Next Summer (13 page)

Jeremy smelled like soap and something just short of spicy. His eyes were dark and mysterious, and his smile was so adorable Ella could hardly sit still when he turned it on her.

“You look nice,” he said, gazing across the table at her. It was Wednesday night, and she and Jeremy were out at a pizza place, on what she was thinking of as a halfway date.

“So do you,” Ella replied. The more she looked at him, the more the hidden hotness took over. And she knew she was looking pretty hot, too, in a tight pink slip dress, her blonde hair styled in a sexy mass of curls.

“I’d like to get to know you better,” Jeremy said, leaning on the table with sincere interest. It wasn’t just a pickup line; he meant it.

“Not much to know,” Ella said slyly. “I’m the usual Catholic schoolgirl.” She knew that when she said it so sexily, boys tended to go glassy-eyed.

“You mean when we’re not tying up our shirts and dirty-dancing in the hallways?”

“Uh, I guess.” Jeremy shrugged.

Apparently he wasn’t a big Britney fan.

“What’s it like to have nuns around, and stuff? Are they really strict?” he asked.

Ella was thrown. It seemed like Jeremy might actually
care
about the details of her life. He really wanted to learn about what made her tick. This was new.

“Well, Sister Margaret Alice is a sadist,” she groaned before taking a sip of her Diet Coke. “But you know, the more rules and regulations there are, the more fun it is to break them.”

“Like in
Heaven Help Us
,” Jeremy said eagerly, his eyes lighting up again. He looked down at his plate when Ella shrugged. “It’s this really cool movie from, like, the eighties. It’s about a bunch of kids in Catholic school.”

“You really like eighties movies, don’t you?”

Ella always wanted to see the latest blockbuster, not stuff from before she was born. But this quirk was cute.

“What’s not to like?” He sat back in his chair. “Come on, you’re not allowed to be a teenager unless you’ve seen
The Breakfast Club.
It’s, like,
required.
”

“I’ve seen
that
,” Ella said. She was enthralled by this side of him.

“I don’t know why John Hughes stopped making movies,” Jeremy said, tearing off
a piece of bread. “The man was a genius.”

The pizza came then, and Ella soon found herself giggling over their shared inability to eat without dribbling cheese and sauce.

“Not the best food to eat in front of a girl,” Jeremy said, wiping at a stain he’d gotten on his long-sleeved T-shirt.

Ella laughed, and counted herself lucky that she had managed to avoid dripping tomato sauce all over herself. Given the extreme klutziness she seemed to suffer around this guy, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t upended the entire pizza into her lap.

After dinner, they walked a little way down the street and stopped at one of the scenic spots that overlooked the beach, with a bench to enjoy the view. Ella mindlessly took Jeremy’s hand as they leaned against the railing. Things felt so natural between them.

“What do you want to do now?” he asked, smiling at her as his fingers tightened around hers. “I think some people are having a bonfire down on the beach tonight. There’s a Jet Li marathon at the Royale, if you feel like some kung fu. Or we could go somewhere else.”

Ella was just enjoying the sound of his voice and how comfortable he seemed to be with her now, so she barely heard the options. “Um,” she said. “What was that?”

“I know I’m going to sound so stupid when I say this,” Jeremy whispered. “But you really are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

She stroked the side of Jeremy’s face as she kissed him back. She parted his lips with her tongue, and he didn’t resist. Ella was delighted when one of his arms snaked around her waist. He turned them both around, still kissing her, and Ella walked backward until she felt the bench behind her. Then Jeremy pulled away briefly to smile at her, before leading her down to cradle her in his lap.

Ella didn’t know how long they sat like that, kissing as if they were all alone in the world. She loved how his lips had the slight hint of Coke to them, and the feel of his arms around her. She felt a jolt of excitement race along her skin when he smoothed his hands down her arms. This was perfect. But Ella still decided to take it up a notch. While her tongue tangled with his, she let her hand trail down his fantastic abdomen, marveling at its flatness. Then, feeling invincible, she reached down just a little bit farther south, and gave him a quick and naughty squeeze.

She expected Jeremy to react. All the boys she’d ever been with had gone nuts after she’d touched them like that. It was a surefire boy-pleaser.

But she didn’t expect the reaction she got: Jeremy yanked her hand away, looking nervous and weird instead of turned on and excited.

