Page 4 of The Other Side of Paradise
Ah, what the hell. I was trying to be angry, but there were ocean waves and a drink in my hand. The worst I could manage was a pout. “I mean, it’s a nice getaway,” I said. “I just don’t like beingforcedto take a vacation.”
“It’s summer. You’re in college. Don’t tell meyouwere planning on taking summer courses.”
I swatted him with the sunscreen bottle next to me. “Don’t say it like I’m too dumb for classes.” I turned back to the water. “I guess nobody tells anybody anything around here. I’d had an internship lined up.”
“Huh.”
Sometimes I forgot he asked as many follow-up questions as a scarecrow. “I’d been looking forward to it,” I said. “But Dad didn’t like it… said it wasn’t a serious company, not a good use of my time.” I looked down, absently drawing shapes in thesand. “He’d been trying to tell me for a minute to do something different with my summer… I think he was all too happy to have an opportunity to interrupt the internship start date with mandatory beach vacation.”
“What, you lost the whole internship because of this?”
“Yup. It was competitive, you know? I told them I’d be away for a week and asked if I could start once I was back instead, and I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth before they were giving it to the next person.”
“Sucks,” he said.
“I know I can just work for Dad’s or Uncle’s companies and get work experience that way, and that’s probably the best way to do it, but… ugh.” I set my drink down and slumped onto my back, looking up at the sunshine-orange umbrella shielding me from the sun. “Just get sick of being told what to do.”
“You could have said no. Stayed home and focused on your internship.”
I scoffed. “You ever tried telling them no?”
“I turn down invites to work functions all the time. I just say I’m busy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, guess it’s different when you’re a man with areal job.Whatever. I might as well enjoy it now.” I sat up, suddenly anxious to change the subject—like all of a sudden the whole topic had become radioactive in my mind, and the less time I spent thinking about it, the better. “Do you think Shane’s going to propose to Ryan?”
He shrugged. “Hell if I know. I can hardly imagine voluntarily signing up to marry someone and spend all my time with them.”
“You’re so depressing sometimes, Oscar.” I looked down the beach to where Ryan was out in the water with Nicole, our cousin on Dad’s side, Uncle’s perfect daughter who had a husband and her own division of Uncle’s company. I felt like I’dthrow up at the thought that I was supposed to end up a little Nicole myself one day.
Maybe that was what had happened to Ryan, too. She’d been on the corporate ladder, doing well, and then she’d left for some new job writing articles on the internet, something something, I wasn’t sure of the details. She’d lost about half her income, and Mom and Dad still hadn’t forgiven her—I hadn’t seen her for a minute since then, and I’d expected her to either show up radiantly glowing or looking like a haggard starving-artist with gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes. I’d been kind of disappointed to find she’d looked the exact same.
But one thing she had stuck with was her relationship. Shane Austen was kind of an egotistical prick sometimes, but he still held onto his solid corporate job, and he was good-looking and the rest of the family all liked him, so I guess he was a good pick. Ryan seemed satisfied with him.
I just didn’t understand why she seemed hesitant to have him propose. I’d asked her earlier, when she’d shown up at the resort, if she thought he was going to propose while they were here, and she’d basically shrugged off the question,probably not,as casually as anything. When you’d found the right person—when you’d foundthe one—didn’t you want to be with them forever? I couldn’t imagine being with someone for two years and being ambivalent about it. Maybe I was a hopeless romantic, but I could only imagine I’d know when I’d found what I was looking for.
But Oscar wouldn’t get that. He didn’t like anybody, and he was happy with that.
“You know,” I said, “have you ever even gone on dates with people before?”
He laughed. “Yeah, one time. Won’t be making that mistake again.”
“Yeesh. What’s your damage, anyway?”
“I’m pretty happy, honestly.” He relaxed his sitting posture, taking a long sip of his drink, and stared out over where the tops of the waves refracted gold in the late-evening sunlight. “People are trouble.”
“I mean, yeah. But some of them are cool. I just want to find the right person.”
“Uh-huh. For about fifteen minutes until you get bored of them and move on.”
I shot him a look. “It’s not my fault I’ve only found the wrong people so far.”
“Whatever you like, Stella. Guess it’s moot while you’re stranded on a luxury island vacation anyway.”
I grinned at him. “Probably. But there’s nothing wrong with spending some time with the wrong people.”
He arched his eyebrows at me. “What, hooking up with some bad guy to ruin your life?”
“I’m not into that kind of thing. Just, you know.” I gestured to the beach, the throngs of people all around. There were a million sexy people on the beach—tall guys with strong abs out on display, girls with bikini-model builds, all out in their swimwear. “If I’m being told where to go for a vacation, I can at least choose who to spend a week with while I’m here. Plenty of guys to choose from.”
