Page 15 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

"Ping pong?" I had seen that there was a table on the other side of the bar. It was the only thing here that I was any good at. My ego would be huge again in no time once I whooped his ass.

"Sure."

We walked over to the table. There were two people already playing so we waited in line. I leaned against the wall and he stood in front of me. I looked up into his eyes. It was easy to get lost in them, even when I tried to tell myself I shouldn’t.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he finally asked.

"I'm not looking at you in any way." Am I?

"Yes, you are." He laughed.

"Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are the same color as the ocean?"

He smiled. "I can't say that anyone has."

"Oh. Well. It's true." I felt a little buzzed.

“Is your friend still coming?” he asked.

“Yeah…she’s…” I looked around the bar but didn’t see her. “She’s somewhere. She got here while you were playing pool and wandered off.”

He looked around too. For a second I thought maybe he didn’t believe me. Like he thought I’d made up a friend and was a total loser.

“Her name’s Kristen,” I added quickly. God, it sounded like I was making her up by the second. “I swear she’s here somewhere.”

He nodded, although it was hard to tell if he believed me.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Starving actually." And so grateful for the change of topic.

"Okay, how about the loser buys a pizza?"

"It is not your lucky day, because I'm like, really, really good at ping pong."

"Really, really good, huh? I guess I'm in trouble. I'm going to go place our order now so it's ready when we're done. What kind do you like?"

"Plain is good."

"My favorite. I'll be right back."

His favorite? Everyone always made fun of me for ordering plain pizza. I smiled to myself. I watched him go toward the front counter. Another girl stopped him along the way and hugged him. He seemed pretty popular with the ladies. Which made sense, because he was gorgeous. Really freaking gorgeous. I watched him lean against the counter and order the pizza. He laughed with the girl at the counter. It was the same way he had leaned against the counter at the ice cream shop yesterday.

I swallowed hard. Is this not a date? Did he just invite me here as a friend? I was having trouble focusing. I shouldn't have had so much to drink. I put my bottle down on an empty table. Geez, this isn't a date. He was just a nice guy, being nice to the weird girl who was always alone on the beach. Who made up fake friends. At least in his eyes. I felt so embarrassed. I looked down at my flip flops. Maybe I could just leave before he came back.

"Is it okay if we do doubles?"

I looked up. My lifeguard was standing in front of me with two guys.

"Um, yeah. That's fine." Now I was just reduced to one of the guys. I wanted to be okay with the turn of the evening. But for a while there, I’d given myself this small shred of hope that he liked me. My heart was still healing from the last blow and now it just felt like it exploded again. At least, whatever was left of it. I took a deep breath. It’s fine. It’s for the best.

"Stalkers aren't usually hot," one of them said. "Do you want to be my partner?"

I looked up at my lifeguard. He looked embarrassed. Why? Because he had told them that I was a stalker? Or because he hadn't realized that they'd talk about it in front of me? Asshole. This definitely wasn't a date. I was just the weird, loner stalker girl. "That depends," I said to the guy who had just talked to me. "Are you any good?"

"Yeah, we'll crush them."

"Perfect." The table had just freed up. I picked up a paddle. I wanted to win. I wanted to completely annihilate my lifeguard. He could have just told me he was inviting me as a friend. I felt like he had purposefully tried to embarrass me. And I was pissed. Or drunk. Drunk and pissed.

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