by Carly Syms
My cheeks flushed as I quickened my pace to get back to the house.
Operation Steal Anthony Back was doomed to failure.
***
Joey knocked on our front door just after we’d finished dinner that night. I expected a quiet night wallowing in my own pity, so his presence on the doorstep was a welcome sight.
“I didn’t come over to stay,” Joey said after I asked him if he wanted to hang out on the patio. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to use Tack’s pool tonight if you want to come.”
“He’s having a party?”
Joey shook his head. “He’s back in Eastwood for the week, but said that we can use the pool on his roof whenever we want. And we want tonight.”
“Who’s we?”
“I don’t know, me, you, Pia. She’ll probably ask Anthony, so if there’s anyone you want to ask, knock yourself out.”
“Oh,” I said, unenthused at the idea of seeing the two of them together. “Okay.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t let that stop you from coming, Lex.”
I stared back at him. “Why shouldn’t it?”
“Because that’s no way to live your life. There’s nothing you can do about it if he prefers her to you. But don’t let it ruin your summer.”
I hated it when someone gave you perfect advice but you knew you weren’t going to take it.
“He doesn’t have to be so cruel about it.”
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you,” Joey said, his foot tapping ever so slightly against the porch. “You obviously think he’s a jerk so you should be happy that Pia took him off your hands. Come out tonight and have fun and let them do whatever it is they want to do. If he’s not a good guy, she’ll get hers and then I’m sure you’ll be happy.”
I frowned. “Hey, that’s not--”
“Don’t even try that with me,” he cut in. “I know you and I know you wouldn’t be that broken up about it if Anthony screws Pia over. It’s whatever, I don’t care. All that matters to me right now is that you put your bathing suit on tonight and come with us to the pool.”
“Okay, okay,” I said with a defeated sigh. “I’ll be there.”
“Tack’s house at nine,” Joey said before he turned and jogged down the steps.
I closed the door behind me and leaned up against the wall, shutting my eyes.
I’d vowed not to hang out with Pia again this summer, at least until she apologized to me for this, and that definitely went for hanging out with Anthony and her together.
Somehow, Joey had managed to rope me into it in under five minutes. I didn’t think he’d be too much of an ally tonight and I definitely needed one. Without thinking twice about it, I hurried to find my phone.
I needed reinforcements and Gianna would be there with me, whether she liked it or not.
viii.
Turns out, Gianna was a lot more willing to go with me to this impromptu-but-sure-to-be-a-disaster pool party than I thought. She’d immediately agreed to meet me at Tack’s house at nine.
I walked down the steps, ready to make my way over to the Jordans’ pool, when the door to the Killeen’s duplex opened and I couldn’t help but look up.
Anthony, dressed in bright blue swimming shorts and a clingy-in-all-the-right-places white T-shirt, closed the door behind him.
“Whoa!” He jumped when he saw me standing awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs.
“Sorry!” I said. “I was just leaving and saw you come outside.”
“Couldn’t say hi before you scared me half to death?”
“I said sorry.” My tone may have been a bit snappier than it should’ve been, but I was weary of Anthony Killeen now.
He frowned. “You okay?”
I could only nod and his frown deepened.
“Lexie, if something’s wrong, you can tell me about it. What are neighbors for?”
I glared at him, my heart pounding, wondering if I should tell him the truth, tell him that I didn’t understand what he was doing with Pia when he’d been doing all of the same things with me.
“Really,” he added. “You can.”
I’d started to walk down the street and he had to jog a few steps to catch up with me.
Standing side by side with him, hidden by the night’s veil, I bit down on my lip, willing the tears to stay back. Who was I kidding? I’d had expectations about Anthony and me for this summer.
And why shouldn’t I have? He’d been nothing but nice--flirtatious, even!--with me when we’d first met and hung out that day. He’d bruised my leg! Didn’t that count for...I don’t know, something?
Anything?
“It’s just...” I trailed off, losing my nerve.
“Just what?” I could detect a trace of impatience in his voice and I sighed.
Did it matter what he thought of me at this point? He obviously preferred Pia and I might as well let him know I wouldn’t be a total pushover.
“I don’t know what your problem is,” I snapped, the bite in my voice surprising both of us. “You’re all nice to me the night we met, rescuing me from Jeff at the bonfire, and you’re even nicer the next day when we’re hanging out. You keep asking me to do things, saying all the right stuff, and then it’s just like...bam! You’re done with me as soon as the next shiny toy comes along.”
“That toy being...?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Really? You have to ask?”
He looked at me and shrugged. “Yeah, I have to ask.”
“I know you haven’t already moved on from Pia.” I said her name as if it was a contagious disease.
“Moved on from...” he trailed off. “Pia? I’m not interested in Pia.”
“Yeah. Obviously not.” I shook my head. If Anthony wasn’t even going to be straight with me, what was the point?
He shook his head. “I don’t know where you’re getting this, Lexie. Because I’m nice to her? That doesn’t mean I want her.”
