“Oh,” I blushed again.
He lowered his head again and went back to work. “Unless, of course, there was something else you had in mind.”
“No, there was nothing else on my mind.” I lied. Of course, there was something else on my mind! How could there not be? His hands were caressing my leg gently, and my foot was resting against his bare chest. What else would I be thinking about?
“Better?” he asked.
“Much. Thank you,” I smiled at him.
“Since I’m down here, do you want me to go ahead and do your toes?” He grinned at me again.
“No, thank you.” I pulled my foot off his chest.
“Your loss! I’m pretty good at it.”
I shook my head at him and he laughed.
“Where’s your friend?” he asked as he closed the bottle of polish.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since I left for my run this morning.” I shrugged and looked past him at the people walking down the street.
“So, why did you come to the beach with her if you two weren’t going to hang out the whole time?”
“I don’t mind spending time alone, and Chrissy likes going out and meeting new people. We’ll catch up with each other for a few hours every day.” I was used to Chrissy’s behavior, so the idea of being left alone as I vacationed with her wasn’t unusual to me. Sometimes we only saw each other for a few minutes each day.
He laughed quietly, “You and Chrissy don’t seem to be all that compatible as friends.”
I shrugged, “Just because we aren’t exactly the same doesn’t mean that we can’t get along. We complement each other, I guess.”
“I suspect that the complement is mostly one-sided.” He shifted against the porch railing.
“What does that mean?” I asked in a defensive tone. “Chrissy and I help each other a lot. I keep her grounded.”
“And she keeps you up in the air?” He grinned.
I looked sternly at him, “If by that you mean she keeps me waiting around for her to dictate what we do, you’re wrong.” I stood up from the swing. “I’m not Chrissy’s servant. I’m her friend. “
I took a step towards the door, but his hand reached out and grabbed my ankle.
“Cami, wait! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were Chrissy’s servant. I was just trying to make conversation.” He gripped my ankle tighter, “Stay, please.”
I sat back down on the swing and he let go of my foot.
“I know that Chrissy and I are very different, but she’s always been a great friend to me, and the least I can do is return the favor.”
He nodded silently in response.
I watched a family walking past the house, struggling to carry all their beach gear and keep their kids in tow.
“Where did you two meet?” Nick finally asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Columbia.”
He raised an eyebrow at me and I laughed.
“The university, not the country,” I clarified.
He smiled, “You both went there?”
“Yep, we met our first year, when we were assigned to the same residence hall.”
“You’ve been friends ever since?”
“Yes.”
“So, was that before or after Chrissy’s mom married Darren’s uncle?” Nick asked.
I wasn’t looking at him, but I could tell that he was watching me.
“They married the year before Chrissy left for Columbia, so it was after.” I wanted to change the subject. He was asking too many questions. I turned and smiled at him, “How do you know Darren?”
“We work together.” He looked down and started to play with his hands.
“How long have you worked with him?”
“A couple of years.”
“Do you always vacation with him?” I asked with a suspicious look.
He laughed, “No, but we both needed to get out of town for a few days and I’d rather go somewhere I can surf than anywhere else.”
Another suspicious look flashed across my face. “Why did you two need to get out of town?”
He shrugged and looked away from me, “Just work stress, that’s all.”
“There you are!” Chrissy’s loud voice boomed from the street down below the house. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
I stood up and leaned over the railing to see her. “I looked for you on the beach, but you were nowhere to be found.”
She grinned at me. “I met some guys and they took me out on their boat. Come down and go to the beach with me! I want to talk to you.”
“I need to change back into my suit. I’ll be down in a minute.” I answered and headed for the door.
Nick pulled himself up, moved to the swing, and called out to me. “Have fun!”
I stopped and turned around, “Did you want to come with us?”
He smiled, “I might come down later. Thanks for letting me have some food.”
“Thank you for painting my wounds.”
He laughed, “Anytime.”
I ran up the stairs and put on my other bathing suit, a new t-shirt, and a pair of shorts. I’d left my flip-flops by the back door, so I slipped them on as I headed out towards the beach. Chrissy was waiting for me by the gate.
“What is on your legs?” she asked when I got closer to her.
“I had chigger bites, so Nick told me to put fingernail polish on them.”
“What are chiggers?” she asked with a disgusted look.
