Page 91 of Class Clown

“Again, I’ve never seen him simply sit on the beach like that.”

She closed her eyes and stretched her legs out until they were hanging off the end of her green paisley towel. “Is he uptight?”

“Not uptight, no, but not relaxed. More like vigilant. I’ve never been vigilant a day in my life,” I joked.

“I know. That’s probably why you have such a problem with breaking all watercraft protocols.”

At that both of us got the giggles, and it felt amazing to lay on the sand, with the mountain sun beating down on us, and give over to laughter.

Friday arrived too soon, and it was time for Aryn and Meredith to head back to Utah. They were leaving early, due to the long drive, and I helped them lug their things to Aryn’s car while the sun was still rising in the sky.

We’d had the best time together and I was so grateful they’d come.

We loaded Aryn’s trunk and then they surprised me by not jumping straight into the car, but by walking with me to the camp fire area and sitting down on the log benches, facing me.

“Is this about me hiding fake snakes in your bed last night?” I asked.

Meredith shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean you should rest easy yourself.”

“Payback is no walk in the park,” Aryn agreed.

Meredith slapped her hands against her knees. “This is about Nico and how you have our blessing to let the feelings between you flow.”

Surprised, my eyes grew big and I looked to Aryn. “That was, almost romantic.”

Aryn grinned. “She is in a relationship, you know. I think she actually has feelings.”

“I have a lot of feelings. I just keep most of them to myself, which is refreshing in this world of oversharing,” Meredith huffed.

I smiled. “Does this mean I can start expecting you to . . .”

Meredith held up a hand. “Don’t even finish that sentence, because the answer is no. Brooks gets any of the nice feelings I have in my heart, and it’s a limited supply.”

Aryn and I laughed.

“Anyhow,” Meredith called us back to the task at hand, “I may not be lovey-dovey, but I am logical and observant, and Nico is genuine in his feelings for you. I don’t see a risk there.”

Nerves tickled up the back of my throat, and rather than respond, I looked to Aryn.

She nodded. “It’s true, Rubes. He’s really, really sweet. We watched him serve you so many times, dozens of little things you may not have even noticed.”

“Like what?” I pushed out over the dryness in my mouth.

“Like, bringing you a towel at the lake, giving you his cookie at lunch, making you hot tea at night, and then washing the mug after you drink it. He takes really short showers, and mentioned trying to save you hot water because you don’t like it cold,” Aryn said warmly.

“Don’t forget that on that really cold night he warmed up a heat pad to put inside your comforter before you got into bed,” Meredith added. “He’s really into you.”

“He told me that after the summer is over, he’ll be looking for work and he’s thinking about going to college,” Meredith said. “Both of those things could happen in Utah. Near you. We do live like five minutes away from a state university.”

Shocked that he’d confided so much in Meredith, my eyebrows shot up. “I can’t ask him to uproot his life.”

“Sure you could,” Meredith replied. “We talked and I think he’d be open to it.”

I blinked at her. “You talked to him about moving to Utah to be with me?”

She shook her head and made a face. “I’m not a total dummy. I didn’t hit him with it straight. I grilled him about his future plans and he said he was open to exploring new areas and applying to a few different colleges.”

“Why were you grilling him?”

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