Island Girls (and Boys) (10 page)

H
unger returned with a vengeance, though. We sat on the balcony, cracking crab claws and eating the meat with melted butter and cocktail sauce. The sun was going down by the time we finished and set off to find the beach party.

Because we figured beer would be readily available in abundance and because the muggy heat of the day had given way to sultry island breezes, we decided to walk. We did our usual pairing up. On the way home from work, Amy had stopped at a store and picked up a collar and leash for Tiny. He was trotting along beside her.

�Where did she find the dog?� Dylan asked.

�I don�t know. She heard him last night. She�s like that. Taking in the strays.�

Noah and Chelsea were up ahead, wound
around each other like they couldn�t walk without the support of the other. I wished I had the nerve to wrap my arm around Dylan�s waist, snuggled up against his side. I wished he�d swing his arm around my shoulders and pull me close.

He took my hand, and for the moment, that was good enough. We held gazes, like we thought nothing would appear in our path to trip us up. Considering all the debris that the ocean washed onto shore, it wasn�t a smart move. But before we did stumble, Zach yelled, �Hey, guys! I think this is it!�

As much as I didn�t want to stop looking at Dylan, I did. I could see a fire on the beach. It wasn�t much of a fire. I suspected that the party planners had trouble finding dry driftwood. Even though the temperatures had risen into the high 90s that afternoon, a lot of the area hadn�t dried out completely. A small crowd milled around. People who would soon be shadows as the sun sank lower.

The nice thing about summer was that night didn�t fall until late, which gave us plenty of time to play. Too much time when we had to get up early to get to work.

But I wasn�t thinking about work now. I was thinking about the party and being with Dylan.

We met Susan and Tom.

�So what did you guys bring?� Tom asked.

I was majorly embarrassed to have arrived empty-handed. Well, not exactly empty-handed, if I counted Dylan�s hand in mine.

�We brought ourselves,� Noah said.

�That�s cool,� Tom said, but I had the impression that he didn�t think it was cool at all.

�We should go get something,� I whispered to Dylan.

�Yeah.�

�There�s a convenience store just up the way. We could get something there,� I suggested.

�I�ve got a better idea,� Chelsea said. �Tomorrow night we�ll throw a party and invite all these people to our place.�

�I�m not so sure that�s a good idea.�

�Why not?�

�We don�t know all these people.�

�They don�t know us and they invited us. Besides, by the time we leave, we�ll know everyone. Get real, Jen. It�s a holiday weekend. There should be parties every night. People could stay
outside if you�re worried that they�ll steal something��

�I�m not worried.� Okay. I was a little.

�What do you think, Amy?� Chelsea asked.

�I think it would be okay.�

That wasn�t exactly a resounding endorsement of Chelsea�s plan. Her okay sounded more like a hesitant �fine,� like she didn�t really think it was a good idea but was afraid to commit to saying so.

�Great! Two to one, we�re partying at our place tomorrow night. Spread the word.�

Before I could argue, Chelsea had invited Susan and Tom. We were forgiven for not bringing anything. I had a feeling that in the long run walking to a convenience store and buying a bag of chips and some drinks would have been less trouble.

My businesslike mind started planning this party that Chelsea had arranged. We could have the party outside, beneath the beach house. We could grill hot dogs. It could work.

�It�ll be okay,� Dylan said.

�Yeah, and fun,� I said, trying to sound upbeat.

And not worry. And wondering when my friends and I had started to no longer think alike. There was a time when we�d known what the other was going to say before anyone spoke. But I�d certainly not expected Chelsea to suggest a party at our place or for Amy to blithely agree with her.

�I�ll get us something to drink,� Dylan said. He headed toward a line of ice chests.

�You�re not mad at me, are you?� Amy asked.

�You didn�t sound exactly enthused about the idea.�

�It�ll be a good chance to meet more people. We don�t want to spend the summer completely alone.�

�We�re hardly doing that,� I said. �We�re a week into being on the island and we have Noah, Zach, and Dylan.�

�Chelsea has Noah. You have Dylan. Zach is with me by default.�

�That�s not true.�

�Yes, it is. I can see there�s something special with you and Dylan. And Chelsea is all over Noah like he�s made of chocolate.�

I laughed. �They are pretty bad.�

�Zach is nice and I like him, but we�re just friends. Passing the time until he leaves.�

�Has he said when they�re doing that�leaving?� I hadn�t asked Dylan because I didn�t really want to know.

