Iwantto see her.
I release my grip on the handle and head for my car, making a mental note to be sure I’m home in time to watch a movie with Mom. It’ll be fine. I mean, I’m going to be stuck at Bower for who knows how long, so we have all the time in the world for movies. I’m not going to let it happen again.
Ryan’s house is byfarthe nicest place I’ve ever been to. I didn’t even know homes like this existed in Wyatt. I mean, the kitchen alone is about the size of most of the houses near town. It’s got two sinks, two ovens, and an entire section dedicated to anespresso maker that reminds me a lot of the one I use at work.
When he asked us to come swimming, I expected to find one of the circular aboveground pools that you see all over here, but no. This one is set right into the dirt, a fancy stone walkway lining the curved edges, all of it surrounded by a tall cedar fence.
“Dude, your house is bananas,” I say, scooting my butt off the side and into the shallow end.
“It’s all right.” He huffs out a laugh as he floats by me on a giant inflatable donut with rainbow sprinkles.
“Are you kidding me? I’d kill to live here!” I reply, shoving his float into the deep end.
“It’s more fun with company.”
“Where are your parents?” I ask.
“I can’t even remember.” He shrugs. “Off on a work trip just like they were last week and two weeks before that. They’ll actually be gone till the night before I leave for Italy.”
“Really? What do you do with this whole place to—” I stop and turn toward the house as the sliding door opens and out walks Nora in a solid-black bikini. I try not to stare too much, but it’s hard to ignore the parts of her I’ve never been able to see before. Her bare thighs and the curve of her waist.
I let my eyes drift down the length of her body and back up again. She sees me looking and stops walking to cock her head at me, smiling in this way that tells me she knows everything I’m thinking. That makes me wish we were alone.
The sound of Ryan splashing in the water reminds me that we are not.
“Nice tan lines,” I joke, trying to make it less awkwardbefore dunking myself underwater to cool off. By the time I resurface, she’s running right toward me, launching off the side and into the pool with a cannonball.
After we dump Ryan and his once perfectly dry hair off his donut, the three of us spend the next hour or so playing copycat off the diving board, each of us trying to mimic the leader’s movements.
When we’re done, we all climb onto separate floats, exhausted, and stare up at the sky from the center of the pool. Ryan on the donut. Me on a flamingo. And Nora on a banana that she just can’t seem to stop falling off, which is maybe the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen.
“Why didn’t we ever hang out in high school?” Nora asks Ryan as I watch some big puffy clouds move across the sun.
“Because I was new and the only Asian kid in the entire school, and everyone thought I was a weirdo,” he replies flatly.
“What?”Nora asks, flipping around to try to look at him, but instead she falls off into the deep end again. She coughs some water out when she pops up. “I didnotthink that.”
“Maybeyoudidn’t, but everyone else at that school did. I don’t think a single person talked to me outside of class work. It was like I was invisible.”
“Yeah? Well, people called me Beefstick. So…” Nora’s voice trails off as Ryan spews out a laugh despite clearly trying to hold it back. Nora splashes some water at him, pretending to be offended.
“At least you guys remember high school,” I cut in.
“Whoa, that’s too dark, Stevie,” Nora says.
“Yeah, we were just joking around. Don’t bring the mooddown with your amnesia,” Ryan says, and all of us bust out laughing.
When Nora goes into the house to pee, Ryan rolls onto his stomach so we can see each other better.
“I know it started out on a weird foot, but I wish we’d started hanging out sooner. Figures I make a good friend right before I leave,” Ryan says.
“Well, I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Will you?”
“Where else would I be?”
“I thought after that conversation we had, you might think about applying to other schools.”
