Island Girls (and Boys) (15 page)

W
e sat on the couch in the dark with a movie playing and strawberry candles burning on the coffee table. Not romantic. Just peaceful. I was sitting in the middle, holding the tub of ice cream while we all dipped into it, scooped out some, and ate it.

�This is so good,� Chelsea said. �It almost makes me forget about Noah. Almost.�

We�d actually gone three minutes without her mentioning him.

�He�ll be getting off work soon. I guess he�ll spend the night with that slut he was kissing.�

�Does it really matter, Chelsea?�

�Yeah, it matters. It hurts to think about it. Don�t you ever think about Dylan?�

I felt tears sting my eyes. �He�s been gone
two weeks, and this is the first time that you�ve asked how I feel.�

�I just figured if you were feeling bad, you�d let us know.�

�When? When you�re with Noah?�

She shifted around on the couch until she was facing me. �Did he hurt you?�

�He just left without saying good-bye. We were supposed to spend the day together. And he was gone. What do you think the answer to that question is?�

We heard a door downstairs open.

Chelsea inhaled a deep breath. �Didn�t you lock the door?�

�Yeah.�

�Then how did Noah get in?�

�It�s probably Alex,� Amy said calmly, dipping ice cream out of the carton. �I gave him a key.�

I stared at her. �You gave him a key?�

�Yeah. In case we weren�t here, and he needed to get in.�

�What about Mike?�

�No, I didn�t give him a key. Besides, in case you haven�t noticed, he�s not around anymore.�

I hadn�t noticed.

Alex walked into the living room and grinned. Here was something else that I hadn�t noticed. He was cute. I�d never thought of red hair and freckles as cute, but on him they were.

�Hey, babe,� he said.

Babe?

�Hi,� Amy said.

He sauntered over, put his hand on the back of the couch, leaned down, and kissed her.

Kissed her.

When he pulled away, she held up her ice cream�laden spoon and he took a bite.

�How was work?� she asked.

�Busy.� He yawned. �I�m gonna shower and go to bed.� He winked. �Wake me when you come to bed.�

�Okay.�

I watched him walk out of the room. Then I looked at Chelsea. Her jaw was hanging down. So was mine.

I looked back at Amy. �What was that about?�

Shrugging, she took a bite of ice cream.

�You have a boyfriend,� Chelsea said with a sort of awe.

Amy grinned and nodded.

�When did this happen?� I asked.

�I don�t know. One night we were in the crow�s nest, just talking, and we talked all night. Chelsea was busy with Noah�and you wanted to be alone after Dylan left�and I was lonely and there was Alex. Always willing to talk, to be there. And I like him.�

�You have a boyfriend,� Chelsea said again.

�Yeah, it�s kinda neat.�

�You never said anything,� I said. �Whenever we drove to work�you could have said something then.�

�I didn�t want you to feel bad. I knew you were upset about Dylan. And Chelsea only wants to talk about Noah.�

�That�s not true,� Chelsea said.

�Yes, it is. It was supposed to be
our
summer, but I was alone.�

�You should have said something,� I said. �You should have made us realize��

�That�s the thing, Jen. I shouldn�t have had to say anything. Why do you think I invited
stray guys to stay here? Why do you think I gather stray animals around me? Because we�re friends, but I�m always on the outside of the circle.�

�That�s not true.�

�Yes, it is, but it doesn�t bother me. I love you. I love Chelsea. You two are the best. But I�ve never been as important to you as you are to me. And now I have Alex.� She stood up. ��Night, guys.�

I stared after her, then turned to Chelsea.

�I feel like a total jerk. Do we ignore her?�

�I didn�t think so,� Chelsea said slowly. �But she has a boyfriend. And I had no idea.�

I set the tub of ice cream on the coffee table, scooted to the end of the couch, brought my feet up, and wrapped my arms around my legs.

�I can�t believe that all these years Amy hasn�t felt like she was inside our circle.�

�I know. Maybe it�s PMS.�

�Yeah, right,� I said.

But it wasn�t. And I knew it wasn�t. I ran my fingers through my hair.

�I always thought I was such a good friend to you and to Amy. But I�ve made your life
miserable, and now Amy�she has a boyfriend and I had absolutely no idea.�

�Amy has a boyfriend and we don�t. That sucks big time,� Chelsea said.

I laughed. It was so typical of her. Here I was soul searching, and she was looking at it from the personal perspective of not having a boyfriend.

�What�s so funny?� Chelsea asked.

�This summer. The way it�s going. Nothing like I�d planned.�

�Maybe that�s the problem. You plan too much. You should just let things happen.�

�I don�t plan too much. I just like to know�� I stopped. I was so tired of arguing with her about every little thing.