�No.�

�Then don�t ask, and don�t tell me if you do ask. I just want it to happen without warning.�

�That�ll make it hard, Jen.�

�It�ll be harder if I�m counting the minutes. This way, I can pretend that there isn�t an end coming.�

�But there will be. Soon.�

�I know, Amy. And I�ll deal with it then.�

�Deal with what?�

I turned to Dylan, wondering when he�d returned, how much he�d heard. Obviously not much if he didn�t know what I was talking about, and I wasn�t about to tell him.

�I was just saying that I�d deal with the party planning tomorrow.�

�Good idea.� He handed me a wine cooler and grinned. �Right now, it�s party time!�

I
drank the wine cooler, because I didn�t want to admit that I was too young. Besides, I wasn�t
that
underage. And, for a while, the drinking age in this state had been eighteen, so back then, I would have been old enough to drink. And, if I were in Europe with my grandparents, I�d be drinking wine. Everyone drank wine over there. It sounded totally rational to me, especially by the time I finished the wine cooler.

Along with everyone else, Dylan and I were dancing on the sand. Someone had hooked up a CD player to speakers and music was blasting into the night. The fire was still going. Dylan handed me another wine cooler. I was feeling good. Really good. Totally relaxed.

The party tomorrow night was starting to
sound like a terrific idea whenever I thought about it. Which wasn�t very often. Mostly I thought about Dylan. And how much I liked him, and how much I didn�t want to think about him leaving.

Every now and then he�d pull me close, dance slowly with me nestled up against him. Even when the rhythm of the music was fast. Like we were dancing to a song that only he could hear. Then he�d release me and we�d be dancing again to the same music as everyone else.

It was nearly midnight when he pulled me close again, rubbed his cheek against mine, his mouth near my ear. I could feel his warm breath against my neck.

�I�ve had way too many beers,� he said.

�Me, too.�

�You didn�t have any beers.�

�Wine coolers, then. Too many wine coolers.�

�You know what I�ve always wanted to do?�

I shook my head.

�Swim in the ocean at night.�

�It�s too dark. You can�t see what�s out there.�

�Nothing�s in the ocean at night that�s not there during the day.�

I jerked my head back. �Are you crazy? Have you seen
Jaws
?�

�
Jaws 1, 2,
and
3-D
. Like I said, there�s nothing in the water at night that�s not there during the day. Let�s go swim.�

�I�m not wearing my bathing suit.�

He grinned. �Neither am I.�

Be bold, Jennifer
, I thought.

�What about Amy and Chelsea��

�They won�t miss us.�

Chelsea definitely wouldn�t, but Amy�she�d be fine. She had Zach and her dog. And I had Dylan. For only a short time.

�Okay.� I sounded breathless, nervous, scared, and excited. Because I was all those things. And a little lightheaded, a little disoriented.

Dylan swung his arm around me, nestled my face into the nook of his shoulder. We started walking, stepping on each other�s feet, laughing. Until we finally moved apart and settled for holding hands. Walking away from the fire and the light. Back toward the end of the island where our beach house was.

The moon and stars and distant houses cast
a pale light over the island. Everything felt different. The sand beneath the soles of my feet, the whisper of the wind off the ocean.

�I�ve never had a wine cooler before,� I confessed.

�Are you drunk?� Dylan asked.

�I don�t think so. How would I know?�

�You�d know.�

�I feel good. Relaxed.�

�Me, too.�

�Are you drunk?�

�No.�

�It wouldn�t be smart to go in the water if you�re drunk.�

�I�m not drunk.�

In the shadows, I could see him studying me as we walked along the shoreline, the water occasionally rolling in around our feet.

�You worry about a lot of things, don�t you?� he asked.

He didn�t sound critical. Simply stating an observation.

�I like to be responsible. The beach house is my grandparents�. They trusted me with it.�

�And you�re taking good care of it.�

�I�m trying.�

�That�s all they can expect.�

He drew me up close and his mouth met mine, neither of us hesitating, both of us obviously ready. The kiss was lazy, like the one we�d shared last night. No hurry. Like he had no plans to leave. Like we had all the time in the world. I felt like warm honey was moving through my veins.

�I�ve wanted to do that all night,� he said when he pulled back.

�I thought you wanted to go swimming.�

�Hey, I can want more than one thing at a time.�

He kissed me again, and I thought maybe we wouldn�t go swimming after all. Maybe we�d just stand here for the remainder of the night while the tide flowed in�until morning, when the tide flowed out.

