“Were those pigtails hurting?”
“They weren’t comfortable.” She starts braiding her hair down one shoulder while I whip out a hoodie from my gym bag. Teeny finishes up, swiping some ChapStick over her pink lips, and we make our way to the beach. I hook my arm around her, to which Teeny embraces, sidling up to me with ease.
“You know there’s going to be a lot of people here,” she comments, gripping my wrist hanging loosely over her shoulder.
“Yeah.”
“People who are going to see me and you show up together.” She lets go of my hand and starts to pull away, but I immediately reach for her, linking our fingers together.
“Yeah.” I don’t let go, and as we trudge through the sand, approaching a thick crowd of Torrey Pines’ student body, I pull her closer to me.
“Hey!” Josh approaches me, glazed eyes and flushed cheeks. His gaze catches me and Teeny linked together, a flash of confusion and uncertainty pulling at the corners of his mouth. “You guys came together?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him. Teeny’s eyes shift nervously, and the three of us stand there, unsure of what to do next.
“Okay.” Josh tips back a cup held loosely in his hand before he walks away.
“That was a little weird, right?” Teeny whispers as we watch Josh peruse a large table littered with chips and a tall stack of pizza boxes.
My eyes pinch into a guilty squint as I scratch the back of my neck. “I should talk to him.”
She nods. “Probably.”
“You good?”
She nods again, her face shifting into a reassuring smile. “Yeah.” She pauses, looking around the growing crowd, and her eyes catch a small group of her friends. “Diana and Holly are here too so I’m going to go catch up with them.”
I lean down and place a swift peck on her cheek. “Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t.” She gently pushes a hand into my stomach before I turn away, stealing glances in her direction as I approach Josh. He’s hovering over a large cooler, shifting through the ice.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” He’s distracted, refilling his drink with something red and fruity smelling. He tilts the unlabeled canister in my direction, and I shake my head. “So, you came with Teeny.”
“I did,” I answer honestly. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah, man,” he responds with an earnest smile.
“You sure?”
He nods. “Just…you know. Be good to her.”
“Of course.”
“I don’t need to talk to you about all of that big brother bullshit, but you know the whole, ‘If you ever hurt her?—’”
“I don’t plan to.”
“Good.”
Josh playfully pushes his fist into my shoulder, and I stumble a step back, relief replacing the taut tension between us.
“Hey, boys.”
Josh and I turn just as Angelica, a member of the cheerleading squad and a senior like us both, steps right between us, not bothering to let us move out of the way. Angelica’s hand brushes against my chest, and I think it’s an accident, but then she doesn’t move away, stamping her place in the sand right in front of me.
“Good game, new guy,” she says in a low voice.
