The Boys of Summer (30 page)

“Bowl of chips,” I said in the friendliest
way I could.

Three sets of cold, angry eyes met me, all
casting me a death stare.

They begrudgingly moved their drinks aside
for me to place the bowl down. I offered them another friendly
smile and escaped while the going was good.

Only to be stopped by a shrill voice.

“Hey, bar-keep!”

I turned, dread swept over me; the snarky
comment had drawn the whole room’s attention.

My brow quirked in question as I met her
gaze. Just try it, I thought. I was in no mood for her.

The girl’s manicured claw pointed to the
chips.

“We said chips and gravy.”

The docket didn’t read with gravy, but the
customer was always right, no matter how evil they were.

“I’ll grab you some,” I replied sweetly.

The blonde with her eyes a little too close
together feasted distastefully on a chip.

“And we said chicken salt, not ordinary
salt.”

“God, who would have thought you would
actually need a brain to waitress,” Pencil Eyebrows scoffed.

I bit the side of my jaw, ready to grab the
bowl from the barrel and pelt them with chips when I heard a voice
next to me.

“Lay off, Jules.” Toby lingered near the
French door, chalking his pool cue.

Pencil Eyebrows had a name, and now her death
stare was focused on Toby.

“Oh, I forgot that jail bait here was you
guys’ little pet. I guess you can’t handle a real woman with a
brain.”

“Which instantly rules any of you out,” Toby
added coolly as he blew the excess chalk off his cue and gave them
a knowing smirk. Laughter and catcalls sounded in stereo as the
Onslow Boys overheard the exchange.

“Go fuck yourself, Toby.”

Jules stood up, chucking a handful of chips
at him and stormed out, earning me three bumps in the shoulder. But
that did little to upset me when I met Toby’s gaze, and he gave me
a wink.

Sean slung an arm around my shoulder. “Never
mind them, Jail Bait, they can’t help it. They were born with
chronic evil.”

I smiled at Toby. “You okay? You’re lucky a
wayward chip didn’t take out an eye.”

He laughed then, the warm familiar one I
loved to hear.

“Could have been worse, there could have been
gravy.”

I sighed, my attention moving towards the
mess that had been dumped on the floor.

I retreated for a dustpan and headed back in,
ice broken by, of all things, a bowl of chips.

“
Seriously, what is the point of going to
the Point?” Stan whinged.

“Well, do you have a better idea, lover boy?”
Sean smashed the billiard balls with a satisfying crack.

Stan shrugged. “I don’t know, just thought we
could try something different, that’s all.”

“McLean’s Beach?” someone chucked in.

Sean faked snoring.

“How about the Falls?” added Toby, as he
flicked through the jukebox’s song selection.

“What? Hang out with all the deviants?” Stan
scoffed.

“I don’t know, Stan, sounds like your kind of
scene.”

He flipped Toby the finger.

Toby grinned wickedly before turning back to
his task with a shrug. “There’s good swimming there, that’s all,
it’s hot enough, it’s just an idea.”

“Swimming at the Falls, eh?” Sean rubbed his
soft stubble in deep thought. “Why not?”

“Whatever, can we wait for Ellie to knock off
work first?"

“Aw, don’t worry Romeo, we won’t leave
without Juliet.” Sean grabbed Stan and made kissy noises. Stan
pushed him over.

I couldn’t help but smile at their banter as
I gathered the last of the chips from the floor; my smile slowly
faded when I caught Toby staring at me.

He was leaning back against the glass display
of the jukebox, his arms folded. “So, you in?”

Play it cool, play it cool.

I shrugged. “I guess.”

***

Whoops and cheers echoed down the dirt path
as the boys raced each other towards the secluded swimming hole
down the bottom of a rocky incline. I could hear the distant
thundering of the waterfall clearly, even though it was still a
fair distance off.

Ellie and I lagged behind as we climbed out
of Ringer’s car, shaking our heads as we secretly wondered who were
the teenagers among us.

“Are we okay?” Ellie asked as we shut the
boot and carried our borrowed towels.

I bumped her shoulder. “Of course.”

I could make out her brilliant white smile in
the moonlight.

