Lauren's Beach Crush (12 page)

“I'm really sorry, Chrissy,” she said softly. “That really stinks.”

Chrissy raised her head up and smiled wanly at Lauren. “I know, right?” She took a shaky breath. “It's okay. I'll survive. I'm just feeling, well, kind of stupid is all. I've spent the whole summer blabbing to you about my boyfriend, and then it turns out he's not my boyfriend at all. Maybe he never even liked me. You won't tell everyone at school about this, will you?”

Lauren was secretly shocked. Chrissy always seemed so sure of herself, so confident. Did she actually care that much what the kids at school thought? “Puh-lease,” said Lauren with a smile. “As if. Don't you remember how nice you were to me when I confessed to you that I barely even knew Charlie, after blabbing about my ‘boyfriend' all school year long?”

Chrissy smiled too. “Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Guess we've both been dorks about these guys, huh?”

“Yes, we totally have been,” Lauren nodded. And then she made a face and shrugged. Chrissy burst out laughing.

“Laur, can I ask you something?” she asked when she had caught her breath again.

“Of course!”

“Why did you exaggerate so much about Charlie? I mean, I'm not saying I would hold it against you or anything . . . it's just that, now that I know you so well, it seems really out of character for you to make stuff up like that. Why'd you do it?”

Lauren felt her cheeks flush a little bit and she looked away, but she realized she wasn't mad at Chrissy for asking. It was something she had asked herself more than a few times. “Um, well . . . I didn't mean to. I just liked him so much, and I guess I was really hoping something would happen this year, and I kind of slipped when I started talking about him and . . . ” her voice trailed off. Lauren cleared her throat and looked up at her friend. “I don't know. I know I didn't ever mean to lie, but I did. All the girls were talking about their crushes. And I didn't think anyone at school would ever like me back. And I knew nobody at school would know Charlie. So it was kind of easy. And I guess maybe I thought it would make me seem more interesting. It was so much fun to talk about. More fun than, like, what books I read, or how I think the whaling museum is really cool. I always want to try to fit in. . . . Totally lame, I know.”

“It's not lame at all. I get it,” Chrissy said reassuringly.
“Thanks for telling me. I promise your secret is safe with me.” Chrissy crossed her fingers over her heart, just like she had done in Lauren's bedroom that first day of vacation, and Lauren knew that her secret was definitely safe with Chrissy. “But Lauren, you are really interesting. And the whaling museum was awesome. You shouldn't be so afraid to talk about the real you or let people get to know you. You're really great just as you are.”

Lauren smiled.
That's exactly the kind of advice that
Chic Chick
would give,
she thought. Chrissy had become her new BFF for sure. Her first BFF ever. Lauren realized that even if the Love Plan failed, she still had Chrissy, and that was pretty great. Suddenly she didn't even care as much about the Love Plan. “Do you still want to go to the party tonight?”

Chrissy took a deep breath. “I'm not sure, Laur. Can I think about it?”

Lauren nodded. “Want to jog home together and eat some of my dad's pancakes?”

Chrissy's smile broadened. “Sounds good,” she said.

After a pancake breakfast, they packed up and went to the beach for the rest of the morning. Lauren suggested the beach near their house instead of Crane's Beach,
and Chrissy smiled and nodded. She and Chrissy needed some girl time, away from the boys. Plus Lauren was in a state of total confusion about everything. Charlie? Frank? Charlie? Frank? She definitely needed time to sort out her true feelings. Lauren read the novel she brought—not
Moby-Dick
—and they talked about everything except boys. They got home by early afternoon, made themselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and ate ravenously.

“The beach always makes me hungry,” said Chrissy, licking some jelly off the heel of her hand.

“Me too,” said Lauren. “So, have you decided about the party tonight? If you're going to go?”

Chrissy shrugged. “I guess so. I wouldn't want you to go by yourself. Or with your parents. I'm not feeling totally in a party mood, but we did buy those amazing dresses. So, I'll go.”

“Great,” said Lauren. Then she remembered something. “My grandfather gave me some money for my birthday that I saved for a special occasion,” she said. “And I think this is a special occasion. Want to go get mani-pedis for the party?”

