One Last Time

by Beth Reekles

  May pulled a notepad from her apron and a pen from behind her ear and handed them over. “Here. Jot down your name and your email. I’ll send you over a contract and get in touch about a start date. Chances are it’ll be in just a couple days.”

  “That’d be amazing,” I gushed. “Thank you so much, May, thank you. You won’t regret this.”

  “Hmm, I’d better not.”

  “Yes! Yes, absolutely. Thanks again, May!”

  After giving May my details, I joined Lee to double-check we’d included everything on our order for the kitchen, and we counted out our cash and tip. I felt on top of the world.

  I practically floated back to the car. I slammed the door behind me and wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel, beaming.

  All the stress, all the hassle trying to get a job last year, all that worrying about money earlier, and just like that. It was that easy.

  Maybe I’d been wrong earlier. It wasn’t that I’d rushed into the choice between colleges or didn’t think it through, and it wasn’t that I’d been too eager to suggest the bucket list. Maybe this was all exactly how it should be. Maybe everything was working out perfectly.

  I felt weightless. Exhilarated. Exactly like I’d felt when I launched myself into the air from the cliffs a few hours ago. Everything was working out perfectly. And I would make sure it stayed that way.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Noah caught me doing Wonder Woman poses in the bathroom later that evening.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, a smirk creeping onto his face to find me standing there in my pajamas, legs planted shoulder width apart, hands firmly on my hips, shoulders back, chin up, and, to top it off, a confident “you got this” stare at my reflection.

  I kept the pose but broke into a smile and caught his eye in the mirror. “I’m power-posing.”

  “Riiiiiiight…”

  “Amanda told me about it,” I said, twisting now to face him. “She sent me all these videos on Instagram about it. She said she was going through, like, a phase or something, so I thought I’d try it. See, you do this”—I demonstrated for him, re-creating the pose with deliberate actions—“and it makes you feel like your best self, like you could take on anything.”

  Noah raised an eyebrow at me. His lips pressed into a thin line and a muscle jumped in his jaw—but not because he was annoyed; he was trying not to laugh.

  “I’m serious!” I said. I grabbed each of his hands in turn and placed them on his hips, then used my feet to nudge his legs apart. I pressed on his shoulders and tilted his chin up. “Noah Flynn, tell me you do not feel more confident.”

  Once I stepped back to admire the effect and prove my point, I immediately cracked up. The sight of my tall, broad-shouldered boyfriend, with his shirt off, showing a set of defined abs (although, admittedly, rather less well-defined since his freshman year of college) and his muscled arms…

  Yeah, it was pretty hilarious.

  “You’re right,” he told me, deadly serious. “I am a confident, independent young woman who got into Harvard. I’m basically Legally Blonde.”

  I laughed, swatting at his arm as he dropped the pose. “Her name was Elle Woods, which I know you know, because your mom loves that movie, so don’t pretend you don’t.”

  “Guilty.” He held up his hands and then leaned in the doorway, crossing his arms. “You looked totally confident, for the record. Especially in that Mickey Mouse shirt I’m pretty sure you’ve had since you were, like, thirteen.”

  He probably wasn’t wrong. It used to be a nightie, once upon a time.

  “So why are you power-posing in the bathroom mirror?”

  “Because I can take on anything. I mean, I got a job today. An actual job. Do you know how many jobs I applied for last year? And then I just walk into Dunes and, bam, May gives me one, just like that. This is my summer. I mean—it’s our summer. Plus, you know, the whole ‘getting into Harvard, making my dad proud’ thing. It just feels like everything’s coming together, you know?”

  Noah wasn’t an easy guy to read, but I liked to think I knew him better than most people, and I got the distinct impression that he was doing his best not to tell me that May only gave me the job because she liked me or felt bad for me or something.

  “You’re right,” he told me instead after a moment, his voice soft. “Everything’s coming together.”

