The Hazards of Skinny Dipping (16 page)

“See, hope isn’t lost.”

“It probably doesn’t matter, though. All of
my friends will be at the date party, and I obviously can’t go
alone.” The last thing I needed was to show up at a date party
alone. I felt low enough.

“Why not?”

“Why can’t I go?” Did he really need to ask
me that?

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” He leaned back
against the counter.

“My friends all have dates.”

“So? You’re a big girl.”

“I’ll just be a fifth wheel or
something.”

“No. You’ll be the strong, independent woman
everyone wishes they were.”

“I could try to find a date at the last
minute.”

“Juliet.”

I looked up. I hoped he was about to offer
his services. “Yes?”

“You can go alone.”

“Oh. Yeah. You’re right.” I needed to change
the subject—fast. “Do you have big plans tomorrow?”

“I’ve got a Sigma crush party.”

“Oh. Fun.” I tried to hide my disappointment.
It bothered me more than I expected.

“Lots,” he said sarcastically. “But what can
you do?”

He told me to go to my party alone, yet he
was going to another sorority event? What a hypocrite. He wasn’t
quite as much of a comfort as I’d hoped.

“I’d better go.” I started to walk out.

“How are you getting home?”

“The same way I got here.”

“What? Damn, I didn’t think about that. You
walked here?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t do that kind of stuff, Juliet. It’s
dangerous. I left my car at the house, so I’ll walk you.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Do you mean to be this difficult?”

“Fine. I just know you’re tired, and it’s
late.”

“I really don’t care. Help me close up, and
we can go.”

I nodded and started to go through the
closing motions. I wiped down the tables while Reed worked on the
kitchen. Fifteen minutes later, he locked up behind us.

He matched my pace, and we headed toward
campus.

“Juliet?”

Reed and I both turned when we heard my name
as we passed the frat houses.

“Oh hey, Kyle.”

“What are you doing out here? Did you just
get off work?”

“No. I was just talking to Reed.”

“Oh.” Kyle’s eyes shifted immediately to
Reed. “I heard about you and Dylan. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. I dumped him.”

“I know. It was pretty obvious from the fact
that he was crying like a baby.”

I put my hands in the front pocket of my
sweatshirt. “He was not.”

“Yes, he was. Of course, that was after he
hooked up with Amanda…sorry about that.”

I shrugged. “It’s not my problem.”

“He hooked up with Amanda?” Reed’s eyes
nearly bugged out.

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t mention that.” He stared at
me.

“It wasn’t important.” In other words, I
didn’t want to admit it. It made everything worse. I’d meant
nothing to Dylan.

Kyle played with his ID card. “Are you
heading back to your dorm? I can walk you.”

“Yeah, that would be cool. That way Reed
doesn’t have to.”

Reed took a step closer to me. “I don’t
mind.”

“But your house is here.” I probably sounded
ruder than I wanted to. The truth was, I still stung over his
quasi-rejection.

“If you’re sure.” Reed turned to Kyle. “Make
sure she gets back okay.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “I think I can handle
it.”

“Thanks for listening.” I gave Reed a small
smile.

“Anytime.” He took his keys out of his
pocket. “Take care of yourself, and try to have fun tomorrow
night.”

“I’ll try.”

Kyle and I walked off.

“What’s tomorrow night?”

“A Halloween date party.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that.” He looked like
he was going to say something but stopped himself.

“Why’d you do it?” He walked so close to me
that his hand brushed against mine.

“Your brother’s an asshole.”

“I know he is. But what did he do this
time?”

I unwrapped the scarf. “That’s why I finally
dumped him.”

He squinted to see. “For giving you a
hickey?” Kyle eyed me incredulously.

“For giving it to me so guys would stay away.
I can’t take his games anymore.”

“That’s Dylan. He got all psycho over
you.”

“Yeah…”

“What are you going to dress up as?”

“The original plan was a nightclub
singer.”

“Yeah? A sexy one?” He arched an eyebrow.

