“I guess.”
Damian wiped a peach on the front of his tank top and took a bite. “How about you? How are you going to impress Ava?”
“Who says I have to impress her?”
“You want her to like you, don’t you? That means you have to impress her.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Damian took a bite of his peach, wiping a bit of juice off his chin. “Whatever. So how are you getting to the beach? You taking Ava by bus?”
“We’re not taking the bus.”
“Walking? It’ll take you at least an hour.”
“No.”
“Then how are you taking her?”
“Follow me.”
Cooper walked to the garage and lifted the door. “I found it last night.”
Damian’s mouth dropped open when he saw what was inside. “You can’t be serious!”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re really going to take Ava to the beach on that?”
“Why not?”
“Dude! It’s like something from the last century! Your great-grandfather probably rode one of those things with your great-grandmother.”
“I think it’s kind of nostalgic. And girls love nostalgia.”
“You better hope nostalgia helps you get that kiss, because that girl is still hung up on her ex.”
Cooper slammed down the garage door. “Like I didn’t know that.”
“Just reminding you of the facts.”
Cooper didn’t want to think of Josh. He didn’t want to think about the bet. All he wanted to think about was his day with Ava and having a good time.
He knew she wasn’t interested in dating and he respected that.
But a small part of him was hoping that he could get her to change her mind.
Chapter Nine
The beach was packed. Everywhere Danielle looked, there were teenagers. A sea of colorful sheets with well-oiled sunbathers went on for miles. There were guys tossing Frisbees and footballs back and forth, and guys running in the surf with their dogs. Girls who weren’t sunbathing were keeping themselves hidden under huge umbrellas while others were playing volleyball, laughing and shrieking as they tried to hit the ball over the net.
Of course there were couples. Some were holding hands, walking along the shore. Some were snuggled up against each other, laughing and whispering into each other’s ears.
And naturally there were kissing couples.
“Guess we should have gotten here earlier,” Ethan said.
“Now we know for tomorrow,” Danielle said as they maneuvered their way through the hot sand. “Look! There’s a spot!” She raced over to a patch of sand and threw down her tote bag, pulling out the striped sheet she had tossed inside. “Help me spread this out.”
After the sheet was positioned, Ethan plopped himself down while Danielle remained standing.
“Aren’t you going to sit?” he asked.
“Just let me take my jacket off,” Danielle said, getting ready for her big reveal.
She unbelted her jacket and slid it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the sheet before turning around to face Ethan.
Success!
The expression on his face was what she had been hoping for. He was wowed by her bikini.
“You look amazing,” he said.
Danielle tried not to blush. She wasn’t used to getting compliments from guys. For years, she had always been good old Danielle, the girl whom guys would come to when they wanted to borrow her notes or needed help with an assignment. She wasn’t the girl who usually turned heads.
“This old thing?” She laughed, trying to channel her older sister. Jade knew how to flirt with guys. “I was thinking of getting rid of it.”
Ethan shook his head. “Keep it!”
“Well, if you like it so much, I will.” Danielle sat next to him and reached into her tote bag. “Mind putting some suntan lotion on my back?”
Ethan squeezed a few globs onto her back and began rubbing it in. Instantly, she inhaled the scent of coconut as his hands traveled over her skin. She shivered and Ethan noticed.
“You okay?”
“The lotion is a little cold,” she said.
That had to be it, right? It couldn’t be because Ethan was touching her, could it? Although she had heard of some people having instant chemistry.
“Want me to do you?” she asked when he had finished.
“Okay.”
Danielle rubbed some suntan lotion over Ethan’s back and shoulders. She waited to see him shiver, but he didn’t. So much for instant chemistry!
After they were both covered up, they lay down in the sun.
“How long to do you like to do this for?” Ethan asked.
“Not very long on the first day. I’m always afraid of burning. I try to tan in small doses.”
Ethan looked at his watch. “What do you want to do after we finish tanning?”
“Toss a Frisbee?”
“I forgot to bring one.”
“Make a sand castle?”
“And embarrass myself? My sand castles always come out lopsided.”
“We could join a volleyball game.”
Ethan flipped onto his side and propped his head up on a hand. “I know what we could do.”
“What?”
“Go waterskiing!”
A startled Danielle sat up. “Waterskiing?” she nervously asked. “I don’t know. I’ve never gone before. Is it safe?”
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Ethan said. “I’ve gone lots of times. You’ll be wearing a life jacket. And I’ll walk you through it before you get on a pair of skis. Come on! It’ll be fun!”
Danielle wanted to say no. At the same time, she also wanted to say yes. After all, this was her week to be different. Lindsey’s words from the night before popped into her head: You’re Daring Dani!
Daring Dani wouldn’t be afraid to go waterskiing.
“Okay, I’ll do it!” she exclaimed.
“Where did you find that?” Ava laughed as she walked out of her beach house.