He stepped away, and I almost followed him so I could stay nestled up against him, like metal to a magnet.

�Okay. Okay,� he said. �Need to do this before I�m thinking straight again and decide this might be a bad idea.�

�What�s a bad idea?�

�Swimming at night.�

�So now you agree with me?�

I could see that he was facing the water, his hands on his hips. There was enough light to make out shadows and shapes.

�I really want to do this.�

I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head. He dropped it to the ground. �I really don�t want to do it alone. We�ll be safe as long as we�re together.�

That sounded so incredibly romantic. Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet had thought the same thing in
Titanic
. And look how that had ended.

Still, I took a deep breath to shore up my resolve and my courage, my spirit of adventure. �Okay.�

He grabbed my hand, and we ran into the sea.

I
loved it!

The water was warmer than I expected, and whenever the waves crashed against us, Dylan pulled me nearer, protectively, shielding me as much as he could from the power of the ocean. He was warmer than the water. And strong. And firm. His skin felt wonderful, silky, slick.

My shorts and tank top were plastered against me. The water was swirling around my waist. Suddenly I felt something hard beneath my foot. Felt it move.

�Oh!� I jumped up in the water. �I think I stepped on a crab!�

�It�s probably the brother of the one you dumped in the boiling water.�

�I didn�t dump him! You did.�

He laughed. �Get on my back.�

I didn�t hesitate. I climbed on, wrapping my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck. He hooked his arms beneath my knees.

�This is fun,� I said, �but it�s not really swimming.�

�Close enough. I like it better anyway.�

I tightened my hold. �Aren�t you afraid something might snap at you?�

�I�m tough.�

He walked farther out, until the water reached his chest and the waves weren�t as big or as strong. I laid my head on Dylan�s shoulder and thought I could go to sleep right there.

�Jennifer, what are you going to do when the summer ends?�

�Go to school at the university in Austin.� I didn�t have to ask what he�d be doing, because I knew and it scared me a little.

�I�m going to major in business,� I added, anything to stop myself from thinking about what he was going to be doing.

�Are you going to join a sorority?�

�Nah, too girly-girl. Chelsea probably will, but not me.�

I kissed Dylan�s bare shoulder. Although I�d asked last night, and he�d avoided a truthful answer, since he was asking personal questions, I decided to try again. �Why the army, Dylan?�

�I have a Rambo complex.�

�What�s that mean?�

�I want to be Rambo.�

He sprung forward, twisted. I shrieked, just before we both went under the water. I came up sputtering and mad at him for tricking me. He was laughing. I was treading water, really not wanting my feet to touch the sand in case the crab was still around.

�What did you do that for?� I asked.

�We were getting too serious. And I�m getting sober and tired. Let�s get back to shore.�

We swam toward shore, the waves pushing us. Body surfing more than swimming. When the water became shallow, I let my feet touch the bottom, and then I ran out of the water. I plopped down on my back on the wet sand. The ocean rolled around me, and I could feel the sand shifting beneath me. It felt really strange. Dylan dropped down beside me.

�My reasons for going into the army aren�t heroic, Jen. I tried college, didn�t like it. I�ve got no skills. The army will let me play with guns.�

He was lying on his side, raised up on an elbow. I reached up and touched his cheek. �Rambo.�

�Yeah.�

�Are you scared?�

�Sometimes. But it�s the kind of scared we felt going into the ocean just now. You can�t really see what�s out there, and what we imagined in our mind was scarier than the reality.�

�I thought there would be a shark,� I confessed.

He lay on his back and wrapped his hand around mine. �No sharks.�

I looked up at the black, black sky and all the stars. I was suddenly feeling very, very tired. Spent. As though the long day and night were catching up with me.

�You get a day off from the campground?�

I yawned, rolled over onto my side, and studied the silhouette of his face. �Wednesday.�

�Want to spend the day with me?�

�Sure. I could get us a sailboat from the marina. We could go sailing in the lagoon, go out and have a picnic in the cove. Someplace special.�

�Do you know how to sail?�

�Yeah. And I can teach you.�

�Okay, Wednesday, then, we�ll go sailing.�

�Definitely.�

Then he rolled over, half on me, half off. I loved the weight of his body over mine, and more, I loved the way his mouth moved over mine as he kissed me, deeply. I felt like I was back in the ocean, terrified, exhilarated, frightened, excited. Exactly where I wanted to be, doing exactly what I wanted to be doing.