Next Summer (7 page)

“Your cousin seems into my friend Jeremy,” Adam said to Beth as they left the Lobster Shack, trailing far behind Ella, Kelsi, and Adam’s other lifeguard friends. There was a slight chill in the air, but Beth found it invigorating.

“What makes you say that?” she asked. Beth had been paying close attention to the cadence in Adam’s voice and scrutinizing his face ever since Ella had called him that ridiculous G-2 nickname. She still didn’t see the resemblance.

“Well, I think it’s because she told me that she was going to make Jeremy her boyfriend, whether he liked it or not.” Adam snickered.

“So,” Adam said, turning so he could look at her as they walked. “What do you do for fun during the summer? You know, besides get your surf on?”

Beth felt suddenly flustered by Adam’s attention.

“This and that,” Beth replied. “What do you do?”

“My friend Ben throws a few parties every summer,” Adam said. “They’re fun, but they always get a little crazy. He lives in one of those big houses up on Cranberry Lane.” Adam shook his head. “I just don’t get why you would come all the way to the beach, and then spend your time sitting in a pool in your backyard.” He sounded personally offended by the notion.

“The best thing about Cranberry Lane is that all the pools are laid out in practically a straight line in all the backyards,” Beth told him, gesturing with her hands. “Perfect for late-night pool-hopping.”

“I like the sound of that,” Adam said. They had stopped walking, and were just outside the ice-cream shop, the Twin Freeze. “Are you talking about the usual form of pool-hopping, or something more extreme, like skinny-dipping?”

“Skinny-dipping?” Beth repeated. Suddenly, a memory from last summer flashed through her mind. George had gone skinny-dipping with some random girl and Beth, insanely jealous, had stolen his clothes. She and George had wound up running through the woods—he naked—and later on, kissing for the first time. For some reason, even though that was one of her favorite stories, she didn’t share it with Adam, who
seemed to recoil whenever she said George’s name. And anyway, that was private stuff, between her and George.

“Do you like skinny-dipping?” Adam asked. When Beth nodded, he said quietly and very deliberately. “I bet you look even more beautiful swimming underneath the moonlight.”

His words hung there, soft but unmistakable, in the dark between them.
Did he really just call me beautiful?
Beth wished that this was one of those yellow-flag moments in football when you could ask the referee to review the play. Since that wasn’t going to happen, she felt the next best thing to do was to deflate the moment before it went somewhere dangerous.

“Adam?” Beth began in a wary voice.
Oh my God, why am I trembling?

“I know, you have a boyfriend,” Adam said, looking down at his New Balances. “The great ones always do.”

Beth cast around for something to say.
Shit.
Did Adam like her? More important, did
she
like him? This was spinning out of control. Beth enjoyed Adam’s attention, but she knew that if she fueled this fire, she’d really get burned. How could she cool things off with him? Then an idea shot into Beth’s head.

“But I happen to know a great one who isn’t taken,” she said suddenly.

Adam blinked. “You do?”

“Uh-huh. My cousin,” Beth said, excited by her stroke of brilliance.

“Um, Ella’s nice and all,” Adam said, “but she’s not really my type and—”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Not Ella. Her sister, Kelsi.”

“You want me to date your cousin,” Adam finally said, like he couldn’t quite grasp it.

“Why not?” Beth replied. “She’s really cute, and supersmart.”

“Beth,” he said, sighing heavily. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“This is where
you
have to trust me,” Beth said, unsure of herself, but trying to focus on the task at hand. “You know about surfing, and I know about…matchmaking.”

Adam’s mouth curved up in a crooked grin. “Matchmaking? Ah, you mean working on the assembly line, making sure all the little pieces of wood have round red tops at the end. Got it.”

“Smart-ass,” Beth said under her breath, while Adam laughed at his own display of wit.

“Okay, B. I’ll think about it.” He said at last.

Beth noticed two things as Adam took her hand and led her into the Twin Freeze: that she wasn’t sure she wanted Adam to date Kelsi, and she loved that he had said she was beautiful.

Later that night, Beth curled up on her bed and cradled her cell phone next to her ear. She and George had been talking for an hour, catching up on the day’s activities. George told her some story about falling off a ladder into a vat of paint
thinner and how he was high all afternoon because he didn’t change out of his fume-infested clothes. Beth laughed at the funny things he said, but there was a part of her that wasn’t paying attention. Her conversation with Adam was plaguing her.

“So, what’s up with you?” George asked after a moment of silence.

“Uh…nothing really. Just hanging out,” she replied.

“So, any catfights yet?” George asked.

“No, everyone’s fine.”

“Damn. I was hoping for some girl-on-girl action.”

“Sorry, George. Just good old-fashioned girl-guy relationships going on here.” Beth said.

“I feel bad for the poor suckers who get trapped by the Tuttle cousins,” George replied. “Who are the latest victims?”

“Actually, I’m trying to set up Adam and Kelsi,” Beth said brightly, hoping that this would dismiss any possible thought in George’s mind that she had more than friendly feelings for Adam.

“Check it out,” George said, sounding pleased. “My best girl is playing Cupid. How completely un-you.”

“Well, it’s true. I, Beth Tuttle, am now an expert on true love and happily ever after,” she joked as she stretched out across her bed.

“I can’t argue with that,” George said softly. “I miss you, Bethy.”

“I miss you, too,” she said.