“Oh, please. Guys always want her.”
Anthony held up his hands, palms facing the dark night sky. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not one of them.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Honestly? I don’t want anything but to have a good time this summer. I’m going to school in the fall, you’re going to school in the fall, she’s going to school in the fall. I just want to enjoy this last summer before college, you know?”
I nodded, but I didn’t know. I wanted to have a good time, too, but I wanted more than that. How could he be so cavalier about his expectations for the summer?
“It’s like...whatever happens happens,” he went on. “And I’m not interested in anything serious, so I’m sorry if I somehow gave you that impression. And I didn’t mean to give it to Pia, either. Guess I have to talk to her, too.”
I smiled, comforted by the thought that Anthony didn’t prefer Pia to me and that he was a decent enough guy to tell her that straight to her face. And mine.
“Okay,” I said. “No big deal.”
He raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t quite believe me, but was nice enough not to press the issue.
“Then are we good?” he asked me. “Because I like hanging out with you. I don’t want that to go away.”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “Me neither.”
“Okay.” He sighed. “Good.”
We walked up to Tack Jordan’s front porch and Anthony tried the door. Finding it unlocked, we walked into his house and up a maze of staircases to the rooftop pool. It was probably the only private pool on all of Fresh Water Island and as much as I loved my third-floor balcony, if Grandma and Poppy said they’d rather put a swimming pool up there, I don’t think I’d complain too much.
Gianna was already there, standing off to the side, holding a red plastic cup and talking to Joey, who grinned back at her as she gestured wildly as only she could.
Pia sat on a ledge on the side of the pool by herself, but I watched as her eyes lit up when Anthony entered the room. Her fa
ce fell only slightly when I showed up right behind him.
“Ready to jump in?” Anthony asked me with a wicked grin as I pulled my blue swimsuit cover-up over my head.
He held out his hand to me and I smiled, taking it in mine. It felt warm and smooth and nice against my skin and I couldn’t help but shoot a sly smile in Pia’s direction. She glared at us through eyes as narrow as slits.
“One...two...!”
We didn’t get to three before Anthony jumped, pulling me with him. I shrieked as we flew through the air and hit the cold water with a splash.
Our hands separated underwater and when I came up for air and looked for him, my heart sank as he pulled himself up onto the ledge next to Pia. Her smile returned.
A few more people I didn’t recognize walked onto the patio and Joey left Gianna to greet them. She walked over to me and sat on the side of the pool, dangling her legs in the water.
“You didn’t tell me he was so nice,” she said.
I furrowed my brow. “Who?”
“Who? Girl, get it together. Joey, that’s who!”
I just stared at her. “Well, yeah, he’s nice. He’s my friend.”
Gianna rolled her eyes and sighed, obviously exasperated with me. “Not nice like that!”
“Huh?”
“Lexie!” she hissed. “He’s...you know...cute nice.”
“Cute nice?” I raised an eyebrow. “You mean you like him?”
She nodded excitedly. “I think so! I haven’t met a guy like him, well, ever.”
I didn’t say anything as I thought this over. Gianna and Joey? I liked it. Not only would it give me a leg up on Pia--it wasn’t like Gianna was about to start hanging out with her so I’d likely get more time with Joey--but it made sense. They were both Jersey through and through and they were both great people.
“Well, what are you doing over here? Go get him!”
Gianna sighed again. “This is why you’re hopeless, Lexie. He needs to come to me.”
I shrugged. “Okay.”
“I didn’t miss you walkin’ in with Anthony, though. What was that about?”
“It was good,” I said. “He just told me that he’s sorry I got the wrong idea about us, but he isn’t looking for anything serious this summer.”
Gianna snorted. “Anything serious with you, he means.”
“What? No. He said that about Pia, too.”
I followed her gaze to where Anthony and Pia were sitting close together against the ledge. His hands disappeared below the water and it was too dark to see where they’d landed. She didn’t look particularly sad, like he’d just told her that he wasn’t interested in anything but friendship with her.
I frowned.
“Doesn’t look that way to me,” she said.
“He said that!”
“Oh, I believe he said it,” she replied. “I just don’t believe he meant it.”
“Then why--”
“Because he’s a guy, Lexie.”
“And?”
“And he didn’t want to tell you that he isn’t into you. So he figures he tells you he just wants to hang out with you and Pia. That lets him spend time with both of you while he’s still tryin’ to get with her.”
“So he wants her.”
Gianna shrugged. “Probably. And he probably wants you, too, but you killed that when you told him you wanted more. He’s not going to deal with you if he thinks you’ll turn into a clinger.”
I glared at her. “I am not a clinger!”
“He doesn’t know that.”
I looked at them over my shoulder and saw that Anthony was now standing between her legs in the water and my cheeks reddened as if I’d walked in on something I shouldn’t have. I turned around.
“Sorry, Lexie,” Gianna said. “I know you want to think he’s a good guy and maybe he is, but he’s not the guy for you.” I didn’t say anything. “What now?”
