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“Calling?” Dad took a long, hard look at his green margarita, removing the straw from his mouth. He examined it for a moment, looking back and forth between Tommy and his cocktail. “Jesus,” he complained, “I got to stop drinking so much.”
“There’s plenty of room! We’re going out for burgers tonight!” Gemma got up from the pool, leaving my side with an unsettling splash. She hugged Tommy and proceeded to lead him away into the house. Dad followed behind, signaling another round of margaritas to be made. Not soon after, everyone’s voices began to fade, leaving me in the sun, silently baking.
I wiped my face once more, eyeballing the Vogue magazine that Gemma was reading. I noticed the single dog-ear that she used to mark a page, its bent corner creating a noticeable gap. I reached for it, assuming it was the article on St. La Vie, but frowned as I opened it up, observing the cologne ad that Gemma marked, its unsettling dark colors circling along the portrait of a smoldering and arrogant Alex Rivers. Below him was a quote, one that made my stomach turn.
“IT’S ME, BABY, DEAL WITH IT.”
“Fuck you,” I growled, annoyed that his presence was not only ruining my vacation, but Gemma’s as well.
I pushed away from the edge, dunking my head under the water for a moment of peace. I exhaled, slowly allowing the bubbles to leave my lips, to sink like the ship I envisioned myself as earlier. I sank to the bottom, where I stared back up, the surface of the water no longer still, but beautifully cracked into shattered rays of light. I laid my back towards the bottom of the pool, my hair waving like grass in the wind, contemplating everything I thought I knew but maybe didn’t.
Why did Gemma pick dark and desirable, towering and tattooed?
Why did Tommy have to interrupt? Why couldn’t Gemma have just picked Raoul?
I exhaled a few more bubbles, facing the final ugly question I hated to ask: why was Alex Rivers right?
His fucking words played over and over again in my head, the magazine feeling more like a message for me, than an advertisement for cologne. I wasn’t the only man in Gemma’s life anymore, and I knew things had changed. There was Alex now. It washim,and just as he fucking said, I would have todeal with it.
Chapter29
Gemma
“I’d give Tommy a chance if I were you,” Camilla said, applying a fresh swipe of red lipstick as I washed my hands in the empty restaurant bathroom.
“Tommy?” I laughed.
“Yes! He’s totally fun, and I think he likes you.” She held the lipstick out like a cigarette, offering me a puff. Its label readPouty Princess,which was possibly the most fitting title ever.
“Tommy likes everyone, he’s just a flirt.”
“Yeah, but he shared his food with you. A man doesn’t just offer up an onion ring, let alone four of them.” Camilla looked back at herself, squinting in the dimly lit, nautical-themed mirror. I never considered what she said as proof of beinglikedin that way. If only she knew Parker had already done this for me countless times before, purposely ordering pepperoni pizza with the intention of giving me his toppings. “Men don’t just feed you for fun. It’s like evolutionary mating stuff, you know, like hunters and gatherers? Read the signs, girl.”
“The only sign I’m reading is that one,” I pointed to a decorative placard, its painted letters shouting;There’s plenty of fish in the sea.
“He’s sexy,” Camilla defended. “He looks just like Freddie Prinze, Jr. You’ve seenShe’s All That, haven’t you?”
I chuckled, removing paper towels out from a small tin cubby. “To me, he’s more like Freddie Prinze, Jr. fromScooby-Doo. More of a goofball friend than the smart, dazzling jock.”
Camilla shrugged, “Good point. I guess he’s kind of a downgrade.”
“No, I’m not saying that at all. Of course, Tommy is gorgeous, but not like that.”
“Not like what?” Camilla’s mood was more playful after three long island ice teas. “Like Alex?”
“I wasn’t trying to compare.” I lied, attempting to avoid the topic, but was failing miserably.
Of course I tried not to think of Alejandro, of where he was or what he was doing, and although I completely avoided the internet, I still saw him everywhere, even in the darkness of Camilla’s own provocative eyes.
“I don’t blame you. Alex is hot. Like,really, really, hot. Honestly, his composure during that god awful bar night was super attractive. Don’t tell Parker that though. He’d probably have a fit. Alex is a very assertive man, and it’s sexy.”
“He certainly is.” I quipped, quietly staring at myself in the mirror, succumbing to the tingle from the beers I had.
“Do you like assertiveness? I mean… long term, could you see that working for you?”
“I really don’t know. Can’t say I haven’t thought of it.” I fixed a braid in my hair, trying not to be so emotional. “It’s hard to see the stars when the clouds are in the way, you know what I mean?”
“I understand. As you may know, Parker and I have had our fair share of clouds. Granted we haven’t been together that long, but still, I’ve seen enough to know how I truly feel about what we have.” Camilla pumped a small dot of soap into her hands before washing them. “Everything about him makes me nervous and excited all at once, like every piece of his life is a test that I’m eager to pass. I want to know all of him, and protect the pieces I cherish so much, like the things I find most in common with him. To be honest, it feels like we have the same deep desires, like we’re both so eager to prove something, that our desperation becomes some chaotic magnetic force. Maybe I like it because it’s familiar.”
