Every Girl Does It (17 page)

“Children?” Kristin comes up to us
.
“A problem?”

“Yes
.”
I point at Preston
.
“
H
e just called me stupid and tripped me
.
When
he tripped me
,
his flip flop fell into the water
,
and now he wants me to go get it
.
A
nd you know how much I hate the water.” I stomp my foot for effect and shed a fake tear
,
all the while Preston stares at me
,
mouth open in shock.

“Preston! Be nice to her
!
S
he has a legitimate fear
.
N
ow stop being a bully
,
and get your shoe out of the water
.
W
e
’
re going to be late for our snorkeling appointment.” She pulls me into her side and escorts me
safely
to the boat. I turn quickly to stick my tongue out at Preston
.
H
e smirks
,
then wades through the shallow water to
retrieve
his flip flop.

Two can play that game
,
buddy
,
I th
ink
.

****

I should have never underestimated him. I don’t know how I get myself into these situations
.
Honestly,
I don’t. I mean
,
sometimes in hindsight
,
I can see myself make the choice
,
and I want to yell at myself to stop
.
You don’t know what you’re doing
! But
it’s
always too late, and, seriously,
how was I supposed to know the boat actually had a high dive?

Stupid Preston and his dares. He knows how much I hate water
,
yet here I am
,
standing on what I would like to refer
to
as the “plank of death
”
,
waiting to jump into the dark abyss. “Jump
!
Jump
!
Jump!” I hear the voices
chant
,
but
all I feel like doing is passing out. Heights and water do not mix. This is at least
thirty
feet
,
and I feel like I might be sick.

“You know you don’t have to do this
,
” Preston teases
and
leans over the edge next to me.

“Shut up!” I
squeak
.
“I
’
m doing this.”

“Smart girl.”
He
jump
s
in before me.

You see
,
it happened like this. Preston
dared
me
to
fit a whole chip into my mouth at the snack bar, which
,
let’
s
be honest
,
was
a stupid dare. I did it
, then
proceeded
to dare him to take a swig of Ta
ba
s
co sauce. We went around the boat daring each other
to do things
until we reached the top
,
where he noticed the high dive. He immediately suckered me into it before I had the chance to
say no. I mean
,
I was winning the game
.
I
t was
Preston
who didn’t’ have enough guts to down the whole bottle of
Ta
bas
co. I
’
m the one
who
proved it and did it myself. I was winning
…
until the high dive incident. Now
here
I am
,
shakin
g at the top of this giant boat,
listening to complete strangers chant my name.

Far below me,
I
can
see
Preston treading
water
and
joining in
the chant. I
immediately
start to
pray for a thunderstorm
.
Maybe
lightning
will
strike his smug little face. The visual brings a smile to my lips. Okay
,
I can do this
.
I can do this. I close my eyes and jump. I feel my stomach heave as I hit the water
,
forgetting to pencil my legs and making a big slap
.
T
he sting runs all the way down my now
throbbing
red legs. I swim up gasping for air and see Preston swimming toward me like he’s fighting for a rol
e
in
B
ay
W
atch
.

“Nice,” he says breathless
ly,
as he notes my shaking body.

“I
—”

“
H
ate me, I know
.
S
ave it for later though
.
W
e should get you and your bruised body back on the boat. I thought I told you to pencil it?” He laughs
and
swims ahead
so he can
pull me onto the back of the boat.

“I think you’re hazardous to her health
,
buddy
,
” Brad says
while
Preston pull
s
me onto the boa
t. I feel like a beached whale.

My legs are
n’
t just red
anymore.
T
hey
’
re now swelling to the size of
…
well
,
I don’t want to give you that visual
.
I
t’s
too depressing.

“Hey
,
at least you did it!” Preston
tries to sound
encourag
ing.
I give him the look of death reserved for only the worst of mankind.

“So not the point,” I say
,
teeth chattering. Suddenly
,
I don’t feel so well.

“
Let’s go inside and get you dry.
”
He
help
s
me to my feet. We
move
inside
to
the covered part of the boat and sit. I watch in awe as Preston winks at the snack bar lady
who then
brings us free snacks.

“Sure you aren’t a wizard?” I ask
.
M
ust be the
trauma of the
fall talking.

“A wizard
?
A
s in Harry Potter? I feel like I should be offended.” He hand
s
me my drink.

“You c
ould be,
b
ut he is the best magician at Hog
warts,
” I say defensively.

“Please don’t tell me
you’
ve read the entire series of Harry Potter.” He
laughs and shoot
s me a look rese
rved for small children who’ve been naughty
.

“Fine, I have
not
read the entire series…only parts.” I
sip
my
ginger ale
.
At least he had enough common sense to bring me something to calm my stomach.

“So
,
why would I be a wizard anyway?”

