“It’s so good to see you!” I cried, hugging my sister and pulling her into the room. Just having her there made me feel much more secure. Here was a person who would always love me, no matter what decision I made.
“Good to see you, too, but you’re strangling me,” Becca replied. She removed my arms from around her neck and looked at me quizzically. “You okay?”
“Yeah! Yes. I’m fine,” I told her. “In fact, I think I’ve finally made a decision.” I sat down on my bed and crossed my legs, the picture of poise. “I am going to stick with Sean.”
I grinned as I said his name, feeling a little flutter in my chest. Becca sighed and righted her rolling luggage, shoving the handle down. Her face was the picture of doubt.
“Really? The science geek?” she said.
That didn’t do much for my confidence.
“What? He challenges me,” I said. “And he’s really funny and smart and—”
“I thought you were going to ‘get crazy’ out here,” Becca said, raising her palms. “How does dating a guy who’s just like you work into that?”
“He’s not exactly like me,” I told her.
“Well, what happened to Nicholas and Kyle? They both sounded so—what’s the word I’m looking for?—hot! And Sean sounds so…nerdy.”
She was already distracted, looking around the room at Sun’s pictures and the tons of crap on her messy desk and bed. I felt my face start to burn at her insinuations. One, that I was a science geek and two, that Sean wasn’t hot enough. How did she know? She hadn’t even met him.
“Well, that’s not all he is,” I said. “I told you he’s an incredible dancer.”
I still hadn’t told her where we’d gone dancing though. If Becca knew about Rouge, she’d spend the entire weekend begging me to go there until all the veins in my head popped, whether or not I’d chosen Sean.
“Okay. So he has one point in his favor then,” she said, picking up a jeweled box from Sun’s desk, inspecting it, then placing it back down.
“Besides, if I stay here with Sean, we get to go to Six Flags on Saturday. You love rides.”
“I guess,” Becca said blithely, lifting one shoulder.
“Whatever. Sean is just as hot as Kyle and Nicholas,” I assured her. “Just wait ’til you meet him.”
Becca finally smiled. “Hey, whatever floats your boat,” she said. “I’m just psyched to be here.” She hugged me again, and this time I felt slightly less relieved. “But I also have to pee. Where’s the bathroom?”
“It’s down the hall on the right,” I told her.
“Cool. Be right back.”
As soon as the door closed behind her I felt a few cold fingers of doubt slide up my shoulders. Was Becca right? Was dating Sean going against the whole point of this summer?
No. Sean might be smart and driven, but he was also funny, and we laughed together. A lot. When it came down to it, Sean was the best of both worlds. We had stuff in common, but there was so much about him that was new. I liked the way he made me feel. I had to go with my gut.
Of course now that I’d decided, I had to make a couple of phone calls that I really didn’t want to make. I glanced at the closed door. Getting this over with before Becca returned seemed like a good idea. I grabbed my cell and quickly dialed Kyle.
“Jenna! Hey! What happened to you?” he asked, sounding very upbeat.
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know what happened. I just lost you,” I lied. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem. So, did you talk to your sister? Are you guys gonna make the trip?” he asked.
I was sweating. I sat down at my desk and took a deep breath. This totally sucked. “Actually, no.”
There was a long pause. “Oh.”
“I’m really sorry, Kyle,” I said. “It’s just—”
“No, that’s cool,” he said quickly. “I understand.”
There was a long, drawn-out silence during which I almost changed my mind fourteen hundred times.
“So…” he said finally.
“So call me and let me know how it goes,” I said.
“Yeah? Okay, yeah. I’ll do that,” he said.
“I really am sorry,” I told him, wishing there was some way to end this on a good note.
“Hey, not a problem. Don’t worry about it,” he said. Someone shouted his name, and I heard a few muffled words. “I’d better go. Have a good weekend.”
“Yeah, you, too,” I said.
As I hung up the phone, my heart was so heavy, I wondered if I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life. But I had to press on. I dialed Nicholas, wanting more than ever to just get this over with.
“Hi there,” he said smoothly.
In the background was the most insane din I’d ever heard. Music, shouting voices, female screeching, a loud crash. I swear I even heard mooing.
“Having a party?” I said.
“We figured we’d go a little nuts before we got to work,” he replied, nonchalantly.
“Ah, well, listen, Nicholas, I don’t think I’m going to make it over there this weekend.”
He said nothing. All I heard were party noises. Wow. Was he that mad?
“Hang on a sec,” he said. “Yo! Todd! Might not want to hang from there! I’m not taking you to the hospital!” Then he was back. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Oh, God. He hadn’t even heard me. I had to do this again? “I said I’m not going to be able to come over this weekend.”
