“Bae? Boo? Daddy? Whatever you call him,” Seb said, slipping his shades down over his eyes as he hoisted his backpack onto a shoulder.
“Daddy? Gross.” I rolled my eyes. “He doesn’t exist, so I don’t call him anything.”
The corners of Seb’s mouth curled upward. Just slightly. “Interesting. You know, it’s totally okay if you’re still hung up on me,” he said, walking across the side lawn after Benny and Lulu. “I’m a hard act to follow.”
He was joking, of course. I was never “hung up” on him. I mean, sure, maybe I developed a schoolgirl crush on him in our early teens before he abandoned us Wags for the Vanderburgs, but it went nowhere because I never told him. Sure, we may have talkedaroundthe subject of being more than friends once or twice. And by that, I mean that when we were fourteen, Seb would occasionally joke that we try hooking up and lose our virginity together, and I would suggest he take a leap off the pier. But nothing had ever come of it—and I do meann-o-t-h-i-n-g.
I was so surprised by his words that I couldn’t think of a witty comeback and just blurted out, “Whatever.”
Ugh.Say something smarter, for the love of God!
Seb tossed me a victorious look over his shoulder.
Nothing but dimples.
Chapter 6
The Moraleses’ mansion enjoyed an expansive green lawn that extended from the house to the banks of the Little River. Benny and Lulu were already at those banks by the time the three of us hiked our way back to the double-decker dock sitting over the river. A small motorboat was moored on one side, a couple of rope hammocks on the other. And at the front, two canoes had been lowered into the water.
“Are these the same canoes we used back in the day to go to the cave?” I asked Benny when we walked out onto the dock.
“Yup,” he replied, tossing paddles into the long, sleek boats. “They both seat three, as you may remember. I figured Lulu and I could take the red one, and you three can follow in the green one, since you’re down a paddle, with ol’ One Arm over there,” he said, gesturing loosely to Jazmine.
“Only need one finger to show you how I feel,” she joked, flipping him the bird.
Benny snorted a soft laugh. “Everyone ready?”
“Ready and steady,” Seb said, quickly stepping into the red canoe before Benny could enter and dropping his backpack onto the canoe’s belly.
“Dude!” Benny complained.
“We’re taking this one, Goth Boy,” Seb said, sitting on the canoe’s back bench. “Becauseyoumay remember that the green one has a slow leak, and I’d prefer to keep my shoes dry.”
“You’re such an asshole sometimes,” Benny complained, unserious.
“If you’re gonna do something, might as well do it well,” Seb replied with a breezy smile. “No time to waste. Let’s load up. Punkin, come on girl.”
Jazmine took the front seat of the canoe, letting Punkin sit between her feet, and I dropped onto the middle bench while waiting for Seb to untie us. Then he stepped behind me, tilting the canoe with his weight. When I gripped the sides of the boat to steady myself, I glanced over my shoulder and found myself staring at the fine blond hairs on his bare legs. As far as male legs went, they were pretty nice, golden from the sun and muscular.
What was wrong with me? Since when did I look at men’s legs?
“Problem?” he asked, squeezing into the space behind me to sit on the canoe’s back bench. “Or are you just checking me out?”
Oh God. I was, wasn’t I?
“Ha ha—so funny,” I said, trying to play it off. “I just don’t remember this canoe being this small. Since when did your legs, like, double in length?”
A battered Converse sneaker appeared under my seat when he stretched out one of those legs. “Do you need me to explain the finer points of puberty?”
I stepped on the toe of his sneaker repeatedly until he laughed and withdrew into the designated area behind me. When he did, I could feel his knees brush against my back.
“Stop rocking the canoe,” Jazmine called out.
“I’m not taking any of your shit today.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Ha!” Benny called out from the other canoe as it floated past. “I forgot we used to call you that, Jaz.”
