Starless Nights (Hale Brothers Series Book 2) (26 page)

“Alright beautiful, are you ready to eat some meatballs and a cannoli?”

“Absolutely.”

His hand finds mine and together we walk under the lit up San Genarro arched entrance.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.” He squeezes my hand.

“I’ve never been on a date before.”

He stops in the street and looks down at me with a frown on his face.

“I’m sorry,” he says barely louder than a whisper.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because at this moment, I’m wishing that I had taken you on a hundred dates.”

His words are so genuine, I don’t know what to say to him. He pulls me into him, tucks his face into my neck, and hugs me. Being flush up against him and in his arms I wonder, what do I need to do, and how many stars do I need to make wishes on to make this last forever?

“For the record, I never have either.”

“DO YOU WANT to come up?”

I’m pretty certain that I’ve just had one of the best nights of my life. It isn’t lost on me either that it’s with Leila. All of my best nights have been with her. Looking down at her, with her strawberry blonde hair blowing all around and her bright blue eyes, I’m spellbound. I would love to follow her into her apartment. However, knowing all of the things that I want to do to her, it’s best if I don’t.

“Yes . . . but I’m not going to.”

“Oh.” She drops her gaze from mine to her hands. She looks embarrassed.

“Hey, listen, don’t do that,” I say and lightly press my thumb up against her chin so she’ll look back at me. “I really do want to come up, but if you and I are going to try and do this, then it’s not time . . . not yet at least.” I give her a one-sided grin.

As much as I would like to see where tonight could go, we do have some things we need to talk about. We’ve been completely avoiding the elephant in the room.

“I had a really great time.” She reaches out and rubs her hand down my arm.

“I did too.”

“Will you call me?” She looks so hopeful my chest aches. She wants me to call her. She wants me.

“Yes.”

A smile splits across her face and her eyes light up.

“Okay, well good night then.” She rises up on her tiptoes and leans forward. Her lips lightly brush mine. This kiss is sweet, just like her. Oh, what this girl does to me.

“Goodnight, Leila.” Stuffing my hands into my pockets, she slowly backs away from me.

Watching Leila walk away and into her building, I hate the feeling that I get in the pit of my stomach. As much as I’m trying to let go of the past, part of me wonders if I’ll ever get over how she left me.

Right before the door closes, she turns back around and gives me one more small wave good night. I wink at her and my chest aches again.

Walking away from her building, and off toward mine, I’m stuck on the possibility that I could be upstairs with her right this second. I know it’s not the right time, but her skin, her curves, the way she feels, the sounds she makes . . . all of it takes me back to the last night I spent with her before she moved up here with Drew and Ali.

In typical Grant fashion, he hosts a party to say farewell to Drew, Ali, and Leila. Drew and Ali have already lined up an apartment and Leila plans on staying with them until the dorms open up at her new school. They decided that they didn’t need both cars, so the three of them are driving up in Ali’s and Drew is leaving the Jeep behind. Drew hired movers to transfer their things and the apartment should be set up by the time they get there.

Walking into the party, I scan the crowd, and take a deep breath. I really didn’t want to come tonight but I’m trying to set aside my feelings for them. Everyone is so excited about their move to New York City, and yes, I am too, but the feeling of loss that I have outweighs any joy. Scanning the crowd, I can’t help but frown as I think how different things are going to be. There are a lot of seniors here who are all going to be gone over the next couple of weeks.

“Beau! Come over here!” I hear Ali yell over the music. I find her and Drew in our usual place around the stone fire pit. Sitting next to Ali is Leila, my heart speeds up just looking at her.

I bump arms with Drew and take a seat.

Looking at Ali, she smiles at me. She knows what’s coming. “Tiny, did you know that when someone is 86'd—escorted out and told to not come back—that phrase actually came from ‘back in the day’ in Vegas, when the mob ran the town. It meant to take that person eight miles out and six feet down.”

“Did you know that stars don’t actually twinkle? The light from the star passes through the atmosphere and the light gets deflected before it reaches your eyes, making you think it’s twinkling.”

“Oh, Tiny, you’ll never beat me at the star facts.” I smirk at her. “Did you know, there is no such thing as a shooting star? What happens is a meteor, which is nothing but rock and debris left over from an asteroid, hits that same atmosphere and burns up. The effect looks like a shooting star. So all those years when we were kids making wishes, really was kind of pointless.”

Yeah, after I say this, hearing the tone in my own voice, I realize how much of a piss mood I’m in. Maybe I shouldn’t have come. I look over at Leila and see that my words have hurt her feelings. Whatever, she’s hurt mine plenty enough.

The crowd that’s around us has quieted. Ali looks at me with her big brown eyes. They’re sad. She shouldn’t be sad for me. It is what it is.

“Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don’t drift apart,” she says very innocently, in her sweet little voice. The tension breaks, a few ‘ah’s” are said, and everyone around us goes back to their previous conversations.

“What took you so long to get here?” Drew asks.

I relax back into the chair. “I don’t know. Originally, I wasn’t planning on coming.” I look at him and he knows. Nothing needs to be said between us. He gets me and the fact that this final party is hard.

“Well, I’m glad you came.” Ali leans over and squeezes my arm.

I give her a small smile and not once do I look over at Leila.

Most of the party is pretty typical, just like all of the others. Grant’s attempt for the drink of the evening is a Manhattan. He bought cheap bourbon and mixed it with sweet vermouth and bitters. I imagine that done properly it’s not too bad, but he made a cooler size vat of it and it just tastes awful. Eventually, cherry grenadine is mixed in, and slowly people began drinking it.

Leila keeps to herself most of the evening. She speaks when spoken to, but in general she is pretty quiet, more so than her usual self. I’m trying not to notice her or what she’s doing, but I can’t help it. She has on a little blue sundress that fits her perfectly. That dress and her long legs have me thinking all kinds of thoughts.

After prom, I thought that things might change between us, but once again, they didn’t. I don’t know why I am so hopeful for this change, I should know better by now. That’s twice in the last six weeks she has left me the next morning like nothing ever happened. Even from day to day, she still treats me as if I’m just another random guy to her, and not someone who supposedly used to mean so much to her. I don’t get it, I really don’t.

Walking down the dock, I board mine and Drew’s boat. All of the laughter from the party is starting to get to me, and I really just need to step away for a few minutes. Thinking about tomorrow, I don’t feel like there’s anything left to laugh about.

“Hey, what are you doing all the way down here?” I open my eyes and see Leila standing on the dock. It doesn’t matter how many times I look at her, each time she makes my heart skip a beat. The sadness that I am already feeling intensifies.

I look up at the sky and spot the Summer Triangle. I’d rather look at the stars than her. It hurts to look at her. “Nothing much, just decided to step away for a bit.”

“Care if I join you?” To date, Ali is the only girl that has ever been on this boat.

I look back over at her and hesitate. “Sure.”

“Actually . . . let’s get out of here and go down to the beach. Will you go for a walk with me?” I eye her warily. She’s hardly spoken to me in weeks, and not at all tonight.

“Why?” I have to ask her. Her cheeks flush pink and she looks away from me.

“For some reason, it just seems important since I am leaving…I don’t know. I feel like one of my last memories of this place should be with you.”

I can’t argue with this and honestly, I want her last memories to be of me too.

“Okay.” I still can’t say no to her.

Silently and together, we walk back up the dock. Ali sees us and watches us walk over to the side entrance. She doesn’t make a single facial expression, so I have no idea what she is thinking. Not that it matters anyway.

When we reach the Tahoe, I open the door for her and she climbs in.

Neither one of us has yet to say anything as I drive us toward the tip of the island. She said beach but I know that she means Bean Point. I’m not sure what she is thinking about, but what my mind is stuck on is that I don’t know when I will see her again. She’s leaving . . . again. And although I will never tell her, this time hurts too.

I park the car. We both climb out and I grab a blanket from the back. Leila has already walked over to the entrance and she is just standing there staring down the trail into the darkness. There is a breeze blowing. Her hair ruffles across her back and the skirt of her dress lifts just a little showing me more of her gorgeous legs.

I take a mental picture as I walk to stand next to her. After a long silence, she finally looks up at me, and there are tears in her eyes.

“Beau…”

“Don’t Leila. What’s the point?”

Her face falls and she lets out a sigh. I understand how she feels, I really do, but like she said, this is going to be her last memory on the island and I don’t want it to be a bad one.

I take her hand, lace my fingers through hers and together, we walk under the canopy of the island trees, across the dunes, and down to the water.

It’s June, meaning it’s sea turtle nesting season, so all of the lights on the island are out. I look up at the night sky and smile at how bright the moon and the stars are. Of course the stars are out.

“Do you remember all the times we used to come down here to stargaze?”

“Mmm hmm.” She already knows from the last time we were here that I still come down here, but there is no way that I’m going to tell her that I’ve still been coming down here, at least once a week, for the last four and half years. I’ve always hated myself for it, but I just couldn’t stay away.

“Did you mean what you said about the shooting stars?”

“I don’t know anymore.” That’s the best and most honest answer I can give her.

Slowly, we walk around the tip of the island and back. We’re both quiet as we watch the tide roll the water in and out of the shore. I’m still holding her hand and occasionally she leans into my arm.

When we get back to the trail, she pulls on my hand causing me to stop.

“I don’t want to go back yet. Can we just sit down over there like we used to?”

“That’s why I brought the blanket. I just wasn’t sure how long you wanted to be out here.”