  Noah straightened up from the doorway to pull me into his arms. I loved the way his arms wrapped around me, the way he smelled—always like that citrus bodywash he used. My heart fluttered and I was already moving onto my tiptoes to kiss him, my lips finding his so easily.

  The first time we kissed, Noah had sent me spinning. The second time we’d kissed, back at his house in the kitchen, it had been clumsy and awkward and our teeth had knocked together. The first time we had sex, it was fumbling and eager and sweet.

  There was a familiarity to being with Noah now. I knew the feel of his arms around me, of his tongue running across my lower lip, of his skin against mine. He knew the spot on my neck that made me melt, and the one that tickled and made me squirm and giggle. I knew he liked it when I stood behind him and hooked my arms around him, because he secretly kinda liked being the little spoon sometimes; he thought it was funny and cute.

  There was a familiarity to it, but my pulse still raced and the rest of the world still disappeared around us, just like that first time we kissed.

  We stumbled out of the bathroom, back toward the bed, tangled up in each other and barely even breaking apart long enough to catch our breath.

  I would never get tired of this, I thought.

  I would never get tired of lying snuggled into his side either. My head nestled into the crook of his neck, my hand tracing patterns on his chest. Noah’s fingers dragged slowly through my hair.

  “This is nice,” I told him. It was only day two of our summer at the beach house, but: “I could do this all summer. Or longer. No going home in the morning to get a change of clothes or do chores, no ‘only for the weekend’ while you’re home from college, just…”

  I trailed off with a sigh.

  “I guess it is longer than only this summer, though,” I carried on. “You know, like you said about us maybe living together next year.”

  Noah was quiet.

  Maybe a little too quiet.

  My hand stilled against his chest. Hadn’t he been talking about us maybe living together just a couple of days ago? Had I gotten it completely wrong somehow? Was it because I’d taken his side of the bed?

  “Elle?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You didn’t…I mean, you didn’t pick Harvard just because of me, right?”

  “Someone’s full of himself,” I said, trying to joke and desperately trying to ignore the uneasiness gnawing at the back of my mind. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously an added bonus that you’re there, but…no, Noah. I maybe applied because you were there, but I didn’t pick it because of you.”

  He let out a long, deep sigh. “Okay. Yeah. I mean, obviously. Sure.”

  “Let me guess,” I said, tilting my head back to raise my eyebrows at him. “Amanda?”

  “Rachel, actually. We were talking about you and Lee doing this whole bucket-list thing and you not going to Berkeley, and…I don’t know, I guess she just got me thinking that…”

  “That my life revolves around you?”

  “That maybe you put me and Lee and your brother and your dad in front of yourself sometimes,” he said quietly, unusually serious, sounding so at odds with my chilled-out mood from a moment ago.

  Now it was my turn to be quiet for a little too long.

  “I don’t do that.”

  “Well, yeah, I…I know, and I’m not trying to say…”

  “So what are you trying to say, Noah?” I snapped, sitting up now,
resting back on my ankles and fixing him with a hard look.

  Noah sighed again, but this time he was more exasperated. He kept his eyes on the opposite wall, and I saw him clench his jaw before taking a deep, quiet breath and looking back at me again. He reached to squeeze my hand, and even though he smiled, it looked a little forced. “Nothing, Elle. It doesn’t matter.”

  It felt like it so obviously did matter, but…

  Honestly, I didn’t want to fight with him right now.

  So I let it go and snuggled back into his side, and he kissed the top of my head.

  “I was thinking we could go to the beach tomorrow,” he said softly, almost cautiously. “Hang out for a couple hours before we have to get started on some of Mom and Dad’s chores. Have you seen the list my mom emailed us? And I thought this summer was gonna be relaxing.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it. And sure, beach sounds good.”

  I knew it was an olive branch, but I was willing to take it. After all, we were only on day two of our summer living together at the beach house. No way was I going to pick a fight so soon, especially when it sounded like he was just trying to look out for me—in his own weird way.

