Page 50 of Banter & Blushes

"Afraid of messing up again, huh?" Maya said softly, no longer teasing, but serious. "Rebecca, you’re not perfect. No one is. And that last relationship was not entirely your fault. It takes two people to make things work. And if you really want him, then do something about it to stake your claim before someone else does."

I stared at her, her words sinking in slowly, my stomach twisting.I needed to make a decision. I needed to do it soon before the plane leaves.

I let out a long sigh. "I’m really messed up, aren’t I?"

Maya just smiled, softening a little. "Yeah, but you’re my messed-up friend. And I don’t think you’re the only one in this equation who’s afraid of taking the next step."

I took a long sip of my coffee, feeling like everything was spinning a little faster than I could catch up with.

Maya was right. Maybe it was time to face what I really wanted and shoot my shot.

But no matter what, I wasn’t going to let Mayaanywhere near Lucaalone.

Not in a million years.

BEACH DAY SHENANIGANS

LUCA

Ihad no idea what possessed me, but the moment I overheard Rebecca and Maya talking about going to the beach today, I couldn’t stop myself from practically bouncing in my seat. My first thought was,I need to go.My second thought was,Why not bring Joe along?Let’s be honest, if anyone was going to embarrass me in a spectacularly hilarious way, it was definitely going to be him. At least that would lighten up the mood if anything were to go awry.

“Joe,” I said, nudging him with my elbow as we sat on the terrace outside the restaurant. "Rebecca and Sophie are going to the beach today. I think we should go, you know, to...accidentallyrun into them."

Joe looked at me as if I’d just asked him to sign up for a marathon. “What, like justhappento be at the beach at the same time as them? You’re not that slick, Luca."

“Yeah, but we couldpretendwe’re not stalking them. You know, like, ‘Oh hey, fancy meeting you here!’” I said, grinning. “It’ll be funny.”

Joe raised his eyebrows, looking me up and down. “You do realize that’s not how you play it, right? You’ve been, what, pining for this girl since you first met her? Don’t think I didn’t see you two out in the rain the other day. Now you wanna ‘accidentally’ run into her at the beach?”

She’d been shyly avoiding me since that moment. And I was still grateful she let me defend her chivalrously at the lobby of the hotel. But things still felt fragile between us.

“Don’t overthink it, Joe. I just want to... I don’t know, talk to her more, but in a casual way. This will give me a chance to figure things out in a carefree environment.”

Joe stared at me for a long moment. “You know you’re not the only one who thinks Rebecca’s hot, right? I’m just saying, I coulddefinitelygive her a run for her money.”

I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. “Joe. You’re the last man who’s going to steal anyone’s attention away from me. Now, do you want to go to the beach or not?”

He chuckled, standing up and brushing the breadcrumbs off his pants. “Fine. But I’m doing this because I think it’d be fun, not because you need me as your wingman.”

I was too busy daydreaming about Rebecca’s smile to pay much attention to his words. So we set off, both of us in shorts, flip-flops, and those ridiculous sunglasses that we thought made us look cool but probably just made us look like tourists. We were basically a walking disaster, but I didn’t care.

When we finally reached the beach, the sand felt hot under my feet. I spotted Rebecca and her best friend, Maya, almost immediately, lying on towels in the sun. Rebecca had her sunglasses on, and her dark hair was tied up in a messy bun that looked way too effortless. Maya, of course, looked like she was born to be in a beach magazine with her perfect tan and sunglasses.

“Alright, time to make our move,” I whispered to Joe.

Joe, naturally, misinterpreted the situation completely. “You think they’ll think we’re cool if we pretend to be volleyball pros?” He held up a beach ball and started miming exaggerated volleyball moves.

I groaned. “Joe, no. Just—just follow my lead.”

We approached with all the grace of two drunk flamingos.

The moment we got close, I saw Rebecca look up. She froze, her eyes widening slightly, before quickly glancing over at Maya.

“Hey, uh, fancy seeing you here!” I said, trying to sound casual but I’m sure it came out way too loud.

Rebecca pulled her sunglasses down, blinking at me. “Oh... um, hey, Luca. And…?” she added with a quick nod.

“This is Joe. A good friend of mine,” I told her. I awkwardly shuffled my feet in the sand. “Yeah, just, uh, thought we’d... you know, take a walk. Beach is nice, right?”

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