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“No, stay,” I reply.
He looks at me puzzled. “But you won.”
“Yes, I did. I wasn’t about to let you beat me, but I don’t want you to go either.” I’m just as confused as he is, not sure where to go from here. “Do you want to go sit down?” I ask. He’s still puzzled, not comprehending that I chalked the bet. “Sit?” I ask again. I walk outside to one of the plastic neon green Adirondack chairs on the deck. During our game, it had stopped raining, but you can still see the lightning flashes over the ocean. He follows me out. I am leaning on the railing staring out over the ocean. “Beautiful isn’t it?” I whisper.
“Yes, it is,” he says with veneration. I turn toward him and notice he isn’t looking out over the water but gazing at me. I blush and stare down toward my feet. “Why do you keep doing that?” he asks. He tugs my chin so I’m looking at him. His touch resonates through my entire body. “I don’t know what happened to you to make you so full of self-doubt,” he whispers. “You’re very beautiful and shouldn’t be ashamed when someone tells you so.” I pull away and sit down on one of the chairs.
“So, you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.” I try to get the subject off me. I’m unsure of what to say. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You, Olivia,” he simply states. “I want to talk about you.” His eyes are burning with curiosity.
“Oh,” I gasp. This is not going well. I take a deep breath. “What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you want to tell me,” he says, his expression unreadable.
“Well, I grew up in Bohemia. My dad was a city cop, my mom a teacher.” Just talking about this stuff brings up memories of my dad. I miss him. Concern is etched on Chase’s face. It must be a reaction to my own. “My dad died a few years ago. Cancer.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I took it okay. My mom not so well. She has her good days and bad days. I come here to Davis every summer. My dad bought the house after he retired, before he was diagnosed.” I stare out over the water, remembering the day he told us this house was ours, really ours.
“Are you an only child?”
“Yes. What about you?” I ask. Quid pro quo.
“I was born and raised in Lattingtown. My father is a real estate entrepreneur. He invests in real estate and has buildings in Manhattan, Boston, and Miami. He recently built a hotel in Italy. My stepmother does nothing. Zero. ” His voice is filled with disdain. So he’s had an affluent upbringing. Snobby rich kid, just like I thought.
/> “Brothers or sisters?”
“I have a younger brother, Preston. He studies business at Harvard.”
“What about you, where did you go?” I already know the answer.
“I went to Harvard to study real estate law. My father went to Harvard so it was sort of assumed that we would both go as well.” Of course you did. “Preston and I both work for my dad. I’m one of about a dozen that work in the law department,” he says with pride. “Where did you go to school?”
“Stony Brook University. I was offered a full academic scholarship. I got a bachelor’s in Biology and a master’s in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. I finished my bachelor’s in three years, thanks to AP classes in high school.” I’m rambling. I need to relax, so I take a sip of my beer to calm my nerves and continue. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do now. I work weekends bartending at Anthony’s, a restaurant near school to pay for gas and incidentals. I take the summer off.”
“It must have been nice to stay home near your friends.”
“My parents couldn’t afford to send me to where I wanted to go. Berkeley,” I sigh. I really wanted to go to Berkeley.
“Wow, so you’re smart?” he asks sounding surprised.
What did he say? “Just when I think you might not be an ass, you say something asinine.” Somewhere in my irrational head, a switch flips on. “Why couldn’t I be smart? Poor people can’t be smart? Do I look dumb? Is that why you keep stalking me, to try and get the poor dumb girl?” I am screaming at him and people start staring. My screeching finally catches Brenda’s attention. He stares at me dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open like he doesn’t know why I’m so mad. Deep down I know he didn’t mean anything by the comment, but somewhere in my fucked up brain, I take it for him calling me stupid. I turn around, walk down the steps, and back onto the walk. I hear Brenda behind me.
“What happened? You two seemed to be getting along.” She sounds disconcerted.
“Yeah, but then he opened his mouth.” I am seething. “What an arrogant, egotistical, sanctimonious prick!” I am livid. We get back to the house, and I go straight to the fridge. “How can he be so . . . so . . . arrogant!?”
“What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know. One minute we were talking and the next he was being an ass. He sounded surprised that I was smart.”
“And?” She’s expecting more.
“And what? He set me off.” I take a seat at the counter.
“Liv, aren’t you being a bit harsh? I’m sure that’s not what he meant.” She eyes me speculatively for a moment, probably wondering if I’m about to snap at her too. To be honest, I’m not sure why I blew up the way I did. I think I’m looking for ways to not like Chase. Crap, this is ridiculous.
