Chapter Eight
Eli
I bring out our giant cooler that my pain-in-the-ass mom packed with enough food to feed the entire team, twice. And there’s only lunch and drinks for me and Nora in there.
Nora. Who is waiting by her garage, and damn. She looks…she looks sexy. The hair doesn’t help. I had this moment of clarity last night—if I really think I’m gonna make this plan work, maybe I should start treating her like a girl. Maybe compliment her. It won’t be easy. It’s not like I don’t know how to treat a woman—I’ve just trained myself to ignore those things when it comes to her.
“Hey.” I raise a hand. “Looking good.”
Smooth, Eli. Could you just try and act normal?
Her eyes narrow. “Thanks?”
“E!” I turn and see Dad on the back porch, a scowl on his face. He has the day off so he’s in his boxers and a stretched out holey T-shirt. “No drinking, you hear me?”
My brain starts to shut down. This is the start of his drinking lecture that I’ve heard about a thousand times. “Yeah, Dad, I know.”
He smirks. “Oh yeah? You know, do you? You know what it’s like telling a parent that their kid’s dead because he was driving drunk? I don’t ever plan on being on the receiving end…”
…of that call, I finish in my head. The best thing to do is go along with it. “Yeah, Dad, I’m good. Um, pants, maybe?”
He doesn’t care he’s half naked in the backyard. Me, on the other hand? I care.
“Uh, hey, Nora!” Dad calls. “How are you?”
She’s cringing, Dad, that’s how she is.
“Good, I’m good. Thanks, Mr. Costas.”
He tilts his head and squints at her. “You’re going, too? To this shindig?”
Nora grunts, still in denial. “Yeah. Apparently.”
Dad’s head snaps to me and he points an accusing finger. “Okay then. Eli, you’re driving Nora. I find out you drink, life as you know it is over.”
I wish I could yell at him to leave me the hell alone. Sometimes I think he wants me to screw up and get caught. “Dad, I got it,” I say, just to shut him up.
“You kids have fun, though. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
I inhale, trying to stay cool. I walk away, my back to him, and hear the back door shut. “Ladies and gentlemen, Police Chief Michael Costas, Dad of the year!”
She pats my back. “I love your dad so much.”
I open her trunk and hoist the cooler into the back. “Oh yeah, he’s adorable, unless you actually have to live with him.”
“It beats having a dad you see twice a year and then it’s horribly awkward because you don’t even know each other,” she grumbles.
“Yeah. I guess. You going to see him this summer?”
“No.” Her voice gets soft. “I don’t think so. He’ll come for graduation. Mom and him won’t talk to each other, and then he’ll go home.”
There she is, getting sad again. I can’t let that happen, not today. “His loss,” I say, not giving her any room to argue. “Let’s go.”
She holds out the keys for me, but I don’t take them. “Your mom is at work. We don’t have to switch.”
The color drains from her face. I can actually hear her gulp.
Time for another pep talk. “Come on, you did great last time. This time will be even easier.” I walk around to the passenger side and try to ignore the fact that my knee still hurts. I’ve been doing stretches, taking it easy at practice… I can’t shake whatever’s wrong with it, though, and I gotta stay healthy.
Nora opens the driver’s side and looks at the steering wheel, terrified. She gets in anyway, backs out with the speed of a sedated tree sloth, and finally makes it to the road. Silently, slowly, she winds her way through the neighborhood. When she turns onto Main, she leans forward and peers at the sky. “I think it’s gonna rain. Maybe we shouldn’t go.”
I rub my temple. “Okay, science genius girl, I know that there is no chance of rain, not even a little, so stop trying to con your way out of this.”
Her fingers grip the steering wheel tighter. “I’m not. I just don’t want to drive all the way out there if it’s going to rain.”
“It’s not going to rain.” I turn to her. She needs a distraction, so I decide this might be a good time for a compliment. “So, your hair…” I say, with no real plan for how to finish that sentence.
“What?” She touches it and glances at the rearview mirror. “Does it look bad?” She swerves into the next lane.
“Watch the road,” I say. “And no. It doesn’t. It doesn’t look bad at all. It looks really good,” I say, but I can see in her wrinkled-up forehead that she’s not buying it. My stomach churns. Maybe this isn’t gonna work. Maybe I have been in her friend zone for too long.
“Thanks.” She smirks. “Yours doesn’t look bad, either.”
This is a disaster. How can I compliment her if she doesn’t believe me?
Get it together, Costas.
“Hey, you want some pie before we head out?” If she can’t take a compliment, I can at least maximize our time together.
“Sure.”
She pulls into the Mermaid parking lot, overshoots the turn, and scrapes the hubcap on the curb.
“Shit, shit, shit,” she says. She doesn’t swear much, so it sounds funny coming out of her mouth and I bust up.
“You said you wouldn’t make fun of me,” she says. When I look at her, though, she’s not mad. In fact, there’s a lopsided grin on her face. “It’s true, though, I really suck.” She laughs and pulls into a spot, well, half of one spot, half of another.
“See, that’s what you need to do,” I say. “You need to chill out; relax.” I lean toward her, knowing that if this plan is going to work, I can’t be afraid to get close. “And you don’t suck.”
She backs away, and I remind myself that this isn’t going to happen overnight. We get out and I assess her parking job. “Okay, maybe you do suck. But you’ll get better. I promise.”
