Page 91 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

“Ready?” Kristen asked as she reemerged from the bathroom. She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door without waiting for a response. “We need to get our drink on!”

No, what I needed was to go back to tequila nights when my ex wasn’t in town and J.J. hadn’t freaked out at the prospect of love. What the heck had he been doing all summer if he wasn’t falling in love with me back?

Chapter 27

Friday

I balanced my mini-golf putter between my legs so I could put my hair up. August was sweltering and every piece of me was sticky. I could feel the sweat at the base of my neck as I pulled my hair into a ponytail. Gross. I was going to need to start carrying a roll of paper towels around in my purse. And I was going to need a bigger purse to accommodate my paper towel needs.

“You’re up!” Kristen called. She and Reggie had challenged J.J. and me to a game of mini golf. Which was a terrible mistake on their part. Between eating too much ice cream, nighttime runs on the beach, and dancing, mini-golf was one of our go-to activities. And we were freaking beasts.

J.J. smiled at me as I walked down to where my ball had landed. We had found our new normal in the past few weeks. Normal as in, we were dating and not in love. Well, J.J. wasn’t in love. I was falling harder and harder and he was…most certainly not. Our new normal felt like slow torture to me. It was like Kristen’s big reveal had never happened. Which would have been fine if it wasn’t all I could think about.

I lined my putter up, trying not to focus on the nearby mini waterfall that was waiting to steal my ball, and took a swing. Shit. The ball hopped over the hole in the most annoying way possible and ended up farther away from it than it had been a second ago. J.J. and I both groaned. I stepped to the side so Reggie could take his shot, hoping that he’d miss too. At least I hadn’t put it into the waterfall. That would have been embarrassing since I was a pro at this.

“Gotta get your head in the game, Jellyfish Girl,” J.J. said and wrapped his arms around me. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” The end of summer. What will happen to us?

“I know you too well to accept that lie.” He kissed the side of my forehead as Reggie sunk his shot perfectly.

Damn it. J.J. and I were still winning, but I suddenly wanted to take my putter and throw it into the fake mini lake next to hole 16. Or the windmill that made it nearly impossible to get a hole in one at hole 17. Or just whack the fake grass beneath my feet because it was too hot to move. I was raging on the inside and trying to remain cool, calm, and collected on the outside. And failing miserably. Especially at the cool part since it was 1,000 bajillions degrees out. I pulled on the neckline of my tank top, but there was no breeze up here to help.

“Really, is there something bothering you?” he asked.

“I just really want to win.”

“It’s supposed to be a fun game.” He leaned in a little closer to whisper in my ear. “But I agree, let's annihilate them.”

I was relieved to hear a laugh come out of my mouth. A little exasperated, but a laugh just the same. And that should have counted for something when my heart felt like it was crumbling into bits. I was leaving in two weeks. J.J. was standing there saying he knew me too well to know when I was lying. So couldn’t he tell that the conversation from a few weeks ago had killed me? I knew that he had issues with long distance relationships, but I’d be less than 3 hours away. We could see each other every weekend if we wanted to. And I most certainly did want that. But as summer drew to a close, it felt like we were ending. Like there was a clock ticking down to the end of our relationship. And I was pretty sure I was seconds away from having a heart attack.

“My turn again.” I ducked out of his arms and stared at the stupid little ball that I could usually sink so easily. You are my bitch, ball. You will bend to my will. I took a deep breath. Go in the hole where you belong. I squinted at the circular demon and then took my shot. “Yes!” I raised both of my hands in the air, Rocky statue-esque.

“You’re acting like you two already won,” Reggie said. “We still have two holes left.”

Kristen laughed. “They always do this. They’re both so cocky. A match made in heaven.” She winked at me.

I glanced at J.J. He was staring at the next hole like he was assessing it. But I was pretty sure he was tuning out Kristen’s analysis of our relationship. Yet again. I knew I was over analyzing every move he made the past few weeks. How could I not though? I wanted to believe we’d make it past the end of summer. I needed to believe it.

My pho

ne started buzzing in my pocket. I was grateful for the distraction. The number on the screen wasn’t one of my contacts. But that made sense given that most of my contacts were standing with me right now. I ran my finger across the screen. “Hello?” I said.

“Hello, is this Mila Wilson?”

“Yes, that’s me. Mila. Mila Wilson.” What am I saying? She already knows my name. I never knew what to say on the phone. It was like my brain always switched off and made me as awkward as possible. Normally phone calls made me sweat profusely too but I was already doing that. I wasn’t sure if that was a pro or con.

“Hi, Mila. This is Cindy and I’m calling from the admissions office of the University of New Castle about your tuition. We’re still waiting on payment. And we can’t hold your seat in the classes you signed up for much longer. Is there any way you can send payment through by Tuesday? We can only guarantee to hold your seats until then.”

I stepped away from my friends. “There must be some mistake. My tuition should have come through the day I got my acceptance letter, or maybe a few days after. Can you check again?”

“Oh that’s great news. Let me look into that for you.”

The silence stretched on too long. I walked to the edge of the miniature golf course. It was on the roof of one of the buildings on the boardwalk. But even the beautiful view of the water didn’t calm my rapid heartbeat. My dad did send in tuition…right?

“I’m sorry,” Cindy said. “We have no record of payment. Do you know if it was sent through our online portal or by mail? It’s possible that the check got lost in the mail.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “That must be it. It must have gotten lost in the mail. Could you give me a few minutes to look into it? I’ll sort everything out and give you a call back.”

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