�I�m glad Amy has a boyfriend,� I said instead. �Good for her. She deserves one.�

�What do you know about this guy?�

I shook my head, embarrassed to have to admit, �Nothing.�

A banging on the door downstairs had us both shooting off the couch.

�Chelsea! Open up!�

�No way, jerk,� she said with a hiss. She ran
out of the living room to the stairs and shouted. �Go away, you jerk!�

�Come on, Chels! I can explain!�

I stood in the living room doorway. I could see her wavering. �Don�t do it, Chels. Don�t give in. Think about him in that lip-lock.�

�You were kissing another girl!� she yelled.

�But I love you!�

I could see tears forming in her eyes.

�He wouldn�t have been kissing her if he really loved you,� I said.

�Oh, shut up,� she said, like it was all my fault�again. �Don�t you think I know that?�

She stomped past me and into her bedroom. I followed right behind her.

�What are you going to do?� I asked.

�Throw his things off the balcony.�

She started gathering up his clothes, tossing them onto the bed into a pile.

�I�ll show him, I�ll�� She released a blood-curdling scream.

I snapped my head around to look where she was looking�at the balcony door. Noah was pressed up against it.

�Come on, babe, let me explain.�

Chelsea glared at me accusingly. �I thought you said only Spider-Man could climb onto the balcony.�

�I guess if he backed his truck up, climbed in the bed of it, it would give him enough height��

�It doesn�t matter. He�s here. What do I do now?�

He was still yelling her name. Over and over. Begging her to understand.

�Stay strong,� I urged her.

She nodded and gritted her teeth. �I will. But how do I throw his things out?�

�I�ll grab a pile, run downstairs, and toss them out the door.�

�You�d do that?�

�What are best friends for?�

I took an armload of his clothes and dashed out of her room, down the stairs. I opened the door, tossed his clothes onto the ground. And there was his truck. The bed right beneath the balcony giving him a way to reach the balcony and climb on.

I quickly closed the door, locked it, and headed back upstairs. I staggered to a stop just
inside the door to Chelsea�s room. She and Noah were on the bed, wrapped around each other. In between kisses, she was crying and blubbering, he was apologizing and explaining.

I shouldn�t have left her alone. I shouldn�t have gone downstairs to toss out his clothes. I should have gone onto the balcony and tossed him off, onto his butt. I should have known her well enough to know that she had no willpower. He�d break through her resolve.

She�d given in without a fight. I would at least make the guy crawl over broken glass, beg�right before turning my back on him and walking away.

No way would his mouth even get close to mine again. Chelsea was pathetic, absolutely pathetic, wanting a boyfriend so badly that she�d forgive him for anything.

I stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door. The ice cream had leaked through the carton, onto the coffee table, onto the floor. The dogs were licking it off the floor, the cat had leaped onto the table and was going at it there.

I should have chased them away and cleaned
it up properly. But the truth was I didn�t care anymore.

Not about Chelsea and Noah or Amy and Alex or me and Dylan. Only there wasn�t a me and Dylan.

I went up the stairs and into my bedroom. I didn�t bother to turn on the lights. Just crawled into my bed, lay in the dark, and let the tears fall. And faced the truth.

Unlike Noah, Dylan hadn�t come back. Unlike Chelsea, I wouldn�t have taken him back�even if he�d given me the chance.

�I
quit.�

It was early morning, a week after the Noah-caught-in-a-lip-lock scare. Amy and I were sitting on the floor beside the coffee table in the living room cutting out coupons and making our list for our trek to the grocery store so we could go right after work. We were still following our budget pretty closely, and so far, we�d had no problem covering our bills.

Amy and I looked over at Chelsea. She was always the last to get up. We were usually yelling at her that we needed to go. But this morning she was standing in the doorway�well, the only way to describe her stance was�
defiant
.

�You quit what?� I asked.
Being with Noah? Not after what I�d witnessed lately.

�I quit my job at the campground.�

I released a brittle laugh. �You can�t quit.�

�I can and I did. Just now. I borrowed Noah�s truck and drove out there and told Mrs. Plackette I wouldn�t be coming back.�

I stared at her, unable to believe this. �How are you going to pay for your share of the bills?�

I hated to admit it, but I liked having Noah and Alex around, dividing our expenses by five instead of three�now that they were contributing. It gave us some play-around money. Not that I was doing any real playing, but still. I was able to relax a little. I didn�t want to lose that.

�I got a job at the Sandpiper, working nights. So Noah and I can be together during the day. And we�ll be together at night.�

�I got you that job at the campground.�

�Yeah, and I hate it. I hate not being with Noah.�

�You owe the campground��

�I don�t owe them anything, Jen.�

�We�ll be shorthanded, it�ll make the work harder on everyone else.�

�They can hire someone else.�

�Everyone already has summer jobs.�

�Not my problem.�

�I can�t believe you�re doing this to us.�

�I�m not doing anything to you. You think the world revolves around
you
. And it doesn�t.�

I looked over at Amy. �Say something.�

�What�s to say? She quit already. It�s done.�

There was something strange about the way she was looking at me, then Chelsea.

