Alexis the Icing on the Cupcake (4 page)

“Oh, Matt! You're freezing! Don't you have a towel?” I asked.

He laughed, but he shivered as he tried to talk. “It's at the other end of the beach. We wanted to be
away from people, so we could throw the football around, but it's pretty far.”

The poor guy. “Here,” I said impulsively. “You can use mine.” I unwrapped myself and handed it toward him.

“No, you need it. That's okay. I'm fine. I'll warm right up in the sun.”

“I insist!” I said. “Even for a minute. And you can take off the T-shirt, so you don't have that wet, cold fabric next to your skin.”

“Nah, I'm okay. Here, I'll just use it to blot my face and hair a little. Thanks,” he said. It warmed my heart to see my towel being used by Matt Taylor, love of my life. I was happy to have been able to help and happy that he accepted. It's like my mom always reminds us: You should accept people's help when they offer because it makes them feel good too.

I crossed my arms and waited to get my towel back. The sun felt good, and now I remembered again that I needed sunscreen. Darn it! But I didn't want to leave while Matt was still standing there.

“Thanks,” he said again, handing my towel back. He looked a tiny bit warmer but not much. I was grateful to have the towel to hide behind again and especially to be able to cover up my shoulders,
which were feeling warm and pinchy in the sun. “What are you guys doing about lunch? We're going to go to the snack bar,” he said.

“Um.” I looked at the others. “We could do that, I think. . . . Hey, guys? Want to go to the snack bar with the boys for lunch? When are you going?” I asked Matt, turning back to him.

He was staring at my legs when I looked at him.

“Huh? Oh. When are we going?” he repeated, all weird and awkward.

Why had he been looking at my legs? I was dying to look down and see what was wrong. Did I have a huge bruise or something? Were they neon white like Dylan had said? Ugh.

“Maybe in, like, half an hour?” he suggested.

“Okay. Sounds good. See you up there,” I agreed. I was dying to get rid of him so I could look at my legs.

Matt turned, and he and George and their friends began walking away from us and down the beach. Instantly, I looked at my legs to see what was wrong with them. But there was nothing. Nothing I could see. Except maybe that my legs are super-white?

“Mia? Is there anything funny about my legs?” I asked anxiously.

Mia sized me up, squinting. “No,” she said after a minute. “A little pale, but otherwise . . . superlong and pretty gorgeous!”

I blushed. “Oh, please!” I said. But inside I wondered if maybe, just maybe, Matt had been checking me out? I hoped so!

Now was the time to get on some sunscreen. I ducked under the umbrella and began slathering myself. “Anyone else want some?” I called, waving the tube in the air.

“Sure, but I'll do your back first,” offered Emma, reaching for the tube.

I shrieked then as the cold sunscreen hit my sizzling back.

“Oh, Lexi—Alexis! You waited too long. This is bad. You've already got a burn,” she said, sliding my strap a little to the side.

“Well, thanks for putting on the stuff. By the way, your poor brother was so cold, he was shivering, but he won't take his wet T-shirt off,” I told her.

Emma sighed. “I feel disloyal even saying it, but since you love him, I can tell you. He has a birthmark on his shoulder, and he's embarrassed by it. So he wears a T-shirt at the beach to hide it. Meanwhile, the shirt makes him hot in the sun and freezing when he gets it wet, so I just think he shouldn't bother.”

“Oh,” I said. Wow. Who knew boys were self-conscious too? “How big?” I asked. I couldn't help myself.

“I don't know. Like, the size of a hockey puck, maybe?”

Now a hockey puck might be a good reference for someone like Emma, who has three brothers, but for me that could mean the size of a quarter or the size of a pizza. “Is that big?” I asked.

Emma giggled. “Your turn,” she said, handing me the tube of sunscreen and turning around. She lifted her hair so I could do her back. “A hockey puck is maybe a two-and-a-half-inch-wide circle.”

“Huh.” So not tiny but not overwhelming. It made me feel very protective toward Matt, thinking he was shy of something. Especially since he's so fit and has such a cute build. I couldn't help it. I blurted, “I had no idea boys cared about stuff like that!”

Emma laughed hard. “Alexis, you are too much! Boys are people too!”

“They are?” I asked and shook my head, only half joking. “I had no idea!”

L
unch with the boys was fun, and I noted that Matt had changed into a new, dry T-shirt, despite the fact his friends were still shirtless. I felt a little twinge in my heart, thinking of his birthmark. I guess it made me feel better knowing it, since I'm pretty insecure these days about myself. I wished I could tell Matt that we were alike—tell him something I hate about myself (one of the many things)—but I couldn't think of how to do it without seeming like I was fishing for compliments or admitting Emma had told me something she shouldn't have.

I ate my French fries and hot dog in the sunshine and looked out at the beach below us, now much busier. The ocean was a sparkling navy blue,
and the sky was baby blue, with just two white fluffy clouds, way off on the horizon. There was a light breeze, but the sun was still strong. I knew I'd need to reapply my sunscreen after lunch. I had just my T-shirt on, so my shoulders were okay for now, anyway, but I realized I should've brought a hat.

“Lexi?”

I turned and saw that Matt was offering me a French fry from the new order he'd just picked up.

“Oh, thanks!” I smiled and reached out toward the cardboard box.

But then . . . “Matt! She hates being called ‘Lexi.' It's
‘Alexis'
!” chided Emma.

I blushed instantly. “Oh, no! That's okay. . . .”

“She thinks it's babyish,” said Katie in a disbelieving voice. “I totally disagree, though.” She smiled at me and shook her head a little as she bit into her burger.

“Oh, I'm sorry!” blurted Matt. His face was bright red when I looked back at him.

“No! It's fine!” I protested.

