by Tabatha Kiss
“Right.”
“Not that it would matter if I wasn’t okay with it,” I say, my tongue feeling heavy in my mouth. “It’s not like I’m… anybody special.”
“Don’t be too sure of that.”
Oh, but I am.
Otherwise…
I pause in the doorway, biting my cheek as unstoppable words crawl up my throat. “Drew, can I ask you something?” I ask.
“Anything,” he says.
“Just out of curiosity. Hypothetically. Last night, if Seth weren’t my brother and I invited you in…”
“I would have gone in,” Drew answers right away. “I’d be all in.”
“Wow,” I whisper. I take a breath and hold it there as blood fills my cheeks. “Okay, then.” I turn into the hallway. “I guess I’ll see you around.”
Drew steps forward. “Heidi…”
“Don’t,” I say, holding up a hand. “This is okay.”
“It is?”
I smile, letting the warm pleasantness of the thought overtake the dreadful parts of it. “Well, we’ve been friends for less than a day and I’m already up a hundred bucks, so…” I shrug. “Yeah, I think it’s a good start.”
Drew laughs. “All right.”
I let my gaze slide down his glistening bare chest again. “See you Thursday,” I say.
“See you Thursday,” he repeats.
I step out into the hallway, then spin back around again. “Now, when you say a little skin, is that, like… above the waist skin or… below?”
Drew raises a brow. “Above,” he says.
“Great!” I say, stepping back again. “I was just checking. Bye.”
I escape down the hall before I get the chance to say anything stupid.
“Your syllabus says you don’t start full figure drawings until October.”
I freeze by the stairs and turn around. Drew stands in his doorway with one arm on the frame and a diabolic smirk on his mouth.
“Really?” I squeak.
“Yup.”
“And you…” I swallow. “You’re going to model for that, too?”
He nods. “Thinking about it.”
“Great!” I give a thumbs up. “That’s just… great.”
“Unless you have a problem with it.”
“No!” I wave a hand before casually putting it on my hip. “There’s no problem. What’s a little below the waist skin between friends? I mean, you… you live in a frat. You know what I’m talking about, right?”
He squints, amused.
I shift awkwardly, trying to figure out the correct way to bow out of this gracefully as my face melts off. “Bye,” I say.
“Bye, Heidi!”
I hustle down the stairs as quickly as I can, but I feel his eyes on me the entire time.
Chapter 14
Drew
“Oh, baby…”
“Jenna.”
“No, I get it now. I see what you like about him.”
“Stop.”
It takes every ounce of concentration in my body to keep pretending like I can’t hear them across the classroom. Heidi does a decent job of staying whisper-quiet, but Jenna doesn’t seem to give a crap who hears what comes out of her mouth.
Especially not me. Resting Prick Face.
Yes, I figured it out.
I sit on a stool in the center of the classroom, comfortably leaning forward with one arm on my knee and the other touching my forehead.
“Come on, Heidi. He’s showing you his,” Jenna teases. “You should show him yours.”
“Shh!”
My curiosity gets the best of me and I let myself peek at her on my left.
We make eye contact. Heidi’s lips twitch into an awkward smile. She bobs her head hello. I sit still. Sure, I’d like to wave, but that’s not part of the gig. That itch on my nose? Ignored. That tickle in my throat? Nope. That rumble in my gut that makes me feel like an asshole for crushing whatever hope she might have had for us after that kiss?
That one’s a little harder to shake off.
Friends. It’s for the best.
I look away, quickly finding that spot on the wall I usually focus on.
“Okay, so tomorrow, I want to hit the mall bright and early,” Jenna begins. “We need to find the perfect suits for the beach party tomorrow night.”
And my curiosity piques again.
“I have a swimsuit,” Heidi says, concentrating on her drawing.
“Uh, no. You have that horrific all black one-piece monstrosity. You need a two-piece.”
Yes, please.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No—”
“Heidi, can we please skip ahead to the bit where you realize I’m not letting you out of this and you just do what I tell you to do?”
Heidi sighs. “Fine. We’ll go shopping for suits tomorrow.”
“Two-piece?”
“Two-piece.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Are you just repeating what I’m saying now?”
“Pretty much.”
I bite my cheek until I taste blood.
Girls are hilarious.
Heidi makes eye contact with me and I realize that I’ve roamed away from my spot on the wall again. She slowly raises her charcoal pencil and points it at her ear, her way of silently asking me if I can hear every word they’re saying.
I look at my spot again.
Oh, yes.
I can.
Chapter 15
Heidi
I put my blue flannel shirt on over the white bikini top and instantly feel better. Sure, Jenna said I had to wear a two-piece, but she said nothing about me not being able to cover up. She said nothing about the bottom portion not being a pair of denim shorts, either.
Relationships are all about compromise and not accidentally flashing my big brother and all of his friends is a hill I’ll gladly die on.
And let’s not forget Drew. As if we ever could.
My bedroom door bursts open, and Jenna presents herself in her new swimwear.
“What do you think?” she asks, striking a pose.
I look down her body, nodding at the hot pink bikini that covers... just about all it legally has to.
