In the massive living room, which had embraced a general beach theme, Jane grabbed my arm. “There’s Sydney.” Her eyes narrowed. “Who’s she talking to?”
Pranav’s girlfriend stood by a cute boy in board shorts and a collared shirt. “Jane. No. Just because she’s talking to another boy doesn’t mean she’s about to break up with Pranav and you’ll get him all to yourself.”
“But are yousure.”
“Talk to someone else.” I flung an arm out and accidentally smacked a boy in the chest. He gave me a dirty look as he walked by.Oops.“This party is full of boys!”
She surveyed the multitude of Sperrys and Chubbies. “They’re all tools.”
“Jane! You’re the one who wanted to come here.”
Her gaze wandered back to Sydney. “Maybe I should investigate. Make sure nothing weird is going on.”
“You one hundred percent should not.” My gaze latched on a familiar face across the room. “Look, there’s Evan! Let’s talk to him!”
I dragged her over to where Evan stood with someone I didn’t know. Jane glared at our friend. “What the hell. What are you doing here?”
“Uh.” Evan looked confused. He hadn’t dressed up, but as a nod to the occasion, he’d worn a T-shirt with a lobster on it. “Hanging out?”
“You didn’t say a word about coming to this party! I wouldn’t have felt so much like we were crashing if I knew you were here!”
“So glad to know my sole purpose is to invite you to parties.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What else are you hiding from me?”
“I’m going to do a loop and see if I can find Noah,” I said, deeming Jane out of imminent danger. “Have fun fighting!”
I looked for Noah by way of the snack table, methodically eating chips and salsa before I realized it would probably ruin my lipstick.Oops.Also, only sheer luck had saved me from dropping a hunk of tomato on my shimmery gold top. Forcing myself away from the food, I found myself trailing, enthralled, in the wake of a boy who’d dressed as Ursula. I sipped my rosé and examined the construction of his tendrils. Perhaps he planned to grow several sizes and sink the ship in the entryway?
Which was where we’d wound up, the foyer with its teal lights and seashells suspended from the ceiling. Intent on taking a good picture for Niko and company, I lifted my phone, tilting my head to find the best shot—and I caught sight of Noah.
He stood on the second-floor balcony, wearing a captain’s hat and a blue blazer that fit him very,verywell. I’d never thought captains were hot before—if I’d been asked to describe one, I would have said scraggly beard and oversized sweater, or all crisp whites.
Noah was undeniably hot.
For a moment I gazed up at him, reveling in the chance to look at him uninterrupted, to absorb how attractive he was, to let my sheer amount of liking for this boy wash over me, warm and sweet and strong enough to make my heart beat extra hard.
Then I slowly took in all the people surrounding him, the people I’d have to make my way through to reach his side. It seemed daunting to approach him, while he was laughing and confident, bracketed by people who belonged to this strange world of underwater parties just as he did.
I needed fresh air.
I slipped out through the living room, out the French doors, past groups of people. At the edge of the property, the land fell away into the dunes, the dunes to the sand, the sand to the sea. I stood on the cliff’s edge. Despite being high summer, the breeze tonight carried a chill. I lifted my gaze to the endless dark and inhaled the night and the ocean.
Did everyone feel this way when facing Nantucket’s sheer nature, like the wind and moon and water stripped them bare? Did everyone, no matter how poised, feel as alone and vulnerable and insignificant as I did when facing the ocean? Perhaps anyone wrapped in wind and salt would be overawed; perhaps this connection to the ocean that felt so personal to me was universal.
I had to talk to Noah about what we were doing. Not talking was tangling me up inside.
“Hello there, Ariel.”
Delight thrilled through me, so strong and instant it burned away every last shadow and doubt. I turned to beam up at him. He’d sought me out. His very presence, even without words or touch, made me glow with happiness. “My hair isn’t red. And your eyes aren’t blue, Prince Eric.”
“Fair. And I don’t remember Ariel being quite so...” His gaze ran over me, lingering on my hips, hugged tightly by my metallic leggings, and on the skin exposed by my crop top. “... scaly.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. I tapped my chin, studying his achingly familiar face. “Good point. And you’re a captain, not the prince. Maybe I’m one of the sisters, then, not Ariel. Maybe we’re in a different story.”
“Oh?” He took a step closer to me, sliding one hand around my hip. His thumb stroked the bare skin above my waistline. “And how’s our story go?”
A shiver shot through me at his touch, and I fought to keep my body from trembling. “Less murder and self-sacrifice than the originalLittle Mermaid, I hope.”
