Page 21 of See You Next Tuesday

“Oh.” Gabe’s voice was quiet, and if Anya didn’t know better, she’d think he almost sounded hurt, which was ironic considering he was the one who’d hurt her in the first place. But then he stood quickly, brushing sand off his legs, and his tone was back to normal. “Sure, if that’s what you want. No problem.”

Text message transcript: Simone Humphrey and Kira Liu

Simone [4:41pm]: Who are we sitting with at dinner tonight, your friend or mine?

Kira [4:42pm]: I can’t believe they’re still acting like this

Kira [4:42pm]: It’s been six days!! You’re sleeping in the same room!! Kiss and get it over with!!

Kira [4:42pm]: Speaking of…

Simone [4:42pm]: Ok horndog we had sex like twenty minutes ago

Simone [4:43pm]: For the third time today

Kira [4:43pm]: Not seeing your point

Simone [4:43pm]: Anyway I realllllly don’t think Anya’s kissing Gabe without some kind of divine intervention

Kira [4:44pm]: Oh intervention is a good idea tho

Kira [4:44pm]: We could all sit in a circle and use I statements to explain how them not kissing has personally affected our vacation

Simone [4:45pm]: At least Anya’s having a good week, our precious little trooper

Kira [4:45pm]: Gabe isn’t

Simone [4:45pm]: No?? He’s been out dancing until 2am every night

Kira [4:46pm]: Dude, he’s humanly incapable of being disliked, especially by someone he respects

Kira [4:46pm]: Do you not see him glancing over at Anya like every eight seconds whenever the whole group is together? He’s slowly unraveling like a woman in a gothic novel

Simone [4:46pm]: Oooooh he does like to pace and gaze mournfully at the sea

Simone [4:47pm]: I thought that was regular straight man nonsense

Kira [4:47pm]: I love how gay you are

Simone [4:48pm]: I feel like they need to have ONE decent conversation

Simone [4:49pm]: Oh!!! I have an idea!! Meet me at the room in ten?

Kira [4:50pm]: For sex???

Simone [4:50pm]: Oh my god. No. To help our friends

Simone [4:50pm]: (Then sex)

Kira [4:51pm]: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAY

Gabe wasn’t having a very relaxing week in Vieques, but then, Gabe had never been great at relaxing. He much preferred to be doing something, on the go. Sitting still made him antsy. So anytime anyone in the group proposed an activity, he said yes. Snorkeling? Great. Horseback ride on the beach? You bet. Dancing every night until the wee hours? Hell yes.

He’d gone to a beach bar filled with sunburned tourists (where he’d grinded with a bride-to-be on a bachelorette trip while her bridesmaids cheered her on) and a back-room salsa club for locals (where he’d made out with a woman in her forties with long dark hair named Valeria). He and Valeria had exchanged numbers, but she had two kids at home, and he was staying with a passel of campaigners, so there wasn’t really anywhere to go.

Every night when Gabe stumbled back into the house well past midnight, he’d find Anya curled into a tight little ball in her bunk bed. She never stirred, but sometimes she was so still that Gabe felt certain she must be awake. She’d barely spoken a word to him since their brief conversation on the beach, and whatever, that was fine. It sucked that she hated him so much, but they were flying home tomorrow, and then he’d never have to see her again.

For their last night on the island, they were all having dinner at some restaurant Jill had found in a converted old farmhouse where you sat on the back deck and ate butter-poached lobster, after which they were going kayaking on Vieques’s bioluminescent bay. The food was great, the wine was flowing, and Anya was at the opposite end of the table, wearing a long black halter dress with a neckline that dipped low between her breasts. Her hair was down, her curls wayward and wild, and with the sun she’d gotten this week, her normally pale skin was glowing in the candlelight. She was sitting with Simone and Kira, and they all looked really happy.