“What?” she whispered seductively.

“Uh, I should probably head back,” he said.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

He gently shifted her off his lap, then stood, putting his hands in his pockets.

“I’ll walk you home,” Jeremy said, then turned and trudged ahead.

It took about thirty seconds for Ella to realize that he was serious. And then another thirty seconds to feel her face heat up. All her other humiliations with him were
nothing
compared to this moment.

“Are you coming?” Jeremy asked, from a safe distance.

Ella glared at him, and got to her feet.

“No, I’m going out to meet some people,” she said dismissively. So what if she was lying? There was no way she was going to let this guy mess with her dignity, which was already on its last legs.

Jeremy sighed. “Ella, wait.”

But she swept by him without another word. She didn’t know where she was going, but Ella just knew she had to get far away from him.

A few minutes later, Ella arrived on Main Street and was surprised to discover that, for once, she didn’t feel like joining in the noise and hubbub. She saw a line forming outside Ahoy, and for the first time in, like, forever, she didn’t feel like dancing. She strolled farther down the street and smiled at the bouncers outside the Lighthouse, but she felt far too demoralized to even try talking her way in.

Peter.

He was still tall and slender, and astoundingly hot. The stray fantasies she’d had about him getting fat or ugly hadn’t come true at all. He still had that vibe about him—the one that screamed, “I’m irresistible!” When he laughed, his black eyes seemed to glow.

Ella wondered if she’d lost her poise with this guy somehow. She’d wasted it on him, and now she was getting rejected—something that had never happened to her before. It was like Peter had cursed her.

Without really thinking, Ella stepped behind a group of tourists outside the restaurant next door. Peter seemed enthralled by the girl next to him, and she was as overwhelmed and gushy as Ella imagined any girl would be at his side. Ella felt a low throb in her abdomen.

Something reckless inside her bloomed then. She should just walk over there and interrupt him with his latest conquest. Make a move on him and see what happened.
Why not?
He was still texting her all the time. She knew that he, at least, wanted
her.
So why shouldn’t she have him?

But she’d taken no more than a step or two, her eyes still on him, when Ella paused. Peter ushered the brunette ahead of him into the Lighthouse. And the minute the girl couldn’t
see him, he locked eyes with the redhead standing by the door. Ella watched him lean in close and whisper something, and she didn’t have to hear what he said to guess it was the reason the redhead started smiling. That or his hand, which squeezed the redhead’s butt as he angled his way past her.

Peter’s sexy grin spread across his face.

None the wiser, the brunette kept on walking.

She turned away from the lights and the music, and kept on walking.

“There you are.”

Beth’s voice came out of the darkness, scaring Ella as she was creeping into her house. She jumped, her hand dropping from the door of the cottage, and turned to blink at her cousin.

“What are you doing out here in the dark?” she demanded. “You scared the—”

“I have to talk to you,” Beth said nervously.

Something was definitely up.

“Okay,” Ella said suspiciously, and followed Beth out into the yard.

“I don’t know where to start,” Beth said. Ella saw that her face was flushed and her eyes were swimming with tears. “I don’t understand how this happened.” She looked at Ella, then hugged herself tightly. “I just…cheated on George. With Adam.” Her voice was squeaky.

“Um, okay,” Ella said. Her own surreal night paled in
comparison to
that
bombshell. She steered Beth over to the picnic tables and sat her down with a gentle push. “Wait right here.”

“Where are you going?” Beth asked.

“To get reinforcements,” Ella replied calmly.

When she returned, Beth hadn’t moved a muscle, and Ella had two huge mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream.

Beth took the mug Ella offered her, and sighed.

“Drink up,” Ella said. “But I should warn you, I added some special ingredients.” Beth’s eyes widened. “Relax, just extra marshmallows,” Ella said with a giggle.
And some whiskey from Dad’s liquor cabinet,
she thought.

“You know,” Beth said in a rush, “you don’t have to listen to this. I mean, I know I’ve been kind of cold to you lately. El, I totally judged you for the Peter thing and there’s no reason you should even pay attention to
my
problems…”

“Drink your hot chocolate,” Ella ordered, rolling her eyes.

Beth’s lips trembled. She was trying not to cry. But she took Ella’s advice and drank from her mug. Ella did the same.

