Spill Over (11 page)

“What?” She chuckles as she turns to hold the railing to go down the stairs to the dock.

“You have great legs. I need to study. Don’t wear shorts.” I use all my willpower to keep my face straight.

She holds in a smile as her cheeks turn pink. “Okay.”

I love making her blush.

- - -

For almost a week Amber and I get together to do homework. It just sort of happens. I see her as I walk up for coffee
,
and then we end up on Dad’s boat, our school stuff spread out
,
and work for a while. This is
something I’d do with Trace. He and I
took the same classes this year
,
so we could do half the work.
I know without asking that Amber wouldn’t split the
homework load
.

Some days we t
alk a little,
and
some days we barely talk at all
. It’s so…
off
, being just friends with a girl like this, but she’s easy, so maybe it shouldn’
t be
weird.

Amber’s concentrat
ing on her ancient laptop today, but her brows keep moving closer together
,
and her mouth is starting to pull into a frown.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Just looking for something that never seems to come.” She lets out a sigh.

“Oh.” I open my mouth to press her further, but don’t. “You okay?”

“I’m okay about almost everything.” Her eyes find mine over the top of my computer
, and I swear she has tears ready to fall
. “But not about this.”

“Are you being mysterious on purpose?” I raise a brow, trying to keep the mood light.

“I’m going to guess there are a few things you don’t like to talk about.” Her expression is unreadable, flat.

“A few,” I agree. It’s just Amber always seems so light and happy. I have to admit I’m totally curious. Now I can have a purpose to being around her, aside from simply liking being around her. That feels way safer.

“Well, this is one of mine.” She flips her laptop closed with too much force and runs her hand through her hair to keep it off her face.

“Fair enough.” And I kind of like that there’s something I really want to know about her, even if it’s somethin
g she doesn’t want to tell me. Or m
aybe this is just how my relationship with her will go. Me wanting a little more than she’s willing to give.

That’s a pretty
damn
sobering thought.

- - -

I step out of the coffee shop with Amber and Brit who joined us this morning.

“Antony!” David calls.

I freeze. When did he get here
?
And what kind of prick doesn’t text to
give a guy maybe an hour
warning?

“Told ya’
I’d be comin’ for a few days!” H
e moves up the street toward us, looking every bit the part of a spoiled guy from New York. Three hundred dollar jeans, shoes that should never see the deck of a boat
,
and his favorite Prada jacket.

I knew he was coming. And we even talked e
arlier this week. I
t
just
slipped my mind like I wish other things would.

“Hey, man.” We slap one another on the shoulder. David and I don’t hug.

“Good to see you on both legs. Y
ou were in
rare
form last time I saw you.” He laughs again.

“Yes. Thank you.” He better hear my sarcasm, because that’s not something I need brought up in front of Amber.

“Well, you had a good excuse, you know.”
He slaps my shoulder again.

Right. Let’s bring up Mom, too. My chest is tightening
further
every second David and I stand next to the girls.

“Gonna introduce me?” His brows go up, and he uses a hand to slide over his light brown hair cause he thinks girls love his hair.
Well, girls do love his hair, but mostly cause he spends more time on it than most girls would.

“This is Amber, and her friend, Brit.” I watch David close
ly
as he takes them in.

“Nice to meet you.” He’s being
overly
polite. “Antony said we
’re
all going on some field trip thing or something tomorrow?”

Right. I warned him
it was something Amber had put together
.
My head just is not in it.

“Yeah,” Amber answers. “It counts as home school credit because a professor’s coming with us.”

“But he never stay
s
with us for long, so we get l
ots of free time on the beaches.
” Brit’s leaning forward, biting her lower lip and looking right up at David.

It’s an open invitation that David is almost definitely going to take.

“Why wait
‘
til tomorrow?” He grins at her. “You two can come over tonight, if you like.”

I
throw my arm over his
shoulders and start toward the boat before he does any more damage. “We got stuff to do,” I say.

I glance over my shoulder and Amber’s face is completely unreadable. What is she
thinking
?

“What was that?” David asks.

“Just…
nothing.”
What else do I say right now?

He
chuckles
. “The nothing with blond hair and long legs?”

I don’t even know how to answer.

“Way too much work, Antony. Did you see the look on her face?”

“Yeah, but she’s impossible to read.” I shake my head as I open the door down to the docks.

“Not that hard. My guess is she thinks you’re hot, but won’t do anything. That’s my prediction.”

“Predictio
n?” I slug him. “Whatever
. How did you know where to come?”