As we neared the path, our attention turned
toward the slamming of a car door, where Toby stood leaning against
his ute.

“You not swimming?” Ellie asked.

“Nah, I’m just the ideas man.”

“Cool, well, I better go make sure these
fools don’t kill themselves.” Ellie flashed me another smile and
ran after the boys.

Toby pushed off from the door, hitched
himself up onto the back of his tray and made a place on one of the
rugs. He casually patted the space next to him, and I attempted not
to smile too broadly at the relief of such a small gesture.

“Unless you wanted to swim?”

Before he could even finish his sentence, I
chucked the towel into the tray and climbed up and over to sit next
to him.

“I guess that’s a no then?”

“It was a terrible idea, I can’t believe
they’re all down there.” I laughed.

Toby lay back, linking his hands behind his
head and closed his eyes.

“A terrible idea, or a brilliant idea?” He
peeked an eye open before closing it again with a smile.

I was suddenly very aware of how alone we
were. The distant yells and cascading water were a million miles
away, or so it felt.

I picked at the frayed edge of the rug.
“Thanks for fixing my bike.”

“Oh,” he smirked, “that.”

“Yeah. I’m back on the road again.”

“Yeah, I was kind of pissed at my dad,” he
said, his eyes still closed.

“Why?”

“He didn’t ask me. He just thought he’d do me
a favour and deliver it for me.”

“Well, that was nice of him.”

“I guess. It’s just … I wanted to deliver it
myself.”

Relief flooded me. In a moment of panic, I
had feared the worst, that he was avoiding me. But he wasn’t.

“Well, it was a good effort to fix it while
you were hungover.”

Toby’s eyes opened as he frowned at my words;
he straightened.

“The boys said you were hungover today.”

He still looked confused. “Oh! I didn’t fix
the bike today.”

Now it was me who looked confused.

Toby fiddled with the frayed edge of the rug,
his hand close to mine as he spoke, not looking at me. “I fixed the
bike the day you gave it to me, Tess.”

My frowned deepened. “Why didn’t you tell me?
You know … give it back?”

He looked at me now. “Remember I said, ‘what
if I didn’t want to fix your bike?’”

I remembered. “Yes …”

“I didn’t want to fix it, because I liked
driving you places.”

I stared at him, unable to believe it was
true.

“Not that I was the most reliable taxi
service.” He rested his elbows on his bent knees.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, “you were there
when it counted. Saved me from perishing on the Horseshoe Bend.
Took me on my first drive to the Point to watch the fireworks, it
was only last night …”

His eyes flicked up to mine as I broke off at
the last two words. Last night.

“Yeah, last night,” he repeated.

“Guess you won’t be drinking Coronas again
anytime soon.”

The corner of his mouth curved up. “Not if I
can help it, no.”

He regretted drinking the Coronas; I wondered
if he regretted anything else as well.

I shifted to sit next to him and leaned
against the cabin rear window.

Don’t jump in the deep end, Tess, play it
cool.

Pulling back and taking it slow was good
advice. That’s what I decided to do.

“Am I just the rebound girl?” I asked. That
didn’t last long.

Toby stiffened, his scowl deep and so
penetrating I had to look away from it.

“What makes you say that?”

Now I was uneasy. Me and my big mouth.

“Because we are sitting in probably the same
place you sat a week ago when you broke up with your
girlfriend.”

I regretted it as soon as the words left my
mouth. I could feel Toby’s anger pouring off him in waves. Suddenly
going for a swim seemed like a great idea.

“I see,” was his cold response.

I cleared my throat, finding myself utterly
fascinated with the edge of the rug I fiddled with. I couldn’t take
my eyes off it, couldn’t look at him.

“I’m just saying that you don’t have to worry
about me expecting anything more. I know last night was just a bit
of fun, and that if you had any regrets today, to not worry about
it. It is what it is, and I’m cool about it.”

Stupid words. Stupid words coming out of my
stupid mouth.

I expected his shoulders to slump in relief
or his icy exterior to thaw, but it didn’t. He seemed more agitated
as he ran a hand aggressively through his hair.

“Is that what you think?” he said. “That I
regretted last night?”

I looked at him then, trying to hide the hurt
in my expression.