We’re late to the party and I don’t really care. My plan calls for us to spend time together. Which we did at the Mermaid, over underbaked chocolate cream and overbaked key lime. Nora parks in the beach lot, actually in the lines this time, and yanks out the key with confidence. “It’s amazing,” she says, “you didn’t yell at me once.”
“Don’t get too cocky, we still have the drive home,” I say. I’m giving her a hard time even though she did do good. She pops the trunk and I get out, breathing in the salty air. I love everything about the beach: volleyball, surfing, skimboarding, girls in bikinis… Also, there are lots of memories here, with Nora. We used to come all the time, with our families, when we were younger.
We walk side by side through the mangroves up the path to the shore, and Koviak spots us from a distance. “Hey, it’s about damn time!” he yells.
“Yay,” Nora says, her voice oozing sarcasm.
“Kov’s a good guy,” I whisper.
She huffs. “He doesn’t like me.”
“He likes you, Nora.”
“He does not.”
“Because you went out once and you dumped him? Trust me, he’s over it. In fact, he thinks you’re totally hot. Probably would say yes if you gave him another shot.”
“Ouch!” She stops, takes off her flip-flop, and grabs my shirt sleeve for balance. She brushes off the bottom of her foot. “See, that’s why I didn’t want to come.” I reach out a hand to steady her, holding onto her arm while she puts the flip-flop back on.
“Why?” I ask.
Her eyes rivet to mine. “Because I can’t give him another shot, can I?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
She groans. “Eli. You know I can’t. That’s not the way it works.”
I let go of her arm. Yeah, I do know. Better than anyone.
Suddenly I’m not in the best mood. “You know, what if you’re wrong?” A group of lacrosse players passes us, grunting and shouting “Eli” like Neanderthals.
She ignores them, sets her mouth, and narrows her eyes. “What if I’m right?”
Who’s gonna argue with that?
I run a hand through my hair. Me. That’s who. I’m gonna prove to her she’s dead wrong.
“Nora,” I say. “I know you’re always right and shit, but just today, why don’t you try to forget all that, don’t think so much, and have fun? You can do it. I know you can.”
She trudges down the wooden steps to the beach. “Of course I can,” she says. “I know how to have fun, Eli.”
“Then prove it.” I nudge her arm and smile. “It’ll be a challenge, but pretend you’re a normal girl.”
She doesn’t answer, but she starts moving again, and I figure that’s answer enough.
Down on the sand, I’m instantly pulled in with a group of the guys who want to talk lacrosse. A few minutes later, I scan the crowd and I see her down near the water with Abby, who is laying out a towel next to a bunch of the other girls.
A few of them are talking to Nora. Good. Good. At least they aren’t ignoring her. The most amazing thing about this scene is that they’re all in bikinis, laid out on stomachs or backs. It’s a beautiful sight—a sea of skin.
Thankfully, Nora is still in her shorts and T-shirt when Tex runs up to her and points to the volleyball net. Oh yeah. I’m gonna kill that guy. He’s working that dopey cowboy mug of his and trying to charm her. The worst thing is, she seems to be buying it. Shit. She cannot kiss that dude.
“Volleyball, anyone?” I yell loud enough for Tex to hear. “Koviak!” I call to where he’s standing next to a cooler. “Let’s start a game, man!”
“Sure.”
I jog over to Nora and…what’s his name. “Hey.” Seriously, what is his name? Something weird. “Koviak’s starting a volleyball game. You should play.” I thrust my thumb over my shoulder.
Another grin spreads on his big mouth. “Yeah. Sounds good.” He lifts a hand to me. I’m supposed to high-five him? God, what an ass.
I leave him hanging, and he gets the hint. “You play, Nora?” he says to her.
She wrinkles up her nose. God, she’s cute. “No thanks, I’ll watch.”
I want to do a backflip. Denied you cow turd, now go the fuck away!
Tex looks like someone stole his favorite lasso. “Cool, let’s talk later. Maybe go for a walk?” he says, so obvious with the pickup lines I want to hurl.
Nora lifts up on her toes and, holy shit, did she just flip her hair? “Yeah. Sure. Definitely.”
She has no shame.
“Aren’t you gonna play?” she asks me when I don’t leave with Tex to join the game.
I shake my head. “Nah, gotta protect the knee.” Which is suddenly hurting like a mother. “Up for a swim?”
Her eyes do that squinty, suspicious thing. “Okay.”
“Why do you always look at me like that?”
“Like what?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Like you don’t believe me. I’m telling you the truth—I don’t want to play. Let those jackasses ruin their knees. I want to swim. Do you want to come with me?”
She lays out her towel next to Abby’s, and then she turns toward the ocean, big and powerful and infinite, lifts both arms at the same time and pulls her shirt up over her head.
Adrenaline, almost like I’m running a play, rushes through me. I mean, I guess it’s adrenaline—either that, or I’m just straight up turned on. Damn. I can’t look away. I haven’t seen her this clothes-free in a long time. I have to concentrate on moving the air in and out of my lungs. This is Nora. This is no big deal.
Except it is.
She’s wearing this little striped bikini top I can barely handle. Then she takes her shorts off next and I see the bikini bottom—same stripes, and just as small. Not a lot of coverage.
“Let’s go in,” she says. “I’m hot.”
I run a hand through my hair. Holy shit. You’re telling me.