“You’re not in love with him?” says Alex, looking around at me. “But I thought you two were destined for each other?”
“I’m not sure I believe in any of that stuff anymore,” I admit. “Destiny, soul mates… And even if I did, what are the odds of my one true love being the boy who lived around the corner from me growing up? What are the odds of it being someone who was right there infront of me? I mean, he didn’t even recognize my Biff Loman quote. That says it all, really.”
“Don’t tell us there’s another bloke on the scene,” says Gerald, who’s been blatantly listening in to all this. “Between him and young Jamie and this Tim McGraw chap, I don’t know whether I’m comin’ or goin’.”
“Which Biff Loman quote?” says Alex. “Is it the one about spending your life doing something you hate, just for the sake of a two-week holiday? Or something like that, anyway?”
“Yes,” I say, surprised. “Yes, it is. We read the play in high school. It’s only now that I realize how much I relate to it, though.”
And it’s true. This holiday hasn’t been what you’d call ‘relaxing’ exactly. But as I look around the pool deck, the scent of sunscreen and freshly cut grass filling the air, I realize I’m not ready for it to end. I don’t want this break to be something I spend an entire year working in a call center for. I don’t want to resign myself to only really being myself for two weeks every year. I need my life back home to feel like something worth going back to. Which means I still have a fair bit of work to do on my plan; because I’ve kissed Jamie Reynolds (sort of), climbed a mountain (again,sortof…), ridden a motorcycle (okay, okay…), and even sung on stage… right up until I got kicked off it…
But I still haven’t changed my life.
Not even close, in fact.
“Hey,”says Alex. “It turns out the hotel staff didn’t get the message about my non-honeymoon last night after all. They’ve arranged some kind of special dinner on the beach tonight.”
“Oh. Okay,” I say, trying to hide my disappointment that he won’t be joining me at our usual table. “That’s no problem. I don’t mind eating by myself.”
The corners of his mouth curl up in an amused smile.
“I wasn’t asking you to eat on your own, Summer,” he says. “I was asking you to eat with me. It’s a dinner for two.”
“Oh! That sounds…”
That sounds suspiciously like a date, is what I’m thinking. It can’t be, though. Because he’s just ended his engagement, and I’ve spent the entire duration of our not-a-friendship talking endlessly about some other guy, so we’re the last two people in the world — or by thispool, even — who should be eventhinkingabout going on a date.
Right?
“Look, you’d be doing me a favor,” says Alex, confirming the Not a Date status of his suggestion. “Because if you don’t come with me, I’ll just be sitting there on my own, all tragic. Imagine how sad I’ll feel?”
He pouts with feigned misery and I can’t help but laugh at the hangdog expression on his face.
“Well…”
I glance over at Chloe, who’s watching with a resigned expression on her face.
“Oh, go on,” she says, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine on my own. I can make my own entertainment.”
That last statement doesn’t exactly reassure me. But everyone’s looking at me, waiting for my response, so I can’t exactly say no to Alex now, can I? That would be like kicking someone when they’re down.
“Okay, okay,” I say, before Rita can jump in and offer to go instead. “I’ll come with you. I can’t possibly let you endure an ordeal like that on your own, can I?”
“Great,” says Alex. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
It’s a date.
I mean it’snota date.
It’s just two recent enemies-turned-friends helping each other out and having dinner together. It really doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
Does it?
Twenty-Seven
It’s like someone took every single romantic movie I’ve ever seen, mashed them all up, then turned them into the private area of the beach where Alex and I are having dinner.
The table for two has been set up on the sand, and it’s far enough away from the water’s edge for us not to risk being swamped by the waves, but close enough to feel like the setting sun is putting on a private performance just for the two of us.
