Page 25 of The Beach House
“Thank God! I get enough of it at home. This is the beach house. It’s for skinny-dipping, not buying lots of clothes. Or, I guess, in your case it’d be chunky-dunking.”
“Hey!”
He laughed, grinning impishly. “See, I’ve already brightened you up, my heartbroken little friend.”
“I’m not heartbroken.”
“Not yet, because you’re in denial.”
“What?” I laughed. “I’m not in denial, and I’m not heartbroken. I’ll see him in a couple of days—there’s nothing to be heartbroken over right now.”
He gave me a disbelieving look.
Then, “Just so you know, Elle, if he ever does break your heart—I’m here.”
I squeezed his arm. “You’re the best best friend a girl could ask for.”
Chapter 11
I figured a beach party couldn’t be too fancy, so it didn’t take me long to get ready. A pair of shorts and a white cami, and I was good to go.
“It’s gonna be cold,” Lee reminded me.
“Right,” I said, snapping my fingers. I picked up the gray zip-up hoodie lying across my pillow and then slipped my feet into my sandals. “Okay! Now I’m ready!”
Lee swung himself off from where he was lying across his bed with his hair grazing the floor. He was wearing dark khakis and a plain white T-shirt, and had a hoodie exactly like mine. (My gray hoodie used to belong to Lee, actually. But I kept stealing it because it was so comfy, and in the end he bought a new one.)
“Come on, then,” he said, linking his arm through mine.
“You kids off now, huh?” June asked as we wandered through the lounge to go out the back door. The TV was on, but she was wrapped up in the mystery novel she’d been working her way through for the past few days.
“Yup,” we answered simultaneously.
“Okay, well, have fun. Butbe careful.” She’d already read us the riot act on not accepting drinks from anyone, not letting our own drinks out of our sight, not getting too drunk, how dangerous it could be, not to go too near the water, to stay together at all times….It was like we’d never been to any party before. “What time do you think you’ll be back?”
“I don’t know,” Lee said. “Probably not much later than midnight, I guess. But don’t wait up.”
She gave us a wry kind of smile. “You think I’ll be able to sleep easy if you’re out at a party?”
“Noah’s been going to them for years,” Lee pointed out. I could hear the slight irritation in his voice, like he was annoyed that his mom wasn’t letting him do things Noah had always done.
“And?” She laughed. “I never got to sleep until he got home.”
There was a moment’s pause; then Lee said, “Oh.”
“Don’t be too late,” June told us, the severe-mom look back on her face.
We both nodded. “All right.”
“Have fun!” she trilled, turning back to her book and mug of coffee. (I guessed it wasn’t decaf, if she was really going to stay up until we got home.)
“See you later,” we called, and slid the doors closed behind us.
The night was warm, and the sky was clear. The flashing lights of an airplane went across the sky, and there were stars twinkling up there too, against the inky backdrop. It made me smile. I wanted to spin around in a circle with my face tilted up to the sky.
I could feel Lee grinning at me.
“Go for it.”