Chrissy jumped from her chair, looking almost like
her old self. “Yessssss!” she said. “I'm going fluorescent!”

They both showered, washed their hair, and then walked into town to have their nails done at the one nail salon in the village, which was a few blocks off Main Street, next to the grocery store. True to her word, Chrissy chose fluorescent orange for her toes and fluorescent green for her fingers. Lauren went with periwinkle-blue on her toes and silver on her fingers. For a second she wondered if Charlie would like it. Then she wondered if Frank would. Then she decided she didn't care because she liked it. The girls admired their nails all the way home. Lauren couldn't wait to get dressed for the party.

“WOW!” SAID MRS. SILVER AS FIRST LAUREN AND
then Chrissy descended the front stairs. “You both look like movie stars!”

Lauren smiled and tossed her hair back. She did kind of feel like a movie star.

“I could swear you have grown an inch in the past three weeks,” marveled her mother. “And look at Chrissy! You look lovely, honey!”

Chrissy stepped off the last step and did a little pirouette, her full skirt spinning in a wide circle.

Lauren was encouraged by Chrissy's upbeat behavior. She'd been fine at the nail salon, but then once they got home she seemed to be sinking back into her sadness. Lauren caught her checking her phone a few times. Was she looking for a text from Justin? Lauren thought about asking her if she wanted to talk, but then she realized that
Chrissy would come to her if she needed to talk. Chrissy knew she was there for her. So Lauren gave her friend some space. As the afternoon wore on, Chrissy's mood seemed to improve. And now she was pretty much back to her normal, happy self.

Lauren's dad was regarding them from the sitting room off to the right of the stairs. He put down his book, took off his glasses, and massaged his temples, as though he couldn't believe what he'd just seen. “I remember taking you to this party a few years ago, and we spent the whole time swinging on the swing set,” he said to Lauren. “You were sound asleep by the time the fireworks started. Slept through all that booming. And now look at you! All grown up!”

Lauren laughed and rolled her eyes for Chrissy's benefit, but she was secretly pleased at the big fuss her parents were making.

Lauren's parents were already dressed for the party. Her mom looked great, wearing a pretty aqua-colored tunic over white pants, with white high heels. Her hair was up in a cool twist, and Lauren could tell that she had taken some extra care with her makeup. Her dad, however, was another story. On top he had on a Hawaiian shirt, which
wasn't the best choice in his closet if you asked Lauren, but at least it was festive. His pink Bermuda shorts, on the other hand, were almost too awful for words. “Um, Dad . . . ?” she said, pointing in horror at his shorts as he stood up from his chair.

“What's the matter? Not crazy about my shorts?”

“Um. Not exactly,” said Lauren.

“Don't worry. You girls can go to the party ahead of us,” he said with a chuckle. “We'll stick with the grown-up crowd and you can pretend you don't know us.”

Chrissy and Lauren exchanged a look.

“Okay, we'll walk,” said Lauren. She linked arms with Chrissy and headed for the door.

As soon as they were outside, Lauren let out a groan. “Did you see my dad's pink shorts? Did I mention that they're pink?”

“I think he looks . . . nice,” Chrissy replied diplomatically.

“Whatever,” said Lauren. And then both girls dissolved into giggles.

The beach club was a ten-minute walk from the house. As they approached the large sprawling building, they could see that the wide patio overlooking the
beach was already crowded with people. As the girls walked around to the ocean side, they could hear music playing—old-fashioned swing band kind of music—and see twinkling white lights festooning the patio area.

Music played, glasses clinked, people talked and laughed. Most of the grown-ups were dressed up. Several little kids dashed through the crowd and onto the beach, playing tag or something. White-shirted caterers passed trays of colorful hors d'oeuvres.

