Page 26 of Dead of Summer
“Would never miss a hang with you two,” she’d said, leaning back and meeting his gaze.
“Hey, you ever get that Rocky Road?” he said in a way that felt like an inside joke.
“What Rocky Road?” Orla asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
“Nothing,” Alice said quickly, still looking at David. Something passed between them that made Orla’s heart dive into her stomach. David turned to Orla, his voice even and light.
“I saw Alice down by the ferry the other night. She was going to buy an ice cream, or so she says, but Mint Ship was closed.”
“When was this?” Orla asked, her head toggling between the two of them. Alice shrugged stiffly, trying to end the conversation.
“Last Friday, I think? I was out with Dad talking to some official down in the boatyard.” Orla had spent that evening with her stomach in knots waiting for David by the window and slowly losing hope as the dusk dissolved into night. The idea of the two of them meeting without her and Alice not saying anything made her want to climb out of her skin.
David looked down the beach to where the others had gathered. Orla could make out the cups being passed around. A bonfire was growing in the midst of them, sending orange flames into the fading blue sky. “Oh, Jeremy’s here. I’m going to go get us drinks. What do you two want?”
“Gin and tonic,” Alice said quickly.
“You don’t drink gin,” Orla protested.
“I do now,” she said, and David chuckled like she’d said something clever. Again, Orla noticed something between them, a secret look that made her feel young and dumb.
“You saw David last Friday?” Orla hissed as soon as he started away from them. She didn’t know if she was more hurt by her friend or that David didn’t come to her first. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t want to upset you. You were waiting for him all that time.” Alice shrugged. Orla could have killed her.
“Or maybe you didn’t actually want me to see him,” Orla fumed bitterly, stinging from the weird buzz of intimacy she’d seen between them. Her heart dropped at the idea of them alone together.
“That is such bullshit. I asked you to come with me,” Alice said, annoyed.
“You still should have told me!” Orla insisted, her voice rising. “I could have come down there and met you, I could have—”
“And then what, Orla?” Alice snapped. “You get there and he’s gone already, and I have to watch you freak out like you are now? Besides, I had other things to do. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Not to you it wasn’t.”
“Orla, honestly, this obsession with David has gotten out of control. You two aren’t even dating.”
Orla reeled back from the hurtful words feeling like she’d been slapped. Alice knew how much David meant to her, how close they’d been to kissing last summer, how he’d held her hand on the beach once as they’d raced back from a thunderstorm. Orla sat in stunned quiet waiting for her to retract it. But instead, Alice stood up suddenly.
“This is stupid.” She picked up her purse as Orla watched in shock. “You’re ridiculous, you know.”
“Iam ridiculous?” Orla said, feeling her face get hot. “It’s ridiculous that you’d hide something like that from me.”
From above Alice looked angrily down at Orla on the blanket, her face barely lit by the flicker of the fire. “I have my own shit to deal with. Grow up, Orla. It’s not all about you.” She stormed off down the beach.
There was still time. Orla waited for her to turn around. She would accept an apology from Alice if she came back, she decided quickly. It wasn’t worth them fighting about. But Alice’s body got smaller and smaller as she walked down the beach.
“Where’s Alice going?” David asked, returning with the drinks.
Orla shrugged, taking a cup from him. She was relieved that it looked clear and fizzy like a Sprite. “She had something to do that she thinks is more important than spending time with her friends, I guess,” Orla said, a bitter edge to her voice.
David turned to look at her. “Has she been going off by herself a lot?” he asked, caring more than Orla wanted him to.
“No more than usual.” Orla realized as she said it, though, that because of the week she’d wasted waiting for David to show up, she hadn’t seen Alice much recently.
“This summer is weird, isn’t it?” she asked him, trying to bring his focus back to her. She took a big sip of the gin and tonic to show David that she was just as game, just as fun as Alice. She tried not to choke when she tasted how vile it was. Like Lysol.
“It’s been… interesting that’s for sure,” he answered cryptically, downing his own drink and grimacing.Interesting how, she thought. But there was something different about David that year, something moody and unapproachable that stopped her from asking. She leaned back into the sand and tried to look casual.
