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We swam out to the buoys and then made our way back to shore. He let go of my neck and slipped off my back once we got shallow enough that he could touch. I dove back under once more. When I resurfaced, I looked toward the beach, where Allie was. She was sitting up on her towel, talking to a couple guys that I didn’t recognize. They looked young, probably her age, a couple of fresh-faced kids that just graduated from college.
“... sick lake house,” one of the kids was saying as Declan and I made our way over. “You should check it out.”
“The house sounds great,” Allie said, “but I don’t really go to house parties.”
The two kids glanced at me as I reached for a towel. They were both smooth, practically hairless. Boys, really. Backward baseball caps, a tribal tattoo on the taller one’s upper arm. They eyed me, then Declan.
“Hey,” I said, wrapping the towel around my waist.
They looked from Allie to me, then back again.
“This is Cole,” Allie said. “Cole, this is Devon and Asher. They’re from New York.”
“My parents have a lake house here,” the one named Devon said. He looked at Allie again. “He your boyfriend?”
I was curious to hear what she’d say, all the while vaguely aware that Declan was watching this interaction with great interest.
“We’re neighbors,” Allie said. She had those sunglasses on so I couldn’t see her eyes. I felt a pang of disappointment circulate through me, though I knew that was stupid.
“Well, if you want to come too, you can,” Devon said.
“What is it I’m being invited to?” I asked.
“Apparently there’s a big party on Tuesday,” Allie said. “Who has a party on Tuesday, though? I’ve got to work the next day.”
They both shrugged. “Why not have a party on Tuesday?”
She sighed. “Neither of you are probably working this summer, huh?”
They looked at her as if she was speaking some foreign language. No, of course they weren’t working. These were rich summer kids who were going to spend the next two months partying their asses off at their parents’ second homes.
“Nah,” they said at the same time.
She gave them a wry smile. “Must be nice.”
“Well, hey, if you want to come by, you should,” Devon said. He gave Allie the once-over, and then they sauntered off. I felt old, and at the same time, very territorial. That feeling ebbed a bit when I saw them start talking to another group of girls. Clearly, they were just looking to populate this party of theirs with as many pretty people as they could.
We pulled the sandwiches I had made earlier out of the cooler and ate them, along with some fruit salad and a few pieces of dark chocolate.
“Think I need to work on the tan,” I said when we were finished eating. I stretched out on the towel on my back. I adjusted my sunglasses and let my eyes close. Most of the sunscreen I’d applied had probably washed off, but I just didn’t have the energy to get up and get the bottle from the beach bag. It felt too good lying here, my feet dug into the warm sand.
“Are you taking a nap?” Declan asked.
“No,” I said. “Just closing the eyes.”
“You can take a nap if you want,” he said, “and then maybe when you get up, me and Allie will be finished with our sandcastle city and you’ll be so surprised with how good it is!”
I turned my head and looked at Allie. “That okay with you?” I asked.
“Of course!” she said. “I think you’re going to be very impressed when you wake up.”
I smiled. I doubted I’d be able to actually go to sleep, but being able to lay there and not have to worry about what Declan was getting into was a luxury all on its own.
And I think I did actually start to doze a little; maybe not quite full-on sleep, but I was definitely straddling that gray area between awake and asleep. Everything sounded a little further away, and it didn’t quite seem like I was totally there in my body.
“How come those guys wanted to know if
Dad was your boyfriend?” I heard Declan ask.
