When my best friend emerged from the dressing room, my jaw dropped for a moment.
“Aha,” he said. “Do we have a winner?”
“No freaking way,” I told him forcefully.
Zach only smirked. Shit.
“No,” I said again. He didn’t seem moved. “No, no, no, no,” I added. Sometimes, it was best to say it a lot of times so it was more likely he heard it at least once. Also, what he was wearing now was so obscene we would be banned from the pool for life.
He fawned over himself in the mirror for what probably wasn’t as long as it could have been, but I was busy rolling my eyes at him and complaining and hating everything. Zach was too busy admiring himself to give my attitude the attention it deserved and since I added a Ryan to my life, complaining alone just wasn’t as much fun as complaining with him. He was really good at complaining. Sometimes, that screwed me over. Sometimes, it worked out.
Zach is being even less help than usual, I texted Ryan. I glared at Zach and he blew me a kiss.
My phone buzzed. Alicia told me to look stuff up on the internet and Lydia threatened me with murder, Ryan texted me back. Our attempts at getting advice from our friends weren’t going great. Well, at least when it came to Zach and Alicia.
Lydia probably does that anyway, I replied.
Her threats are more graphic than usual. I might have nightmares and you’re not even around to protect me.
Someone cleared their throat. It was Zach. “Are you not paying attention to me?” He nodded his head downward to indicate his body on display for my viewing pleasure.
Speaking of graphic, Zach’s current pair of swim trunks was more like a speedo and left very little to the imagination. He had long legs and the dark, slightly shiny black of the material looked nice against his skin. There wasn’t a ton of people in the store, but some had noticed him and were clearly browsing the racks very slowly, getting another look at him. Which only made Zach preen more.
He wore very little clothing and a confident smirk, which was so annoying, but this might have been vaguely hot. Zach had years of perfecting the art of looking arrogant and smug and attractive at the same time, so it was a good look on him.
I tried to compliment Zach as little as possible because he already knew all the things he was good at and didn’t need even more vanity—he was super good at vanity—so I cleared my throat and gave him a gruff, “What do you want, a round of applause?”
He opened his mouth, presumably to say no as he started shaking his head, then he changed his mind. “Yes, I think I deserve one.” I sent a look making clear that wouldn’t happen and he told me, “I’m about to deliver my profound wisdom, so you should at least focus on me.”
“Okay, lay it on me.” Had anyone ever delivered profound wisdom while practically naked before?
Before I could answer that question, Zach spoke. “The benefit of doing a lot of different things with a lot of different people is that whenever things don’t click, you just move on.” He turned around and did a little strut like he was walking on a catwalk because now that he was helping me with my problem and I had to pay attention, of course he was going to show off even more.
“And when things do work out,” he continued while walking back towards me. “You can always go back for a repeat performance.” He smirked. “Volume is the key.” This was a weird conversation to have with a guy in an extremely skimpy speedo.
And volume was the key? I made a face. “Probably the opposite of what every guidance counsellor recommends to teens.”
“I should be a guidance counsellor.” As soon as he said it, he realized his mistake and made a disgusted face. “Except then I’d have to listen to people’s problems.” He gave me a serious look. “It’s already enough listening to yours.”
“Thanks, man.” I flipped him off.
Zach tried something else on, which was great, because he was in normal clothing when he sat next to me. “Look, it may not be perfect with Ryan, but I’m not sure it matters.” He wasn’t there. Well, mostly. It mattered. “Maybe you’ll get around to discussing this with him only a little after the time you should have. Instead of being incredibly, unbelievably late.”
“No, that’s not going to happen this time.” Hopefully. It might suck but we could handle it. We weren’t going distant on each other. More distant than the distance between us. Whatever.
“Aww, you’re learning.” Zach looked amused. “How cute.”
“Shut up. Did I miss the advice part of this advice?”
He waved a hand dismissively. “Just relax and you’ll figure it out.” He made it sound easy, like he had never in the history of the world had a problem before.
I thought about that, then gave him a very unimpressed face. “This is so unhelpful, why am I even here with you?” Should have just gone to the pool by myself. Or with Joey but then I’d have to deal with him staring at every cute girl in a two piece and asking me to introduce him, like all good-looking people knew each other.
“You’re here so you can carry my bags,” Zach informed me. He gestured to a pile of items he planned on purchasing.
I crossed my arms. “No, I am not your boyfriend.” We had some stuff to work out, but I was still happy with my current boyfriend.
“You wish, Chambers.” Zach rolled his eyes. “But my advice is the same, volume is the key.”
