“Don’t even bother, little girl,” the bigger of the two bouncers growled.
Ella wasn’t fazed at all and gave him a sultry wink. Flirting with thirty-year-olds didn’t intimidate her in the least. She produced a cigarette from her bag and put it to her lips. The bouncer just stared at her. “Come on,” Ella wheedled. “You won’t let me in and you won’t give me a light? Is anyone that mean?”
The bouncer shook his head, but he laughed and dug a lighter from his pocket.
“Oh boy. You’re trouble,” he told her.
“Whenever possible,” Ella agreed.
She gave him another big smile, and made sure she wiggled her hips as she turned and walked away. She took a drag of her cigarette, and then decided she didn’t really want it and flicked it away. She was trying to figure out a better way to get inside the Lighthouse—and Ella had no doubt that she would find a way in, eventually—when she saw a familiar figure walking toward her. Jeremy.
Things couldn’t have worked out better. Jeremy was right there in front of her, and she didn’t have to deal with any of his lifeguard friends or anyone else. His attention would be where it belonged: on her and her alone.
“Hey there,” she said, stepping boldly in front of him. He looked surprised, as if he hadn’t recognized her from far off, which Ella dismissed as unlikely.
“Ella,” he said in his usual wobbly voice. It was almost as if he were scared of her. She dismissed that, too.
“Jeremy,” she replied, helping herself to his arm and leaning into him. “What perfect timing. I was just wishing that I had someone to walk with me.”
All Jeremy could do was fidget and shift his weight around uncomfortably. Ella loved the way his shaggy hair got even messier when he raked his hand through it. He was truly the cutest geek she had ever laid eyes—and hands—on.
“I’m going to the Lobster Shack,” she said, trying to coax him out of his shell. “Were you on the way there?”
Jeremy scratched his face. “Uh, not really, no.”
“Well, I thought you were going to meet up with us for something to eat.”
“Yeah, I was…but now, I, like, can’t,” Jeremy stammered.
Ella found herself smiling at him. Could she really make someone this nervous? It was pretty flattering.
“Why not?” she asked.
Jeremy took a deep breath. “I just found out that there’s a John Cusack doubleheader down at the Royale Theatre. You know, the one at the other end of town?”
“The one that never has any good movies?” Ella asked dubiously.
“No, they do,” Jeremy told her. “They’re showing Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer,” he added. As he talked, he got more and more animated and much less awkward. It was like when he’d climbed out of the chair. When he forgot to be self-conscious, he had the kind of vibe that Ella adored. “I mean, Better Off Dead is a work of genius, really, but there’s something to be said for One Crazy Summer, too.” He seemed to realize he was rambling, and he smiled, more at himself than at Ella. “You’re not a John Cusack fan?” he asked.
“Of course I am,” Ella said. “I saw that thing at the motel, with the serial killer.”
“Early John Cusack,” Jeremy clarified, still wearing that adorable smile. “It’s a whole different thing. He was, like, his own genre.”
He suddenly seemed so confident that Ella was dying to kiss him.
“I have an idea,” Ella murmured, leaning a little bit closer, so her breasts brushed up against him. “Why don’t I join you? We can watch the movie, or we can…”
Jeremy looked at her for a long moment, and his eyes widened, as if he couldn’t believe what she was suggesting. But instead of smiling, as Ella hoped he would, Jeremy stepped back and put a Texas-size chunk of space in between them. Then he moved his arm so Ella let her hands drop away. This was not the usual boy reaction to her. Ella was completely stunned.
“Thanks, but I’m okay going alone,” Jeremy said softly, his face dark red.
Ella was actually embarrassed—imagine that—when she saw the red blotches on Jeremy’s cheekbones as he stepped around her as if she were a pit bull about to attack.
Jeremy reverted to his awkwardness. “I…uh…really should, you know, get going. The movie…um…starts in…like, ten minutes.” Then he turned and bolted. Ella was left standing on the street, speechless.
A group of guys walked by her and there were a few whistles, but Ella was too out of sorts to appreciate it. Much less look to see if any of them were hot.
What the hell just happened? Ella wondered, annoyed. She turned and started walking toward the Lobster Shack, but the truth was, she wasn’t really in the mood for fried food and a jukebox. Nor was she up for the thumping music of the Lighthouse. All she wanted was for Jeremy to change his mind and come running back. She waited several moments for that to happen, and then gave up. This was unprecedented. A guy actually bailed on her. Was she in some kind of parallel universe where her life just completely sucked?
An angry surge suddenly charged through Ella. She’d just have to march into the Lobster Shack, find other boys to adore her, and have a great time without stupid Jeremy—a great time she fully intended his friends to see and report back to him.
Just outside the restaurant, Ella felt her cell phone vibrate in the tiny pocket of her skirt. She didn’t recognize the incoming phone number, so she went directly to the text message. Her stomach clenched in confusion.