“Nailed it,” I say.
“Oh, relax,” she says. “I’m bringing a cover-up. This is just for the possibility of taking a swim with one of your brother’s hot friends.”
“Hey, you do you.”
“And you...” She looks me up and down as she lounges on the edge of my bed. “You are definitely pulling it off.”
“Pulling what off?”
She snorts. “Oh, puh-leaze.”
I glance at my outfit. “What?”
“That oh-so-innocent, charmingly coy, girl-next-door thing radiating from your lady parts right now.”
“What are you talking about?”
She pouts her bottom lip and bats her thick eyelashes. “Oh, no, Drew,” she mocks. “We can’t! I’d never, ever, ever do anything to upset my big brother.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay.”
“I’m just a pretty, little virgin.” She sticks a finger in her mouth. “I don’t know nothing about men!”
“Jenna.”
She giggles. “You want to put it where?”
“Are you finished?”
Jenna drops the act and laughs. “By tomorrow morning, you’ll have him eating out of your palm like a loyal puppy. I’m not judging. In fact, I respect you more for it.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” I say. “I’m only going to this party because Seth and I want to start fresh. I probably won’t even say a word to Drew.”
“Heidi, a woman can look at a man, ask him upstairs, and have his pants off without ever muttering a single word. At that point, it’s recommended to provide some instruction. A clit doesn’t find itself, unfortunately.”
I snort. “Do you believe everything you say?”
“
Does water believe it’s wet? Facts are facts, honey.”
“Well, facts are facts and Drew and I are friends linked only by our mutual relationships with Seth and friends is all we shall ever be.”
Jenna stares at me for an extra long moment. “Sorry,” she says with a twitch. “I immediately tune out bullshit. What were you saying?”
A car honks outside. Then, again. And again.
I make note of the time. Sundown. “That’s probably them,” I say.
Jenna slides off the bed. “Just don’t be surprised when I’m right,” she says, poking me one last time in the doorway before exiting the room.
I don’t say a word. The last thing I need is to give her more opportunities to dispense her advice.
I step into my sandals and I pause by the mirror, taking one last look, but that quickly becomes three or four last looks.
“I’m not charmingly coy,” I mutter to myself.
With a sigh, I grab my sketchbook off the desk and make my way into the living room. Jenna has sheathed herself in her cover-up, one made of sheer black fabric that leaves everything visible anyway, but I’m not about to argue with something that was clearly done on purpose.
We step out together onto the porch where another round of honks greets us. Seth revs the engine on his orange truck, the carriage filled with coolers that I must assume are stocked with as much booze as possible. Drew sticks his head out the passenger window and slaps the outside of the door.
“Beach party!” they both shout. “Beach party!”
“Let’s go!” Drew shouts.
Seth honks some more. “Come on!”
I laugh as the shouts and honks intensify. Jenna and I approach the truck and Drew hangs out the open passenger door to give us room to squeeze into the back seat.
“Watch your step,” he says, offering his hand to Jenna.
“Thank you,” she says as she hoists herself up and slides in.
Drew turns to me and extends his hand. I reach up, desperately trying not to make eye contact with him as I try to pull myself in.
My sandal slips on the edge of the truck. I gasp as I fall backward, my mind flashing with all the various outcomes of this — all of which include me eating shit on the concrete.
Drew’s arm wraps around my back. “Whoa!” he says. He keeps his footing, somehow holding both of us up with one hand clinging to the roof. “You okay?”
Dammit. Of course.
Of course, this happened.
I look up at him, our faces only a few inches apart. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I say.
Those deep green eyes. That dimpled chin. That wicked smile.
Help.
Seth honks again. “Beach party!”
I snap out of it, quickly shuffling into the back seat. “You know, we have neighbors,” I scold Seth as I sit down with Jenna.
“And I’m sure they’re all very sad they can’t come.” Seth waits for Drew to hop back in and close the door. “Everybody buckled in?” he asks.
“Yes,” we all say as we strap in.
“Excellent.”
The wheels squeal loudly as he floors it down Shanty Row.
Jenna nudges my ribs, but I fight the urge to look at her and give her the satisfaction.
Facts are facts.
Water is wet.
And Drew and I aren’t friends.
We travel along the coast for at least thirty minutes. My gut rumbles the entire time. Sure, it’s more than a little awkward being confined to a vehicle with a guy you’ve made out with before, especially when your older brother (his best friend) is there picking fights with his self-appointed arch nemesis (your best friend).
“You are by far the worst driver I’ve ever seen,” Jenna says.
“Complaint acknowledged,” Seth says, obviously not caring.
“And this song sucks. Is there anything you can do correctly?”
“Okay.” Seth raises a hand, but keeps his eyes forward. “You can insult my driving, but you cannot insult this tune.”
“I can, I did, and I will again. Change it.”
“No.”
“It’s awful. How can you stand this?”
“It’s a classic.”
“It’s classically horrible.”
Seth says nothing as the volume inches upward.
“Wow!” Jenna shouts over it. “Real mature.”
“Heidi, please control your sidekick.”
“Sidekick?!”