“This is actually pretty good,” Beth murmured. “But there’s something else in here besides marshmallows,” she accused.

Ella just shrugged. “Listen to Dr. Ella, okay? Drink up.”

Beth’s eyes filled with tears again. “I’m so glad you’re here, El.”

“I won’t judge you,” Ella said simply. “Now, start at the beginning.”

“What?” Ella asked hoarsely when Kelsi glared at her. She wondered if she shouldn’t be wearing her sunglasses when there was no sunlight. But it was too late to take them off—Kelsi had already noticed. Whatever. Sunlight or no sunlight, it was way too bright after a night full of tears, talk, and seriously spiked cocoa.

“You’re totally hung over, aren’t you?” Kelsi hissed. “Typical.”

Ella shrugged. She was far too exhausted to defend herself to her sister. She stuck a piece of gum in her mouth and wondered when the handful of Advil she’d just downed was likely to start contending with her headache. This was what happened when you tried to be sympathetic. Next time she had to be up at dawn, she should not stay awake until almost six in the morning. But how could she turn away a cousin in need?

“I thought we called a truce,” Ella said then.

“Whatever,” Kelsi snapped. She pointed a finger at a square-shouldered figure walking up the road. “My friend Tim is here. Behave yourself.”

As Tim drew closer, Ella was pleased to see that this “friend” of Kelsi’s wasn’t one of those hippie types she usually
befriended, dressed in hemp and sporting knotted dreads. No, this guy was downright…sexy.

“Check out your boyfriend,” Ella said, impressed. “He’s gorgeous, Kelsi.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Kelsi said in a tight, low voice. “Anyway, he’s not my boyfriend so you wouldn’t get any satisfaction out of doing him, would you?” She walked away to meet Tim in the driveway.

Kelsi’s response hurt Ella so much that she actually gasped for breath. She wrestled her bag from the ground into the trunk, and then crawled into the backseat of the car. She was dying for a smoke, but she knew Kelsi would kill her if she tried.

Her head hurt, she felt like throwing up, and she wanted to cry. Okay, Ella
was
crying. But she managed to wipe the tears away and curl into a ball in the backseat so no one could see her face.

For the first part of the trip, everyone was quiet, and Kelsi concentrated on the winding roads that led inland from the coast to I-95. Once on the interstate, the drive would be pretty easy, but first there were the slow and curving country routes to navigate. The morning was cool and fog pooled in the hollows and the woods, but the sky seemed to be clearing far in the distance.

Tim lounged in the passenger seat and seemed to be involved with the scenery, and Kelsi could hear blessed silence coming from the backseat, where Ella had sprawled across the entire width of the car and buried her head in her sweatshirt. She’d been fast asleep before Kelsi had even pulled out of the driveway.

Kelsi privately hoped that she’d stay like that the entire way down to Amherst and—hey—maybe the whole time they were there, too. She knew she’d been the one to suggest a
truce, but she was already rethinking the whole idea. Ella’s instant appreciation of Tim totally rubbed Kelsi the wrong way. Not to mention her obvious hangover. For all Kelsi knew, it was because she’d been out all night reacquainting herself with Peter the Jerk.

She realized she was clenching her jaw and forced herself to stop.

An hour or so later, the sun was out and streaming into the car, but Kelsi was still simmering with anger.

No longer slumped in his seat, Tim was swiveled half around so he could look at Ella in the backseat. Because, Kelsi fumed silently, that was what all guys did when they were anywhere near Ella. Her sister had woken up and seemed—as far as Kelsi could tell—all too eager to chatter away with Tim. Kelsi had watched Ella covertly in the rearview mirror as soon as Tim turned to her.

First, she’d taken out her sloppy ponytail, and smoothed her lush golden hair. Then she’d unzipped her hoodie, revealing a clingy blue tank top. Soon, she’d magically managed to gloss her lips so they shone, and she was laughing at everything Tim said. Then she was leaning forward between the two front seats, like Tim was some irresistible lure. The two of them seemed to be getting along so well that Kelsi was tempted to pull the car over to the side of the road and let herself out. She could walk the rest of the way to Amherst and the two of them could have more privacy to continue their annoying argument about who was more cheesy: Britney or Christina.

