Summer of Sloane (11 page)

“Hey, I left some clothes out here on the bed. I wasn’t sure what would fit, so you’ve got some options.”

I mumble my thanks and wait for the click of the outside door to shut before opening the one from the bathroom. A variety of outfits are lying on his bed, a mixture of items belonging to both him and his sister. There are three pairs of shorts: a pair of khakis I’m afraid are going to be a tad too small, a pair of girls’ black athletic shorts that look exactly like the ones I wear after swim practice, and a pair of guys’ basketball shorts. Which I’m sure will look more like pants on me. I opt for the black athletic shorts, a rather large LA Dodgers T-shirt I cringe to wear—but only because it’s not an M’s or Yankees shirt—and since I’m slightly cold from being wet, an oversized gray hoodie that definitely belongs to Finn. It smells of sunshine and salt water.

Which is so opposite from Tyler’s faint hint of cologne and fabric softener. And I can’t believe I’m even thinking of Tyler right now.

I jam my feet into a pair of Luce’s flip-flops that are a little too big, but they’ll work. I wring out my wet clothes one last time, fold them into a small stack, and decide there’s not much that can be done with my hair. It’s too short to put up in a ponytail, so it will just have to do. Cleaning up behind me, I head back out to the living room and find Finn parked on the sofa, one ankle propped up on the opposite knee, flipping through the sports channels on the large flat screen in front of him.

I clear my throat. “Hey, thanks for letting me borrow some clothes.” A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he takes in the getup I’ve got on. His sweatshirt is almost long enough to be a dress, so you can barely see the shorts I’m wearing underneath.

“Yeah, no problem.” Turning off the TV, he springs up from the couch and heads toward the table in the hall. Everything from my backpack is strewn out across the surface, and I can tell he’s tried his best to dry it all off. My wallet’s a little fatter than normal—I’m sure because the few receipts and money I had in there have expanded from being wet—but other than that, most of it looks fine.

“You already know your phone’s toast, but everything else looks okay.”

“Yeah, guess I’ll be making a trip to the mall.” I shrug and begin to throw everything into my backpack. “Thanks again, I appreciate everything—and I’ll get these clothes back to you on Thursday, when I come in to work.” I turn for the elevator, but he grabs my wrist before I can make it that far.

“Hold up, I’ll give you a lift.”

“Wait, what? I don’t need to go there right now.”

“Why, because you’ve got so many other exciting plans? Come on, admit it, you’d really rather spend more time with me anyway.” I know he’s only joking, but I still blush. Damn cheeks, they’re always giving me away.

“
Oh please
, it sounds to me like the other way around.” I say this to his back as he disappears into his room, and I hear him laugh. He comes back out with a motorcycle helmet, then grabs another from the entryway closet, which he hands to me.

“I’ll drive.”

We head out through the front lobby and there, already waiting for us, is a sleek motorcycle—all carbon and white, with small hints of yellow. It looks fast and slightly dangerous and I have to admit, it makes me feel kinda like a badass. Well, in a might-pee-my-pants badass kind of way.

Putting on his helmet, Finn swings a leg over the bike and straightens it out. Key in the ignition, he pulls back on the throttle, and the engine revs with a throaty hum that echoes under the covered roundabout of the hotel as everyone around us turns to stare. He looks over his shoulder and nods his chin in my direction, letting me know it’s my turn.

I wonder if he has
any
idea how he looks on this thing. My guess is he does, but for some reason, I don’t really care. Because right about now my body tingles like I’ve touched something electric. And I haven’t even gotten on the bike yet.

Slipping on what I’m sure is Luce’s helmet, I realize that actually getting on the bike may require a skill I’m not quite sure I possess. After all, the seat I’m supposed to sit on is up higher than where Finn is sitting and I do have this oh-so-sexy cast on. As I attempt to hike my leg up to the foot peg, Finn swipes his hand under my ass. I let out a yelp of surprise as he swings me up on the seat behind him. He makes note of tapping a button on the underside of his chin, and I feel along my own helmet for the same one.

