Caitlin

by Jade Parker

“Is Romeo going to be there?”

  “Romeo? Oh, you mean Michael. Yeah. The Powers-That-Be approved the light show.”

  I know my eyes rounded. “Already?”

  “Well, yeah. They thought it was a great idea so it was easy to convince them, and the Fourth is almost here so it’s not like we have time to mess around. We need to get all the details worked out quickly.”

  “Hey, y’all, what’s going on? Secret meeting?” Robyn asked as she walked over.

  “I’m trying to convince Caitlin to be part of the team.”

  “Oh, I thought she already was.”

  “Working with Michael freaks her out.”

  “He doesn’t freak me out.” Okay, he made me a little nervous, but it was only because of the way he made my heart flutter and the fact that I seemed to do stupid things when he was around. That was dangerous.

  “I thought he was nice,” Robyn said.

  But then, she thought my brother was nice, so I wasn’t sure I could trust her opinion.

  “Come on, it’ll be fun planning a gigantic party,” Robyn continued. “Otherwise, you’ll have to eat lunch alone and I know you hate doing that.”

  She was right. I really didn’t like doing things alone. And it probably would be fun. Whitney was a little quirky. And Robyn was my BFF.

  “Okay,” I said, surprised that I actually sounded excited about it. Robyn and Whitney were right. It might be interesting. And it was something different, something to occupy my mind, something to think about — other than Tanner.

  “Great! I’ll see you later,” Whitney said. She left to begin preparing for the day’s birthday parties.

  “She gets so excited about things,” Robyn said. “I’m glad you’ll be part of the team.” She headed to Mini Falls, where she’d spend the morning watching little kids hurtling down slides.

  I strolled over to Tsunami. Soon it would be all madness, but I had a few minutes. I sat down on a lounge chair and absorbed the peacefulness into my system. If mermaids really existed, I’d be one. I loved the water.

  “Whatcha doing? Shouldn’t you be working?”

  I jerked at the familiar voice. Tanner. I glanced over at him. “I’ve got a couple of minutes.”

  Other lifeguards were mingling around. We had three stations along each side of the pool and two guards would stand in the shallow end. Shallow water is as dangerous as deep water.

  Tanner crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet. “So, I hear they’ve got big plans for the Fourth.”

  “Yep.” I didn’t think it was a secret, but I really wasn’t in the mood to yammer with him either.

  “You working that night?”

  “Isn’t everyone?”

  He ducked his head, rubbed his thumb over the face of his watch. Then he looked back up at me. “I totally blew it, didn’t I?”

  Was he talking about with me? And why was he even over here talking to me at all?

  “Totally,” I said, taking some satisfaction in the fact that I sounded so like I didn’t care.

  “I really like you, Caitlin. Can’t you have some pity for a dumb jock?”

  “I don’t think you’re that dumb. So what happened with you and the girl from the gift shop?”

  “You mean Jasmine?” He said it as if he wasn’t sure that was her name.

  I shrugged. “I guess. I mean, I don’t know who she is. I’ve just seen her working in the gift shop when I walked by.”

  “Oh, yeah, well, her name was Jasmine.”

  “Was? It’s not anymore?”

  He laughed. “I’d forgotten how funny you were. Nah, I’m sure her name is still Jasmine, it’s just that she and me” — he waved his hand like a magician who was about to say abracadabra and pull a rabbit out of his hat — “you know.”

  Actually, I didn’t. Maybe he was trying to say that she and he were no more. Did it matter to me? At all? I didn’t think it did. As much as I’d liked him, it seemed as though it should have mattered. Maybe I hadn’t liked him as much as I thought. Or maybe Michael Romeo made me realize that other guys — interesting guys — were out there.

  “Hey, Morgan, up top, let’s go!”

  I was startled by my supervisor’s voice. Trent was in college and he had a really deep voice. And he just looked mean, probably because he always looked as though he needed to shave. I jumped up and hurried to my post. Of course, I had to pass right by him. He had his hands on his hips and he didn’t look happy. I mumbled, “Sorry,” as I rushed past him.

