Summer Boys

by Hailey Abbott

  Cara said she was on a diet and George pinched her arm and told her she shouldn’t be, which made Cara pinch him back and say, “You’re so sweet.” Beth thought about going outside and throwing herself under the next car that drove by. She nodded her head to the music, trying to look occupied, but that could only go on for so long. Finally, she looked at the bar and realized she’d found an escape.

  “Who wants drinks?” she asked, jumping out of her seat excitedly. George and Cara didn’t seem to hear. “I know I do,” she said out loud to herself, because no one seemed to notice that she existed.

  Beth nearly tripped over a couple making out on a chair at the edge of the dance floor. The guy had his hand on the girl’s thigh and they were practically sucking each other’s faces off. Beth cringed. People could be so gross.

  At the bar, Sailor Hat guy was still mixing cocktails for everyone. He kept bobbing around the bar, half-filling drinks and handing them out, having a grand time, but looking overwhelmed.

  When his eyes met Beth’s, she leaned in to order the drinks. Then she realized this was an opportunity to let loose and have a little fun.

  “You want some help?” she asked, instead of ordering.

  “From a pretty girl like you? Hell, yeah!” he said with a grin. Beth thanked him with an unusually girly giggle. “Do you know anything about mixing drinks?” he asked.

  Beth shrugged. “It’s like math, isn’t it? Ten percent this, fifty percent that.”

  “Right, close enough,” Sailor Hat guy said and scooted over, indicating that the space beside him was hers.

  “What do you want?” she asked the first person she made eye contact with, a redhaired girl.

  “What can you make?”

  Beth looked at what she had to work with: half-empty bottles of vodka, rum, cranberry and orange juices, Coke. Plus, the everpopular beer of choice, Bud Lite.

  “Basically, the staples.”

  From then on, whoever wanted a mixed drink got a screwdriver, a rum and Coke, or a vodka cranberry, regardless of what they asked for. Beth made herself a drink and sipped at it between making everyone else’s.

  “You’re good,” Sailor Hat guy said with a hint of awe in his voice. Beth reveled in the pleasant sensation of being watched with admiration.

  At least now she had apurpose. She was the bartender and everybody loved her. One partygoer called her Captain Jack and her sidekick Sailor Joe. Jamie appeared, demanded two drinks, and gave Beth a sloppy kiss on the cheek. It was worlds better than sitting with George and Yo Yo Mama. Before Beth knew it, an hour had gone by and she was wrapped in the embrace of a nice buzz, only a tiny bit worried that the liquor was almost gone and that she might have to stop being Captain Jack all too soon.

  She got a clear view of the brown velvet couch at one point, when she ducked for a cooler of ice. Through the spaces between people’s bodies she could see George and Cara sitting there, oblivious to the fact that she’d never come back. If they sat any closer, they could have combined into one giant cell through osmosis.

  She stood back up and noticed two of her bottles were empty. Damn. She glanced around quickly, trying to improvise. All she saw were half-empty cups that people had left lying around.

  She grabbed several of the cups in the immediate vicinity and carried them back to the bar. It was easy to tell which drink was which from her limited repertoire. She started pouring the glasses into each other. It brought a huge smile to her lips.I’m saving the party, she thought to herself. Sailor Hat guy, who’d introduced himself as Alex, followed her lead, once again clearly impressed with her ingenuity. Beth felt like a hero.

  When George and Cara finally drifted up to the bar, George had his hand on Cara’s back, massaging it lightly. Beth tried not to look. She swiped at the hair in her eyes and noticed for the first time that she was sweating. Her outfit clung to her and there were two huge wet spots where she’d spilled drinks on her chest. Very, very classy. Cara, on the other hand, looked cool as a cucumber.

  “What do you want?” George asked Cara, as if they were at a real bar. He wasn’t drinking, since he was driving them home.

  “You should probably have the beer,” Beth offered, more generous than she wanted to be.

  “Why?”

  She gave a conspiratorial wink to her cobartender. It wouldn’t hurt for George to see her flirting. “Because the only liquor we’re serving is recycled.” George eyed the empty cups littering the bar, seeming to get what she meant almost immediately. He had to explain it to Cara.