�You knew she was going to quit,� I said.

�Chelsea told me she was thinking about it.�

What was going on here? There was a time when my friends and I had shared everything. Now I felt like there were secrets and things going on behind my back.

�Are you going to quit?�

�No. But I�m going to ask if I can work in the store. I�m tired of smelling like boiling hot dogs all the time.�

I turned my attention back to Chelsea. �This was supposed to be the summer of us.�

�It still is.�

�No, it�s not. It�s the summer of you and Noah, the summer of Amy and her strays. The summer of�� I couldn�t say it. The summer of me. Alone. The island.

�Never mind. Do what you think is right.�

�I already have.�

And with that she walked into her bedroom and slammed the door.

 

Amy was quiet as she drove us to work. I looked out the passenger window and watched the island go past me. The shacks, the dunes, the sandpipers. The people sunbathing, playing in the surf.

�I can�t believe Chelsea is running her life totally around Noah,� I said distractedly.

�She�s insecure.�

I snapped my head around and looked at Amy. �Huh?�

She cast a quick glance my way. �She�s insecure. He was kissing another girl. She�s worried about losing him.�

�I think he would be worth losing.�

�Love is strange. It has no rhyme or reason. It simply is.�

�Who are you now? Buddha?�

She smiled. �No. I just understand it�as much as anyone can understand it, I guess.�

I shifted around in the seat. �I�m so sorry,
Amy. I�m sorry that I haven�t paid more attention to what was going on in your life, to the fact that you have a boyfriend��

She waved her hand. �No big deal. You were all wrapped up in Dylan.�

�Just for a few days. The rest of the time�I should have noticed what was going on with you.�

�It doesn�t matter, Jen.�

But it did matter. It mattered that all of us were falling in and out of love this summer and we weren�t sharing the experiences with each other. We were drifting apart.

�Do you love Alex?�

She nodded, a secretive smile playing over her face.

�This is a stupid question, because he lives in the house with us, and I should know, but he�s so quiet. What�s he like? Really?�

�He�s a deep thinker. Supersmart. And we so get each other. We don�t have to talk unless we want to. It�s amazing, Jen.�

She pulled onto the road that led into the campground. Then she parked the car and looked over at me.

�I was jealous when you were with Dylan. You had a guy, Chelsea had a guy. I had a dog.� Tears filled her eyes. �I was glad when Dylan just packed up and left. I�m sorry, Jen. I didn�t want to be there for you. And I wasn�t.�

�I haven�t been there for you.�

�Did you like him a lot?�

What could I say? She was asking, but I didn�t feel like telling her the truth. �No, I just liked him a little.� I looked toward the beach where his tent used to be. I did that every time we came to the campground, like I thought one day I�d look out and his tent would miraculously be there again.

�I�m sorry, Jen.�

I took a deep breath. �Nothing to be sorry for, except for the fact that you�re going to be freezing your butt off today. Come on, let�s get to work.�

 

June 22 came and went. Amy and Chelsea didn�t switch bedrooms. Big surprise there. Amy and Alex liked the room they were in. It had memories. Chelsea and Noah were still making up and needed the big bedroom to do that.

The truth was, I figured they both thought it was more trouble than it was worth to move all their stuff. But come July 22, I was taking over that room.

It would be the turning point of my summer. I absolutely knew it.

Because except for the little time I�d spent with Dylan, my summer sucked so far. Big time.

Amy and I hardly ever saw Chelsea. She and Noah were practically superglued together. Work, play�whatever, they never left each other�s sight. I wasn�t sure that was the best way to handle a relationship, but I�d decided that it wasn�t really any of my business.

Who would have thought when I�d had this brilliant idea for a summer together that a month into it, I would have accepted that
together
was not where we were anymore.

Amy and I spent time together. Working at the campground, basking in the late afternoon sun after work. We�d watch a movie in the evenings. Then Alex would return from working at some bar where he was the bartender. He always came through the doorway with a
�Hey, babe,� and a smile that said he thought she was the best. And then they�d disappear.

And I�d be alone. I avoided my once favorite place�the crow�s nest�because the memories of my time there with Dylan always overwhelmed me. So I�d sit on the balcony, watch the night and the stars, the lights of the ships on the water. It was romantic and sad at the same time. Then I�d hear Chelsea and Noah return from work and go into their bedroom.

I�d hear them talking, giggling, moaning, and I�d get up and go to my room. Lie in my bed in the dark, and think about a guy who I�d never see again. It was pathetic. It was like I was going through the stages of grief or something.

Then one morning I woke up to a horoscope that read:

Hug a best friend. It�ll improve your outlook
.

And it changed everything.