Beth felt a sense of calm come over her. It felt like she was
taking a warm bath and all of her worries and anxieties were being completely washed away. She simply loved George like no one else. How could she have forgotten this feeling while she was flirting with Adam? Everything seemed trivial and meaningless compared to the connection she shared with George.

There were a few seconds of silence. Beth closed her eyes and searched her heart.

“I think,” she said quietly, “that when you come up here, it’s time.”

“Wow,” he whispered, instantly knowing what she meant. “You mean…?”

“I want to,” Beth said. She cleared her throat and sat up. “I want to have sex. With you.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “For real, this time? You might have blocked it out, but believe me, I remember the Valentine’s Day incident.”

Beth giggled. “I said I was sorry, like, five million times! And I promise no more candles that close to the bed.”

“Or, my personal favorite, what I like to think of as The Great Condom Disaster?” George asked with a grunt that sent Beth into a laughing spell. “You can laugh all you want, Bethy, but I was the one who was chased out of Walgreens by my mother’s best friend. Who, by the way,
still
likes to bring it up whenever she sees me,
particularly
around my mom.”

“Listen, George. I don’t want to wait anymore.” Beth had never been more sure about anything in her life. “And what better place for it to happen than here in Pebble Beach?”

“I guess it
is
pretty serious,” Beth said.

“I love you, Bethy,” George said softly, exactly the way he said it when he was nuzzling her neck.

“I love you, too,” Beth said, and if she closed her eyes again, she could imagine him right there next to her, where he belonged.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: The Usual Shenanigans!!!

Beth,

That story about your first night at the pier was so funny I think I broke a rib from laughter. (They love me here in my dorm—I’m the crazy laughing girl who never leaves her computer.) Maybe you should be the writer in this family. In fact, considering the critique I just got (my hot professor isn’t quite so hot when he’s ripping my story apart for its “sophomoric” style—OUCH!), you guys should come take my place here. And when ARE you guys coming?? That first weekend in August is best for me.

Back to Pebble Beach intrigue: Tell me the truth—Ella’s hook up wasn’t
really
named Inigo, was he???
You’re just making that up to get a cheap
Princess Bride
laugh. (It worked, you’ll be happy to know!!) And don’t tell me Kelsi’s still moping over that musician from last summer. SUCH A LOSER. He was never good enough for her anyway. Pebble Beach has boys everywhere—she just needs to find the right one.

Most crucially: Who’s this Adam guy, the surf hunk? You were suspiciously casual about him in that last e-mail. Too bad for you, Ella’s filled me in (I quote):

You’re so busted, Beth Tuttle. Tell me everything!

Love, Jamie

Beth went for a jog later that afternoon, taking one of the trails that wound through the woods. Usually, Beth loved to run in and out of the trees—the pine needles carpeted the earth beneath her feet and everything smelled like bark and flowers. But today she was in a bad mood.

Maybe it was Jamie’s e-mail. Beth didn’t like the fact that Ella was so obsessed with the Adam-G-2 thing. Which wasn’t even a
thing
, she reminded herself, working her legs harder.

After all, he and Kelsi had hit it off when she’d introduced them at the arcade a few nights ago. The two of them had started to talk and laugh while Beth got involved with a game of Ms. Pac-Man, expecting to feel all satisfied that her matchmaking had worked. Beth tried to concentrate on the glowing
pellets on the screen, but every time she heard Adam crack a joke and Kelsi’s easy, natural giggle, she gripped the joystick in a choke hold that would have killed a small animal.

Forget satisfied. Beth felt sick. Every time she glanced over and saw Adam and Kelsi smile, Beth felt like she was hooked up to some type of medieval torture device—the one that painfully stretches you out in all different directions. A kind of feeling that was eerily familiar. She’d sucked down about five Cokes before she recognized what was happening—and when she’d felt it before.

It was exactly the way she’d felt last summer, when she had realized that she was in love with George.

She ran the last part of the trail at full tilt, bursting through the trees and out into the sunlight along Peachtree Road. She slowed when she hit the sidewalk, and took big, deep breaths, like she could flush her conflicted feelings away by filling her lungs with the fresh morning air.

Obviously, she told herself sternly, she was just missing George, so she was trying to re-create how she had felt last summer. That had to be it.

Beth wiped at the sweat on her forehead, and started back toward the cottages, feeling no more settled than she had before.

When she heard her phone ringing from the pocket of her shorts, she ignored it. She knew that it was George calling again, and she didn’t feel like talking to him. He would know something was wrong just from her voice. He would want to talk about it and that was the
last
thing Beth wanted to do.
Then it struck her—Beth had finally encountered one topic that she couldn’t ever share with George. Her phone beeped, indicating that he’d left a message.

The paved road ended, and Beth turned off onto the dirt track that led up to the cottages. The trees closed in around her, high and fresh-smelling, and she could hear insects hum and the leaves shift and murmur far above. Up ahead, she made out the raised voices of her younger cousins and the clank of plates and cutlery as the Tuttles prepared for their nightly barbecue-fest. It was dinnertime already?

She felt like bursting into tears.

“Beth!” her father called from where he stood at the barbecue. “You almost missed dinner!”

“I lost track of time,” Beth murmured.

Beth’s dad—always the most enthusiastic griller in the family—dispensed hamburgers and hot dogs, and a few steaks for the grown-ups. Beth loaded up her plate with cheeseburger fixings and a lot of lettuce she didn’t actually want.