Page 93 of Summer Love

“Shut up, Ryan,” Noah snaps.

Ryan raises his hands, palms open.

“I’m just asking,” he says, smiling.

Noah sets down the glass and the towel, exchanges a look with Luke.

“He bet a hundred bucks he’d take her virginity,” he says.

My legs give out. I catch myself on the edge of the case. If I let go, I’ll fall.

Ryan’s eyes go wide.

“What? So did he?”

Noah shrugs. His mouth twists.

“Pfft… Too easy.”

Luke bursts out laughing. So does Noah.

Luke’s laugh is high, too loud. Noah’s is shorter, drier. It’s Noah’s that destroys me. Not Ryan’s words.

Noah. My best friend. The one who sends me ten-minute voice messages to tell me about his day.

I run my tongue over the wire on my braces. I know it by heart. The cold metal presses against my lip.

Of course.

I have no chest. I have no hips. I have no butt. I’m seventeen, but my body looks like a thirteen-year-old’s. I haven’t even gotten my period yet—my mother says that’s normal for an athlete, that it’s even an advantage.

A guy like Jace couldn’t want me.

Tall. Gorgeous. A surfer. Dark hair, green eyes. Every girl in Coral Bay at his feet without him lifting a finger.

And me… Plain, flat, braces, a nerd.

What was I thinking?

Ryan says something else, but I don’t hear it anymore. My ears are ringing. Luke’s still laughing. Noah pours someone a cup of coffee.

I don’t cry.

There’s nothing to cry about. Last night doesn’t count anymore. His hands, his mouth, the way he said my name, his breathing slowing as he fell asleep against me.

All that for a hundred dollars.

I let go of the case and step back. The glass door opens behind me. The bell jingles.

No one turns around.

I walk down Main Street. I don’t need to run, because there’s no one left to find. The asphalt must be hot under my bare feet. I can’t feel it.

I head back up to the house. The gate. The yard. The door.

Dad’s in the living room. Both suitcases are zipped shut, set side by side. All the shutters are closed.

“Did you get to say goodbye?” Dad says, sliding the passports into his laptop bag.