U BACK YET? NEED 2 C U
But it was the name at the bottom that sent Ella’s head spinning:
PETER.
11
“Your cousin seems into my friend Jeremy,” Adam said to Beth as they left the Lobster Shack, trailing far behind Ella, Kelsi, and Adam’s other lifeguard friends. There was a slight chill in the air, but Beth found it invigorating.
“What makes you say that?” she asked. Beth had been paying close attention to the cadence in Adam’s voice and scrutinizing his face ever since Ella had called him that ridiculous G-2 nickname. She still didn’t see the resemblance.
“Well, I think it’s because she told me that she was going to make Jeremy her boyfriend, whether he liked it or not.” Adam snickered.
See, that sounded nothing like George! Beth told herself. Okay, even if there was a slight similarity, which there wasn’t, a lot of people sounded the same when they laughed. It wasn’t like there were so many different ways to laugh. You only had so many options.
“Ella’s kind of…direct,” Beth explained. “It’s part of her charm.”
“So,” Adam said, turning so he could look at her as they walked. “What do you do for fun during the summer? You know, besides get your surf on?”
Beth felt suddenly flustered by Adam’s attention.
“This and that,” Beth replied. “What do you do?”
“My friend Ben throws a few parties every summer,” Adam said. “They’re fun, but they always get a little crazy. He lives in one of those big houses up on Cranberry Lane.” Adam shook his head. “I just don’t get why you would come all the way to the beach, and then spend your time sitting in a pool in your backyard.” He sounded personally offended by the notion.
“The best thing about Cranberry Lane is that all the pools are laid out in practically a straight line in all the backyards,” Beth told him, gesturing with her hands. “Perfect for late-night pool-hopping.”
“I like the sound of that,” Adam said. They had stopped walking, and were just outside the ice-cream shop, the Twin Freeze. “Are you talking about the usual form of pool-hopping, or something more extreme, like skinny-dipping?”
“Skinny-dipping?” Beth repeated. Suddenly, a memory from last summer flashed through her mind. George had gone skinny-dipping with some random girl and Beth, insanely jealous, had stolen his clothes. She and George had wound up running through the woods—he naked—and later on, kissing for the first time. For some reason, even though that was one of her favorite stories, she didn
’t share it with Adam, who seemed to recoil whenever she said George’s name. And anyway, that was private stuff, between her and George.
“Do you like skinny-dipping?” Adam asked. When Beth nodded, he said quietly and very deliberately. “I bet you look even more beautiful swimming underneath the moonlight.”
His words hung there, soft but unmistakable, in the dark between them. Did he really just call me beautiful? Beth wished that this was one of those yellow-flag moments in football when you could ask the referee to review the play. Since that wasn’t going to happen, she felt the next best thing to do was to deflate the moment before it went somewhere dangerous.
“Adam?” Beth began in a wary voice. Oh my God, why am I trembling?
“I know, you have a boyfriend,” Adam said, looking down at his New Balances. “The great ones always do.”
Beth cast around for something to say. Shit. Did Adam like her? More important, did she like him? This was spinning out of control. Beth enjoyed Adam’s attention, but she knew that if she fueled this fire, she’d really get burned. How could she cool things off with him? Then an idea shot into Beth’s head.
“But I happen to know a great one who isn’t taken,” she said suddenly.
Adam blinked. “You do?”
“Uh-huh. My cousin,” Beth said, excited by her stroke of brilliance.
“Um, Ella’s nice and all,” Adam said, “but she’s not really my type and—”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Not Ella. Her sister, Kelsi.”
It made sense. Kelsi deserved a cool guy, and she was smart, fun, and pretty in a really natural way. Adam would go for her.
“You want me to date your cousin,” Adam finally said, like he couldn’t quite grasp it.
“Why not?” Beth replied. “She’s really cute, and supersmart.”
“Beth,” he said, sighing heavily. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“This is where you have to trust me,” Beth said, unsure of herself, but trying to focus on the task at hand. “You know about surfing, and I know about…matchmaking.”
Adam’s mouth curved up in a crooked grin. “Matchmaking? Ah, you mean working on the assembly line, making sure all the little pieces of wood have round red tops at the end. Got it.”
“Smart-ass,” Beth said under her breath, while Adam laughed at his own display of wit.
“Okay, B. I’ll think about it.” He said at last.
Beth noticed two things as Adam took her hand and led her into the Twin Freeze: that she wasn’t sure she wanted Adam to date Kelsi, and she loved that he had said she was beautiful.
Later that night, Beth curled up on her bed and cradled her cell phone next to her ear. She and George had been talking for an hour, catching up on the day’s activities. George told her some story about falling off a ladder into a vat of paint thinner and how he was high all afternoon because he didn’t change out of his fume-infested clothes. Beth laughed at the funny things he said, but there was a part of her that wasn’t paying attention. Her conversation with Adam was plaguing her.
