Chapter Five
Dylan
Dylan pulled himself, dripping, into the back of Tristan’s dad’s ski boat. “I’m rusty.”
Tristan snorted and took the rope from him. He’d already put the ski back in its rack. “You stayed up for three minutes. If we hadn’t hit that wake, you wouldn’t have fallen at all. Stop being so hard on yourself.”
“You know me,” Dylan said. “I don’t like falling.”
“Yeah, I know you all right.” Tristan restarted the boat, cruising toward the pier. “We need gas, and it’s getting dark. Let’s grab some drinks and just drive a while.”
“Fine by me.” Dylan stretched out on the seat in the bow of the ski boat. “I told Mom I wouldn’t be back for dinner, so I’m up for whatever.”
“I think this is the first night it’s just been the two of us in a while.” Tristan guided the boat up to the gas pump at the side of the dock. “I’m glad Swing Away’s so busy, but it sucks that Alyssa always has to work late.”
“They deserve the business,” Dylan said, hoping he didn’t sound lonely or desperate.
Tristan nudged Dylan’s foot as he took a seat. “What about you? We need to find you a girl.”
“Nope.” Dylan shook his head. “No girls until I make it.”
“Dude, you aren’t some kind of monk.” Tristan tossed him a soda can, cold and dripping with condensation. “It’s senior year. You want to go to prom, right?”
That girl—Lucy—popped up in Dylan’s mind. Yeah, no. She struck him as hard to please. She’d probably complain about his dancing.
Dylan snorted, and Tristan cocked his head. “What, do you already have a date planned?”
“I’ll take a friend or something.” Dylan turned to stare at the water. Tristan’s gaze felt like pity, even if he didn’t mean it to be. “Maybe Lauren, if ten guys don’t ask her first.”
“Better you than me,” Tristan muttered.
When Dylan had been trying to catch Alyssa’s attention, her best friend Lauren slipped into his life. They were friends. That’s it. They texted and hit the occasional movie—she liked Marvel movies, and her friends didn’t—but nothing more.
“You aren’t still mad at me for trying to help set you up with her, are you?” Dylan chuckled. “Because that was pretty funny.”
“It’s funny now,” Tristan said. “Not eight weeks ago.”
He started up the boat, and they cruised out onto the lake, which was crowded with people enjoying the sunset. Another ski-boat, this one filled with girls, floated by, all of them whistling and giggling as they passed. Dylan flushed and draped a towel over his shoulders.
“I can’t go anywhere after that homerun derby, asshat,” he said to Tristan. “There are pictures of my chest on the internet.”
“Mine, too,” Tristan chuckled. “But the homerun derby is why my girlfriend has to work late every night this week. Small price to pay for her happiness, I guess.”
They continued around the lake, nice and slow, enjoying the breeze. The water was calm, with only a few ripples and some chop from boat wakes. Dylan felt himself relax for the first time in months.
That’s when the calls for help started.
Tristan’s head whipped around, and he turned the boat almost immediately after. From the sound of things, the cries were coming from two girls toward the middle of the lake. Dylan stood, searching for whoever was out there.
“I see it.” He pointed to a shadowy blob that turned out to be a small motorboat. Two girls were flagging them down. “Come in closer and I’ll tie us together.”
Tristan guided their boat alongside the girls’ boat, keeping a safe distance between them, and Dylan tossed a rope across. “Tie in!”
“Thank you so much!” A tall, well-built girl with red-blond hair called. “Our gas gauge must be broken. It’s reading half a tank, but we ran out.”
Dylan helped Tristan pull the boat closer to theirs but almost let go of the rope when he caught sight of the other girl. “Lucy?”
Lucy peered at him and groaned. “Coach Dylan? God, just my luck.”
Dylan couldn’t have retorted even if he’d had something to say ready on his tongue. Lucy was wearing a bright blue bikini top with a flowing cotton skirt over the bottoms. The T-shirt and jeans had hidden one hell of a figure, and smooth, fair skin. His jaw worked, nothing coming out.
“Coach Dylan?” Tristan gave him an amused look. “I’m pretty sure you can call him just Dylan.”
“Okay, Just Dylan.” Lucy put a hand on her hip. “I suppose this calamity is another black mark on my record, huh?”
“No,” Tristan said quickly. “It could happen to anyone. Aren’t you the sister of that good little pitcher today?”
“Otis? Yes.”
The other girl draped herself over the boat bench, batting her eyelashes. “And I’m her best friend, Serena. You boys doing anything after towing us in?”
“Tristan has a girlfriend,” Dylan said. Better for him to look rude— Lucy already thought he was an asshole. “And I’m at his mercy. It’s a long swim back.”
Serena laughed. “You’re so cute, but I was just messing with you. I’m taken. Lucy’s single, though. In case you need a swim partner.”
Tristan made a choking noise, and Dylan shot him a dirty look. “Uh, about that. I’m not on the market.”
“Girlfriend?” Serena asked, head cocked like she was all ears.
“Um, no. Just…other stuff.”
“Wait one damn minute.” Lucy crossed her arms. “For real, or is it me?”
“Okay, that’s not fair.” Dylan spread his hands, wondering how the hell he’d walked into that one. “I don’t even know you.”
“It’s me.” She glowered at him. “Don’t bother trying so hard.”
“Oh, be honest, you wouldn’t go out with me in a million years, either,” Dylan shot back. “Oil and water.”
Serena’s smile grew shrewd. “Prove it.”
Lucy turned her glare on Serena. “Stop. Now.”
“Why? You’re right— He is cute.”
Dylan’s face burned red hot. “Wait…you told someone I’m cute? You were talking about me?”
Lucy didn’t answer. Instead she stalked to the front of their boat and sat with her back turned.
“Nice move, jackass,” Tristan whispered, then louder, “Serena, we can’t tow you back—that’s dangerous, but we’ll go for gas, if you want.”
“Let me swim over. I have money.” She looked back at Lucy, and Dylan could tell something crazy was about to happen. “I don’t want Lucy left alone out here. Send Dylan over. He can hang with her until we’re back.”
“Or I could go, and you could stay with him.” Lucy’s tone was half mortified, half sour.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” And before Lucy could protest further, Serena had tightened her life vest and jumped into the water.
Tristan stepped up close to Dylan. “You owe Lucy an apology. We’ll only be gone ten minutes. I think it’s a good idea you stay here.”
He was right, but that didn’t make Dylan like it any better. “Okay, okay.”
Not sure how any of this had happened, Dylan jumped off the ski deck and started swimming for Serena’s boat.