“Oh. That’s cool. We have enough people to help,” he said.
I blinked. Okay. Clearly he wasn’t picking up on my tone. Maybe it was the constant smashing noise that sounded like it was happening right next to the phone.
“Actually, I’m not really sure we should see each other anymore,” I said. Then, when there was no reaction, I added, “At all.”
“Right, well, if that’s how you feel,” he said. “Listen, I have to go. They need me to make the margaritas.”
I felt as if someone had just torpedoed my heart. “Nicholas, do you even hear what I’m saying?”
“Jenna, did you think I was going to cry? You’re a great girl, but come on,” he said, making me feel like I was twelve. “I really have to go. Good luck with everything.”
And then he hung up. My hand dropped into my lap. Well. Guess I made the right decision there. I couldn’t believe he was so blasé about the whole thing! Had I really meant so little to him?
“Screw it,” I said through my teeth. I stood up and dialed Sean’s number. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sean, it’s Jenna,” I said.
“Hey! Where you been? Is your sister there yet?”
“Yeah, she just got here, and she’s really psyched to meet you,” I fibbed, pacing my room again. “Want to go to the beach tomorrow?”
“Definitely,” Sean replied. “How’s ten? Before it gets really hot? We can meet by that old, broken-down lifeguard chair.”
“Perfect,” I said.
Becca was not a morning person, but I knew I’d be able to get her to the Malibu beach anyway. She’d just gotten here, so her internal clock was three hours ahead. If I could get Becca and Sean together, I knew she would see what I saw in him. Plus if we were on the beach, his hot body would be exposed, which I knew would knock him up a few pegs in Becca’s estimation. Yeah, it was shallow, but you had to know your audience. If he made a good first impression, she would take the time to get to know him.
“See you guys then,” Sean said.
“Bye.”
The moment I hung up the phone, the door to my room was flung open, and in burst Becca and Sun. They were giggling, doubled over, and holding hands. Sun had half a dozen shopping bags hooked on her arm.
“Oh, my God, Jenna!” Sun announced. “I just met your sister in the bathroom, and already I’m, like, in love with her.”
“She is hilarious!” Becca added. “I don’t know how you get any work done with her around.”
Me neither.
“I was totally going to go to the surf competition this weekend, but Becca convinced me to stay here and keep you girls company,” Sun said, tossing her shopping bags onto her bed. “We are going to have the best time!”
“We so are!” Becca agreed.
I laughed and rolled my eyes as they dropped down onto my bed, chatting away. That was Becca for ya. Everyone loved her.
“This is the life,” Becca said, stretching as she rolled over onto her stomach in the sun. The top of her black bikini rode up a bit and she readjusted it. “I was meant to live in California.”
“I know. Why did Mom and Dad have to pick Pennsylvania?” I said.
“We should get their heads examined,” Becca added.
I laughed and checked my Nike watch, then closed my eyes and lay back again. Sean should have been here by now, unless one of us had gotten the meeting point wrong.
“When does Sun get out of class again?” Becca asked.
“Around twelve,” I said.
“Cool. I cannot wait to hit the shops.”
“I know. You only talked about it all night long,” I teased.
Last night Sun and Becca had decided that it was about time I do some LA shopping—which was, of course, one of the top three things Becca wanted to do while she was here, together with tanning, and celeb-spotting. Sun was all psyched to take us to the best boutiques on the Strip. At this point I couldn’t wait either. Once we’d done it, Becca could finally stop talking about it and Sun could stop bugging me to go with her.
“Do you think we’ll see anyone famous?” Becca asked.
I smiled. “Around here, you never know.”
I still hadn’t told Becca about Rouge and the random celebrity sightings, but now that I had picked Sean, I thought I should mention it. Maybe we could go there with him tonight. Becca would love that.
I turned onto my side and propped myself up on one elbow. “Hey, you know what I forgot to tell you? I—”
Suddenly something smacked against my back, and I was completely doused with water. I gasped in a breath and was so shocked that for a good second I didn’t move. Becca screeched and sat up and was instantly hit in the stomach with a water balloon.
“What the—?”
I whipped around and saw Sean standing a few feet away on the sand, wielding two more balloons. He wore a blue T-shirt over his bathing suit and had a plastic garbage bag full of more balloons.
“Sean!”
“Huh. I didn’t think the splash would be that diffuse, considering the force and trajectory,” he said with mock contemplation. “I should recheck my calculations.”
“You are so dead!” I shouted, jumping up.