“So, what’s up with you?” George asked after a moment of silence.
“Uh…nothing really. Just hanging out,” she replied.
“So, any catfights yet?” George asked.
“No, everyone’s fine.”
“Damn. I was hoping for some girl-on-girl action.”
“Sorry, George. Just good old-fashioned girl-guy relationships going on here.” Beth said.
“I feel bad for the poor suckers who get trapped by the Tuttle cousins,” George replied. “Who are the latest victims?”
“Actually, I’m trying to set up Adam and Kelsi,” Beth said brightly, hoping that this would dismiss any possible thought in George’s mind that she had more than friendly feelings for Adam.
“Check it out,” George said, sounding pleased. “My best girl is playing Cupid. How completely un-you.”
“Well, it’s true. I, Beth Tuttle, am now an expert on true love and happily ever after,” she joked as she stretched out across her bed.
“I can’t argue with that,” George said softly. “I miss you, Bethy.”
“I miss you, too,” she said.
Beth felt a sense of calm come over her. It felt like she was taking a warm bath and all of her worries and anxieties were being completely washed away. She simply loved George like no one else. How could she have forgotten this feeling while she was flirting with Adam? Everything seemed trivial and meaningless compared to the connection she shared with George.
There were a few seconds of silence. Beth closed her eyes and searched her heart.
“I think,” she said quietly, “that when you come up here, it’s time.”
“Wow,” he whispered, instantly knowing what she meant. “You mean…?”
“I want to,” Beth said. She cleared her throat and sat up. “I want to have sex. With you.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “For real, this time? You might have blocked it out, but believe me, I remember the Valentine’s Day incident.”
Beth giggled. “I said I was sorry, like, five million times! And I promise no more candles that close to the bed.”
“Or, my personal favorite, what I like to think of as The Great Condom Disaster?” George asked with a grunt that sent Beth into a laughing spell. “You can laugh all you want, Bethy, but I was the one who was chased out of Walgreens by my mother’s best friend. Who, by the way, still likes to bring it up whenever she sees me, particularly around my mom.”
“Listen, George. I don’t want to wait anymore.” Beth had never been more sure about anything in her life. “And what better place for it to happen than here in Pebble Beach?”
“You’re right,” George said. They were both quiet for a minute, and then both of them started laughing at the same time. “That got serious, huh?”
“I guess it is pretty serious,” Beth said.
“I love you, Bethy,” George said softly, exactly the way he said it when he was nuzzling her neck.
“I love you, too,” Beth said, and if she closed her eyes again, she could imagine him right there next to her, where he belonged.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: The Usual Shenanigans!!!
Beth,
That story about your first night at the pier was so funny I think I broke a rib from laughter. (They love me here in my dorm—I’m the crazy laughing girl who never leaves her computer.) Maybe you should be the writer in this family. In fact, considering the critique I just got (my hot professor isn’t quite so hot when he’s ripping my story apart for its “sophomoric” style—OUCH!), you guys should come take my place here. And when ARE you guys coming?? That first weekend in August is best for me.
Back to Pebble Beach intrigue: Tell me the truth—Ella’s hook up wasn’t really named Inigo, was he??? You’re just making that up to get a cheap Princess Bride laugh. (It worked, you’ll be happy to know!!) And don’t tell me Kelsi’s still moping over that musician from last summer. SUCH A LOSER. He was never good enough for her anyway. Pebble Beach has boys everywhere—she just needs to find the right one.
Most crucially: Who’s this Adam guy, the surf hunk? You were suspiciously casual about him in that last e-mail. Too bad for you, Ella’s filled me in (I quote):
who cares about some stupid fling ask beth about her new boyfriend G-2—total clone of the original—luv luv luv E
You’re so busted, Beth Tuttle. Tell me everything!
Love, Jamie
Beth went for a jog later that afternoon, taking one of the trails that wound through the woods. Usually, Beth loved to run in and out of the trees—the pine needles carpeted the earth beneath her feet and everything smelled like bark and flowers. But today she was in a bad mood.
Maybe it was Jamie’s e-mail. Beth didn’t like the fact that Ella was so obsessed with the Adam-G-2 thing. Which wasn’t even a thing, she reminded herself, working her legs harder.
>
After all, he and Kelsi had hit it off when she’d introduced them at the arcade a few nights ago. The two of them had started to talk and laugh while Beth got involved with a game of Ms. Pac-Man, expecting to feel all satisfied that her matchmaking had worked. Beth tried to concentrate on the glowing pellets on the screen, but every time she heard Adam crack a joke and Kelsi’s easy, natural giggle, she gripped the joystick in a choke hold that would have killed a small animal.
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