purposely bumping shoulders with Kristi as I walk by. “Happy birthday!” she shouts over the music. I grin and mouth thanks, rocking my hips to the beat as I walk. I can’t help myself—I feel on top of the world. It’s all for me.
The clock on the wall reads ten forty as I pull another beer from the ice-filled sink. I try to look out the windows as I twist the top, but the crowd obliterates the view. It’s pitch-black out there anyway.
Sienna used my sixteenth birthday as an excuse to throw her biggest party yet. Streamers twist their way across the ceiling, crisscrossing to create an almost circus-tent-like feel. School started two weeks ago, and we all want to pretend it hasn’t, that the summer will just keep going.
Steven walks into the room with Cole, his best friend. His back is to me for a moment as the two of them talk. A girl walks up and catches Cole’s attention. She smiles and punches his arm. He laughs, and then Steven turns away, walking toward me. He’s wearing board shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt, his skin glowing with the tan he’d gotten over the long summer. He’s the kind of guy who everyone notices. One of his friends reaches out, and they bump knuckles. He’s spent three years on the football team. That’s all it takes to be well-known at Cedar Cove High.
Steven’s eyes light up when he spots me, making me feel warm all over. The last couple of months, things have been shifting between the two of us. It’s like he’s finally noticing me when I’ve been here all along. I can’t stop myself from the intense hope that he might be harboring the same feelings I have for him.
“Hey,” he says, stopping right in front of me. Inches away. He leans in to be heard over the music, his breath warm on my ear. “Having fun?”
I nod and take a swig of my beer. I can’t think of anything witty to say, so I take another drink, and then another, and soon I’ve emptied the bottle. I drop it down on the counter with a hollow thunk. Even after all these years, how is it that he makes me so nervous?
Steven leans even closer as he reaches to grab a beer from the bucket behind me, and my body temperature shoots up a few more degrees. “Do you want to go up to the deck?”
I’m not sure if he spoke the words or breathed them, right into my ear. He produces two beers and hands me one, nodding his head toward the staircase. Condensation trails down the amber glass as I take it from his hand.
I follow him through the house, leaving the thumping base beat behind, along with the forty or so classmates that fill the bottom floor. As we ascend the steps, I can’t stop staring at the spot where his navy-andred board shorts meet his lower thighs. Steven leads me through a den with dark leather furniture and teak bookshelves, then onto the balcony that overlooks the ocean.
As the door slides open, desire shoots through me, like nothing I’ve ever felt.
But it isn’t just for Steven.
It’s for the ocean, too. It’s in plain sight now, swelling and flowing under the dark. All I can see is the white froth against a black backdrop. A breeze, balmy for September, whips across the deck and then dies.
Tingling waves trail up and down my limbs. It’s as if the ocean is right there on the deck with me, whispering in my ear, calling my name. I watch the waves, entranced. Swimming is the only thing I want.
No, it’s swimming and Steven, both all at once.
I stop in the door as Steven plunks down on a wooden Adirondack chair, popping the top on his beer and taking a slow drink. When he sets the bottle on the armrest, condensation trickles down, pooling on the red cedar boards. I stare at his fingers where they grip the bottle. My gaze lingers on his arm, then moves up to his thick biceps. He’s spent three years on the football team. And it shows.
The scene in front of me, him waiting with a warm smile, patting the chair beside him, is everything I’ve ever wanted, but for some reason it’s not
The clock on the wall reads ten forty as I pull another beer from the ice-filled sink. I try to look out the windows as I twist the top, but the crowd obliterates the view. It’s pitch-black out there anyway.
Sienna used my sixteenth birthday as an excuse to throw her biggest party yet. Streamers twist their way across the ceiling, crisscrossing to create an almost circus-tent-like feel. School started two weeks ago, and we all want to pretend it hasn’t, that the summer will just keep going.
Steven walks into the room with Cole, his best friend. His back is to me for a moment as the two of them talk. A girl walks up and catches Cole’s attention. She smiles and punches his arm. He laughs, and then Steven turns away, walking toward me. He’s wearing board shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt, his skin glowing with the tan he’d gotten over the long summer. He’s the kind of guy who everyone notices. One of his friends reaches out, and they bump knuckles. He’s spent three years on the football team. That’s all it takes to be well-known at Cedar Cove High.
Steven’s eyes light up when he spots me, making me feel warm all over. The last couple of months, things have been shifting between the two of us. It’s like he’s finally noticing me when I’ve been here all along. I can’t stop myself from the intense hope that he might be harboring the same feelings I have for him.
“Hey,” he says, stopping right in front of me. Inches away. He leans in to be heard over the music, his breath warm on my ear. “Having fun?”
I nod and take a swig of my beer. I can’t think of anything witty to say, so I take another drink, and then another, and soon I’ve emptied the bottle. I drop it down on the counter with a hollow thunk. Even after all these years, how is it that he makes me so nervous?
Steven leans even closer as he reaches to grab a beer from the bucket behind me, and my body temperature shoots up a few more degrees. “Do you want to go up to the deck?”
I’m not sure if he spoke the words or breathed them, right into my ear. He produces two beers and hands me one, nodding his head toward the staircase. Condensation trails down the amber glass as I take it from his hand.
I follow him through the house, leaving the thumping base beat behind, along with the forty or so classmates that fill the bottom floor. As we ascend the steps, I can’t stop staring at the spot where his navy-andred board shorts meet his lower thighs. Steven leads me through a den with dark leather furniture and teak bookshelves, then onto the balcony that overlooks the ocean.
As the door slides open, desire shoots through me, like nothing I’ve ever felt.
But it isn’t just for Steven.
It’s for the ocean, too. It’s in plain sight now, swelling and flowing under the dark. All I can see is the white froth against a black backdrop. A breeze, balmy for September, whips across the deck and then dies.
Tingling waves trail up and down my limbs. It’s as if the ocean is right there on the deck with me, whispering in my ear, calling my name. I watch the waves, entranced. Swimming is the only thing I want.
No, it’s swimming and Steven, both all at once.
I stop in the door as Steven plunks down on a wooden Adirondack chair, popping the top on his beer and taking a slow drink. When he sets the bottle on the armrest, condensation trickles down, pooling on the red cedar boards. I stare at his fingers where they grip the bottle. My gaze lingers on his arm, then moves up to his thick biceps. He’s spent three years on the football team. And it shows.
The scene in front of me, him waiting with a warm smile, patting the chair beside him, is everything I’ve ever wanted, but for some reason it’s not
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