“Nick said they’re little mites that bite you and make you itch.” My ankles had stopped itching until Chrissy started to talk about them. Now I was fighting the urge to scratch again.
Chrissy looked at me for a minute then asked, “Who is Nick?”
“The blonde guy staying at the house with us,” I rolled my eyes as I explained.
“Oh!” she nodded in recognition. She grinned widely at me, “He’s cute, don’t you think?”
I shrugged nonchalantly.
“You don’t think he’s cute?” Chrissy asked in her probing voice.
“He’s attractive,” I shrugged again, in a very noncommittal way.
Chrissy wasn’t buying my nonchalance for one second. She grinned mischievously at me. “You like him, don’t you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I barely know him.” I shook my head and walked past her towards the beach.
Chrissy caught up with me. “Well, if you don’t think he’s cute and you don’t like him, do you mind if I have a go at him?”
I stopped walking and looked sternly at her.
She broke into a smile. “That’s what I thought.”
I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the beach again.
Chrissy laughed and caught up to me. “Don’t worry. I won’t even look at him. He’s all yours.”
“He’s not mine, Chrissy! Besides, we’re only here for a week, why would I want to get involved with someone.” I dismissed her then added before she could say anything, “Plus, he lives in LA and I live in New York.”
“Oh come on, Cami!” Chrissy sighed loudly. “I don’t want you to marry him and have his babies! Just have a little fun with him.”
“I’m not that kind of girl!”
Chrissy shrugged, “Perhaps you should give it a try.”
3.
We sat on the beach for almost an hour before anyone interrupted us. We were watching a group of teenagers playing volleyball on the beach when a male voice called out to us.
“You do know you could go to jail for even looking at those boys, right?”
Chrissy and I both turned around to see Darren and Nick standing behind us. Both men were shirtless and wearing their swimming trunks. Both were also carrying surfboards.
Chrissy was the first to respond. “They want us to look. That’s why they’re out here for us to see them.”
Darren’s eyes sparkled as he quipped back at her, “Don’t worry. We’d only let you spend one night in jail before we bailed you out.”
“Only one night? You are so kind.” I said sarcastically and smiled at Darren.
He, in turn, flashed a sarcastic smile at me.
Chrissy jabbed me in the side and gave me a warning look. Clearly, she wanted me to be nice to Darren. However, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.
“So, Darren,” I turned back to him and forced out a genuine smile. “Are you a surfer too?” I nodded towards the surfboard he was leaning against as we talked.
He laughed and shook his head. “This?” he pointed at the surfboard. “No, I don’t surf. I would have picked the habit up years ago, though, if I had realized how much of a chick magnet these things were. We practically had to fight the women off during the walk over here.”
I smiled as I caught Nick rolling his eyes.
“I’m sure that those looks had absolutely nothing to do with the designer flip-flops, swim trunks, and sunglasses you’re wearing.” Chrissy said as she surveyed his look from head to toe.
Darren smiled and said to Chrissy, “I doubt that the women on this beach would know a designer outfit if it fell out of the sky into their laps with the tags still on it.”
Chrissy giggled and flashed him her most flirtatious smile.
Hoping to prevent any more flirting, I turned to Darren and asked, “If you don’t surf, what’s with the board? Don’t tell me you carried it all the way down to the beach just as a prop to pick up chicks?”
Darren took his eyes off Chrissy and smiled at me. “Nick said you asked him to teach you how to surf. Being the great friend that I am, I offered to carry this board down here for him so that he wouldn’t have to carry both of them.”
My eyes shifted to Nick, “I never said I wanted you to teach me how to surf.”
He grinned at me, “You never said you didn’t, either.”
I looked at him seriously. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea. Besides, Chrissy and I are hanging out now and I don’t want to leave her alone on the beach.”
“Don’t worry about Chrissy. I’ll stay here and keep her company.” Darren grinned at me as he gave Chrissy a flirtatious wink.
“I think you should give it a try, Cami. You might like it.” Chrissy smiled sweetly at me, but I could see the mischief in her eyes.
It was useless to try to argue with them. Clearly, I was outnumbered.
“Grab the board and I’ll teach you some of the basics before we get in the water.” Nick smiled triumphantly at me before walking off towards the water.