“What?” Now Matt just looked confused.

I sighed. This was turning into a mess. “If someone has always called me ‘Lexi,' it's fine. I just don't want new people calling me ‘Lexi,'” I explained.

“That's not what you told us!” said Mia.

“Oh,” said Matt. There was a pause. Then he said, “So what should I call you?”

“‘Lexi' is fine,” I said.

“Wait, it's fine for him but not us?” cried Emma indignantly. “You said we couldn't call you that anymore, and it's been really hard!” This was the kind of thing that made her mad about me liking Matt—my double standards. Oops.

I sighed; I just wanted this conversation over with. “No, it's fine for everyone. Whatever. Never mind about the whole thing,” I said, embarrassed now.

Matt's blush had faded, but he said, “I'll call you ‘Alexis.'”

“Thanks,” I said. But deep inside I kind of like that he calls me “Lexi.” Too late for that now, I guess.

“Anyone up for some football?” George yelled from down in the sand.

We all agreed to try and cleaned up our lunch and headed off to their end of the beach, where there was some space. It crossed my mind that it was time to reapply a little sunscreen, but I didn't want to seem like a sunscreen nerd, so I just kind of looked at my bag and followed along with everyone else.

Now I am not a football person. My dad isn't into it, and I don't have any brothers. I don't understand how it is played or how you can even tell who is winning. But let me say this: It is my new favorite sport. Know why? Cute guys put their arm around you in the huddle!

I was on Matt's team, of course, and when we would huddle to discuss our strategy, he'd pull me in next to him and hang his arm across my shoulders. Granted, his other arm was across George's shoulders, but still! It felt really cozy and I loved it. We played for about an hour, and toward the end, I was kind of getting the hang of it: the running, the crossing lines, the tagging.

“Lexi—I mean, Alexis—you're pretty good at this!” Matt huffed after one of our last plays. “Must be those long legs of yours!” he said impulsively, and then he blushed and turned away.

I was dumbstruck. So he had been checking out my legs! And maybe not because they were neon white. I couldn't hold back my grin.

On the next play, we broke from our huddle and started out. We were tied, and this could be the end. I was going to go long for a pass from Matt, who was our quarterback, of course. But before he got a chance to throw, two of his friends on the other
team executed a move they'd obviously planned, where they ran in and pulled Matt's T-shirt up from behind and over his head so he couldn't see. He still had the ball, and he kind of lamely tossed it, and guess what? I caught it! I couldn't believe it! Everyone was so busy laughing at Matt with his shirt over his head that I saw an opportunity and took off running! Quickly, the other team realized what was happening, but I was too far gone. I ran as fast as possible over the bumpy sand, and even though my bathing suit was riding way up, I didn't stop until I crossed the end line.

“Touchdown!” I yelled, spiking the ball proudly into the sand.

Most of my team came racing down the beach, whooping and hollering, and they grabbed me, and we danced around. But where was Matt?

I came up for air and looked for him. He was still back at the other end of the beach, his T-shirt in his hand, yelling at one of the guys who pulled it over his head.

“What's going on there?” I asked Katie.

“Oh, he's mad at that guy for yanking off his shirt. I think it ripped or something.” She shrugged.

But inside, I wondered if it was because he was embarrassed. I felt bad for him, so I looked away.

“Let's hit the water!” cried Mia.

I was all hot and sandy from my sprint, so I was up for it. I took one look backward at Matt, and when I didn't catch his eye, I jogged down the beach with the others, to put our shirts and cover-ups down and to head into the water.

The water felt colder than before when I plunged in this time, but it was also a relief. The other girls shrieked and wound up not coming in; they just splashed some water on their faces and washed the sand off their legs. I lazed around for a minute, getting all the sand off me. I had to rub my skin kind of gingerly because it was feeling a little sensitive. Then I got out. It wasn't any fun without Matt, and I was too cold to stay in alone.

I blotted myself off and put on some more sunscreen, then I sat on my towel under our umbrella to do some Sudoku. I find numbers so relaxing that an hour could easily pass for me, doing these little puzzles. The other girls were chatting and reading, and after a bit, George wandered down the beach and sat on Katie's towel for a chat. I looked up, but when I didn't see Matt with him, I just hunkered back into my book.

But a few words caught my attention at one point, so I perked up to hear what George was saying.

“. . . so mad. He was mortified about his shirt coming off. . . .”

Ugh! I knew what he was talking about now. Poor Matt! I wished there was a way to let him know that I, at least, hadn't seen his birthmark and that even if I had, I wouldn't care.

“He's just got to get over that!” piped Emma.

I sensed an opportunity to send Matt a message via George, so I inched over and said, “Who get over what?”

George looked at Emma, as if wondering if he should tell me, and Emma said, “Matt and his birthmark.”

“Oh.” I waved my hand breezily. “Everyone's got
something
, right? I mean, who cares? Seriously. So not a big deal. Especially . . .” I paused. I wasn't sure I really wanted to let George know how I felt about Matt.

But Katie jumped in and teased, “Especially when someone's as handsome as Matt, right, Alexis?”

I just grinned and shrugged.

George smiled.

Message sent,
I thought happily.

“Gosh, Alexis, you're pretty fried,” George said suddenly, squinting at me under the umbrella. He
wasn't teasing. He actually looked concerned.

My hand flew to my face. “Really? That noticeable?”

The girls looked closely at me. “Yeah.” Emma nodded. “That might hurt later.”

I looked at my watch. Three thirty. “What time are we thinking of staying until?” I craned my head to look down the beach, to see if I might see Matt. Maybe I could wander down there one more time.

Katie stood up and stretched. “My mom had said we should leave by four since she has a date with Jeff tonight and she needs to get back.”