“No, I swear,” I said with a smile. “I keep in touch with Abel, and I remember him saying he met your brother in a small town in PA. Just putting two and two together.”
She hummed in surprise. “You’re friends with Abel? I didn’t know that. I mean, he and I aren’t particularly close, so I guess there’s no reason why I would know. How did that happen?”
“He helped me at the hospital after the OD, and we stayed in touch.”
“Oh right, I remember. Hey, that happened more than two years ago,” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need to find some ketchup for you when we walk back.”
“That’s not fair,” I protested, sitting up on my elbows. “It was an answer to your question.” A grin pulled at my lips.
Her smile faded. Something in the way she was looking at me, her gaze dropping from my eyes to my mouth, turned me the fuck on. She brought her thumb to her lips, and swiped it over the bottom one, slowly, absentmindedly. I shifted my hips, trying to keep my growing semi out of sight, but the movement caught her attention, and her gaze moved even lower.
I sat up, bringing my knees to my chest and feeling my heart hammering against them. Ivy blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and she whipped back to face the ocean.
“Ok, fine. I’ll let it slide this one time.” She stuffed a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
“Deal.” I ran a hand over my chin. “So you were saying you don’t like going home for the holidays?”
She bounced her shoulders up and down. “I like seeing my family, just not in River Valley. It’s such a sad little town. There’s nothing fun to do, unless you count going on a winter garden tour fun. I love LA. I dreamt about coming to school here ever since I was a little kid.”
“And it’s lived up to your expectations?”
“Yeah, it has. I want to stay here forever. Although, New York sounds cool too. I’ve wanted to visit for a long time but it never panned out.”
Oliver lived in New York. I shifted on the sand as a sudden wave of worry hit me. Is that why she wanted to go there?
“I’ve kind of given up on that now,” she added. “We’ve got just about everything here, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Including great ice cream. I might make green-tea ice cream on the beach my new Monday routine.”
The right corner of her lips hiked up. “That sounds nice. Maybe, I’ll join you some days.”
The hammering intensified. It was so loud, I was sure she could hear it. I forced a casual smile and nodded. “Anytime.”
When she looked back toward the water, I let out a quiet breath. She didn’t mean it. She was being friendly but we both knew what this was. An extended goodbye between two people who could never be friends, let alone anything more than that.
Ivy finished off her cup and suggested we walk a little farther. I agreed. We wandered, mostly silent, with the salty ocean breeze tickling at our faces and sand scratching at our feet. I lost track of time. When I looked up, we were in front of the Santa Monica Pier.
Ivy halted beside me. “Oh, wow, I didn’t think we’d make it this far.”
Neither did I. It felt like in the span of just a few hours, we’d crossed a good chunk of the distance that lay between us. And now, the thought of saying our final goodbye filled me with soul-crushing sadness.
She glanced at me from under her eyelashes. “I should head home. I’ll call an Uber from Ocean Ave.”
“Want me to drive you?” I offered.
A smile appeared, just barely, but she shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” Her hands reached into the back pockets of her shorts. “I’m glad we got a chance to talk.”
“Me, too.” I brought my hand up to my neck. “It was…nice to hang out.”
“Yeah.” She rocked back and forth on her feet. “Anyways. Bye, Jamie. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
My stupid heart leapt at her words, no matter how sure I was she didn’t mean them. “Sounds good. Bye, Ivy.”
I watched her back as she retreated, her long legs flexing as she stepped across the sand. The ocean lapped gently at the shore behind me, and I allowed its calming sounds to ease the pain in my chest. When it became no more than a dull throb, I took one last look at the water and began to head back.
* * *
From the car,I dialed Nial. He knew about the lunch, and he’d told me to call him afterwards if I wanted to talk. I did want to talk. Or rather, I wanted him to tell me I was stupid to be so hung up over a girl.
