I fish through my bag for my camera. I focus the lens on him. He doesn’t look concerned. He looks almost peaceful out there. I randomly snap pictures to hide that all I’m really doing is studying him through the viewfinder.
I can feel someone watching me.
I peek out of the corner of my eye.
I lean into Zoe. “Who is that giving me the girl stare?” I motion with my chin.
Zoe turns her head in the direction and then swivels back toward me. “Oh, that’s Caroline,” she whispers. “An all-out bitch. Goes to Pepperdine. She used to have a thing with Bobby last summer.”
I turn and meet Caroline’s gaze directly since she rudely hasn’t bothered to try to look like she isn’t checking me out. Blond. Beautiful. Petite and built. Your basic worst nightmare any day of the week.
“Do they still hook up?” I ask.
Zoe shakes her head vigorously. “It’s been over forever. She was never his girlfriend, but you’ll never convince Caroline of that. They’re still friends, though. I wish they weren’t and she’d just go away.”
I pucker my lips to keep from laughing.
“Oh fuck.” Seth springs to his feet. “Look what the hell is coming in from the south.” He makes a megaphone of his hands. “Rowan, you fucking lucky asshole,” he shouts even though it’s impossible for Bobby to hear him.
Everyone stands and clusters together, waiting and watching.
Seth stares down at me. “You’re going to want to film this.”
I rise to my feet and quickly switch from photo to video, then focus the camera just in time to start filming Bobby paddling hard chasing a wave. Holy shit, the wave is enormous, and as if by magic it opens up for him in a way you rarely see in California, and he’s shooting through the barrel.
“Are you getting this?” Seth asks.
“Yep,” I answer.
Bobby rides it into the shore, and everyone goes down to the water to meet him—even Caroline—so I hang back. They all start patting him, chatting, laughing it up. Caroline is pressed up against him like they’re still a couple when they are not. And damn, if they don’t look like they belong together.
My insides start to churn. I drop down onto the towel and replay the video, focusing on the screen as I try not focus on them. They don’t seem over to me. Not in her mind, anyway. I wonder if they still hook up and Zoe just doesn’t know it.
Shaking my head, I shift my gaze back to the camera. I caught the entire ride. Zoe is right—Bobby is incredible. I put the lens cap back on the camera, debate whether to upload it on one of my websites since it’s a pretty terrific video, and then shove it into my bag.
I hear Bobby’s mob moving back toward our space in the sand and I wonder what he’s going to think seeing me tagging along with Zoe here. I’ve not forgotten that he invited her and not me to join him on this senior surf ditch day.
I fight not to look up at him and instead make a pretense of rummaging through my bag as if I’m searching for something.
“Do you mind getting off my towel?”
Oh crap.
No wonder Caroline was staring at me funny. Zoe parked me in Bobby’s spot.
I look up. “Sure. No problem.” I roll onto my hip so he can tug it from beneath me, and a smile rises to his eyes as he shakes his head.
“Never mind,” he says, dropping down on the sand beside me. He holds out a hand to Seth, who tosses him a beer. “I’m glad you showed up. I was starting to think this wouldn’t be your kind of scene.”
It’s obvious what he’s thinking: that I’m here because of him.
I flush. “This isn’t my kind of thing. Just seemed like something to do.”
He pops open the top on the can. “So what is your kind of thing?”
“Going around town looking for something interesting to film. I’m working on documentaries to submit with my USC application. I got some great footage of you. That might make an interesting short film if you’d be willing to do an on-camera interview. Do you want to see it?”
He shrugs. “Maybe later on the video and never on the interview.” He starts poking through my things without asking. “So that’s what you lug around with you all the time. I’ve been wondering what kind of crap you have in your bag. Girls carry so much shit. But yours is full of cameras.”
“Pretty much.”
He reclines back into the sand, turned on his hip. “How long have you been into filmmaking?”
I take my lower lip between my teeth. I can’t tell if he thinks that’s normal or weird. I shrug. “I don’t know. As long as I can remember.”
“Interesting.”
I tense. “What does that mean? Interesting.”
He runs a hand through his damp hair and gives it a fluff with his fingers. “I wasn’t sure what was going on with you. Always in the halls alone, but the film thing tells me you’ve always been a loner. That it’s not something new because you’ve changed schools. Why don’t you want people to get close to you?”
My scalp prickles as my cheeks grow warm.
I meet his intense green eyes directly.
“Maybe because I’ve never met anyone worth getting close to.”
His brows hitch up. “Maybe you would if you gave people half a chance.”
“That from the guy who doesn’t like anyone.” I lift my nose. “Maybe I would. But I don’t think so.”
I can feel him studying me and I don’t like it.
“Hey, Bobby, can we go?”
We turn our faces in unison. Caroline is standing, shorts and tank top in place over her bikini, Gucci carry bag hanging from her shoulder.
Bobby springs to his feet. My throat convulses as I watch him walk off across the sand with her toward the parking lot. Once they’re out of view, I stand up and start to brush the sand from my legs.
I look at Zoe. “I need to go.”
Zoe’s face snaps up, startled. “So soon? It’s early.”
“I’ve got stuff I’ve got to do.”
“Like what?”
Like not sitting here butt hurt because Bobby left with Caroline.
My cheeks burn.
Fuck, where did that thought come from?
Stupid, Kaley. You just met the guy.
“Sorry, Zoe. I’ve got to go.”
Zoe’s brows pucker. “Do you mind if I stay and catch a ride home with someone else?”
My gaze shifts to Seth and for a moment I debate leaving. Zoe definitely needs a wingman in the pursuing-a-guy thing. She is so forward and eager with guys she’s going to get hurt.
“Why don’t you come with me, Zoe? We can hang out at my house for a while.”
“Everyone is going to Seth’s. I’d rather do that.”
I bet you would, but you shouldn’t.
There is something about that guy I don’t like.
Maybe I shouldn’t take off. It looks like everyone is paired up. Does that leave Zoe with Seth? I definitely don’t like that.
“Are you sure?” I ask, hoping to change her mind.
Zoe nods enthusiastically. “I’m sure.”
“OK. But text me later.”
I cut across the sand back to my car. Bobby has Caroline. Zoe has Seth. They all have someone, except me.
It’s never bothered me before.
I’m always the odd girl out.
Why is it bothering me today?
CHAPTER 6
I pull into my driveway two hours later. I check the dash. Crap. 7:30 p.m. I’ve missed dinner and broken two of Chrissie’s house rules in a single day.
Not showing up for dinner.
Taking off after school without going home first.
Not good.
I enter the house. It’s quiet. Maybe I’ve caught a break. Maybe Mom’s gone out with the herd. They are probably at Grandma Harris’s. It’s definitely too quiet in here for the twins and Krystal to be home.
I go into the kitchen and find our housekeeper washing dishes.