  “I really am looking forward to you being at Harvard, Elle,” he told me.

  “You’d better be, jerk.”

  But I turned around and leaned up to kiss him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A couple days later, I had my first shift at Dunes. I got a uniform and May started me off slow. It wasn’t too tricky to get the hang of being a server—and it helped that I knew their menu inside and out. I spilled a couple drinks onto trays, but May didn’t seem to mind.

  “Happens to everyone at first,” she told me. “And, hey, at least you didn’t spill one on a customer! I did that when I first started waitressing.”

  “The day is young, May, the day is young. Please don’t jinx me.”

  I had to go back home on Friday to look after Brad—and Levi was away with his family for a long weekend, so we didn’t get to hang out, which sucked. It was a little weird to be going back home but not staying.

  I wondered if this was how it would feel after I left for college, whenever I’d visit home. This feeling of home being so temporary all of a sudden.

  We were only halfway through our first week living at the beach house, and Lee and I had already managed to tick a couple things off the Lee and Elle’s Epic Summer Bucket List. We’d gone cliff jumping, and Levi had sent us a picture of some flyer he’d seen at the 7-Eleven for a hot-air-ballooning experience. Plus, Brad could already swim without floaties, so we were off to a great start.

  We’d also managed to go dirt biking thanks to a Groupon his mom had found, and we joined in a Saturday-afternoon pie-eating contest—which we won, of course—between my shift at Dunes and a date night with Noah.

  As great as it was to spend quality time with Lee and work through the bucket list, it was also amazing to be able to curl up next to Noah in bed each night and wake up next to him. It was a hot summer, but I still snuggled into the warmth of his body each morning for a few minutes before I had to get up and start the day.

  And we’d only had a couple of arguments.

  That was nothing new. Noah and I had always bickered, and these arguments were way less serious than the college talk we’d had in bed the other night. Now we just fought over whether the window stayed open or closed while we slept, or Noah finishing all the Cheerios, or when he stepped on one of my earrings and broke it. (Noah was mad because he’d stepped on the earring with a bare foot. I was mad because it wasn’t like it was that hard to see and, you know, he’d broken it.) We’d fight over what to watch on TV, who got the last slice of pizza.

  Right now he groaned as my third alarm went off and I smashed my thumb at the screen to silence it, dropping my phone back onto the nightstand.

  “What time is it?” he mumbled, dragging his face out of the pillow.

  “Six thirty-six.”

  Noah’s rough, husky morning voice and the way he smacked his lips together and wriggled his mouth around did way more to wake me up than any of my three alarms had done. His arm reached out, wrapping around my waist and tugging me in close. His hair was sticking up on one side and I giggled, brushing it flat with my fingers. Noah’s lips found mine in a soft, lingering kiss and I melted against him. Our legs wrapped together and his nose nuzzled into mine.

  “Are you sure you have to get up?”

  “Mmm-hmm. I’ve gotta bake a bunch of cupcakes before my shift for a bake sale that Brad’s baseball camp is having—”

  “You’re baking?”

  “I picked up a couple tips, hanging out with Levi all the time.”

  Noah scoffed.

  “Fine. Levi dropped a bunch off at the house last night and I have to decorate them. And then Lee and I have some bucket-list plans.”

  Noah sighed. “Of course you do.”

  “But I’ll be back this evening. I was thinking maybe we could go hang out on the beach for a little while? Take a picnic or something. And you can always come with us, you know.”

  Noah shook his head, pressed another kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Nah, I don’t wanna interfere. The bucket list is your guys’ thing. But a picnic sounds like a great idea. Maybe you can hold back a couple of those cupcakes for us?”

  I grinned. My alarm began to sound again, so I gave Noah a brief last kiss before shutting it off and climbing out of bed. “Now, that I can do.”