“Damn, you’ve got to weigh less than a buck,” he mumbles in my ear. “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear. And what I weigh is none of your concern,” I respond tartly as I tighten the chin strap, then wonder what exactly I’m supposed to do with my hands. I settle for grasping handfuls of his T-shirt as best I can.

“You’re gonna need to hang on tighter than that.” He pulls my cast and my one good hand farther around his waist, clasping one over the other, which causes me to press my chest up tightly against his back. I hear a hitch in his breathing as his hands hesitate on mine for a few seconds longer. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, but oh, how I wish Tyler could see me right now.

Finn clicks the bike into gear, revs the engine once more, and releases the brake.

And then the bike shoots forward with such power, it’s almost as if we’re flying.

It’s a gorgeous day in Honolulu, and we’re at the outdoor mall in Ala Moana, the sun tickling my cheeks with fingerlike rays. Even so, I’m not exactly sure how I feel about being here, at the mall, with Finn—especially since shopping was something I always did with Mick.

As I check out the stores and the gazillion people with shopping bags that bustle around me, I realize this is something Mick and I won’t ever do again. Something as trivial as shopping with my best friend is now a thing of the past, and I wonder if she ever stopped to think about that. To think about how much life would suck without each other. And if she now believes it was all worth it.

“Earth to Sloane, come in, Sloane.” Finn snaps his fingers mere inches from my nose and I zero in on his face. “Oh, there you are—nice to see you again.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.” I laugh, shaking off my negative thoughts. “Just trying to remember what all I need to get while I’m here. How about you, you need anything? Perhaps a year’s supply of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts is calling your name?” I fan my arm out toward a gigantic display of the candies as we pass by an ABC store.

“No, wait, don’t tell me. It’s that sexy Hawaiian outfit you can’t live without.” I point at a matching Aloha shirt-and-short set as we walk by a store selling tropical-printed clothes. Not cool in a retro kind of way cool, but the ones that are identical so husband, wife, kids,
and
pets can all be wearing the same thing.

“Only if you promise to get the matching muumuu?” He starts flipping through the front sales rack, but I grab his arm. “What? I think the green set would be perfect for us, don’t you? Although you might be a tad too short.” He holds up the dress, but instantly scrunches up his nose. There’s literally about three extra feet of polyester green goodness. “Wow, not even close.” He grabs the matching one made for a little girl and holds that one up to me instead. “Ding, ding, ding—I think we have a winner!”

“Yeah, if I were a
stripper.
” I snag the hanger from his hand and put it back, then pull him away from the store as he continues to look over his shoulder. “Not gonna happen, Finn. So not gonna happen.”

My new phone is shiny and pretty and oh so empty. It was easy to transfer all my contacts over, but my text message history died with the old phone, so there’s not a single one. And I wonder if maybe that’s a sign for me to really move on from what happened. Maybe.

“So when does that sweet cast come off?” Finn asks as we walk along.

“Unfortunately, another couple of weeks.” I eye the tips of my fingers and cringe at what may be farther up underneath the layers of plaster. At least it doesn’t throb like it did the first few days. “But I can’t wait.”

“I’ll bet. But I hate to tell you what it’s like when that sucker starts to itch. It’s the worst.”

I start to ask what bones he’s broken, but I don’t get very far, because a hot pair of shorts wearing some wannabe blonde has picked that exact moment to call out Finn’s name. As she gets closer, I realize it’s the same girl that was sitting with him at the pool the day I interviewed at the Echelon.

I’m surprised when he doesn’t bother to look in her direction. Instead, his eyes are focused on me, like he’s waiting for me to finish what I was saying. I’m torn between continuing and acknowledging our new friend. But then I’m distracted by her sugary voice as she once again calls out his name. She calls him “Finny” instead of Finn, like she’s trying to be cute.

