Love the One You're With by Cecily von Ziegesar

almost
too
easy. “Sure.”
    Owen took off his shirt and stood. Already, Elsie had scampered over to the oval hot tub that overlooked the ocean.
    “So, I have this buddy, Rhys,” Owen said as he slid onto the bench of the hot tub. “He’s from New York too, and I know he
     wants to meet new people. You mentioned your friend, who was sleeping in. Is she—”
    “Oh my God, Issy’s a right tart. It’s brilliant! They’ll love each other. And then we can also do… whatever you’d fancy.”
     Elsie grinned mischievously.
    Owen wasn’t totally sure what Elsie was saying, but it sounded suspiciously like she was already whoring out her bestie to
     Rhys. A little more forward than he was used to, but wasn’t that the vacation spirit? He looked down and saw a rainbow-colored
     piece of fabric floating in the hot water. Elsie grinned at him, like they were sharing a secret. Had she just taken her
bathing suit
off? This was the Caribbean, not Europe—was that even allowed?
    Somehow, I don’t think she’s the type to be concerned.
    “Well, then, should we get it done and dusted tonight, then?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
    “I can’t tonight,” Owen said, remembering their family dinner. “But tomorrow for sure.”
    “Brilliant!” Elsie leaned back, her possibly naked chest and who knew what else concealed underwater. “Tomorrow, then.”
    Tomorrow, tomorrow—it’s only a day away!

love game
    “Do you think it’s weird that I’ve never really had a boyfriend?” Avery asked, her eyes flicking away from her
W
magazine.
    Baby and Avery had spent the morning on the beach, where Baby was reading the
Bitch
magazine she’d bought and trying not to think about Riley. She hadn’t been able to sleep last night and had stayed up staring
     at the ceiling, replaying their almost-kiss in her head. It was sheer torture knowing he was sleeping in the villa right next
     door, but that she couldn’t go to him—not now, or ever.
It’s not right,
she told herself now, as she had a million times over the course of the last twenty-four hours. Layla seemed like a nice
     person. She liked Layla. So she was going to just forget about Riley, as hard as that seemed at this very moment. The one
     thing that made it all easier was knowing that after Sunday, she’d probably never see him again.
    “Okay, random.” Baby perched her vintage Marimekko-style sunglasses on top of her head and closed her magazine. Normally,
     she couldn’t stand lying on the beach doing nothing. She wanted to run, to jump, to explore. But after her sleepless night,
     it felt good to just do nothing. “No, I don’t think it’s weird. It only adds to your mystique,” Baby decided.
    “I don’t
want
mystique.” Avery shifted on the chair so the sun was falling on her totally flat stomach. She frowned down and squeezed a
     minuscule amount of skin. “Do you think I’m fat?”
    “Okay, you’ve been hanging out with Jack for
way
too long.” Baby rolled her eyes. Of course Avery wasn’t fat. She was tall and she wasn’t stick-thin, but she always fit into
     a size two or four.
    Which, compared to Baby’s size zero, could make any girl feel fat.
    “No, it’s just I don’t understand….” Avery sighed in frustration as she let the sentence trail off. Why hadn’t Rhys
done
anything yesterday? Last night after dinner, they’d all gone for a swim. She’d been wearing her orange Eres bikini and had
     practically been sticking out her chest in front of him, a
very
un-Avery-like move, and still, nothing. Was he not attracted to her? Was their flirtation all in her head?
    All of a sudden, she didn’t want to talk about it with Baby. She wouldn’t understand. Guys fell all over her all the time,
     even when she hadn’t brushed her hair or changed her clothes or washed her face. Right now, she was wearing a blue halter
     bikini top and baggy Brooklyn Industries shorts and still, three guys running past had given her the once-over. It was