“That was the plan. But with this mark, I’m
going to make it a vampire’s victim or something.”

He laughed. “That’s awesome.”

“Reed thought of it.”

“I’m guessing he’s going to be your
vampire?”

“Nope. I’m going alone. The vampire will have
skipped out after his snack.”

Kyle looked over at me. “He doesn’t have to…
I may be free tomorrow night.”

“Really? You’d go with me?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. You know I like
you…and getting to spend a night with you dressed all sexy… sign me
up.”

If only he hadn’t added on the part about
liking me. I’d have loved a friend date, but anything more than
that wasn’t going to work. “Thanks so much for offering, but I’m
going to go it alone.”

“But you sounded excited…”

“I’m just not ready to start something new.
Especially not with my ex-boyfriend’s brother.”

“You have to see me as more than that. I’m
more than Dylan’s brother.”

“Yes, which is even more of a reason not to
go with you.” I’d known Kyle a long time. Stringing him along would
be unforgiveable.

“What happened?” He slowed his pace. “We
kissed that summer before ninth grade. We talked on the phone and
online, but the next summer you didn’t even look at me
anymore.”

“Do I have to answer that?”

“You liked him that much?”

“He was older. Had I known you’d look like
this…” I gestured at him. Of course, I was joking. Nothing could
have ended my crush on Dylan other than actually being with
him.

“So it was all superficial?”

“I guess. I built him up to be this
superhuman, you know? This older guy who was going to sweep me off
my feet and teach me everything I needed to know.”

“Not so much…”

“Yeah. Who knew skinny dipping could be so
dangerous?” We reached campus.

“We’ll have to do it sometime.”

I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but I
assumed he wasn’t. “Oh no. Never again.”

“It would be different…”

“You know how weird this is, right?” I hoped
Kyle realized nothing was going to happen between us. I’d just
broken up with Dylan, and I wasn’t looking for any relationship,
especially not with another Bradley.

“What?”

“Talking about skinny dipping with my ex’s
brother.”

“I liked you first. You liked me first.”

“We were kids.”

“I bet you’ll change your mind.”

“You’ll be the first to know if I do.”

***

The hickey faded ever so slightly by the time
I woke up the next morning. I tied on Cara’s scarf, glad the
temperature had dipped into the forties overnight. I grabbed my
books, and Cara and I walked out together.

Dylan leaned against the wall just outside
the dorm.

I groaned. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Then talk.”

His hair was all messed up, and it looked as
if he hadn’t slept at all. Dylan never left the house without
looking put together. He was worse than a girl that way.
“Alone.”

“You want me to stick around?” Cara
asked.

“No. I’ll get this over with. See you for
lunch.”

She waved and walked away.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Us.”

“There is no us.”

“We had a fight. Couples have fights.”

I chortled. “Maybe it could have been ‘just a
fight,’ but you decided to screw Amanda. It’s one hundred percent
over.”

“It wasn’t my fault. I got drunk, I was so
mad you left like that, and Amanda was over, and she let me talk
and—”

“You fell into bed?”

“No…but.”

“Save it. I really don’t care.”

“Yes, you do.” He touched my arm.

I shrugged his hand off. “It was
inevitable.”

“What was? Me cheating? I’m not like that.
Does it matter that it’s not going to happen again? We both agreed
it wouldn’t be more.”

“Oh, did you? How nice.”

“Juliet. Please.”

“Please what? You didn’t do anything wrong.
Is that what you want to hear?”

“No! I want to hear the opposite. We’re still
together, and I fucked up, and I’ll have to work hard to earn your
forgiveness.”

“We’re not together. And if you want to see
Amanda again, by all means do it. You two deserve each other.” I
started to walk away.

He grabbed my shoulder to turn me back to
look at him. “I only want you.”

“That’s not true, and you know it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s see, you’ve already fucked Amanda. I
guess I should have left a mark on your neck.”

He must have noticed the scarf, and reached
out to untie it. I grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Don’t touch
me.”

“I already offered to let you leave a mark…
I’d like it.”

