Remember When (Remember Trilogy #1) (23 page)

   I said hello to Rymer and Sargento, who were sitting on the brown and orange plaid tweed couch playing Sega, the only modern thing in the room. It was as though the place had been sealed up during a bicentennial celebration and we were the first brave souls to have walked back through the door.

   Lisa must have waited for me before slamming on our friends. “Hey, nice digs, guys. What, you couldn’t find an older house? This place is much too fancy for us.” 

   Rymer didn’t bother looking up from the game he was playing.
“Can it, DeSanto! What the hell do you expect for four hundred bucks a week?”

   Lisa just rolled her eyes at me. I walked to the other side of the large living room and peeked my head down a small hallway. I scanned my eyes over the two bedrooms there, but decided I wasn’t brave enough to check out the bathroom just yet. I turned toward the east side of the living room and took note of the screened-in side porch. At least the place was pretty big. Plus, we were on a corner lot only a block from the boardwalk, so that was pretty cool. I did, however, pray that that wasn’t the only bathroom in the house.

   Trip led the tour upstairs where there were three, slightly newer, slightly brighter bedrooms and, thank God, another full bath that looked somewhat clean.

   He gestured toward the larger room, the one that faced the beach. I could see the pinwheeled balcony through the double sliders and figured it must be the master bedroom. Before I could even think of calling dibs, Trip said, “Forget it. Pick already won the coin toss.”

   He dropped my bag in the middle room, and said, “
This
is you. And that-” he added, pointing to the room directly next to it, “-is me.”

   I could see him fighting a smile, probably envisioning all the many ways he was planning on corrupting me throughout the weekend.

   He gave a small bow and said, “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay with us, Miss Warren. Please feel free to utilize my services at any time, at any hour. I am available to attend to your, ah,
every need
twenty-four-seven. Even in the middle of the night.”   He stepped closer and ran his hands down my arms, looking right through me with half-lidded eyes and smirked out, “
Especially
in the middle of the night...”

   I just shook my head and kissed him lightly on the lips. I was mentally going over the room assignments when I realized our group was short by one. “Hey, where’s Cooper?”

   Trip’s face took on a scowl. “Layla, seriously?”

   “What?” I asked, even though I had suddenly realized how bad my question must have sounded to Trip’s ears. I guessed it was probably kind of weird and uncomfortable for him, having to spend the following days under the same roof as my ex. My sympathy was followed- I’m ashamed to admit- by the thrill of realizing that he was actually a little jealous about the whole thing.

   It was almost comical, the way his shoulders drooped, making him look wholly deflated, and, I might add, completely adorable.

   “I just offer you an invitation to basically steal my virtue, and while you’re kissing me,
that’s
when you decide it’s the best time to ask me about another guy? Jeez, Lay, talk about dejection.”

   It was the “steal my virtue” line that let me know he wasn’t really upset. Otherwise, everything else from the look on his face to the tone in his voice would have made me think he was one-hundred-percent serious. Pulling a DeNiro on me.

   I started to try and match his serious delivery, but I started laughing before I even got out one single word. Trip finally cracked, too, before I threw my arms around his shoulders and said, “Maybe you’d better try harder to keep me focused on you.”
As if that was ever a problem.

   He was still laughing as he said, “Oh, yeah?” and dropped his face to mine for a kiss.

   I could tell it was gonna be one hell of a weekend.

PRISONERS OF THE SUN

   Cooper, as it turned out, had been on the beach with Becca Bradley all morning. As Trip, Lisa, Pick and I made our way down to them, Heather Ferrante was walking up from the water. Huh. I didn’t even know they were coming.

   “Hey, everyone
,” Coop yelled in greeting. “We saved you a spot.”

   We laughed as we set up our chairs and blankets on the nearly vacant beach. There were only a few other people along our stretch of sand, and barely more than that walking the boards. Even though it was a sweltering hot, sun-shiny day, the official season didn’t really kick off until the first week of July. Most kids didn’t get out of school for another two weeks, so we practically had the whole town to ourselves. One of the very few perks of a Catholic education.

   “Oh, hey, Coop!” I yelled three people down. “Pick made you guys some lunch.” I twisted around to grab the small cooler behind my chair and passed it over Trip to Heather. Trip, of course, used the opportunity to try and steal a peek down my coverup. When he finally raised his eyes, I gave him a look that let him know he’d been busted. He grinned shamelessly, but before he could offer commentary, I stood up, facing his chair.

   Coop and the girls were busy rifling through the cooler while Lisa and Pick looked as though they were in the middle of some sort of heated argument. I unzipped my white, terrycloth coverup and let it fall into the sand.

   Ha! Trip stopped grinning.

   I was wearing a lethal turquoise bikini that was scarcely more than four triangles held together with string. It was barely swimming season, but I’d managed to get in the occasional lap over the past few weeks. I was pretty pleased with the way my toned bod remembered to come back after a winter of neglect. Plus, I was rockin’ some serious boobage in that bikini top.

   Trip noticed.

   I pretended to be oblivious as I sat back down on my chair, adjusted the armrests to recline and tipped my head toward the sun.

   I heard Trip’s chair creak a mere second before I felt his breath near my face, but still I kept my eyes closed.

   His low whisper against my ear caused a tingle along my skin as he spat out through clenched teeth, “Jesus
Christ
, Lay.”

   I cracked one eye in his direction and saw a muscle twitching in his jaw and the wolfish look in his greedy eyes. I started to chuckle.

   I was sitting there, stifling a giggle, so thrilled to have his full attentions as he whispered, “It’s not funny, Layla. Look at me! I’m not going to be able to get out of this chair for an hour!”

