I shrug.
“I doubt it. I think they weren’t happy with their dad marrying my mom to begin with, so since we’re here they’ll stay away.”
“What a fucking shame!”
I roll my eyes at her reaction but I know that she isn’t alone: for the last two summers, virtually every single girl aged between sixteen and twenty-two has been asking if the twins were going to show up.
They really made an impression three years ago by throwing epic parties and winning the under twenty-one category of the regatta.
I’m glad that they won’t be here because I honestly don’t like them: I did at first when they were nice to me, the first few times our parents made us all hang out. But right before our parents got engaged on Labor Day, their attitude totally changed. They started looking at me as if I were the scum stuck to the bottom of their shoe, ignoring me at best and being outright hostile most of the time.
“Who cares about the twins! There are more interesting guys around. Marc texted me saying that he’ll be arriving tomorrow.”
Nic’s eyes immediately light up.
“Do you know if Nate will be here too?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
She squeals and hugs me.
“That’s fucking awesome! Come on, let’s go get our nails done and get new bikinis! You’re gonna make him ask Nate to double date, right?”
I chuckle at her puppy dog eyes. “Sure. If he’ll even askmeout ...”
My bestie covers her eyes with her hands.
“You’re fucking hopeless! Of course he will! He’s super into you! Why else would he write you letters every month from military school? And call you whenever he has access to a phone? Plus, last summer he kissed you!”
I don’t remind her that it was such a fleeting peck on my lips that lasted all of two seconds because I don’t want to spend the whole afternoon arguing if that kiss counts or not. But thankfully, my bestie is too excited at the thought of a double date, so she continues begging me.
“So, please, pretty fucking please with a shiny cherry on top, make him convince Nate to double date? We’ll have the best summer ever with two hot cadets!”
I sigh and promise that I’ll speak to Marc and make sure that he brings his friend along.
“Well fuck, don’t look as excited as if you were going to get a root canal! What’s wrong?”
I shrug and she guesses immediately.
“Notthatagain! Girl, you gotta seriously forget about that kiss. It’s fucking ruining your life.”
We walk back toward the house to go put some clothes on over our bikinis and I let myself think about it, just for a minute.
That kiss.
My first kiss, three summers ago, right before Mom and Dustin got engaged.
I got invited to a party, one of the cool ones with all the older kids. It was at one of the bigger houses behind the marina, not far from the mansion on the hill where we’re staying now. I can actually see that house from here.
There was booze, people dancing and making out everywhere and I admit that I felt very much like a fish out of water, wandering around the different rooms and observing other people having fun with the feeling that I didn’t belong there.
I’d arrived at the party with Nic, Chase and Reid. The twins had immediately split from us, telling us to stay out of trouble and going to find their own friends.
I didn’t know many people aside from Nic, I’ve never been the kind of girl that makes friends all that easily, maybe because of the constant moves due to my dad’s career. Nic was really an exception and I was thankful to have a bestie, someone to spend my time with, aside from Mom.
But when Nic bumped into an old crush of hers, I found myself alone and began wandering from room to room.
I was in the living room, on my way to the kitchen, when someone switched the lights off in the entire house, leaving us in complete darkness.
