Island Girls (And Boys) Read online

  She�d given in without a fight. I would at least make the guy crawl over broken glass, beg�right before turning my back on him and walking away.

  No way would his mouth even get close to mine again. Chelsea was pathetic, absolutely pathetic, wanting a boyfriend so badly that she�d forgive him for anything.

  I stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door. The ice cream had leaked through the carton, onto the coffee table, onto the floor. The dogs were licking it off the floor, the cat had leaped onto the table and was going at it there.

  I should have chased them away and cleaned it up properly. But the truth was I didn�t care anymore.

  Not about Chelsea and Noah or Amy and Alex or me and Dylan. Only there wasn�t a me and Dylan.

  I went up the stairs and into my bedroom. I didn�t bother to turn on the lights. Just crawled into my bed, lay in the dark, and let the tears fall. And faced the truth.

  Unlike Noah, Dylan hadn�t come back. Unlike Chelsea, I wouldn�t have taken him back�even if he�d given me the chance.

  CHAPTER 32

  �I quit.�

  It was early morning, a week after the Noah-caught-in-a-lip-lock scare. Amy and I were sitting on the floor beside the coffee table in the living room cutting out coupons and making our list for our trek to the grocery store so we could go right after work. We were still following our budget pretty closely, and so far, we�d had no problem covering our bills.

  Amy and I looked over at Chelsea. She was always the last to get up. We were usually yelling at her that we needed to go. But this morning she was standing in the doorway�well, the only way to describe her stance was�defiant.

  �You quit what?� I asked. Being with Noah? Not after what I�d witnessed lately.

  �I quit my job at the campground.�

  I released a brittle laugh. �You can�t quit.�

  �I can and I did. Just now. I borrowed Noah�s truck and drove out there and told Mrs. Plackette I wouldn�t be coming back.�

  I stared at her, unable to believe this. �How are you going to pay for your share of the bills?�

  I hated to admit it, but I liked having Noah and Alex around, dividing our expenses by five instead of three�now that they were contributing. It gave us some play-around money. Not that I was doing any real playing, but still. I was able to relax a little. I didn�t want to lose that.

  �I got a job at the Sandpiper, working nights. So Noah and I can be together during the day. And we�ll be together at night.�

  �I got you that job at the campground.�

  �Yeah, and I hate it. I hate not being with Noah.�

  �You owe the campground��

  �I don�t owe them anything, Jen.�

  �We�ll be shorthanded, it�ll make the work harder on everyone else.�

  �They can hire someone else.�

  �Everyone already has summer jobs.�

  �Not my problem.�

  �I can�t believe you�re doing this to us.�

  �I�m not doing anything to you. You think the world revolves around you. And it doesn�t.�

  I looked over at Amy. �Say something.�

  �What�s to say? She quit already. It�s done.�

  There was something strange about the way she was looking at me, then Chelsea.

  �You knew she was going to quit,� I said.

  �Chelsea told me she was thinking about it.�

  What was going on here? There was a time when my friends and I had shared everything. Now I felt like there were secrets and things going on behind my back.

  �Are you going to quit?�

  �No. But I�m going to ask if I can work in the store. I�m tired of smelling like boiling hot dogs all the time.�

  I turned my attention back to Chelsea. �This was supposed to be the summer of us.�

  �It still is.�

  �No, it�s not. It�s the summer of you and Noah, the summer of Amy and her strays. The summer of�� I couldn�t say it. The summer of me. Alone. The island.

  �Never mind. Do what you think is right.�

  �I already have.�

  And with that she walked into her bedroom and slammed the door.

  Amy was quiet as she drove us to work. I looked out the passenger window and watched the island go past me. The shacks, the dunes, the sandpipers. The people sunbathing, playing in the surf.

  �I can�t believe Chelsea is running her life totally around Noah,� I said distractedly.

  �She�s insecure.�

  I snapped my head around and looked at Amy. �Huh?�

  She cast a quick glance my way. �She�s insecure. He was kissing another girl. She�s worried about losing him.�

  �I think he would be worth losing.�

  �Love is strange. It has no rhyme or reason. It simply is.�

  �Who are you now? Buddha?�

  She smiled. �No. I just understand it�as much as anyone can understand it, I guess.�

  I shifted around in the seat. �I�m so sorry, Amy. I�m sorry that I haven�t paid more attention to what was going on in your life, to the fact that you have a boyfriend��

  She waved her hand. �No big deal. You were all wrapped up in Dylan.�

  �Just for a few days. The rest of the time�I should have noticed what was going on with you.�

  �It doesn�t matter, Jen.�

  But it did matter. It mattered that all of us were falling in and out of love this summer and we weren�t sharing the experiences with each other. We were drifting apart.

  �Do you love Alex?�

  She nodded, a secretive smile playing over her face.

  �This is a stupid question, because he lives in the house with us, and I should know, but he�s so quiet. What�s he like? Really?�

  �He�s a deep thinker. Supersmart. And we so get each other. We don�t have to talk unless we want to. It�s amazing, Jen.�

  She pulled onto the road that led into the campground. Then she parked the car and looked over at me.

  �I was jealous when you were with Dylan. You had a guy, Chelsea had a guy. I had a dog.� Tears filled her eyes. �I was glad when Dylan just packed up and left. I�m sorry, Jen. I didn�t want to be there for you. And I wasn�t.�

  �I haven�t been there for you.�

  �Did you like him a lot?�

  What could I say? She was asking, but I didn�t feel like telling her the truth. �No, I just liked him a little.� I looked toward the beach where his tent used to be. I did that every time we came to the campground, like I thought one day I�d look out and his tent would miraculously be there again.

  �I�m sorry, Jen.�

  I took a deep breath. �Nothing to be sorry for, except for the fact that you�re going to be freezing your butt off today. Come on, let�s get to work.�

  June 22 came and went. Amy and Chelsea didn�t switch bedrooms. Big surprise there. Amy and Alex liked the room they were in. It had memories. Chelsea and Noah were still making up and needed the big bedroom to do that.

  The truth was, I figured they both thought it was more trouble than it was worth to move all their stuff. But come July 22, I was taking over that room.

  It would be the turning point of my summer. I absolutely knew it.

  Because except for the little time I�d spent with Dylan, my summer sucked so far. Big time.

  Amy and I hardly ever saw Chelsea. She and Noah were practically superglued together. Work, play�whatever, they never left each other�s sight. I wasn�t sure that was the best way to handle a relationship, but I�d decided that it wasn�t really any of my business.

  Who would have thought when I�d had this brilliant idea for a summer together that a month into it, I would have accepted that together was not where we were anymore.

  Amy and I spent time together. Working at the campground, basking in the late afternoon sun after work. We�d watch a movie in the