
ht?”

  I wondered if he knew how much I loved to watch him play. I nodded, afraid my voice would betray too much of how I was feeling about him. This week, being the center of Walker’s attention, I’d come to know him better than ever. My previous assumptions, that he was a player just toying with me this summer, began to seem illogical. Nothing in Walker’s behavior recently had been anything but attentive, friendly, and sincere.

  “Good. I think you were my good luck charm last week. Every time I looked in the stands, you were all I could see.” He pulled on my hand until I had to take a step toward him or fall over. His other hand settled on my hip. “I could tell you were cheering for me and I wanted to play well so you would keep doing it.”

  “I would cheer for you even if you sucked,” I teased him, at little surprised I was able to think straight standing close to him like this.

  Walker barked out a laugh, pulling me into a playful hug. “Good to know. Hopefully, we won’t have to test it out.”

  I giggled into his chest. “We won’t. You’re too talented.”

  He stilled, his expression turned serious. “Thanks, Bly. That means a lot.”

  “I mean it. It’s a lot of fun to watch you play. Or it was for that one game I’ve seen so far.” I smiled, my gaze trained on his blue eyes. I felt as though I could get lost in their depths. How can it be possible to be happy just staring into another person’s eyes? I didn’t really understand what was happening between Walker and me, but I knew right then, I was happy just being with him.

  Walker

  I took a step back and opened the car door. I had to! I had to or I was going to kiss her. And it was too soon for that. Maybe that had been the problem before. Maybe I pushed things too fast for Blythe. It made a little sense, I guess, especially if she was inexperienced with dating. And after seeing her at school, I kinda figure she isn’t very experienced. Which I love about her, by the way.

  “Wanna get a burger before we go home?” I asked, as I slid into the driver’s seat.