  “Oh.” She wrinkled her nose, looking slightly disgusted.

  “Beth,” George said quietly, “that’s kinda gross.”

  The grin disappeared from Beth’s face.

  “It’s funny,” she said, hearing the flatness in her own voice. At least she didn’t sound as hurt as she felt.

  “I guess,” Cara said in a condescending tone that totally enraged Beth. But instead of reaching over and spilling one of the cups over Cara’s head, Beth maintained her composure and just closed her jaw tight.

  She looked at Alex for validation. But he had backed away a few feet and was talking to a girl in a tight sundress. “I’m saving the party,” she finally said, forlornly.

  Cara took her beer and walked away with George.

  Captain Jack stood alone, suddenly wishing that she had just stayed home.

  “So Jamie wouldn’t come with you?” George asked solemnly, knitting his eyebrows in concern. They were driving home from the party, and turning onto Route 41, which was a straight, threeminute shot to their section of Pebble Beach.

  “She was talking to some guy. She swore she was spending the night,” Beth said from the backseat. Cara was up front, of course.

  “Beth, you should have made her come.”

  “I tried. But, you know, she knows all those people. Ethan’s friends. I’m sure she’s fine. It’s only a few minutes drive away anyway. She could practically walk home.”

  “I guess so,” George said, looking unconvinced. “Still, I’d feel better if she were coming home with us.”

  “She’s fine,” Beth reiterated sternly before gnawing on her lower lip. It wasn’t as if George had taken the time to even find Jamie, much less try to make her come home. He’d been too busy flirting with Cara.

  Beth looked out at the road and the darkness zooming by. They’d left the party long before it looked like it would wind down because her mom had asked them to be home by 1:00. But even if they didn’t have a curfew, Beth would have been more than happy to leave.

  The only thing she wanted to do was to get in her room, close the door, and be by herself. When they pulled into the driveway, the three of them quietly spilled out of the car. The night had finally cooled down, and the sound of the waves was actually quite soothing after the noise of the party.

  Beth started toward the cottage door as Cara began walking to her own cottage, farther up the road. George hesitated between them.

  “You guys wanna hang out a while longer?” he asked, directing the question mostly toward Cara. Beth’s abdomen started to throb. She wanted George to come inside and be with her and make fun of the party like they always did. They could dig her dad’s macaroni salad out of the fridge and chat for a while.

  “Sure,” Cara said, pushing the toe of one foot into the ground contentedly.

  “I’m exhausted,” Beth said, stretching out her arms to underline the point. “I’m going in.”

  Please come in, George. Please come in.

  She was losing him. She’d felt it all night long. She was losing her best friend to a Diet-Vanilla-Coke-drinking, boring-ass violinist.

  “Cool,” he said. “Good night, Bethy.” George took Cara by the arm and escorted her to the picnic table at the far side of the lawn.

  Beth thought about changing her mind and parking herself right between the two of them until they both got annoyed and went home. But that wouldn’t be fair to George.

  So she swallowed the lump in
her throat and walked inside alone.

  14

  The first thing Jamie did when she separated from Beth and the others at the party was stop by the bar. At the very least, she wanted to have a drink in her hand. She wanted to look casual. The more at ease she appeared, the better chance she had of winning Ethan back. That had been Ella’s logic. It didn’t seem quite sensible to Jamie, but then, where had her own logic gotten her so far?

  “What’ll you have?” The Sailor Hat guy who was mixing the drinks gave her an openly appreciative smile that was aimed mostly at her legs. Jamie shifted from foot to foot.

  “Something with vodka, please.” Nervous under the guy’s gaze, she scanned the room, her eyes landing on a full-length mirror a few feet away, on a wall beside the kitchen. She could see her reflection staring back at her, but she barely recognized herself. Her green eyes were lined with kohl, which made them look more catlike than ever. The flimsy black top clung to her torso, a bare sliver of flesh showing below her collarbone and also on either side of her waist, where the hem of the shirt curved up revealingly. Her legs were long and coltish under the skirt, which barely covered her upper thighs. No wonder the bartender was staring.

