Page 35 of The Other Side of Paradise
“One who’s trying to get me to have a hookup… and totally clueless that I’m never going to be interested in another girl as long as she’s around.” I sighed, looking up at the sky, faintly peachy now with the sun getting low. “She actually said you were hot and told me to come hit on you, and I couldn’t tell her I wasn’t interested in you as long as she’s around, so I had no choice but to come out and make conversation. Sorry to drag you into it.”
She laughed, eyes twinkling as she looked at me. She had a really vibrant smile. I was seriously fucked up if a look like that stirred absolutely zero in me. “Oh, this is my first time having a girl hit on me.”
“I’m sure you’re absolutely swept off your feet by me coming out here to talk about the unattainable girl I wish I could have instead.”
“Very romantic,” she laughed. “I’m glad for the company, anyway. Let’s swim a little.”
We swam for a while, getting back up onto the beach and toweling off, and I felt my soul die a little mid-conversation when I saw the worst thing I could have seen, which—if you’d asked me a week ago what was the worst thing I could have seen, I probably would have said, like,oh, I don’t know, a crazed chainsaw murderer, maybe Godzilla rising from the waves,but those were small fries compared to the actual answer: Stella flirting with a lifeguard guy who very clearly matched her description of Jacob. I blanked, standing there with the towel in my hair, and I didn’t even realize Jessica had asked me a question until she waved a hand in front of me, and I jumped.
“Shit—sorry—what?”
“I said any sign of your sex-happy friends,” she laughed.
“Oh. Uh. No. Not…” I shook my head. “Sorry. I dunno.”
“Something up?”
I hung my head. “Ugh… the—the blonde girl with the polka-dot bikini and glasses.”
Jessica followed my gaze, and she lit up at the sight of her. “Oh—that’s your girlfriend?”
“Jesus, don’t say that, you’ll kill me. That’s Stella. And the guy she’s been talking about wanting to hook up with.”
“Oh, yikes.”
I already wanted to sink into the sand and disappear, and it only got worse when Stella looked our way and lit up, waving the two of us towards her. Like I wanted to sit there and listen to her flirt with Jacob? Jesus fucking Christ, she probably wanted it to be a double date situation. Jessica laughed.
“She’s friendly.”
“Oh, god. Can you come with me? Just to give me an out? I couldnotsit there and listen to them flirt. I’m begging you.”
“It’s not in my nature to ignore someone in urgent need.” She paused. “Besides, I want to meet your girlfriend.”
“Ugh. Donotsay things like that in front of her.”
She just smiled, making no promises. Ugh.
We padded over the sand to where Stella had a cocktail in hand and had pulled up a chair next to the lifeguard’s chair, and it was a good thing there were a few lifeguards on duty, because he was at least a little distracted with Stella hitting on him. I couldn’t blame him. If I were in charge of protecting lives and Stella flirted with me, people would die.
“Hey, Allison,” Stella said, beaming. “This is your friend?”
“Hi… uh, hi, Stella. This is Jessica. We’ve been chatting.”
Stella grinned, flashing a perfect smile. I hated how perfect her lips were. “Jessica and Allison, huh?”
Jessica snorted. “Hi, Stella. Nice to meet you. Allison was talking about you.”
Ugh—I was going to kill her. Stella laughed. “Yeah? Did she say anything nice?”
I cut in before Jessica could. “Terrible things. The worst. A little bit of good, though. You know, like, how well your glasses work.”
Jessica laughed, relaxing her posture, one hip out. “She was saying how pretty you are.”
I should not have brought Jessica over. I should not have come out to the beach. I should not have gotten out of bed today. I stiffened, and Stella made it ten times worse by saying, “Well, don’t get too jealous, I offered to let her smack my ass and she said no, so I’m not getting between the two of you.”
Jessica gave me the subtlestgirl-what-the-fucklook I think she could manage, and I tried to give her the subtlestno, it’s not like that, I mean technically that did happen but it’s not how it soundslook that I could manage. I don’t know how well that, uh, came across. I laughed nervously. “It was, uh, very generous,” I said. “So, who’s your friend?”
She beamed, gesturing to the lifeguard and confirming my terrible suspicions. “This is Jacob,” she said. “I was just bugging him on duty.”