  It didn’t take me too long to get dressed, and I’d already packed my work uniform into a backpack for later. Noah had gone back to sleep but woke up enough to reach out, catch my hand, and pull me back for a kiss goodbye. “Have a good day. I love you.”

  “Love you too, lazybones.”

  The beach house was so quiet as I went into the kitchen that I could hear the sea. A breeze rustled through the trees outside. The pipes in the house creaked.

  I’d never known it to be so quiet.

  I tried to keep the noise down as I fixed myself some cereal and was so focused on planning the logistics of my day that I didn’t even notice someone coming into the room until Lee waved his hand in my face and said, “Uh, hello? Earth to Elle?”

  I jumped, my heart racing. “Jesus, Lee! Don’t creep around like that!”

  He gave me a sleepy grin and took the cereal from the counter, shoving his hand in and eating it straight from the box. I realized then that he was dressed. Not that he’d combed his hair, though. It was in even more of a state than Noah’s had been.

  “What’re you doing up?”

  Lee gave me a flat look, still shoveling cereal into his mouth. “Shelly, those thirty million alarms you set probably woke up the whole goddamn beach. I figure if we rush the cupcakes, we might be able to have the brain freeze–off on your way to work. Besides, we both know you’re the world’s shittiest baker and you’re gonna need help. Even if it’s just the decorating.”

  “I like your style. But I thought you were gonna be here to deal with that guy who’s redoing the driveway?”

  “Noah can deal with that.”

  Lee was still sleepy, so we took my car. Dad was about to leave for work when we got to my house, so we didn’t chat for long. He’d texted every day to check in and see how things were going, but he asked us again now anyway.

  “It’s great!” Lee enthused. “Having the place to ourselves is killer. Although Shelly and Noah seem to find something new to argue about every day,” he added with a laugh.

  Dad frowned at me. “You didn’t say you and Noah had been fighting.”

  “We’re not!” I told him, smacking my so-called best friend across the arm and shooting him a glare. “Well, I mean…kind of, but…but when haven’t we argued about stuff? Everything’s great. I promise.”

  “Hmm” was all my dad had
to say about it. “Well, I’ve gotta head to work. Thanks again for helping out with Brad’s bake sale, bud. And say thanks to Levi again. He’s a good kid—wouldn’t even take any money off me for them.”

  “I’ll let him know.”

  “Well, have a good day at work. And don’t forget I need you to pick Brad up tomorrow from—”

  “Yeah, Dad, I know. I’m the one who put the Post-its on the refrigerator, remember?”

  After he was gone, I shoved Lee’s head before getting to work. A couple of Tupperware containers were stacked in the kitchen. Three were filled with cupcakes; the fourth had everything we’d need to decorate them. While I set up a workstation, Lee made us both some coffee.

  That didn’t stop me being mad at him, though, even just a little.

  “Thanks for that,” I huffed. “We don’t fight.”

  “I have never known anyone to yell over a toothbrush,” Lee told me, getting out a mixing bowl and some utensils. “A toothbrush, Shelly.”

  “It was over toothpaste,” I corrected him, sticking my chin in the air. “And don’t tell me you and Rachel don’t argue about stupid stuff like that.”

  “Nope.”

  “What do you mean, nope? I’ve heard you guys…” I trailed off as I thought it over. Thinking about it, it wasn’t so much arguing as…“Okay, well, you have disagreements.”

  “No, what we have is Rachel pointing out when I’ve done something stupid. Like leaving the toilet seat up or using her journal as a coaster.”

  “That’s totally the same thing.”

  Lee scrunched up his face in a way that said, Yeah, no, it’s kind of not.

  “Shut up,” I told him. “Okay, I’m going to frost these cupcakes here in blue, and you’re going to do those ones in white.”

  “Remind me why you didn’t just ask Levi to do this part, too? He loves this kinda thing, and you know his little sister would’ve loved to help out.”

  “Because,” I snapped. I was still a little irritated at him for saying I’d been fighting with Noah—and for questioning me on this now.