  “You know better than to flirt,” he said.

  I swung around. “It wasn’t me.”

  He looked at me over the top of his sunglasses. Why do people think that makes them look intimidating? Maybe because it does.

  “It wasn’t,” I insisted.

  I was tempted to tell him to get after Tanner, but instead I just spun on my heel and hurried to my tower. I climbed up the ladder and got into position.

  All I’d wanted was a few minutes of peace and instead I’d managed to get myself in trouble.

  The clanging bells that sounded like buoys that rocked in the ocean announced the official opening of the park for the day. It was always madness first thing in the morning as hordes of people began rushing into the park to claim their favorite spots before getting in line for the more popular slides.

  While I waited for people to reach our pool, I looked over at Tanner standing in the shallow water. He waved at me.

  I felt my cheeks grow warm. I’d liked him once. I didn’t know if I could let mself like him again.

  I didn’t want to admit it, not even to myself, but I was a little nervous about going to the meeting. Mostly because I knew that Michael Romeo was going to be there. What did we even need to discuss anyway? It was the Fourth of July so the colors would be red, white, and blue. What else did we need to decide?

  I was a little suspicious. I thought maybe Whitney was making this out to be more than it should have been. I really wished that I’d arranged to meet Robyn someplace beforehand, so we could walk into the conference room together.

  It wasn’t like me to be shy about things. I was the bold one. She was the one who needed to be convinced to do things. So right this minute I’d be bold — even if it killed me.

  I went to the employee locker room and grabbed my tote bag. My lunch was inside. I slammed my locker closed and reset the lock. Familiar routines. I was ready for this meeting. I swung around and shrieked. Robyn was standing there.

  “Where did you come from?” I asked.

  “Duh? Mini Falls.” She opened her locker. “What’s wrong with you anyway? You’re not usually jumpy.”

  “Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t like having people sneak up on me.”

  “I didn’t exactly sneak.” She took her tote bag out of her locker. “Are you worried about Romeo?”

  “What? No. I’d totally forgotten he was going to be there.”

  It was a good thing that I had a tiny nose. Gave it lots of growing room when I lied.

  Robyn and I walked out of the locker room together.

  “Uh, Tanner talked to me this morning,” I said.

  She looked over at me. “Are you liking him again?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Good. You shouldn’t.”

  “Don’t take this wrong, but between you and me, I always thought I’d be the one who got kissed first.”

  “Hey, so did I. You’re not shy around guys. I am. So Sean and me … I never expected it.”

  “Makes it sound like he sneaked up on you.”

  She grinned. “He did. I mean, really, Caitlin, he was the last guy I ever thought I’d feel this way about.”

  I wanted to squirm. I didn’t want to know how she felt about him. “TMI.”

  “Whatever. I’m so glad that we let Whitney into our little circle and became friends with her, so I have someone I can talk to about Sean.”

  “You talk to Whitney about Sean?”

  “Sure. I know
you don’t want to hear it, and quite honestly, I feel weird talking to you about your brother. But with Whitney, it’s totally different. I can tell her how nice he is and she doesn’t look at me as if I’ve lost my mind.”

  “I don’t do that.”

  She released a short burst of laughter. “Yes, you do. I can tell her that I like him and she doesn’t tell me that she doesn’t get it.”

  “Well, I don’t.”

  Teasingly, she shoved my shoulder. “Which is why I’m glad that I’ve got Whitney.”

  Which shouldn’t have made me feel bad, but it did. I wasn’t being a very good friend, but I didn’t want the details about dating Sean.

  We reached the offices. I was glad, because I was having a hard time thinking of anything to say to Robyn that didn’t make me sound like a horrible friend. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about Robyn confiding in Whitney. I knew I should be glad that she had someone to talk to so she didn’t have to talk to me about Sean, but we’d been best friends forever. It was strange to think of her telling someone something and not telling me.

