My Fake Summer Boyfriend (3 page)

"I
'll get
my
potato salad," I said. I'd emphasized the word "my" so Mrs. Stedman would know I'd made it and would maybe mention it to Alex. It would look better than if I brought it up myself.

"Now, Thelma," Mom said to Mrs. S
tedman. "We can get the catsup and mustard."

"Okay, Louise." Mrs. Stedman winked. "I guess I can just about manage that."

I took my potato salad out of the refrigerator and hurried out the kitchen door. I caught my toe in the doormat and stumbled, sending the bowl flying through the air, right toward Alex.

"Watch out!" I screamed.

Chapter
Three

"Nice serve!" I heard Alex cry.

Everyone applauded.
Alex had caught the bowl of potato salad right side up.

"You
've heard of tossing the salad, haven't you?" I said, somehow regaining my composure.

Alex
laughed. "I can't wait to have some. Hey, Dad, aren't those burgers done yet?"

"Almost." Mr. Stedman coughed. Smoke from the grill partially obscured my view of him, but I could see that he was tall and had dark curly hair streaked with gray. He waved a spatula through the smoke, clearing it for a moment.

"These hot dogs are ready, if anybody wants one." Dad stabbed a hot dog with a fork and held it up for everyone to see.

"I want one!" Jason grabbed a paper plate from the picnic table. "Come on,
Hailey."

Hailey
followed Jason.

"Guest
s first," Dad said, sliding a hot dog onto Hailey's plate.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Price."
Hailey waited until Jason got his hot dog, then walked back to the picnic table with him. Jason immediately loaded his plate with potato salad, pickles and corn chips.

"Perhaps we should wait until everyone has been served before we get started,"
Hailey suggested.

"You two may eat,"
Mom said. "This is just first come, first served. Nothing formal tonight."

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Price."
Hailey sat down after taking small portions of everything on the table. She tasted the potato salad first. "This is quite delicious."

"Thanks," I blurted out
to Hailey just as Alex and I lined up for hamburgers. I wanted to mention that I had made the potato salad from my grandmother's special recipe, but I was kind of unnerved by Hailey's formality. She seemed extraordinarily polite for a seven-year-old. Maybe some of it would rub off on Jason. And maybe he could get her to relax a little.

After we were seated at the picnic table, I watched out of the corner of my eye for
Alex to try my potato salad. Finally he took a bite.

"This is good."
Alex turned to look at me. "Did you make it?"

"My grandmother made it using my recipe—I mean I made it using my grandmother
's recipe!" I felt myself turning red and hot. I sounded like an idiot!

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Jason pounded the table, throwing his head back as he laughed.

I glared at him, trying to silence him with a stare.

"Well, it's great." Alex smiled and tried to ignore Jason, but it wasn't easy.

"Th-thank you," I managed to stammer. I
felt totally embarrassed and wanted to throttle Jason as he continued to cackle. Hailey looked wide-eyed at Jason, as if she'd never seen anyone laughing hysterically before.

Alex
tried valiantly to make conversation with me, but all I could manage were a couple of monosyllabic replies. Finally, we both lapsed into silence as our parents engaged in a friendly debate about what a coincidence it was that we had all ended up at the same beach for the summer.

Eventually Mom stood up. "Would everyone like ice cream for dessert?"

"Yippee!" Jason yelled.

The Stedmans all murmured their approval.

"I can't eat another bite," I said.

"Actually, I
'm kind of full, too," Alex stood up and took my hand. "Come for a walk with me, Katie. The exercise will make us feel better."

"All-all right." Maybe if I didn
't have an audience I could relax and show him that I wasn't always clumsy and tongue-tied.

Alex
continued to hold my hand as we walked, and I practically popped a blood vessel trying to think of something to say. Finally I asked, "How did you get your job at Little's?"

"My aunt knows Mr. Little and when she heard we were spending the summer here she mentioned that he always hires some summer help. When we got here last night I went right over to the store. He hired me on the spot. I guess it pays to be one of the early arrivals—and to have an aunt who knows the boss. It
's not a bad job. Weekdays, nine to three."

"Yes." I couldn
't think of anything else to say. It was hard to concentrate on anything except my hand in his and our legs brushing together as we walked.

Suddenly,
Alex stopped. He looked down at me. "Let's go swimming."

"S
-sounds good."

Alex
took off his T-shirt. As I pulled off my sweatshirt I couldn't help noticing that he was giving me the once-over.

He whistled softly.

To hide my embarrassment, I ran into the water and let the waves cover me.

Alex
dove in after me. He didn't surface right away, and I was just starting to worry when he grabbed me around my waist and lifted me out of the water. I screamed. "Alex! You startled me."

"Oh, I did, did I?"
Alex grinned.

"Yes. You did!" I struggled, but not too hard, to free myself from
Alex's strong grip.

Alex
held me tight. "I won't let you go," he whispered, his breath hot against my face, "unless you give me a ki—"

"
Katie! Alex!" It was Jason, splashing at the water's edge. Hailey stood calmly beside him. "We want to go swimming with you."

Alex
put me down gently and waded over to splash Jason. As Jason splashed back, Hailey stepped out of range.

I waded out of the water and stood at the edge of the beach while
Alex and Jason continued their water fight. Jason and his perfect timing!

"Would you watch me while I swim?"
Hailey asked. "I'm not supposed to swim unless someone is watching."

"Sure." I tried to dismiss any thoughts of kissing so I could
seriously stand vigil while Hailey swam precise laps back and forth parallel to the shoreline. She did the crawl perfectly, coordinating her arm strokes to her breathing.

Hailey
was a major contrast to Jason's exuberance. I admired her quiet determination as she swam in the choppy water.