   I looked down at his lap and took notice of the huge...
towel
folded across his legs. And then I cracked up.

   Just then, Pick stood and hauled Lisa to her feet. “Hey. Anyone want to take a walk down to the water?”

   Before I knew what I was doing, I yelled, “Trip does!”

   And then I just lost it.

* * *

   We’d all grabbed some dinner at Midway and polished off our cheesesteaks and sausage and pepper sandwiches on the walk back to the house. No easy accomplishment while lugging all our beach stuff at the same time.

   By the time we got back, Rymer and Sargento had wrapped up their Sega marathon and were already hitting the beer. They were ecstatic when Cooper handed them the greasy brown paper bag from Midway and dove right in.

   I watched as Heather grabbed a roll of paper towels and brought them to the table for Sargento. I thought she must have had the patience of a saint. The girl hardly knew any of us, yet came all the way down to the beach on Sargento’s invite. He then proceeded to spend the entirety of Day One holed up in the disgusting house playing video games, completely ignoring his guest.

   But then, I saw the way he looked over at her mid-chew and gave her a wink. Heather just lit up like a firefly, smiling back at him.

   Maybe the guy just needed to fine-tune his boyfriend skills. It’d been quite a while since he had a woman in his life. And damn. Lisa was right. They really looked so cute together.

   I, on the other hand, must have looked a fright. I was sticky and sweaty from the day on the beach, my hair was twisted into a windblown knot on the top of my head, and after a sausage and pepper sandwich, all I could think about was brushing my teeth. “Yeesh. I think I’m gonna hit the showers. Anyone else need to get in there first?”

   I flinched when I felt the can of ice cold beer Trip was holding to my neck. I turned as he cracked it open and handed it over. He tapped his can against mine and said, “Knock this back first.”

   Lisa cranked the radio and everyone grabbed a drink, and before long, the guys decided to get a game of Quarters going. I downed the last of my beer and finally excused myself upstairs for a much-anticipated shower.

   I grabbed my bag from one of the bottom bunks of my assigned bedroom and headed into the bath. Stripping down in front of the mirror, I took note of my new tan lines, acknowledging my overly red nose and shoulders. I hoped a good scrubbing and some aloe would even out my skintone.

   By the time I put on clean clothes and blew out my hair, I was feeling like a new woman.

   Normally, we all would have headed up to the boardwalk for at least a little while, played some wheels and hit some rides. But even though it was summer for
us, the official season didn’t start until the shore towns said so.
Most of the attractions on the pier were shut down during weekdays, until the influx of tourists started trickling in sometime near the end of June. A few booths got a jump on the season, but it was kind of depressing wandering around a veritable ghost town just to search out the random, open stand. Come Friday, though, the place would be hopping.

   I headed downstairs and resigned myself to a night in the house. Not that I was complaining, however. Trip was at the kitchen table, laughing with the guys and looking like a bronze god. He must have braved the downstairs shower, because he was sitting there all clean and shiny, his gorgeous straw mane sporting new golden highlights from an afternoon in the sun.

   He was busy bouncing quarters into a cup, so I grabbed myself a beer and took a seat on the counter next to Becca to watch. I didn’t really know her too well, but I figured I’d better change that. If Cooper was as smitten as I suspected he was, this girl might be around for a while.

   I put my beer can on the counter next to me, crossed my legs Indian-style and plunked a nearby bowl of chips in my lap. “Want some?” I offered to Becca.

   “Yeah, sure, thanks.” She reached over and plucked a single chip out of the bowl, nibbling daintily while we watched the boys’ game. As hard as I tried, I could never pull off such a girly-girl move so naturally. Sad fact was that my inner tomboy was alive and well, especially around food.

   I’d been mulling that over when Becca’s words broke my train of thought. “Um. I uh, wanted to thank you for what you said to Cooper about me.”

  
Wait, what?
What had I said?

   I guess the question played out on my face, because she clarified, “When you told him that you thought I was...” she lowered her voice and flushed a sweet shade of pink to continue, “so
pretty
.”

   A faint recollection of a long ago conversation with Coop played out in my mind. The previous spring, during Junior year while we were “dating”, he and I were at his locker together. I’d noticed Becca sneaking looks at Cooper from across the hall, and mentioned it to him. What she didn’t know is that my words were something more along the lines of, “Wow. Becca Bradley is actually
so pretty
. It’s a shame that people don’t notice that more.” But I was hoping that Cooper had left that second part off.

   I smiled at her and answered, “Well, you are!”

   Her blush deepened as she smiled out, “Thank you.” I held the bowl of chips in her direction, but she waved it away. See what I mean about how girly she was? I mean, who the heck only eats
one chip
?

   I crammed a few in my mouth and was chomping away as she added, “Coop said that was the first time he’d ever really noticed me, because of what you said. He said that he never had the nerve to ask me out until Heather and I showed up to Rymer’s grad party the other night.”

  
My first thought was that Coop was so tied up in my BS and
that’s
why he hadn’t asked her out until then. But then I realized she wasn’t trying to thank me for the compliment, but for the fact that she and Coop had finally gotten together, however indirectly, because of me. Wasn’t I the one who insisted Heather and she go to Rymer’s? Would they have ever shown up on their own to one of our parties otherwise? The honest answer was no. Only because, in the four years we’d gone to school together, that was the first appearance those two girls had
ever
made within our social stratosphere. I didn’t want to throw my arm out patting myself on the back or anything, because truth be told, I wasn’t the only one who deserved credit. When I connected the dots from Becca and Heather to me, there was still one degree of separation between us.