“Don’t you?”

He sat up straight and grabbed my hand to
stop it from fraying the edge of the rug.

“I may have been buzzed last night, but I
remember everything. I can’t promise you that I won’t want to drive
you home, or kiss you like crazy again. Because I will. I do.” His
eyes shifted towards my mouth and then back to meet my eyes.

“I like you, Tess.”

I was supposed to act cool and indifferent
and hold back from falling in too deep right now.

Take it slow, Tess. It’s good advice – take
it slow!

I kissed Toby for the second time. I pushed
him to sit back against the window as I straddled his lap, feeding
the hunger, living for the moment. We weren’t coy and polite this
time; Toby’s hand slipped under my shirt, his fingers skimming my
bare belly, his mouth catching my exhales as I cupped his face and
tilted his head to the side for better access to his lush
mouth.

Toby nipped playfully along my neck, which
made me giggle. He grasped the curve of my knees and drew me
closer. I felt the unmistakable evidence of his desire pressed
between my legs as his hands slid up my bare ribs and pushed under
my bra to touch my breasts. I rocked slowly on his lap pressing
into his touch, never feeling more alive than with the new
sensations that tingled in foreign places. Never before had I
wanted Scott or any other boy to touch me as I wanted Toby touching
me now. I relished in the brush of his work-roughened fingers
gliding over my skin and the way he moved under me. His hands
suddenly bunched my skirt up in his fists as his tongue filled my
mouth to duel my own.

I braced myself for the hand that was sliding
along my thigh, daring to delve between my legs to explore me like
no other had. But just as his finger pulled the elastic of material
he froze and panic shot through me at the thought that all of a
sudden he had come to his senses, that he thought it – us – was a
bad idea. I breathed hard, tried to catch my breath as his head
tilted to the side, listening for something. That’s when we heard
it, the incoming laughter and voices of an approaching stampede of
swimmers.

I slid off Toby’s lap and worked at adjusting
my skirt and fixing my hair. Toby had a far worse problem as he
pulled on his shirt to hang over the large tent in his shorts. We
sat apart and cast knowing smiles to one another as we both tried
to gather our breaths and look casual, like we were just hanging
out, not dry humping in the back of his ute.

Toby looked around and feigned surprise at
the disheveled, soaking figures that approached.

“Back already?”

“Tobias! That was the
worst
idea you
have
ever
had.” Sean shivered.

“I take it you didn’t have fun, then?”

“Ffffucking ffffreezing,” he stuttered.

Toby flashed a grin towards me. “I guess we
had a better time?”

I blushed and glanced away.

A better time? Oh yeah we did.

Mum and Dad gave me Monday and Tuesday off
to make up for my work-filled weekend.

They said I couldn’t work seven days a week,
even though they did and they still wanted me to have
some
fun this summer because I was working so hard. It made me feel a
bit guilty considering I was telling them so many white lies lately
about where I was and who I was with. The last thing I wanted was
to smash the illusion of being the perfect daughter, especially
given my extracurricular activities with a certain gorgeous
twenty-two year old who could kiss like no one else.

Ellie’s ongoing advice played on my mind even
though I was convinced that I wasn’t Toby’s rebound girl seeing as
he obviously had some feelings for me.

He said he liked me, and he had fixed my bike
ages ago and that was when he was still with Angela. Ellie thought
that was a major development.

I thought the mere fact I had kissed Toby
twice was an
epic
development.

But Ellie still wanted me to take a step
back, which meant no accidentally going past his work and ‘bumping’
into him and no joint daytime trips mid-week with the Onslow Boys,
(which I thought ludicrous and unfair).

“Trust me, Tess! Haven’t you heard the old
saying treat ’em mean to keep ’em keen? The more unavailable you
seem, the more he’ll want you.”

“That sounds like playing games to me.”

“You’ll thank me when he’s pawing over you at
the weekend, begging for your time.”

Talk about confusing advice. If not a tad
hypocritical.

Apparently the boys had gone water skiing
mid-week and McLean’s Beach Friday night, and with the view of
‘playing it cool’, I didn’t go to either and now Saturday lunch and
well into Saturday night, Toby was a no show. Great plan,
Ellie.