“Our garage,” Cooper said as he hit the kickstand on a bicycle built for two. “All I had to do was dust it off and put some air in the tires. Like it?”
Ava walked around the bike. “Don’t tell me this is how we’re getting to the beach?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I hope you’ve got strong legs.”
“Don’t worry; I can do most of the pedaling.”
“I’m going to hold you to it,” Ava said, taking the seat behind Cooper.
As they headed in the direction of the beach, Ava asked herself what she was doing with Cooper when she still wasn’t over her ex.
Last night, after the barbecue, all she could think about was Josh. The incident with Mindy made her realize that she didn’t want Josh to think she had a new boyfriend. She still had feelings for him, and a small part of herself was hoping that he was going to ask her for another chance. If Mindy had sent that photo the way she thought she would, there wouldn’t be another chance. Josh would think she had given up on him. But why was she thinking like that? He had given up on her. On them!
Why did she still have these feelings? Why was she hoping to save a relationship that was over? She should be putting Josh behind her and moving forward with someone new. Someone like Cooper. He was the complete package. Any girl would want to go out with him.
But not Ava.
If she went out on a date with him, she would feel guilty.
Like she was cheating on Josh.
Which was ridiculous!
It was over between them.
Over!
Cooper seemed like a great guy. And he said he was okay with just being friends. Why shouldn’t she hang out with him?
Ava knew the real reason, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself.
She was scared.
Scared of maybe falling for him and getting her heart broken again.
Cooper had been holding
his breath when he showed Ava the bicycle built for two. Would she think he was crazy for suggesting they go to the beach that way? Would she ask him why he didn’t have a car? Or worse, would she turn into a diva princess and insist that he find some other way to get them to the beach?
But then Ava had laughed, and it had been a happy laugh.
Hearing Ava laugh made Cooper happy. Very happy.
Because for the first time since he’d met her, Ava hadn’t seemed sad.
For just a little while, it meant Ava had forgotten about Josh.
And that gave him hope.
So far, things were off to a great start.
Danielle was asking herself why she had opened her big mouth. She was on a pair of water skis, behind a motorboat, waiting for it to pull her into the ocean.
And she was petrified.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked. “You seem a little pale.”
“There aren’t sharks in these waters, are there?” she blurted out.
“Huh?”
“Did you ever see Jaws 2? There’s a scene in it where a girl is waterskiing and the vibration from the skis gets the attention of the shark and he bites down on her ski, pulls her into the water, and eats her!”
“I don’t think you need to worry about becoming lunch for a shark,” Ethan reassured her. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you’re nervous or scared, it’s no big deal. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Danielle shook her head resolutely. “No, I want to. I’m going to,” she vowed, even though nervous butterflies were crashing around in her stomach. “What’s the worst thing that can happen? I get all wet!”
“That’s the spirit!” Ethan said as he went to sit next to the guy who would be driving the motorboat.
Danielle held on tightly to the line attached to the boat as it headed out into the water. As the boat picked up speed, she tried to remember everything Ethan had told her. She kept herself in a sitting position with her knees bent and her skis a couple of inches above the water. She didn’t look down at her skis or up in the sky or around her. She just kept her eyes focused on the boat in front of her. As the boat drove farther out, it began to pull her onto the top of the water.
Danielle gasped.
She was doing it!
She was waterskiing!
Water splashed in her face, and the wind blew through her hair, but Danielle didn’t care. She was loving every second of it.
But then, as the boat made a turn, she felt herself losing her balance.
Instantly, she remembered what Ethan told her to do if that happened. She let go of the rope attached to the boat so she wouldn’t be dragged along. As soon as she did, she fell into the water, sinking under, but immediately popped back up.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked as the boat pulled up next to her.
Danielle eagerly nodded as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. “Can we do it again?”
Ava watched as Cooper added another turret to the sand castle they were building along the shore of the beach. “You’re really good at this,” she said as she started digging a moat with a piece of driftwood.
Cooper waved his fingers. “I have magic hands.”
Little kids who were building sand castles near them kept staring as Cooper added onto their castle.
“Want some help?” he asked them.
At their eager nods, he went over to offer his assistance. Ava couldn’t help but notice how great he was with the kids, making them laugh and showing them how he molded the wet sand. He was the complete opposite of Josh, who called all little kids “brats” and refused to have anything to do with them, especially at Halloween, which was Ava’s favorite holiday. She loved answering the doorbell with a bowl of candy in her hands and seeing how all the little kids had dressed up. They were always so adorable!
“I think you have a fan club,” Ava said when Cooper rejoined her. “You’re really good with kids. Do you have any brothers and sisters?”
“I’m an only child. How about you?”
“I have a younger sister, Carrie, who’s a sophomore at North Ridge High.”
“It must be nice having a sister.”
“It is when we’re not fighting with each other.”