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s just...I know he doesn’t want me, fine. But I don’t want him leading Pia on.”
“What? After what she did to you? Please. Girl’s got it coming.”
I shook my head. “If I know he’s just using her, I can’t let her make an idiot of herself.”
“Yes, you can. She won’t listen to you, anyway.”
“Of course she will! We’re best friends.”
Gianna rolled her eyes. “Before I list all of the reasons you’re not best friends, I’ll just tell you that there’s no way she believes you over him.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t say I understood it, just that I know how it is. You could be her sister, her very best friend, and she’d still choose to believe his words over yours. We see what we want to see, no matter how cloudy our vision is. She wants him to be into her. And before you get mad about it, just know that you’d do the same thing if you were her.”
I shook my head. “There’s no way.”
“Look, Anthony could be over there right now tellin’ her that he told you he isn’t into you anymore, that you won’t be in their way again. Do you really think you’d stand a chance after that?”
I sighed, but my protests were weaker now. “I guess not.”
Gianna nodded. “Definitely not. It’s not right, but it’s the way it is.”
A series of splashes followed by a sprinkling of pool water rained down on Gianna and me.
I spun around and saw that Joey and his three friends had jumped into the pool. Pia shot them a dirty look and reached up to fix her hair.
Joey glanced over in our direction and smiled. I didn’t think he was looking at me.
Anthony hoisted himself up out of the pool then and reached down to offer Pia a hand. She took it and despite my convictions that he meant nothing to me, my heart strings pulled slightly at the sight of their touch. Together, they walked to the darkest corner of the patio.
“Just ignore it,” Gianna said from behind me.
I sighed and forced myself to look away.
Anthony didn’t want Pia, I was sure of that, and despite what Gianna said, I couldn’t stand to see sit back and watch her get hurt.
ix.
“Thereyouarethereyouare!” Pia dropped down next to me, spraying my outstretched body with hot flecks of sand. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
I propped myself up on my elbows and gave her an odd look. We’d barely talked in the last few days. I’d guessed she’d come to me when Anthony finally told her the truth, but she sure didn’t look miserable.
“Did he...tell you?” I asked after a few seconds.
“Anthony, you mean?” Her eyes sparkled. “Yeah! Can you believe it? I finally have a boyfriend to replace Steve!”
You know how you always hear people say that time freezes when they receive certain news and you never really believe them--until it happens to you?
“You...I--boyfriend?”
Pia nodded eagerly. “Yeah! He asked me last night. It was so cute and perfect and I can’t believe it!”
“Who asked you?” I couldn’t shake the spinning confusion out of my head.
“Anthony,” she said, growing exasperated with me. “Who else? I’m so happy he moved into the duplex next to yours or else I never would’ve met him! And he’s amazing, Lexie, really amazing.”
“Boyfriend? I mean...didn’t he...didn’t he tell you?”
“That he really likes me? Yeah, he couldn’t stop saying it.”
“No...”
Pia apparently came back down to Earth for a few seconds. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I just...I talked to Anthony yesterday,” I said, unable to stop the words before they came pouring out. Gianna’s warning nagged at me from the back of my mind but it couldn’t fight its way forward in time to save me. “He said he doesn’t want anything serious.”
The smile on her face flickered but didn’t fall. “Yeah, that makes sense. He was talking to you.”
“No, but...we w
ere talking about you, too. We were talking in general.”
Pia shrugged. “Well, if it was just general, then it wasn’t about me.”
“It was!” I insisted. “He said he’s not looking for anything serious. He just wants to have fun this summer.”
“And he wants to have fun with me as his girlfriend. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Not when he said he doesn’t want a girlfriend!”
“Then why would he ask me to be his?”
Her question stopped me dead in my tracks. Truth be told, I had no idea why Anthony had apparently asked Pia to be his girlfriend, but I didn’t doubt that she was telling me the truth.
“I--I don’t know.”
“Exactly,” she replied with a triumphant smile. “There’s no reason. So why don’t you stop being jealous and be happy for me?”
“Pia,” I said. “He really...he really said all of those things. I’m just trying to help!”
But she’d already tuned me out, made up her mind that I was trying to ruin her happiness. “I know you liked him and it sucks that he didn’t pick you, Lexie, but that doesn’t mean--”
“Wait!” I said, eyes flashing, hardly able to believe what I’d just heard. “You knew that I liked him and you went after him anyway?”
I’d suspected it, but couldn’t believe it was really true.
Pia opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything, realizing her mistake.
“And,” I went on. “You have the nerve to tell me that this is my fault? I don’t care that Anthony likes you because I know he doesn’t want anything serious from you. And I thought I cared that you’re only going to get stomped on by him, but you know what? I don’t care. Do whatever you want. Date him, love him, whatever. But when you’re crying at the end of the summer and I’m happy, do us both a favor and come to me so I can tell you that I told you so.”
Her self-assured grin wavered. “I don’t need you, Lexie. I have Anthony now.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe you’d pick him over me. But it’s your choice. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”