Meet Me at the Boardwalk by Erin Haft Page A

single word of protest. She just busied herself in silence—turning our little bungalow back into the immaculate home it would have been if Dad were there to supervise. She’d even gone to Clement’s to pick up dish towels. But I couldn’t tell if she’d done that just to make me feel worse. I sort of doubted it. Like Sean, Turkey was suddenly cool. Why the hell wasn’t I? Her silence, in a way, was almost as disturbing to me as the fact that Megan hadn’t answered or returned the five phone calls I’d made, or the one final desperate text.
    meg, sorry & luv u. please forgive me for ruining ur summer. if u can.
    I regretted pressing send as soon as I’d…well, pressed send. Of all the things I am least a fan of, in no particular order: 1) Evil spiked punch home-brewed by Miles’s new tourist girlfriend, 2) Text shorthand, 3) Corniness, and 4) Lame apologies.
    Sunday came and went without a peep from Megan.
    Surprisingly, though, Sean Edwards called me. We’d said a stunned, awkward good-bye on Saturday night. But hecalled on Sunday to see how I was doing, and the sound of his deep voice and easy laugh instantly comforted me. And I found myself thinking, Sean lives year-round in D.C. That’s not so far. We could do weekends …
    Then I got a grip. I couldn’t date Sean, the tourist whom Megan had kissed. Things were feeling incestuous enough already.
    When I got to the boardwalk on Monday morning, Miles was already there, tooling around on his skateboard. Aside from him, the boardwalk was deserted. I don’t think I’d ever seen the sky so bright blue at this hour in the summer. There was a post-rainstorm chill in the air, too. It felt a lot more like October than July…fitting, I suppose. There’s nothing like a little early fall depression to get the juices flowing. Miles wore a black Windbreaker and black wool cap, pulled so tightly over his blond hair that only a few wisps poked out from the back.
    “Getting an early start on the day, are we?” I asked with big phony cheer. Dumb humor was about the only thing I could turn to at this point.
    “Ha, ha.” He didn’t even look at me. He twirled once more on his board, and then kicked it up into his hands and turned toward the beach. The morning sun lit up his face like a giant golden spotlight.
    “Okay, why are you so grumpy?” I asked. “You’re the one with the hot new girlfriend, right?”
    He whirled around, his jaw twitching. “She’s not mygirlfriend. But I will say this: At least, we didn’t break into her dad’s mansion and have sex on their couch.”
    My stomach plummeted. “I did not…I did not…”
    “Have sexual relations with that person?” Miles said. “Please, Jade, you’re a lousy liar. Lying is not your specialty.”
    “Miles, please, let me just explain—”
    “Explain what ?” he shouted. “You stole Megan’s keys and you hooked up with a lame tourist who you’ve been ragging on for your entire LIFE! And you got Megan fired in the process. Congratulations. I guess you really do hate this town.”
    My eyes began to sting. My throat worked convulsively, but I couldn’t manage to swallow. “Miles,” I gasped. “I feel like crap for getting Meg fired. But I didn’t have sex with Sean Edwards. We made out a little, just like you made out with Lily-Ann. Also, Sean Edwards really isn’t all that lame. He’s a good guy. Really.”
    Miles blinked at me.
    “What else do you want me to say?” I asked. I’d cried, or come close to crying, way too many times in the last forty-eight hours. “Megan offered me the keys, just so you know. Not that it’s an excuse or makes anything better, but she told Sean and me to go to their house and watch Twelve Apes .”
    Miles cracked a grin and stared back out at the ocean. “ Twelve Monkeys .”
    “Oh.” I almost smiled. “Well, we never got a chance to watch the movie.”
    For a minute or two we were both silent. It actually could have been an hour, or it could have been