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I lifted my leg, resting it next to his. The heat between our skin was undeniable. In contrast, my other foot dangled in the cool water, keeping the sun from being too hot.
For a moment, we just floated, the occasional laughter from ahead and the breeze the only sounds. I chanced a glance at Diego, seeing him resting his head back on the tube, completely at peace like he only ever seemed to be when he was in the water. He was confident all the time, with his swagger and easy smirk, but this was different somehow.
He peeked one eye open, and I turned my gaze down.Embarrassing.He totally caught me staring.
His laugh was soft and then faded away. “I’m glad you came out here with me.”
The warmth from the sun spread to my chest, all thanks to his words. “Me too.” I took a deep breath of the fresh air, free of the salty, fishy smell at the beach. “It’s nice out here.”
“Agreed.” He was quiet for a moment, then, “Tell me about your last school.”
I shifted in the tube so I could see him better, and he sat up as well. Light scattered over his face as we entered the trees and some of their leaves blocked the sun. He was Mowgli, Tarzan, and George, so beautiful amongst the trees.
“My last school... it was bigger than Emerson Academy.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? Bigger?”
“I was there longer than anywhere else, but I didn’t have a lot of friends or anything. I’ve only heard from one of them since I’ve been here.”
He frowned. “What do you mean, longer than anywhere else?”
“My dad usually got PCSed every three years.”
“PCSed?”
“Permanent change of station,” I said. “We’ve lived in Kansas, Colorado, North Carolina, Hawaii when I was really little. I was born in Germany.”
“Wow,” he breathed. “You’ve seen so much of the world.”
I had. But I’d never found a place that felt like home. “Where have you traveled?”
“Last summer when my sister went on tour with Jude Santiago, I tagged along. Mostly to make my parents feel better about her being on her own.”
My jaw dropped. “You were on the Summer of Santiago tour?”
Light danced in his eyes. “I was.”
“Tell me everything. Was Jude a picky star? Did he only eat green M&Ms?”
“I won’t tell. He’s like family.” He smiled gently, letting me know he meant it. “Before that, we’d been on a few family vacations, a couple trips to Mexico. Nothing major, like Kenzie going to Greece for an entire summer.”
Why did him talking about Kenzie bother me so much? I didn’t like the jealous feeling stirring in my chest. “How long have you and Kenzie been friends?”
“We’ve both gone to the Academy since kindergarten. And classes are small enough that you really get to know someone if they’ve been around that long.”
I could understand, even if I couldn’t imagine. Knowing someone that long, outside of your family, seemed out of this world. “But surely there are other girls in our class you’ve known that long.”
“Some of them.” He shrugged. “I can’t say too much, because it’s Kenzie’s story to tell, but after some guy broke her heart freshman year, we just kind of agreed to go to school dances together, and our friendship grew from there.”
“You haven’t wanted to date anyone?”
He met my gaze for a moment. “I didn’t want to date anyone until I knew they were going to be something special to me.”
All the air whooshed from my chest like the words had physically hit me.
It was a big deal that he’d asked me here.
And I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