Lauren scanned the crowd. Was he here?
Oh my goodness,
she thought. She was looking for Frank, not Charlie. She suddenly didn't really care if she saw Charlie. It was all so confusing. How quickly she'd changed her mind about everything. Should she follow her gut and acknowledge to herself that her major crush had shifted from Charlie to Frank? If so, she needed to find Frank. And revise the Plan. She would need to give him her e-mail address or some way to get in touch with her after she'd gone back home. She remembered that he didn't live far away. Just two towns over from her. The high schools in their towns played each other in sports all the time! It was totally possible that they could remain . . . in touch for the rest of the summer, even after they'd gone
back home. Lauren realized, with a secret smile to herself, that she had learned a lot about Frank this summer. And Charlie . . . well, what had she learned so far that she didn't already know? Not much. He wasn't exactly an open book the way Frank was.

“Hey,” said a voice. Chrissy and Lauren turned. It was Charlie.

Lauren's breath caught in her throat, almost from force of habit. What wouldn't she have given for this moment just a few weeks ago? And now she didn't even care that much. He really was drop-dead gorgeous. He even had dimples when he smiled! And he was smiling. Wait, was she wrong? Did she still like him?

A little kid chasing another little kid bumped into Charlie.

“Oof!” said Charlie, taking a step forward so as not to fall over.

“Sowwie!” said the little kid, and kept running.

Charlie muttered something and shook his head.

“Wait, what did you say?” asked Lauren, sure she hadn't heard right.

“I said, ‘I hate little kids,' ” said Charlie. “They're just so annoying.”

“Oh!” Lauren and Chrissy exchanged a look. “I thought you loved little kids,” said Lauren. “I thought I—um—saw you once and you were letting a bunch of kids bury you in the sand.”

“Oh, that,” scoffed Charlie. “Yeah, that was a one-time thing. My sister begged me to take over her babysitting gig one day because she wanted to go to a concert. So I charged her and the parents. Got paid double. Plus, I kept the ice-cream money the parents had given me for the kids. Still wasn't worth the hassle. I hate babysitting.”

Lauren felt a little sick to her stomach. It reminded her of the time she'd found her tooth in her mom's dresser drawer. The one she'd thought had been taken by the Tooth Fairy. It was a bad feeling—even at that time, she had known, deep down, that her mom had been the one to take it and leave money under her pillow, but somehow, facing the stark, honest truth in the form of her tooth in the drawer had been hard to deal with anyway. It was like that with Charlie now. She realized now that she'd known for a long time, on some level, that he wasn't the guy she had fantasized he was. Even so, she decided to test him more, to prove to herself even further that she'd been wrong about him.

“So remember last summer when you were walking in the dunes?” she blurted out. She didn't care if she was bringing up a random subject and if that made her seem totally lame to Charlie, or if it made her seem like a stalker. She wanted to know.

Charlie looked at her, a foggy expression on his face.

“It was near Crane's Beach, but in the restricted zone where all the signs say ‘keep out.' I saw you walking around in there. Were you, like, allowed to be there because you were in the Youth Conservation Core or something?”

Charlie nodded slowly as he realized what Lauren was talking about. “Huh? Oh, right. Um, I dunno. I was probably just looking for my lost lacrosse ball. I always accidentally whack it into there.”

“Didn't you see the sign that the area was restricted?” Lauren asked, her voice rising a little bit. “Why would you play lacrosse near there?” she demanded.

Charlie just shrugged, clearly annoyed by Lauren's grilling. “I didn't think anyone saw me. Anyway, who cares?”

All at once Frank was there. He'd somehow approached without Lauren noticing. Her heart suddenly
began thudding so loudly she wondered if the others could hear it.

“Hey,” said Frank. “You guys look awesome.”

Lauren and Chrissy both smiled. “Thanks,” they said at the same time. Lauren couldn't help but note to herself that Charlie hadn't bothered to compliment them on being dressed up. Had he even noticed? But Frank had. Lauren wondered if he was just being nice or if he really noticed her dress. She glanced up at him.

Frank was as dressed up as Lauren had ever seen him. He had on a royal blue polo shirt and khaki shorts. For the first time, Lauren noticed that he had beautiful, dark blue eyes, the color of the sky on a perfect summer evening. How had she not noticed that before? She tried to get up the nerve to tell him how nice he looked but all of a sudden her heart was going pitter patter and she felt hot.

“So I heard you got busted today,” said Frank to Charlie.