  “The conference room is at the end of the hallway,” the receptionist said. She was wearing the red shorts and white polo shirt. Even the people who ran the place were dressed as though they were heading for fun in the sun. We got to the end of the hallway. Robyn opened the door.

  “Oh, there you are,” Whitney said. “Come on in.”

  One long table was in the center of the room. Whitney sat at the head of it. On her left sat Michael and Jake. Robyn sat on her right and I sat beside Robyn, so I was opposite Jake.

  Michael wasn’t wearing his hat so he flicked his head back to toss his curly hair out of his eyes. His eyes were still amazing to look at. I think they stood out so much because he was sitting by Jake, who had such dark brown eyes. Jake’s hair was auburn, buzzed short. A lot of guys working at the park went with really short hair. It was definitely cooler, I thought, as I fluffed my fingers through mine.

  “So Jake represents the vendors, Robyn represents the kiddie area, and Caitlin represents the pools. We’re just waiting for someone from slides and attractions. You can go ahead and eat your lunch,” Whitney said.

  “Isn’t everyone else eating?” I asked, noticing that no one else had any bags, sacks, or food in front of them.

  “I’ve already eaten,” Whitney said.

  “Me, too,” Jake and Michael said at the same time.

  “Oh.” I looked at Robyn. She gave her head a little shake. I agreed. I didn’t want to eat in front of people who weren’t eating. Considering my recent luck, I’d probably get food caught between my teeth and no one would tell me.

  The door opened. A girl walked in. She had red hair pulled back into a ponytail. “Sorry I’m late! I kept telling my supervisor that I had to go but he wouldn’t listen. Sometimes I think he doesn’t quite trust me. I don’t understand why not.”

  I did. She was totally untrustworthy. I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. She was the last person I expected, or wanted, to see.

  She plopped into the chair beside me. “Hey, guys, I’m Jasmine. I’m so psyched about being on this committee. Plus, it gets me away from all the insanity.”

  “I thought you worked in the gift shop,” I said.

  “I did. But I moved to slides. And I’m loving it, but it’s just madness.”

  She didn’t look at me while she talked. She gazed at Michael. She smiled at him. He grinned at her.

  Déjà vu.

  “Okay, everyone, I’m sorta in charge,” Whitney said. “Charlotte is the manager of events” — she made quote marks in the air — “so she’ll have final say. But we do the brainstorming and then I tell her what we’re planning. We’re going to come up with ideas for the Fourth that will knock off socks — or, I guess in our case, flip-flops.”

  Michael grinned at Whitney. He really did have a cute grin. I wondered if he liked her. They’d obviously connected yesterday during lunch and had seemed comfortable around each other last night. And she hadn’t done anything to embarrass him, like cause his name to be shouted over the park’s intercom system.

  Jake was leaning back in his chair, as though he had as much interest in this meeting as I did, which amounted to zero interest. But he was watching Whitney. I wondered why he didn’t hang out with her. I was pretty sure that he liked her. He seemed to be with her when it was convenient, but he never went out of his way to be with her. Or at least that was my take on it. Still, I had the feeling that there were things going on —

  “Okay, Caitlin?”

  Whitney using my name brought me back to the mission. I glanced around the table.

  Jasmine raised her hand. “I’ll do it.”

  “No, I’ll do it,” I insisted, not even knowing what it was I was agreeing to do. I didn’t even realize that I’d been asked to do something. Jasmine had taken away my crush. I wasn’t going to let her take this, too. Whatever it was.

  “Great,” Michael said and stood up.

  Not so great.

  Robyn leaned over and whispered, “You’re going to show him around the park.”

  “Why? He was here yesterday. He knows what the park looks like.” I hadn’t lowered my voice. I didn’t see the point.

  “But yesterday I was looking at it differently,” Michael said. “Yesterday was all about fun. Now it’s all about work.”

  Jasmine laid her head on the table and stretched her body across the polished wood like someone in a yoga class reaching out. “I’ll doooo it.”