“The magical powers you have over people. It
’
s wizardy
,
” I say
.

“Wizardy is not a word.”

“It’s
in my dictionary.”

“Doubtful you
’
ve ever even
seen
one
,
”
he
counters
.

“Whatever.” I cross
my arm
s.

“What are you
?
F
ive?”
he
says
,
noticing my body language.

“Six, now go away.”

“Is that any way to treat your future husband?” He
leans closer, and
I
fight to quiet my thumping heart as his breath caresses my face. Like a moth to the flame
,
I lean in before answering.

“I
’
d never marry you
.
” I look down at my hand
s. My voice sounds surprisingly
convincing.

“But you
’
d at least go out with me?” He lean
s
close
r
to my lips.

“When pigs fly.” I say
,
glaring at him.

“Good to know.” He gets up from his seat and clasps his hands together. “Now for our plan.”

I’m
confused
.
I look around as if to ask “What exactly is our plan?”
But
he
’
s already digging through my bag.

“Ah
h
a
!” He
pulls
out a black bathing suit with rhinestones. “Go put this on, with the sunglasses and high heels
,
and meet me out here.”

“We
’
re not doing this now
,
” I say flatly
and
stare at the gorgeous swimsuit.

“Yes we are.
R
emember
?
Y
ou promised? Plus
,
Brad and Angelina are staying the whole week. I figure we can change quick
,
then make an appearance as we
’
re
leav
ing
the boat in about ten minutes.” He checks his watch
.
“
M
ake that nine minutes
.
Y
ou in?”

I bite my lip
.
H
e’s right
.
I
t
was fun last night. “Fine.
” I snatch the swimsuit out of his hand
.
“
B
ut no kissing this time.”

He pulls my body back toward his and whispers into my hair
,
“I won’t kiss you unless you ask.”

“
Yeah,
I’ve heard that before
.
” I
pull away and
walk off to the girls
’
bathroom
acutely aware of his gaze on my form as I feel my body burning from his momentary touch.

Our boat
arrives
within the next nine minutes. I can’t believe I
’
m actually doing this again. I don’t know what it is about Preston
,
but I
can’t
bring
myself to say no to him
.
A
nd the more I get to know him
,
the more I think he might actually be just a good guy with a bad guy habit. I look in the mirror and smile. Okay
,
so maybe I won’t marry him
,
but one date won’t hurt.

I open up the bathroom door and scurry to the meeting place to find Brad Pitt
—I
mean
,
Preston waiting for me. We link arms and
traipse
off the boat as if we own the place. People are watching and taking pictures. Then I see Kristin
squint at me
question
ingly
as if to ask
,
“Do I know you?” I quickly duck my head into Preston
’
s arm and walk faster toward the other side of the dock.

“Did you tell them?” I ask Preston as we near the next corner.

He
’
s
still smiling
.
“O
f course
.
T
hey think you weren’t feeling well
,
and
we
’
re going to stay behind to
talk with the on
-
call doctor. They have no idea
.
T
rust me.”

I nod my head and smile as we pass a few more star struck teenagers on the dock. “Beach?” He asks leading me down
to the docks. My stomach growls in complaint.

“Actually
?
” I say stopping him.
“I want food.”

“A girl after my own heart,” he teas
es
and
he pulls me back
from
the dock and into the first restaurant on the boardwalk. It
’
s one of those little restaurants
with
sand as a floor, and I love it.

“Spill
,
” I say
,
taking a sip of water. I
;
m actually
enjoying
all the weird stares and camera phones pointed our way. I think I could get used to this.

“What?” He asks confused.

“Why are you being nice to me when all you
actually
want to do is get back
at me for what I did to you in h
igh
s
chool
?” T
here
.
I said it.

“Wow
.
Y
ou still thinking about that? Because it
was
such
a long time ago
.”
H
e smiles
.

“Ha-ha
.
V
ery funny,” I mock
.

“Amanda, you need to learn how to trust people. My plan is not to date you then dump you in front of the entire school
.
T
hat would just be weird
.
P
lus
,
we aren’t even in school anymore
,
and it would be a lot of work to get all of those people together again for a reunion.”

The man ha
s
a point
.
“
S
ure
.
O
kay
,
if you say so.” I grab a tortill
a chip from the basket. Mexican
food in Hawaii? That’s just weird.
As I
dip into the salsa
, t
he table
begins to vibrate strangely
. “Oh my gosh
!
I
t
’
s an earthquake!” I shriek.

His look is anything but panicked
.
“Um
,
try a cell phone?” He picks up his phone and
waves
it in the air
at
me.

“Oh
,
right.” I sit back in my seat.

“Decaf
,
Amanda
.
Y
ou should try it
. M
ight change
your life,
”
h
e
s
mirks
and
check
s
his phone. His look turns dark as he tosses it back onto the table.