  “Here you go. One screwdriver,” he said, thrusting the cup in front of her.

  “Thanks.” It was filled to the brim, with a few melting ice cubes floating on top. Jamie stepped away from the bar, took two long sips and surveyed the room a second time. She felt as if her heart was lodged in her throat. She was sure Ethan was somewhere close by. She bobbed her head to the music just in case he was watching her from some hiding place in another room.

  Just keep acting cool, she thought to herself.

  Pushing her shoulders back and picking up her confidence, she sauntered from the kitchen to the dining room to the hallway. She didn’t want to find Ethan so much as bump into him. As she walked, she tried to look sexy and careless, like Ella always did. She sipped her screwdriver at regular intervals. She’d already drunk two-thirds of it when she found him, standing among a circle of people in the den downstairs, talking animatedly and waving his arms. Jamie stood in the doorway, just on the verge of entering the room. She’d spent so much time working on looking good tonight that she hadn’t even anticipated how amazingEthan would look. She was overwhelmed by how much she still cared about him.

  “Jamie.” Ethan had pulled himself back slightly from the group and was waving her over. Jamie swallowed, and then willed her feet forward.

  Once she got to the circle, he wrapped her up in a hug. He smelled like he’d just taken a swim in the ocean. “I’m glad you made it. Are you here with your cousins?”

  Jamie nodded. “Yeah, they’re all upstairs.” It would be better not to mention that she’d left them all in the dust as soon as she’d walked in the door.

  Ethan took a couple of minutes to study her. “Damn. You’re looking good tonight,” he said with that toothy grin that always gave her goose bumps. “I want you to meet some people.”

  Taking her hand in his, Ethan introduced her around the circle, to a skinny brunette with ultra-short bangs, to a guy with bright blue eyes and high cheekbones, and to a girl in a striped tube top. Jamie smoothed back her curly hair and smiled at everyone. Ethan immediately launched back into the gripping speech he’d been giving to the whole group. He was talking about going scuba diving next year in Australia, where he’d spent some time before.

  The girl with the bangs jumped in to talk about a scuba course she’d taken at a quarry outside of Boston. The girl in the striped top mentioned she’d been to Sydney.

  “I’ve always wanted to go to Australia,”Jamie put in. “They’ve got cassowaries, you know?” Cassowaries are giant birds that have this crazy sharp bone that grows out of their foreheads. Jamie couldn’t imagine anything cooler or more ridiculous. Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and just stared blankly at Jamie. She blushed deeply.

  “You can go topless on the beaches. Nobody cares,” Ethan went on. Jamie gulped the last of her drink. She pictured hot girls with Australian accents and bare breasts bouncing around on the sand, maybe playing volleyball or…didn’t they play cricket in Australia? Topless girls playing cricket with Ethan.

  The conversation rolled along. Ethan mentioned how big the Australian sharks are and how deadly the snakes are—all the stuff they would have talked about together, if they were still “together.” Jamie tried to look enthused, but it was impossible. Ethan was supposed to be noticing how happy she was without him. But he wasn’t noticing her much at all. And he seemed pretty happy himself.

  Jamie picked at the rim of her empty cup, her stomach sinking. As the minutes ticked on, she felt more and more out of place. She needed another drink. In fact, she felt like she might need five drinks. She squeezed Ethan’s arm and gave him an “I’ll be back” look. She turned on her heel as if she had somewhere interesting to be and headed up the stairs.

  “Beth,” she gasped, relieved to see her cousin’s friendly face behind the bar. “What are you doing up here?”

  Beth grinned. “I’m the bartender, baby. What’ll you have?”

  “Two screwdrivers.”

  Beth nodded, even though she was clearly distracted. Still, she seemed to be in her element as she clutched a bottle in each hand and chatted with people to her left and right, all without missing a beat. “On the house,” she said as she slipped Jamie two full cups, accepted the sloppy kiss Jamie laid on her cheek, and then turned to serve somebody else.