  If it was anyone else asking, I would have said, “Go ahead.” I really didn’t feel comfortable being alone with Michael — but only because of the whole making-a-fool-of-both-of-us thing at the park yesterday. I might have to work up the courage to apologize. But Jasmine had stolen one boy from me and I wasn’t about to let her steal another. Not that Michael was with me, but still. Jasmine was not to be trusted. I stood up. “I’ve got it.”

  I sounded way more confident about doing this than I felt.

  “Fantastic,” Whitney said. “While you’re gone, we’ll brainstorm the songs that will play with the light show.” She looked at Michael. “Any restrictions?”

  “None. Whatever you want us to play we’ll play and coordinate the lights to match. That’s what we do.”

  I forced myself to pick up my tote bag and follow Michael out of the office. Once we got outside, we both slid on sunglasses. I released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Look, about yesterday —”

  “Forget about it. You were right to make sure that I wasn’t in trouble in the pool. I’m cool with it.”

  “Wish my supervisor felt that way.”

  “What? He thought you were wrong?”

  “I think he’s a little embarrassed.”

  “Tell him to get over it.”

  “Obviously, you’ve never had a supervisor. You don’t exactly talk back to him, not if you want to keep your job.”

  “Other than yesterday’s fiasco, do you like working here?” he asked.

  “Love it.” I glanced around, a little more comfortable with him, but not wanting to like him any more than I already did. “You know, I could probably get you a map of the park and you could just do this on your own.”

  “Wouldn’t be as much fun.”

  “And you like to have fun.”

  “I’m all about the fun.”

  “So why do you need to see the park?” I asked.

  “Trying to figure out where we want to set up the light show. I’m thinking by the wave pool is best, so let’s start there.”

  We started walking toward Tsunami.

  He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back instead of flicking his head. “I’ve never actually arranged a light show before. Dad will come in and check out all my decisions. But he said I could do the preliminary.”

  “So this is what? A hobby or something?”

  “Nope. It’s his business. Lights Fantastic.”

/>   We got to Tsunami, and Michael stopped. He slowly turned around. “Yeah, this is probably the best place.”

  “Thought you wanted a tour.”

  He grinned. “Nah. I’m just not into meetings. All we need to know is where we’re going to set up and the songs you want. For the Fourth, I figure patriotic.”

  He really seemed like a nice guy. I wish he didn’t. I know. I know. Who doesn’t want a guy to be nice? But it was kind of scary to even think about liking a guy again.

  Then it started to get awkward because neither of us was saying anything.

  “At Christmas, my dad set the lights on our house to blink in time to music,” I said. “It was neat.”

  “My dad does that, too. Actually, part of his business is doing it for other people. Gets crazy right after Thanksgiving.”

  “Do you help with those lights, too?”

  “Oh, yeah. We create a simulation on the computer first to figure out how we need to set up everything.”

  “So you’re a geek?”

  “Big-time.” He grinned, obviously not bothered by the word. “What did you think of the light show last night?”

  “Cool. Totally,” I told him.

  Then we were quiet again.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and eat?” he asked. “We can sit right over there.”

  At the end of the sandy deck were two empty lounge chairs, with no Birks beneath them.

  “I don’t know,” I began. “I’d feel funny —”

  “You don’t want to pass out from starvation.”

  “I’m hardly starving.”

  Without waiting, he sat on a lounge chair. Then he grinned. “Come on. I don’t bite.”

  He was so cute, and it was so tempting … but the fact that it was tempting was the reason that I didn’t want to do it.

  “If you’re finished looking around, we should probably go back to the meeting,” I told him.

  “Do you really want to sit in a meeting?” He made an arc with his hand as though he was drawing a rainbow in the air. “It’s such a nice day.”

  It was a nice day. It was a shame to waste it in an office. I sat on the chair beside his. I was hungry. I opened my bag. “Want some chips?”

  “No. I really did eat before I headed over here. My mom fixed a big pot of spaghetti.”