“Is there anything I can do?”
“No,” he said. “I mean, I like seeing you. I really do. It’s been a long time since I met anyone even remotely normal. So if you want to visit and talk and stuff, that’s cool, but you really can’t get involved. If the muscle thugs found out, you could get into real trouble.”
“They can’t do anything to me,” Lindsay said.
“They can,” Mark said sadly. “They can, and they will if they find out. You don’t know them. They’re capable of things you can’t even imagine.”
“Well maybe…,” Lindsay began.
“Oh, crap! I’m so sorry!”
The voice startled them both. Mark leaped back toward his bed, and Lindsay spun in the desk chair, her heart racing in her throat.
Ev stood at the window, her hands over her mouth like she’d just witnessed something shocking. Again she wore a bikini top, this time white to show off her tan, and her hair was smooth and sleek like sheets of snowy satin.
“I swear I wasn’t spying,” Ev said quickly. “I just came by to walk you down to the beach, and no one was home at your place.”
“It’s cool,” Lindsay said, though it wasn’t.
“Hey,” Mark said, not stepping closer to the window.
Lindsay checked his expression to see if he was all about Ev’s look. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she knew well enough what her own thoughts were. She didn’t want the model-actress here, competing with her for Mark.
I wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Well, I’m so sorry,” Ev said, exaggerating every syllable.
Turn off the drama, Lindsay thought. Jeez, it’s not like we were naked or something.
“No problem,” Mark said. “I was just telling Lindsay I had to get some things done.” He looked quickly toward the door. “I really can’t hang. Doug and Jack will be back soon.”
Mark was being subtle, but Lindsay totally knew what he was saying. He wanted her to get Ev away from the house before his guardians returned. It would be hard enough for Lindsay to slip out without being noticed; trying to drag Ev away without making a scene would be far harder. She nodded slightly, telling him she understood.
“Well, my tan isn’t getting any darker in here,” she said, quickly rising from the chair. Lindsay walked across the room to Mark and put her arms around him. She hugged him tightly. “See ya.”
“Please don’t bring Barbie back,” Mark whispered in her ear.
Lindsay giggled and held him tighter, feeling his muscles through the loose black T-shirt. His arms wrapped around her in a secure embrace, and she didn’t want to leave. But then he let her go.
“Later?” he asked, smiling at her.
“Later,” she agreed. Definitely.
“So how hot is he!” Ev gushed as they walked over the sand.
“I know.”
Already the beach was swarming with people. Men and women lay out on towels. Children chased the surf. Music from radios and CD players competed with the ocean’s song.
It was a beautiful day. But Lindsay found herself wishing she were still in Mark’s simple room.
“No wonder you were shooing Doyle away like a stray mutt, which he is by the way. He’s fun, but he’s a total hound, and in no way is he Mr. Yummy Butt. My god. Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Lindsay said, blushing. “We just met.”
“Well, you better snare that boy, Supergirl,” Ev said excitedly. “Oh. Oh. Oh. You have got to bring him to the bon’.”
“He’s grounded.” Lindsay’s foot came down wrong on the sand, and she stumbled. The weight of her tote bag nearly pulled her to the beach. “Damn. Anyway, he’s locked up for a few days. Total ass parents.”
Even if he weren’t grounded, Lindsay didn’t like the idea of taking Mark to the bonfire. She wasn’t ready to share him with anyone yet, especially Ev and her entourage.
And there they were. Twenty yards down the beach, three blondes—Mel and Tee and Char. They sat up simultaneously and waved. Lindsay could already hear them shouting to get Ev’s attention.
“Gang’s all here,” Ev said, giggling and waving back.
Lindsay lay on her back, staring up at the silver-blue sky, her skin pleasantly warmed by the sun. Ev and the other girls chatted around her, and Kate cried in her ear. She’d been crying for the last thirty minutes. Lindsay adjusted the PDA against her cheek and listened while her friend vented.
“…it was so gross. I mean, Nick is always so cool, and there he was spewing chunks in the sink, and Funkster was lost. I didn’t know what to do. And that’s after I caught Constance with Chad, so I already felt like crap and just wanted everyone to go home anyway. I about died when the police showed up, but Trey was there and he totally talked them down, but by then everything was so screwed up…”
Lindsay reached for her bottle of water and squirted some over her tongue. “So what’s the actual damage? I know about the lamp. What else? Stains on the carpet? Cigarettes on the patio, the rug?”
“No, nothing like that, thank heavens.”
“Okay, so you have to explain the lamp, and you need a backup story in case the Jacksons decide to tell your parents about the cops.”
“My parents totally hate the Jacksons. They wouldn’t talk to them.”
“What about party supplies? Have you gotten rid of everything?”
“Trey’s coming over later to help me with that junk. I would have died without him.”
“So, did you piss anyone besides Constance off?” Lindsay asked.
“No,” Kate said. “I don’t think so. Trey really handled a lot of that stuff. He was just great. By the time everyone was spewing in the sink, I was locked in my room, crying.”
“Well, Trey said it was a great party. He told me everyone was raving about it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You just couldn’t enjoy it, because you were in the middle of it seeing all of the problems. Go to the school blog and see what people are saying.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Just do it,” Lindsay said. “They’re probably already voting you homecoming queen. I’ve got to go.”
“Oh,” Kate muttered. “Okay. I’ll go check the blog. Thanks, Linds.”
“No prob. Call me later.”
“I will.”
Lindsay disconnected and sat up. The towel beneath her squished into the sand. She took off her sunglasses and surveyed the beach. It was near noon, and the shore was covered in sunbathers.
“Trauma at home?” Ev asked.
Lindsay looked at the girl, saw her staring out over the ocean as if she’d already heard the answer to her question and it bored her. “It’s nothing,” Lindsay said.
“I bet,” Char said, falling back on her towel.
“Ignore her,” Mel whispered in Lindsay’s ear.
“Yeah,” Tee agreed. “She’s just jealous because Ev likes you. She’s like threatened. She thinks now that Ev is famous, she’s going to bail or something. But even when she’s in New York, she’s still with us, you know? She’s a total friend, like you are with Kate.”
“I know,” Lindsay said, noticing the certainty in the girl’s green eyes. She looked back in Ev’s direction. The young model still watched the waves, seemingly indifferent to all around her.
When she looked back at Tee and Mel, she couldn’t help but see them as victims, up to their neck in a quicksand pit, waiting and waiting for someone to pull them free.