“Hey, Gianna,” Finn finally says.

Gianna has an accent I can’t place. Italian or maybe Spanish. She’s also a few years older than me, easily in her early twenties. I’m not sure how the two of them know each other, but there’s no getting around the fact that they do. Or the fact she’d like to know him a lot better than she does.

Aside from her nonexistent shorts, she wears these outrageously tall espadrille sandals that would make most girls stumble just looking at them, but she walks—scratch that—
sways
our way in them with ease, like she was born with them strapped to her feet. She flings one arm around Finn’s shoulders and plants a loud kiss on each of his cheeks. With those shoes, she’s almost as tall as he is. Which means I find myself eye level with the biggest and most fake pair of boobs I’ve ever seen.

And
that’s
awesome.

I look down at my own barely B cup and sigh—and by “barely,” I mean only on a good day, when I’m wearing my super bra. Which is so
not
what I’m wearing under Finn’s hoodie right now. I glance back at Finn and notice his eyes are still on mine, and I hope he didn’t just see me size myself up against Miss Espadrilles. But I have a feeling he did by the way the corner of his mouth tweaks ever so slightly upward. Guess I’ll add that to my growing list of fine moments with Finn.

“Where have you been?” she purrs in his ear. Even I know it’s only been a couple of days since they last saw each other at the pool, but by the way she’s acting, you’d think it’s been years. She doesn’t even notice me standing there. Must be the spectacular wardrobe I’ve got on. I mean, come on, the hoodie screams hottie.

Finn soaks up her smile with one of his own, without missing a beat. “Gianna, this is Sloane; Sloane, this is Gianna.” Her eyes never leave his face.

I clear my throat, and she finally looks at me as if I’m some pesky mosquito that’s buzzing around her. “Oh. Hello there. You are so
piccola
, or how you say…little.” She motions with her hands as if I don’t get what she’s saying.

And I scoff. Out loud. Did she just call me little?

She stares at me as if she’s waiting for me to respond, but then whispers something into Finn’s ear with a giggle. He rolls his eyes at me, but for some reason, that isn’t enough. Maybe in the past it would’ve been. But not anymore.

“
Yeah
, I think I’ll leave the two of you alone. Thanks for the ride, Finn. See you around.” I don’t wait for him to say anything before I turn and walk away. The mall is only a few blocks from the hotel, so it’s not like I have far to go. Besides, after that episode, I could use the walk.

I pick up my pace and make my way outside, but someone grabs my wrist and spins me around.

“Hey, please don’t walk away. I’m really sorry about that back there, about Gianna. I don’t think she realizes how blunt she is.” Finn seems slightly out of breath, like he was running to catch up. And then he actually leans over and grabs both of his knees. “Damn, you can haul ass for being so small. Who knew?”

I have to bite my lower lip to contain my smile. And that irks me because I want to be mad. “It’s no big deal, Finn, I can make it back on my own.”

“I have absolutely no doubt you can. Hell, with those legs, you’d probably make it back before I did.” He stands upright and motions toward the parking garage in the opposite direction. “Look, I’m sorry about Gianna. She’s here on business from Italy for the year and staying at the Echelon. And honestly, I think I might be her only friend here.” The way he says “friend” makes me want to laugh in a non-ha-ha kind of way, because it’s evident in every way she wants to be more than just that. “Hey, let me make it up to you. Let me take you to dinner.”

“Right now?” I look down at what I’m wearing and think maybe he might be joking.

“Yeah, right now. Unless you’ve got other plans?”

Wow. He actually wants to take all
this
out to dinner instead of Gianna? Huh, how can I possibly say no to that? “Dinner…now…sure.”

“So is that a yes?”

“Yes. Dinner sounds great.”

We ride to the north side of the island. It’s almost a different climate over here, breezy even. Which makes me glad I’m wearing his hoodie. And while not my most attractive outfit—not to mention the chaos that is my damp hair under the helmet—I can either freak out about it now or brush it off.