“Go bother Amanda. Maybe she actually wants
to have sex with you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” I started moving again.

“Wait, Juliet!” He caught up with me. “Are we
still on for tonight? Your party?”

“What do you think?” He couldn’t actually be
that dense, could he?

“You’re going alone?”

I smiled. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“Who are you going with?”

“It’s none of your business.” It felt so good
to say that and mean it.

“It’d better not be Reed.”

“None of your business.”

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: sigh

Dear Juliet,

Whatever happened, you’ll get through
it.

Your Always There For You Cousin,

Amy

There was nothing fun about being the only
one at a date party without a date. It was even worse when your
friends got there late because they were having dinner with their
dates. After walking aimlessly around the bar for a few minutes, I
ran into the last person I wanted to see. Well, maybe second to
last.

“Hi Amanda!” I said with fake cheerfulness. I
could do it. I could be the bigger person—or at least pretend I
was.

“Hi… can we talk?” Amanda asked nervously. I
didn’t think Amanda got nervous.

“Why?”

“Come on, please.”

I nodded. What else did I have to do?
“Whatever you have to say doesn’t matter. We were already broken
up. I don’t care.”

“I messed up. I don’t know what I was
thinking.”

“You wanted to screw with me. Or sorry, you
wanted to screw Dylan.”

“He’s the only guy who’s ever turned me
down.” She flipped her hair off her shoulder.

“He turned you down?”

“Yeah… I always had a thing for him and
finally decided to make a move the first time I saw him this
semester. He wasn’t interested. He claimed there was someone
else.”

“Oh.”

“It didn’t take long to realize it was
you.”

“That’s why you’ve been a bitch to me this
whole time?”

“Pretty much, yeah. If I’d known before bid
day…well, you wouldn’t be in the house.”

“Honest. Wow.”

“It’s the truth, so I’m glad I didn’t
know.”

“Wait, are you actually saying you’re glad
I’m pledging?”

“You’re pretty cool.”

“Good to know.”

“He’s still crazy about you. He may have
slept with me, but he didn’t really want to. He wanted you.” It
sounded like it was hard for her to say it.

“He doesn’t actually want to be with me. I’m
not sure where this obsession came from.”

“Me either. Well, I should probably find my
date. I’m hoping for a more, uh, a better night tonight.”

I laughed, assuming she referred to the sex
with Dylan. “I get that. Have fun.”

“You aren’t here alone, are you?” Her words
sounded more surprised than malicious.

“Yeah, I’m going it alone.”

“Wow, that’s brave.”

“Brave or stupid.” I shrugged.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“You’re offering to buy me a drink?”

“Well, I did sleep with your ex-boyfriend
right after you dumped him—”

“When you put it that way...”

I followed Amanda over to the bar. She leaned
over to talk to the cute, young bartender. “She’ll have a sex on
the beach, and keep them coming.”

“Is she twenty-one?”

“Absolutely.” Amanda smiled.

I flashed him my fake ID. When Amy first gave
it to me, I didn’t think I’d use it much. That night, it was
completely necessary.

“All right.”

“Try to have some fun.” She touched my
shoulder and disappeared. Maybe it was a bad idea to let the girl
who’d slept with my ex-boyfriend buy me drinks, but if I didn’t get
something to drink, I was going to leave. Where the hell were Cara
and Mallory? They were never late.

“Where’s your date?” the bartender asked as
he set down an orangeish-pink drink.

“Non-existent.” I took a sip. It was sweet. I
liked it.

“Really? That’s kind of hard to believe.”

“Is it?” I concentrated on my drink. I was in
no mood for small talk.

He laughed. “I like your costume.”

“Do you know what I am?”

“Hmm. I might be off base, but it kind of
looks like a vampire took a bite out of your neck…”

I smiled. Maybe this bartender wasn’t so bad.
“Exactly. I’m a vampire’s victim.”

“That’s pretty creative. Too bad you don’t
have a vampire with you. That would be much cooler.” Okay, he lost
any points he’d earned.