“Uh-oh,” Cooper said, staring over Ava’s shoulder. “I think we’re about to have a natural disaster!”
Ava turned around and cried out as a big wave came in, splashing over them and washing away their sand castle.
“Yuck!” Ava exclaimed, staring at the wet sand covering her body from head to toe.
“Let’s go in for a swim,” Cooper suggested.
They jumped into the water to wash off all the wet sand and then floated on their backs, pointing out clouds in the sky and the shapes they resembled.
“I’m starting to wrinkle like a prune,” Ava said, holding up a finger, after they’d been in the water for a while. “I’m going to head back to the sheet.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cooper said, swimming after her.
When they got back onshore, Cooper took Ava’s hand in his. Ava let him hold it for a little bit as they walked through the crowd, but then she pulled her hand away. If Cooper noticed, he didn’t say anything. When they got back to their sheet, Ava started toweling herself off.
“Your back is getting red,” Cooper pointed out, walking over with the sunblock. “Let me put some more on you.”
“That’s okay.”
“You’re telling me you’d rather take the risk of burning like a lobster?” Cooper waved his fingers. “Magic hands, remember?”
“I can do it myself,” Ava insisted.
“Do you have elastic arms? There’s no way you’ll be able to reach the middle of your back.”
“I can do it myself,” Ava repeated as she squirted some sunblock onto her hands and began rubbing it onto her back and shoulders. “See?”
“I can see where you’re not getting it.”
“I’ll be fine,” Ava said, closing the bottle. “You know what? I’m hungry. Why don’t I go to the concession stand and get us some lunch? My treat.”
Before Cooper could say anything else, Ava grabbed her tote bag and hurried off.
Cooper watched as Ava headed to the concession stand.
Why wouldn’t she give him a chance?
Even though he told her he was okay with just being friends, he wanted more than that. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her.
The more he wanted to kiss her.
And it wasn’t because of his bet with Ethan.
He wasn’t even thinking of the bet. It was the last thing on his mind.
He wanted to kiss Ava because he liked her.
And the way a guy showed a girl he liked her was with a kiss.
But it was like she had this guard up and she was determined not to let anyone past it.
It was all her ex-boyfriend’s fault.
He’d hurt Ava and because of the way he hurt her, she wasn’t willing to trust another guy.
Cooper sighed, trying not to feel frustrated.
He reminded himself to be patient.
After all, it was only day one.
He still had the rest of the week.
And he didn’t just have magic hands.
He had magic lips, too.
Chapter Ten
“Ready for some lunch?” Ethan asked Danielle after they had finished waterskiing.
“Want to grab a hot dog?” Danielle suggested.
Ethan shook his head. “We can do better than a hot dog,” he said as they walked along the dock back to the beach. “Let’s try this place.”
Danielle gazed at the Ocean View, the restaurant Ethan was pointing to. “It looks kind of expensive.”
“Don’t worry about the price,” Ethan said as he took Danielle by the hand and led her up to the restaurant’s gold-encrusted glass doors. “It’s my treat.”
Ethan wanted to impress Danielle. So far, their date was going great and he wanted
to keep it that way. Why not use Cooper’s credit card again? He’d already used it to go waterskiing. Just one more time. After all, his intentions were good. He liked Danielle and wanted to show her that.
“Are you sure you want to eat here?” Danielle asked.
“Positive.”
Ethan held the front door open for Danielle.
Cool air-conditioning wafted over them as they walked inside and a hostess instantly came over. “Welcome to the Ocean View.”
They were shown to a table by the window and handed two menus written in calligraphy and printed on parchment paper. Ethan couldn’t help but notice how fancy everything was. The tables were covered with white linen and there were multiple place settings, along with two sets of cut crystal glasses and silverware. There was also a bouquet of white tulips in a gold bowl on the center of every table.
“I don’t know which is the right fork to use,” Danielle whispered.
“I think you’re supposed to start from the outside and work your way in. At least that’s what they said on Charm School.”
Danielle raised an eyebrow. “Charm School? You must be a reality TV watcher.”
“I love it,” Ethan said. “It’s better than scripted TV because you never know what the people you’re watching are going to do or say next.”
“I’m addicted to The Bachelor,” Danielle confessed.
“Why does every girl love The Bachelor?”
Danielle shrugged. “I don’t know. We just do. Why do so many guys like WWE wrestling?”
“This guy doesn’t,” Ethan said. “WWE is so fake.”
“What should we order?” Danielle asked. “There are too many choices.”
“What looks good to you?”
Danielle’s eyes glanced over the menu. “I’ll probably get a burger.”
“You can get a burger anywhere. Order something exotic. Something you wouldn’t ordinarily eat.”
“Like what?”
Ethan peeked at the menu again. “Oysters!”
Danielle made a face. “Gross!”
“What’s wrong with oysters?”
“They’re so slimy.”
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