"Youch, ouch, ouie-ouch-ouch!" Jason hopped on one foot, holding his other foot in his hands. "Oh, oh, oh!"

I signaled Hailey to stop swimming and I rushed to his side. "What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?"
Alex put his hands on Jason's shoulders, bringing him to a standstill.

Hailey
wandered over to Jason, eyeing him with concern. Or was it consternation?

"It
's my toe," Jason moaned. "I cut it on something. Oh, it hurts."

"Hold still and let me look at it," I said. "Is it your big toe?"

Jason nodded.

"There
's just a tiny cut. It's hardly even bleeding. Let's wash it off." I took Jason's hand. "Just swish your foot through the water, then let me see it."

Jason gingerly dabbed his foot into the water a couple of times. He noticed
Hailey watching him, her brow knit and her mouth turned down at the corners. "I think my toe is all right, now," he said. "Maybe I should take Hailey back to the cottage. Her mother said she shouldn't stay away too long."

Hailey
's eyebrows shot up, forming two little triangles in the middle of her forehead.

"Are you sure you
're all right?" Alex asked.

"Oh, yes. I
'm fine." Jason swaggered over to Hailey. "Let's go back now."

"Sure,"
Hailey answered, and she and Jason headed back to the cottage, marching along in unison.

I turned to
Alex. "I think Hailey is a positive influence on Jason."

"Oh? Why?"

"Ordinarily he would have gone on for at least fifteen minutes about his toe, milking it for all it was worth."

Alex
laughed. "At least he's not really hurt."

"Yes." I shivered. "Brrr. I
'm getting cold. We should have brought towels." I was sort of hoping Alex would put his arm around me. I hadn't forgotten that he'd been about to kiss me just before we'd been so rudely interrupted.

"I was the one who suggested we go swimming."
Alex spread his shirt out on the sand. "Put your sweatshirt back on and sit here. The sun will dry us off."

I pulled on my sweatshirt, but I hesitated to sit down. "I don
't want to ruin your shirt."

"It
's just a T-shirt. You won't ruin it." Alex sat down. He patted the portion of shirt next to him. "Come on. Sit down. It's our first evening on the beach. Let's enjoy it."

I sat down. I dug my feet into the sand and sifted it through my toes. Being so close to
Alex made me shake all the more. It was almost like my dream of the night before.

"You
're still shivering." Alex put his arm around me.

I drank in
Alex's warm smile. His teeth were gleaming white against his tanned face. His dark brown eyes stared directly into mine. I found myself leaning closer and closer to Alex until finally our heads were only centimeters apart.

"Oh! Look at that," called a voice in the distance.

"Do you see what I see?" said another high-pitched voice.

"Wow!"

"Yoo-hoo. Hi, Alex. Yoo-hoo!"

I pulled away from
Alex and whirled around. Climbing over a jetty about fifty feet down the beach were the girls I had seen that afternoon in front of the store where Alex worked. They were all laughing and pointing.

I couldn
't even look at Alex. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I-I'm not cold anymore. We can leave if you want to."

"I
'm not embarrassed." Alex grinned. "Let's really give them something to point at." He pulled me close and kissed me. Waves of excitement raced through my bloodstream. Alex’s lips were so velvety soft and warm on mine.

It was a long kiss.
It left me gasping, as much from surprise as from lack of oxygen. Once I caught my breath I noticed that the girls were running away as a unit, like a school of fish.

"There,"
Alex said, laughing. "That should impress them."

It had certainly impressed me.

"You seem to have a fan club," I croaked.

"They
're a pain in the neck. Mr. Little was pretty annoyed when he found them hanging around me at the store, since they haven't been paying customers. I'm afraid if they really become a nuisance, it might cost me my job."

"
Alex, you know what you need to keep those girls from bothering you?"

"A bullwhip?"

"I don't think they're that determined." I lowered my voice. "What you need is a girlfriend to scare them off."

"What do you mean?"

"You saw how they ran off when you kissed me."

"Yes
...."

"Well—" I hesitated, then went on. "—I could be your girlfriend." My voice was shaky. I had to fight my
doubts about my plan. It was spur of the moment, and I hadn't had time to consider all the pluses and minuses. But if I could make Alex my fake summer boyfriend, maybe at some point it would turn into the real thing. Hastily I added, "Just pretend, of course."

"Oh. Of course."
Alex thought for about it for a moment. "I think that's a great idea."

"You—you do?" My jaw dropped.

"Yes." With one hand Alex tipped my chin up. "Maybe we should seal our deal with another kiss."

"But the girls have left already!"

"You mean we should save the show for when we have an audience?" Alex looked at me, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Er, uh, I guess so." I wished I
'd let Alex kiss me. Even if he'd been only kidding around, I would have enjoyed the feeling of his warm lips on mine, his strong arms holding me tight. But it was too late. I'd blown my chance. It was starting to get dark. We couldn't just sit there all night. "Um, maybe we should head back to the cottage," I said.

"If that
's what you want."

It wasn
't what I wanted at all. But how could I tell him that what I really wanted was to be his girlfriend for real? However, Nicole Kendall seemed to be first in line for that position, and
I
was certainly no match for Nicole. "Well, it is getting late ...," I said miserably.

"All right, then."
Alex stood up and offered me his hand.

Once I
'd pulled myself up I thought for a second that he was going to take me in his arms. But he let me go and stooped to pick up his shirt. He shook the sand out of it. "Let's head back."

The sun was setting in back of us. Two long separate shadows formed in our paths as we walked silently to the cottage. It was just about completely dark when we got there. Everyone was inside.
Alex opened the door for me.