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I find myself getting distracted by her curves again, but I shake my head. “Nope. My day’s wide open. Do you and Aimee have plans?”
“Not yet.” She smiles at me. “Do you want to come over to the beach house? Have some breakfast?”
“Hell yeah,” I say. “I love breakfast.”
“You two are really cute together, you know that?” says Aimee, smiling as she lifts her coffee cup. The three of us just sat down to eat the breakfast we made together. It makes me happy to hear Aimee say that, but when I smile at Lindsey, she’s giving her best friend a look.
“Aimee,” says Lindsey.
“What?” Aimee says. “You make a cute couple. That’s all I’m saying.” Then she turns to me. “Did you know that this is the first vacation Lindsey has been on inyears?”
I look over again at Lindsey, surprised. “Really?”
“I’ve been focused on work,” she says, shrugging. “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”
“Well, I’m glad you finally took one,” I say, grinning at her. “And that you came here.”
She smiles back at me. “I am, too.”
“Aww,” says Aimee, pressing a hand to her heart. “See? You two are adorable together.”
“Theo and I aren’t together,” says Lindsey, giving Aimee another look. “We just met. We’re just…getting to know each other.”
“Riiiight,” says Aimee. “Just getting to know each other.”
Lindsey sighs, and Aimee drops the subject. I don’t understand why Lindsey seems so put off by the idea that she and I could be a real couple. But this doesn’t seem like the right time to ask.
“Hey, Theo, since you’re a local, I wanted to ask you,” Aimee says as she pokes a fork into her scrambled eggs, “Are there any hidden beaches around here that you’d recommend?”
I think about it for a second, then nod. “Actually, yeah. I haven’t been there for a long time, but there’s like this…secret spot, I guess you’d call it, that’s pretty sweet. I’d be happy to take you guys there.”
“Really? That’d be lovely. What do you think, Linds?”
Lindsey nods and reaches for her coffee cup. “That sounds great.”
After we finish eating, the girls go off to get ready. I can hear them talking, but they’re talking too quietly for me to hear what they’re saying. At one point, they both burst into laughter about something. My chest squeezes tight as I wonder if they’re laughing about me.
I didn’t think they were mean like that…but maybe I’m wrong.
I know I’m not the smartest guy. Sometimes I say things without thinking, or I find out that I’ve misunderstood something my whole life. But it’s not like I choose to be this way. It’s just how I am.
Maybe that’s not good enough for someone like Lindsey.
Damn it. I was really starting to fall for her.
I’m feeling kind of blue when the girls come back into the kitchen, but I don’t want to ruin our plans, so I put on a smile and ask if they’re ready to go. Lindsey looks super pretty in the outfit she has on. She’s wearing some kind of loose tunic-dress-thing, sandals, and a big floppy straw hat. But I try not to focus too much on how pretty she is. It will only bum me out more that we can’t be together for real.
We get into the girls’ rental car and I give Aimee directions over to the secret beach. We have to park a short walk away on the shoulder of the road, but the girls don’t seem to mind. They don’t mind the rocks we have to climb over, either, to get there.
“Oh, wow,” Lindsey gasps when the beach comes into view. “It’s beautiful here.”
“And we have the whole place to ourselves!” Aimee says, looking around with excitement. “Oh, this isgorgeous. Thank you so much for bringing us here, Theo.”
“You’re welcome,” I say.
The girls find a spot on the sand to spread out their beach towels. Aimee immediately pulls off the clothes she’s wearing over her swimsuit and runs out to the water to go swimming, but Lindsey gets settled on the towel and pats the spot beside her, inviting me to join her.
I hesitate a second, then sit down next to her.