“You
gave me the name of the boat.
I’m not without skills.” He chuckles again. “Saw your dad. He’s cool. He said we can take the ding
hy out today. The thing
looks like a riot. A
nd despite your pessimistic view of this place, I think it’s kinda cool.”

“Great.” I let out a breath.

David steps up on the back of the boat, like he’s here every day
,
and I follow. That was me.
Is
me. I’m the guy who can just jump into any situation and roll with it. And now I can’t. I have no idea what to do with that.

Nine

David and I walk
together while the botanist from the universi
ty talks about plants. David
mak
e
s
eyes at Bri
t almost all day, and Kent spends
as much time walking with Amber as possible.

Once David and Brit start
up the trail side-by-
side
, Kent’s job
of
being close to Amber
ge
t
s
a lot easie
r. As much as I want to be the guy next to her,
I’m
so
not into fighting over a girl. Not happening.

- - -

The campfire is roaring and
the
light is
dimming
, but no one’s showing any signs of being ready to leave.
The professor ditched us a while ago. David’s the center of attention, like usual.
Well, David and his bottle of scotch.
I crack open a soda an
d start to move toward the fire. After my last binge, I’m in no hurry to go back.
Kent rest
s
his arm over Amber’s
shoulders
, and I stop
. I pretend
to
stare at the ocean
, but I’m using all my powers of peripheral vision to see what’s going on
between them
.

“Hav
ing
fun?” Brit
asks, standing in front of me.
Her smile spreads wide across her face.

“Uh…
yeah.” I nod. Crap. It’s really hard to see out of the side of my eye when I’m distracted. I take a step to the side
,
so I can look over
her
shoulder at Amber.

“We do these a lot, you know, come out to the ocean.” She wobbles her head back and forth like it’s the most boring thing in the world.

“It was better than I thought.”

Kent tightens his arm once, trying to be all relaxed about it. But how does Amber feel
about him
? It’s impossible to tell
, and that’s making me crazy
.

Brit’s head cocks to the side, giving me a better view.
“Yeah, you’re totally right, I mean…”

“Whoa!”
A voice
yell
s
. Someone’s
done a stupid soda bomb out of M
entos
on the far side of the fire
.
The group scatters.
Whatever.
All juvenile crap that I’m not in the mood for.

Kent now has Amber
in some sort of protective hug. H
e squeezes her close and kisses the top of her head, making me want to break his face.
Guess she decided he was okay. And that makes it hard for me to breathe. How many times will I have to remind myself that even if we did like ea
ch other, we’re not a good idea?

“Y
ou okay?” Brit
asks.

“
Distracted.” I shake my head.
We’re fa
r enough from the fire and the M
entos bomb, that we’re not really part of th
e action. I lean against a large
driftwood tree.

“Right.” She nods again and bites her lower lip.
“So, David’s a friend of yours.”

“Uh, yeah.” That should be obvious.

“Do you think he’d uh…”

“Brit?” I take a quick drink. “David’s not up for anything more than right now, and fun. If that’s what you want. Tell him, and you’ll get it.” Is
that what she’s asking?

Her smile spreads.
“Do you think he’d be into me?”

“We went on a nature walk
where he wore
three
hundred dollar shoes
, which are probably ruined,
and was next to you for most of the trip.”

“Right.” She starts to turn.
“Thanks, Antony. You’re nice.”

“Yeah, well, tell your friend.” What the hell’s wrong with me?
Tell your friend?
Am I in elementary school?

Brit giggles and jogs off toward the fire. She wastes no time in wrapping her arms around David’s waist.
And he wastes no time in hugging her back.

Brit
and Amber are friends.
Brit seems so relaxed
about David, about guys
. W
hy is Amber still so distant?
Having someone in my arms, someone’s lips on mine sounds pretty awesome right now
, and the perfect antidote to how hard everything’s been
.

Amber’s eyes catch m
e
from about 50 feet away where she’s back by the fire. “Help,” s
he mouths, holding in a laugh.

Help
. She wants away. I just lost half the weight I carry.
I stand up a little taller. “Hey, Amber!
” I yell.
“
Your mom called my phone!”

She ducks away from Kent and jogs toward me. “I think it’s a private conversation, don’t you?” she whispers.

“Yeah.”
I smile. Private sounds great.
She grabs my hand and pulls me with her.

My phone rests against her
ear. “Thank you,” s
he says, now that we’ve walked a
ways away.

“No problem.
”

“What do I do?”
She frowns.

“About the guy who likes you?”
I lean closer to whisper, just because it gives me an excuse.

“Uh,
yeah
…” H
er eyes widen.

“I thought you might like him.”
And we’re so close that I breathe in and stare at her lips. The ones I will probably never touch.