  Wanting to loosen up before she went back downstairs, Jamie moved to the edge of the room and downed one of the screwdrivers, then started on the other. She watched the people who were dancing in the middle of the room. Slowly, her head started to feel lighter on her shoulders. The music was some kind of Caribbean dance stuff with steel drums, and it sounded nice. She was feeling better already.

  “I brought this CD.”

  Jamie swiveled her head on her neck loosely to find Ethan’s friend Scott standing to her left. He leaned against the wall beside her. “I love this stuff,” he said.

  Jamie felt much more relaxed now that she was away from Ethan. “You’re dressed like a guy who would,” she commented.

  Scott was wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt with a hula dancer on the pocket and baggy denim carpenter shorts.

  “Yeah, well, my fashion sense and my music tastes are part of my charm,” he said with a chuckle. “You need help with that drink?”

  Jamie looked down at her half-empty cup, then smiled. “I could use some help getting another one.” She fished an ice cube out of the mixture of vodka and OJ and stuck it in her mouth.

  “You got it.”

  Scott disappeared for a few seconds, and then reappeared back at her side with the refill. “So, what brings you here tonight?”

  “Ethan invited me.”

  “But didn’t you guys break up?”

  Jamie chomped on her ice and shrugged her shoulders. “We did. But we’re trying to be all adultlike and put everything behind us.”

  “Wow, that’s great. Isn’t it awkward, though? Being here as his friend?”

  “Nah, I’m perfectly okay with it.” Jamie figured that maybe if she said things like this, it would get back to Ethan through Scott.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it was just a summer thing, you know?”

  “Right, I hear that.” Scott said, sort of implying that he’d been the victim of a similar kind of breakup before.

  “I really love that shirt,” Jamie giggled and tugged at one of Scott’s middle buttons. She was so close to feeling okay. Scott and the screwdrivers made for a wonderful distraction.

  “Thanks. I like your—” He looked her up and down, shyly. “Um, you look different. You look…amazing. Not that you didn’t look…um…before.”

  Jamie was flattered by how flustered he was. It made her feel like she was a supermodel and all of a sudden she was brimming with confidence. “Let’s dance.”Jamie took a big g
ulp of her drink, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out onto the floor. She wondered what Ella’s rule would be about flirting with Ethan’s friends. Knowing her cousin, she’d probably consider it a good thing.

  In the middle of the dance floor, Jamie started swaying, first her hips and then her whole body. She hoped Ethan would come upstairs any second and see her.

  “You’re not going scuba diving this summer, are you?” she asked Scott, trying to make some small talk.

  Scott shook his head. “No, but my dad and I are flying to Myrtle Beach at the end of the summer.”

  “That sounds like so much fun.”

  “It’s gonna be great. We’re taking the Cessna.”

  “Your dad knows how to fly planes?”

  “Yeah, so do I. Remember? We do that advertising business.”

  Jamie stared at him blankly, and gulped at her drink. Then it all started to come back to her—their first meeting at Ethan’s. “Oh yeah, yeah. Sorry.” She tucked her crazy hair behind her ears happily, then put her hands on Scott’s shoulders, moving in close to him.

  While she and Scott were dancing, Beth came by to ask if Jamie wanted to leave, but Jamie shooed her cousin away.

  Thankfully, Scott was interesting. Jamie would have made conversation with a flagpole just to look like she had something to do, but Scott turned out to be way more entertaining than necessary. His father had been in the military and had lived all over the world—Germany, Italy, Spain. He and Jamie shouted about it over the music while her hands remained tightly on his shoulders. Pretty soon she decided she didn’t care anymore whether Ethan saw her or not. After all, there were other boys to keep her occupied.

  After a while, they were both covered in sweat and Jamie felt lighter than air. She felt powerful and sexy, and not at all nervous about it, like she’d been before.

  “Do you want to go out back and sit on the deck?” Scott asked, fanning himself with his hands. “It’s hot as hell in here.”

  “I have a better idea. Let’s go down to the beach,” she suggested, getting a sudden urge to dip her feet in the water and be far away and alone with Scott. “I’ll get us some drinks.”