Island Girls (And Boys) Read online

  I trudged up the stairs to the shower. I welcomed the pain of the water hitting my sunburned skin. Because at least it distracted me from the pain stabbing my heart.

  I�d not only lost a guy, but I was losing my best friends as well.

  I was pitiful that first week after Dylan left. Absolutely pitiful.

  No energy, no desire to interact with people. I was like a robot set on automatic.

  I went to work, I registered guests, I listened as Chelsea moaned because she never ever saw Noah anymore.

  I wanted to shout that I never saw Dylan either but you didn�t hear me whining about it. I wanted to tell her�and Amy�that I�d made the mistake of falling in love. I wanted them to know how badly I was hurting. I needed to share that with someone.

  But somehow our summer of being together had shifted into our summer of being apart�and I couldn�t share anything with them. I thought about talking to Mrs. P, but she was close to my mom�s age, which made her seem motherlike. And you didn�t tell your mom about your broken heart. You told your best friends. Only I couldn�t.

  I was alone. An island on an island.

  I hated it.

  Then the second week after Dylan left, everything really went to hell.

  CHAPTER 30

  �We are so over!�

  It was early evening. I looked up from the romance novel I was reading. That was how I was spending my nights. Reading about romance, since the reality of it had escaped me.

  Amy turned her attention away from the DVD she was watching.

  Chelsea was standing in the doorway to the living room with tears streaming down her face.

  Alarm swept through me, and I got up out of the chair. �Chels, what�s wrong?�

  �We�re over. Me and Noah.�

  �What happened?� Amy asked, coming up off the couch.

  �I went to the Sandpiper, to surprise him�� She released a wail, ran across the room, and dropped onto the couch, drawing her long legs up beneath her.

  The dogs howled. Amy told them to be quiet. Remarkably, they obeyed. She sat on one side of Chelsea. I crossed over to kneel in front of her.

  �What happened?� I prodded.

  She sniffed, blinked, and more tears rolled over onto her cheeks. �He was with another girl.�

  �What do you mean with?�

  �Kissing! Okay? Kissing! His tongue stuck down her throat.�

  �Oh, wow,� Amy said.

  �That�s not what I said when I saw them,� Chelsea said. �What I said was R-rated.�

  �This doesn�t make sense, Chels. He was kissing a girl at work?� I asked, needing clarification.

  �They told me he was on his break, out back. So I went to find him. And he was with this sleazy girl. And it�s all your fault,� she told me, her eyes shooting daggers into me.

  I sat back on my heels. �How do you figure that?�

  �You made him get a job.�

  �I didn�t tell him where to put his mouth.�

  �Oh, God, I hurt.� She wrapped her arms around her middle and bent forward, her short hair nearly poking me in the eye. �I�ve never hurt this bad.�

  �You�ll be okay, Chels,� I said. The words seemed lame, but I knew the truth of them. Or at least it seemed like I was getting over Dylan. I only thought about him every minute of every day now, instead of every second.

  �We need some serious depression intervention,� Amy said. �Let�s go out.�

  �I don�t want to go out.�

  �Amy�s right,� I said. �Let�s go have some fun, like we�d planned to do this summer.�

  �How can I have fun without Noah?�

  �We had fun together before he came into your life,� I reminded her.

  �I could meet someone else, make him jealous.�

  �That�ll backfire,� I told her. �Let�s just go out and forget about boys completely.�

  �Let�s do it,� she said with defiance ringing in her voice. �And be sure we lock all the doors.�

  An evil grin played over her face. �I never gave him a key.�

  Well, a girl can�t forget about boys completely�even when she�s trying. The first thing we did was deck ourselves out to kill. Short skirts, sexy tops, jewelry, makeup, the whole nine yards. We were going out on the town, and we were going out big time.

  We hit a club called Surf�s Up. Surfboards lined the walls. Susan and Tom were there, and a few other people we recognized from their party or ours. Everyone was happy to see us, and it made me feel like we were actually island people.

  Known by name. Welcomed into the fold.

  We ended up sitting on one side of the building where several tables had been shoved up against each other.

  People asked where Noah was; Chelsea said he�d moved to China. They asked me about Dylan, and I said he�d moved to Antarctica. No one seemed to question anything more than that. The island life. Nothing was permanent. Things washed up onshore, washed away with the tide. Houses were built to last only until a storm tore them down.

  And so we were three girls on our own for the night, looking to have a bit of fun. And the island guys were more than happy to provide it.

  We danced and drank and ate. To look at Chelsea flirting with some surfer guys, no one would have realized that she�d had a boyfriend that morning. She was all over them, and they were all over her.

  Me�I was still pathetic. Comparing every guy to Dylan and finding them all lacking. Their eyes were the wrong color. Their smiles too perfect.

  I wanted them to make me forget about Dylan. And all they seemed to do was remind me that he was gone.

  �You�re hooked up with someone, aren�t you?�

  Sitting at the table, I looked at the guy who had dropped into the chair beside mine. He grabbed a peanut from a metal bucket and went about cracking it open, dropping the shell on the floor. A lot of peanuts had been opened around here.

  He was cute�gerbil cute�with puffy cheeks and twinkling eyes. He looked like he could be fun. So why was I irritated that he�d interrupted me�when I wasn�t doing anything?

  �No,� I said. That�s all. Nothing to lead him on, nothing to extend the conversation.

  �You�re the one living in the last house on the island.�

  �Yep.�

  He furrowed his brow, which lifted his cheeks and made it look like he was squinting. �I saw you with a guy�tall, dark hair��

  �We�re over.�

  �So where is he?�

  �I don�t know. I don�t care.� The lies were flying out of my mouth like bats out of cave at twilight.

  He shelled another peanut, popped the nut into his mouth, and chewed. Like a cow in the pasture. His gaze never straying from me. He swallowed. �It�s just that I thought the two of you looked serious.�

  �You thought wrong.�

  �Okay. So you want to dance?�

  I smiled brightly. �Yes.� Anything. Anywhere. Anytime. Just take me away from here.

  His name was Randy. He owned a surfboard stand on the sand. A shack, really. But the rent was cheap. And he could take in the rays all day while renting people surfboards. And in the evenings, when he closed up shop, he surfed. He�d surfed during the last hurricane.

  �It was totally awesome,� he said. �Huge waves.�

  He was so proud of what he�d done, and all I could think was: Could you get any more stupid?

  �You could have been killed.�

  He nodded. �Yep. But it would have been worth it. It was a rush.�

  I was beginning to feel like the dullest girl on the planet. Maybe that�s why Dylan had taken off instead of spending my day off with me. Because when it came right down to it, he was going to go play Rambo, and I was the type of person who would head to the mainland as soon as a hurricane started coming my way.

  When the song ended, I went back to the table and sat down. Randy went off to get us something to drink.