I set my hand on her arm. “Jenna...”
“Honey, I ain’t no sidekick!”
“He’s baiting you.” I lean forward. “Seth, stop baiting her.”
“Oh,” he whines at me over his shoulder, “but it’s fun.”
I exhale hard. Some things never change.
Drew slaps Seth’s shoulder. He says nothing, but the volume of the music slowly falls back down to normal. At least someone’s able to reel him in. I can barely even handle Jenna by myself.
“We’re here!” Seth says.
I peek out the window as we roll up the long, winding driveway. The two-story house at the end of the drive is lit up with several cars already parked out front. The core friend group, I assume.
Seth parks the truck. “Welcome, ladies, to Casa de la... Rose Family... Beach House, or whatever.”
Jenna perks up. “This is your family’s house?”
Drew nods.
“Wicked cool,” she says with another purposeful nudge at my ribs.
“Yes,” Seth says. “And the most important rule of the beach house is that what happens at the beach house—”
“Stays at the beach house?” Jenna finishes over him, unimpressed.
Seth sighs. “Fun friend you brought with you, sis,” he says, sarcastic. “Tonight’s going to be a blast.”
I give Jenna a glare as she proudly grins at herself.
The guys hop out onto the sand. Drew turns back and tilts his seat forward for us as we climb out, once again offering his hand as assistance. I grab my sketchbook with one hand and take his palm with the other. A rush of heat travels up my elbow. I try to ignore it as I hop down, careful to land on both feet.
I take a wide step away from him and wait for Jenna to catch up.
Seth lowers the truck bed. “All right, everybody carries something. Come on.”
As I move to grab one of the smaller coolers, the front doors slide open on the house. Two guys walk out, both of whom I instantly recognize from the Delta Xi party.
Jenna hums. “Oh, baby...”
I look away from their exposed chests and test the cooler before I try to lift it.
“Oh, thank god,” one of them says.
Another rushes forward to help. “The food has arrived.”
“And the booze.” He pauses by the truck and looks at Seth. “Did you bring girl drinks? Please tell me you brought girl drinks.”
Seth nods as he taps the cooler I volunteered to carry. “I brought girl drinks,” he says.
“Yes! Thank you. Wilder won’t drink anything without the word moscato on it.” He looks at me with a tilted head. “I know you. How do I know you? Have we had sex?”
“No!” I blurt.
The other guy looks at me and grins widely. “It’s Stampy!” he says.
I pause. “Stampy?”
“Oh, shit! That’s right! Hi, Stampy.”
Again, I repeat, “Stampy?”
Jenna taps my arm. “Because the stamps,” she explains.
I cringe.
Of course, one of my more embarrassing public moments as of late has graced me with a nickname.
At least it’s not Sneezy.
I impulsively glance at Drew. He bounces his brow at me as he grabs a large cooler and easily lifts it off the bed.
Seth stands up in the truck and points at the guys as he names them. “Heidi, this is Corey and Devin.”
They bob their heads hello.
“Hi,” I say as I memorize their faces. Corey blond. Devin brown.
“That feller with the guitar over there is Harvey,” Seth adds, gesturing toward the guy just inside the house. “Ellie and Wilder are around here somewhere…”
I nod in acknowledgment. Harvey guitar. Ellie and Wilder… hot girls, probably.
“Everybody, this is my sister, Heidi,” he says, raising his voice. “Be nice, but not too nice. The other one is Jenna. I honestly don’t care how you treat her.”
Jenna flashes a wicked smile, but she, somehow, doesn’t retort.
“Stampy! Stampy! Stampy!”
Corey and Devin chant the name. They chant it for so long everyone else in the house comes out to inspect what’s happening.
Yup.
Tonight’s going to be a blast.
Chapter 16
Drew
She hasn’t looked at me all night. Not that I’ve spent this entire time staring at her or anything, but you’d think two people confined in a single space would make eye contact at least once over a few hours.
Heidi Newbury, however, seems determined to avoid me.
Hanging out around the grill while Devin and Corey cooked? Didn’t look once.
Passing each other in the kitchen while Wilder and Ellie tried to talk her into another glass of wine? Nada.
Gathered at the bonfire while Harvey strummed his guitar? Not one single glance in my direction.
But can I blame her? Can I really be surprised that she’s giving me the cold shoulder after the other day?
I should fix this, but...
How?
How do I get close to the one girl I can never get close to?
I come out of the bathroom to find everyone lounging around the kitchen, pecking away at what’s left of the food we brought along. This is usually the time the late night munchies kick in, followed slowly by everyone slinking away to nap until morning.
I scan the faces. “Where are Seth and Heidi?”
“Seth and who?” Corey asks.
“Stampy,” I say.
Boy, she must love that.
“Oh!” He points through the open doors. “Out by the bonfire last I saw.”
“Thanks.”
I escape outside, and the bonfire catches my eye in the dark. As I step closer, I make out Heidi sitting on the log with her sketchbook open on her lap. Seth lies on his back in the sand, passed out. I grin. She must have stayed behind to make sure he didn’t roll into the fire in his sleep or something.
