Page 24 of The Beach House
I leaned away just far enough to swat at his chest, this time with a genuine smile on my face, if only a small one. “Yeah, yeah. Because you’re so ruthless and villainous, now, aren’t you?”
“Love does wonders for a guy’s rep, huh?” He kissed me for what must have been the billionth time that morning.
If things hadn’t been so different this year, I wouldn’t have cared as much that he was going away for a few days. I could handle spending a little while without my boyfriend; that wasn’t the problem.
The thing was, it was all so wrong. The fact that Noah and his dad were leaving us early was justnot right.
Summers at the beach house were supposed to be all of us together just having fun, spending a while without worrying about our lives back home. Summers at the beach house weren’t supposed to be cut short by trips to college campuses. It just felt too grown-up.
I remembered our conversation from the other day—Noah wondering if this would be his last summer here, saying that it might soon be my and Lee’s last summer here too.
Lee might have convinced himself that it would never happen, but I wasn’t so sure.
Things were already changing so much. What if they only got worse?
“Time to go, Noah.”
And speaking of things getting worse…
My gut twisted. There was a lump in the back of my throat. I had that prickly feeling behind my eyes, like you get when you’re about to cry. My palms got all clammy. My breath shuddered when I exhaled.
If this was what I felt like just thinking of him leaving for college, how was I ever going to cope when the time came for him to gofor real?
Almost as though he was able to read my thoughts, Noah smoothed my hair back off my face and left his hand lingering, his thumb stroking my cheek lightly. His electric-blue eyes bored into mine with a look so intense I could only stare back and wonder whathewas thinking.
“Be careful at this party, okay?” he murmured.
I nodded. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I do. A lot. You’re the kind of person who needs to be worried about. Especially being as clumsy as you are. And with Peter Pan over there being such a bad influence.”
I laughed, and when I met his eyes again, the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile. “I’ll be careful, don’t worry. We both will. I’ll look after him.”
“Good.” He kissed my forehead again.
“Have fun in Massachusetts.”
“Mm,” he said doubtfully, but smiled. “I’ll try.”
Noah gave me one final kiss, but I think we were both hyperaware of the fact that his parents and his brother were waiting for us to finish saying goodbye, so it was only a brief one. But it was still enough of a kiss to send the fireworks thrill through me.
I spent another few melancholy moments standing with Noah, saying goodbye, before scuttling back up to the porch, where Lee and his mom were waiting.
I’d always thought it was kind of pathetic how couples took forever to say goodbye—and then started the whole thing over again. It seemed like some big, sappy, exaggerated thing that even the hopeless romantic in me didn’t really appreciate too much. But now that it was happening to me, I understood. You did it because you wanted to delay them leaving you as long as possible. You did it to try to stall the future. To buy a few more seconds with them.
As soon as I set foot on the porch, Lee grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard. I wasn’t crying, but he seemed to know how heavy my heart felt without the need for tears pouring down my face. I glanced sideways at him, catching his eye and giving him a small, grateful smile. It was comforting to know that whatever happened, I always had Lee.
“Call me when you get there!” June yelled after them as her husband reversed off the sand-covered driveway. He held up a hand—a gesture that saidYeah, sure thing!but the look on his face saidI didn’t hear you, but whatever!
Once the sound of the car engine had died away round the bend of the street that led toward the highway, June let out a sigh and went back inside. Lee let go of my hand.
“Forget about you?” my best friend said in mock-horror. “How amIgoing to cope when he goes off to college and leaves you behind?”
His expression, which was bug-eyed and aghast, made me laugh a little. “I won’t be all heartbroken and depressed, don’t worry. Besides, we have a party to go to tonight!”
“Yeah!” His hand went up for a high five—then he dropped his arm just before I could slap my hand against his. “Aw, man! Shelly,pleasetell me this doesn’t mean I have to take you shopping!”
“Well…” I laughed before he could roll his eyes. “Kidding.”