He reeled back as I grabbed for the bag of water balloons, and he pelted me with another, shattering it against my back. I screamed and laughed. The water actually felt good after I’d roasted in the sun for the past hour.
“Arghh! Stop! You guys!” Becca screamed.
I ignored her. All I saw was revenge. I picked up a balloon and flung it at Sean’s feet. It shattered and splashed up his legs and onto his bathing suit.
“Nice shot!” he said, coming at me with another.
I grabbed two more and ran toward Becca to get away from him.
“No! No! No!” Becca cried, waving her hands. She grabbed her towel and stood up, shielding herself with it.
Sean threw another, and I dodged it. It bounced by me on the sand, so I snagged it, and overhanded it right at him, hitting him in the neck and soaking his whole body.
“Oh, no way!” he said, as water dripped from his nose.
“If you can dish it, you can take it!” I shouted.
The next two minutes were a blur of balloons, screeches and splashes. I was fresh out of ammo, crouching on the ground, when Sean pulled back to fling one last balloon.
“Stop! Stop! STOP!” Becca screeched.
Sean’s face fell, and so did his arm. My heart was pounding in my chest. Seriously, I think the scream could have been categorized as bloodcurdling.
“Becca! What’s wrong?” I asked.
Slowly Becca lowered her towel, peeking out as if afraid of a sneak attack. Hair was matted to her neck and face, having fallen out of her perfect bun, and she had mascara running down her cheeks in scary streaks.
“Whoa,” Sean said.
“Nice. Is that how you always greet your friends?” Becca snapped. She balled up a corner of the towel and used it to wipe under her eyes. All that did was spread the mascara stain.
“Sorry, I—”
“God! Now I’m going to have to fix this,” she said, looking at the black blotch on her pink towel.
“What’s the big deal?” Sean said defensively. “I was just trying to have a little fun.”
Becca’s face went nuclear. If there was one thing she hated even more than looking disheveled, it was being talked down to.
“Well, you have a lame-ass idea of fun!” she retorted.
“Becca, calm down,” I said, my cheeks burning. “We were going to go swimming anyway.”
“I wasn’t,” she said.
I had no response to that. How could you sit out in ninety-five degree sun and not go into the water?
“I’m so sorry, Becca,” I said. Even though I thought she was overreacting a little bit, I hated seeing her so upset.
I glanced at Sean, begging him with my eyes to apologize. I knew that backing down was not his style, but I was hoping he would get the message. Otherwise this weekend could be over before it ever began.
Sean sighed and looked at Becca. “Listen, I’m really sorry, too. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said. “I didn’t realize.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Becca glared at him for a long moment, then turned to look at me. “I’m going back to the dorm. Can I have your key?”
I swallowed uncomfortably. Becca had no idea how tough that was for Sean just to say those words. And now he looked very unhappy. They both did. This was so not the way I wanted this meeting to go. “Becca…”
“Jenna,” she said in her no-nonsense voice, holding out a hand.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine.” When my sister got angry, there was no talking to her until she’d had time to cool off.
It took me a second to find my keys in the bottom of the bag, and the silence among the three of us was so sour, it could have been squeezed to make grapefruit juice.
“Here,” I said, handing them over.
“Thank you,” she told me. Then she turned on her heel and stalked up the beach. I looked over my shoulder at Sean with an apology on my lips.
“Wow. Nice sister,” he said sarcastically.
My whole body slumped. So much for that.
“We’ve only been here an hour, and I’ve already spent half my money,” Becca announced happily as she and Sun emerged from yet another denim-and-halter-top boutique and into the sun. “We need to slow down.”
“Maybe we should stop and get something to eat,” Sean suggested, hands in his pockets.
Becca looked at him as if he was speaking pig Latin. “Do you know nothing? You don’t stop to eat until all your money’s gone.”
“The girl speaks the truth,” Sun piped in, placing her sunglasses over her eyes.
Becca smiled triumphantly and hooked her arm through Sun’s, and together they traipsed toward the next store, which looked a lot like the last one.
I glanced at Sean apologetically. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her,” I told him. “I swear she’s not usually like this.”
“Apparently she really doesn’t like water balloons.” We both laughed halfheartedly, and then Sean sighed. “Maybe I should go.”
“No,” I said, touching his arm. “Please don’t. I was so glad you made the effort to come. I’m sure she’ll defrost soon. She’s just…”
Sean looked at me expectantly, but I had no idea why Becca had suddenly turned megarude.
“Overtired?” I suggested finally.
For a moment Sean just stared at me, but then he shook his head and smiled. “Come on. We’d better catch up before we lose them,” he said, taking my hand—which made me feel a million times better. “But you should know I am only doing this for you. And you are going to owe me.”