“What?” I ask curiously

“Nothing
.
J
ust work.”

“What? They have a fire they can’t put out without you?” I tease
.

“Something like that,” he
looks away and stuffs
a chip into his mouth.

O
kay
,
I know I
’
m not supposed to like him or anything
,
but I can tell something is bothering him
;
although
,
he won
’
t tell me anything. I mean
,
I don’t know
.
I
t just seems like he
’
s
tota
lly bummed out all of a sudden
,
so I decide to do something about it.

“Follow me
,
” I say
,
holding out my hand after he pays the check
.
O
kay
,
and here
’
s the other thing
,
he always pays
.
Even if I have money
,
he pulls out
his wallet
and pays for it. Derek never paid
.
I
n fact
,
he would take out his cell phone and use the calculator app to make sur
e
I was paying my fair share
.
T
he jerk.

“Where we goin
g
?” Preston asks as he falls into step beside me. People aren’t staring near
ly
as much
now,
which is what makes this all the more fun.

“You’ll see
,” I repl
y
.
“
B
ut we have
to be
quiet
,
because we
’
re sneaking in.” I
slip
my finger
to my lips to shush him
.

“O-kay,” h
e
whispers
cautiously
, raising one eyebrow at me
.
I can just see the hint of a smirk
playing around his lips
.
I pull him into the
theater
next door and tell him to close his eyes
while
I pay for a
couple
tickets. I lead him into the back row hardly able to control my smile and
guide
him
into a seat
.

“Surprise,” I
whisper
.

He
opens his eyes
and his mouth drops open
.

“It
’s Star Wars,
”
h
e says in disbelief.

“Aw
,
I knew the little nerd was in there somewhere
.”
I pat him on the head. Instead of a smug remark
like I
’
m expecting, Preston has
this look of complete awe as he turns to face me.

“How did you remember? No
,
wait
.
H
ow did you even know? Do I want to know how you know?” He asks leaning in towards me.

“Senior year
.
Y
ou had a Star Wars t-shirt on underneath your sweater
-
vest. I did some investigating later when I was planning
to
apologiz
e
and found out that you were the president of the fan club for our school.” I
’
m now beaming. I
’
ve finally one
-
up
p
ed him
,
and it feels awesome.

“I hate you for remembering that.” He look
s
down at his hands
.
H
e almost looks embarrassed
.
“
Y
ou were going to apologize?”
H
e meet
s
my eyes again.

“Of course,” I shrug
.
“I felt terrible
,
plus the guy I went with ended up cheating on me with Betsy Lou
,”
I say with venom tipped words.

“Dang that Betsy Lou always stealing boyfriends
,” he
agrees as he pulls my hand into his lap.

“She was my nemesis back in the day
,”
I say matter of factly.

“She couldn’t hold a candle to you if she wanted to
,”
Preston replies as he pushes his fingers through my still damp hair.

“This is what we would have done
,”
I say breaking the moment.

“What do you mean
?”
He
gets
the picture
,
because in that instant he
backs
away from me.

“Our date
. Had
I said yes to prom
,
I’m sure you would have taken me on a date, and I would have wanted to do this.” I lean in close and kiss him on the cheek.

“Does that mean we can make out now?” Preston asks huskily.

“Um no, this means I’m sorry.” I
laugh and punch his arm
.

“Shoot, I always wanted to make out at the movies, especially in the back row.” He crosses his arms completely dejected. I
,
however
,
do
n’
t want to lose
.
Therefore,
I decide not to lean in and kiss him
,
even though the tension is so thick between us you
can
cut it with a knife.

I finally look around to see who else is joining us in the theatre and notice several curious glances pointed our way. It dawns on me that we
’
re still in our “costumes”
,
making us look ridiculous. I mean
,
I highly doubt Brad and Angelina go to Star Wars
while
vacationing in Hawaii.

We both smile and wave as we excuse ourselves into the lobby and back out onto the street
feeling
,
I might add
,
extreme
ly light footed and fancy free.

“Where to?” I ask
then hear my cell phone go off.

“W
here are you guys
?” The voice on the other end is Kristin and the only
reason
I know is b
ecause
of caller ID
.
Other
than that
,
she sounds like a mental hospital escapee.

“Whoa
,”
I respond.

“
Do not ‘whoa’ me.
We
’
ve been looking for you forever
.
Did
Preston kidnap you or something
?
And
why do you disappear every time we see celebrities?” Her voice has now returned to normal.

“Bad luck?” I answer innocently.

“Well...
maybe
…
Look,
Brad got kind of sea sick. We
’
re back at the room now
.
We’
re probably going to call it a day and hang out
,
so you and Preston are on your own again.” Her words immediately cause my heart to
flutter
. What
’
s wrong with me?