“Christina may have started off trashy, but you have to
admit, Britney’s decline has been truly spectacular,” Tim argued with a big smirk. In any other situation, Kelsi might have smiled along or even laughed. Right now, she just felt pissed, a feeling that intensified when Ella shrieked loudly from the backseat.

“Whatever,” Ella retorted. “Britney is still my girl. I don’t care how many freaky pimp boyfriends she marries.”

“That’s your argument?” Tim shook his head. “Pathetic. Next thing, you’re going to trot out the absurd ‘Justin broke her heart’ defense.”

Ella practically screamed at that. “Oh my God, you can’t even go there, he
totally
broke her heart and then
sold her out
—”

“And I thought
she
cheated on the poor guy,” Tim interrupted.

“But it’s all teenage drama,” Ella said. “Everyone knows they’re meant for each other. It doesn’t matter how many times she gets married, or how long he dates movie stars. It’s
destiny.
”

The star-crossed love between Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears was a topic that had never interested Kelsi. Ella, meanwhile, talked like she was personally invested in the stars’ reunion. Kelsi had heard this rant from Ella so many times that she could probably recite it. She barely even heard the words anymore. But Tim, she noticed, seemed to be hanging on to every one.

Gritting her teeth—again—Kelsi tried to focus on the road.

After all, why should she care if Tim found Ella as delightful as every other guy in the entire world seemed to find her?

She was still pondering that question a while later when they pulled into a rest stop in Massachusetts for food, gas, and a restroom break.

“Want me to drive?” Ella asked. She was holding the big bottle of Classic Coke and family pack of Dentyne Ice she’d just purchased.

“I’m fine,” Kelsi said crisply. She returned the nozzle to its place on the pump. Definitely with more aggression than the action warranted.

“You’ve been driving all morning,” Ella said, slightly hesitant. “I can take over.”

If Kelsi didn’t know better, she might have thought that Ella was actually trying to be helpful, even sensitive to someone else’s needs.

Obviously, this was some sort of elaborate trick.

“I said I was fine,” Kelsi snapped.

She watched Ella blink, and then rock back on her heels a bit. Kelsi noticed that, under her tiny blue spaghetti-strap tank top, Ella wasn’t wearing a bra.
Typical,
Kelsi thought angrily. And all for Tim’s benefit, naturally.

“Your friend is really cool,” Ella said in a voice Kelsi recognized as cautious.

“He’s all right,” Kelsi told her. “For a frat boy moron.”

And because her life was just that ridiculous, Tim was standing right behind her when she said that. Kelsi saw Ella’s
mouth sort of drop open, but before she could react, she heard Tim’s amused chuckle.

“Sad but true,” he told Ella, shaking his head. “It’s all keggers and football for me—I’m so ashamed.”

Kelsi felt her face go red, but when she turned to look,
Tim
didn’t look ashamed at all. He looked smirky and entertained, the way he always did. Kelsi was the one who felt ashamed, but she told herself it was just anger, and crawled back behind the wheel.

“Are you sure—” Ella began.

“Ella, get in the car!” Kelsi barked at her, turning the key in the ignition. “The last time I let you drive me somewhere, you almost got arrested.”

“It was a speeding ticket!” Ella protested, but she climbed into the backseat and slammed the door shut. “And that cop just had it in for me because, hello, we were so much cuter than she was.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure she really enjoyed it when you pointed that out to her,” Kelsi said. “I promised Dad there would be no moving violations on this road trip, okay?”

“I can’t believe she blames me for that,” Ella said, turning her attention back to Tim. She hardly looked hung over anymore, Kelsi noticed. The mere presence of a boy instantly reenergized her. It was infuriating.

“
She
nearly had to spend the night in jail,” Kelsi chimed in bitterly. “Funny how that made it all just slightly less entertaining.”

“She is such a freaking killjoy,” Ella told Tim in a slightly
lowered voice, leaning over the seat a bit more. “Let me tell you what happened and you can decide. It’ll be like on
American Idol
.”

“Excellent,” Tim said. “I’ve always wanted to be Simon Cowell. Can I tell you exactly what I think, no-holds-barred?”

“Of course!” Ella said, with a giggle. “I’m not afraid of the truth.”

But did Tim really have to be
that
into her?

Kelsi just kept her eyes on the road and somehow restrained herself from murdering her sister and the irritating boy next to her.

She couldn’t get to Amherst fast enough.