“Fair enough,” I said, giddy.
“Forget this place. It’s all guys’ stuff,” Becca was saying as we joined them. She started off, but Sun hesitated.
“Wait. Maybe Sean wants to check it out,” Sun said.
I could have kissed her for including him. Becca had been practically ignoring his existence all afternoon.
“That’s okay,” Sean said.
Becca stepped up next to Sun again and pulled her sunglasses to the tip of her nose, the better to look Sean up and down. “I don’t know. Maybe you should go in there. Your wardrobe could use a makeover.”
My jaw dropped open. I was going to throttle her. Seriously. Who was this bitchy chick, and what had she done with my sister?
“Becca!” I hissed through my teeth.
Sean forced a fake smile. “That’s okay, Becca. I’m not really into superficial appearances,” he said pointedly.
Becca’s face fell briefly, but then she snorted a laugh. “Well, obviously,” she said, gesturing at his outfit.
“Becca! What is wrong with you?”
For a split second there was a smidge of guilt in her eyes, but she blinked it away quickly, and went back to looking all innocent. Clearly this had been the worst idea of my life.
“You know what? I think I’m going to get something to eat now,” Sean said casually. Then, without another word, he turned and headed back toward a small food court we’d passed a few minutes earlier.
I leveled Becca with my best look of death.
“What?” she said, her eyes wide.
“Could you be any ruder?” I asked.
Sun took a step back and slowly moved away, pretending to be enthralled by the window of an electronics store.
“Me? He’s a total buzz-kill,” Becca replied, glancing into the store window to mess with her bangs.
“At least he’s trying!” I said.
“How? By saying I’m superficial?” Becca shot back.
“Well, he’s here, isn’t he? This isn’t exactly what he wanted to do this afternoon, but he came here for me.”
“Yeah, about that. I don’t even know why you invited him,” Becca said. “I thought we were supposed to be having some girl time.”
“I brought him because I wanted you to get to know him,” I said, realizing how ridiculous it sounded now. This trip was accomplishing anything but that.
“I’m sorry, Jenna. I just think you could do so much better,” Becca said coolly.
That stung. “You’ve barely talked to him!”
“I’ve seen enough to know that he’s immature and egotistical.”
Uh, you could have just described the way you’ve been acting, I thought. But I didn’t say it. I didn’t want this argument to get any worse. Becca was only here for a few days, and I did not want to spend time fighting.
“Look, maybe we should split up, and Sun and I will meet you back at the room later,” Becca suggested. “You know, so we can avoid World War Three.”
I blew out a sigh. “Fine,” I said, lifting my palms in surrender. “Whatever.”
She hesitated for a split second, and I got the distinct feeling she’d been expecting me to say something else. I opened my mouth, but it was too late. She was already turning on her heel.
“I’ll see you later,” she said.
Then she looped her arm through Sun’s, dragging her off. Sun glanced at me over one shoulder, confused, and I simply shrugged. As soon as they’d disappeared around a corner, I dropped onto a wooden bench behind me. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Becca wasn’t even going to try to like Sean. I had been worried about my guys falling in love with Becca and ruining the weekend. But I’d gotten the total opposite. Becca and Sean hated each other, and my weekend was still ruined.
Could this suck any more?
Suddenly I was staring at Sean’s feet. I looked up at him, squinting against the sun.
“Hey,” he said.
He was holding a bag from the pretzel place and juggling two sodas and two bottles of water.
“Hey.”
“Where did they go?” He sat down next to me and handed me one of the sodas.
I held it on my lap and sighed. “They decided to go on ahead,” I said. I took a long sip of the cool, sugary soda. “And we’re not going to catch up.”
“We’re not?” he asked, ripping off a piece of pretzel.
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s good, I guess,” he said.
“It is?”
“Well, if we’re being honest here, I’m kind of relieved,” he told me, chewing. “I mean, Becca is…I can’t even believe you guys are related, let alone twins. You’re so much cooler than her.”
I felt a rush of warmth so fast, it almost choked me. Me, cooler than Becca? There’s one I never thought I’d hear.
“Also, that means more pretzels for us,” he said, holding out the bag. I glanced inside and pulled one out. There were two more nestled in the wax paper.
“You got them food?” I asked, touched.
“And water,” he said. “They seem like water girls.”
I laughed. Becca was totally a water girl. No unneeded calories for her.
See? Look how thoughtful he is! I wanted to tell her. This is one of the things I love about him!
Unfortunately she wasn’t there to tell.