Page 37 of One Last Summer
“Oh my god, so I could have just asked you,” I groaned, dragging a hand across my face.
“Yeah, but, you didn’t.” Sam bit her bottom lip, her expression downright gleeful. “Probably because you knew, deep down, that you wanted Mack… to give it to you.”
“Nope,” I said with a firm shake of my head. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You are setting me up to say, ‘That’s what she said,’ and I will not take that bait. Even I’m not that corny.”
“Yeah, you totally are,” she said.
“Fuck I am, aren’t I?” I said, laughing into my mug.
“You haven’t changed, Clara.” From the smile on her face I could tell she thought that was a good thing.
I leaned back in my chair, relishing a long sip of coffee. If last night with Mack had been a storm, this morning with Sam was a clear sky, bright and beautiful.
“Anyway,” I said, “we both agreed it was something we shouldn’t do. So we stopped. And we’re not going to do it again. The end.”
Sam let out a frustrated groan. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What!” I protested, giving her an innocent face. “We’re old friends. We mostly just drive each other nuts. I told him it was a bad idea, and he agreed.”
“Okay, first of all, romantic flings are always a good idea,” she said, waving me off when I opened my mouth to disagree. “But, seriously, Clara, you and Mack kinda make sense. This could be, like, a thing.”
“On what planet?” I snarked back, even though it had crossed my mind that there was something about being with him yesterday that just clicked. Although it was probably just my very neglected libido making her opinion known.
“This one,” she said, tapping her index finger on the table, like a high school kid on a debate team. “You’re both intense and passionate. You have the same sense of humor. You both love to make dumb jokes.”
“Excuse me.” I clutched a hand to my chest, pretending to be hurt. “My jokes are amazing.”
“You’re both single,” she said.
“We’re also on totally different life plans, about to live on different coasts, and drive each other crazy,” I countered diplomatically. “Even if Mack wasn’t a total chaos agent placed on the planet to annoy me, I’m in no place to pursue anything with anyone right now.”
Last night I’d let that untamable, animal side of me take the lead. But now, in the light of day, reality reigned. Land Alewife, run the account, and prove to Amaya that she had no choice but to promote me. That was the path I needed to be on.
“And,” I added, “I’m not sure you can solve burnout with boning.”
Sam snorted a laugh, and then grew serious. “So what is the plan then? Because I know you have one.”
“I think,” I said, “I just need to remember what it feels like to have fun again.”
A shitload of fun, if I was going to be specific.
“Sex,” she deadpanned, before winking at me as she shimmied excitedly in her seat.
“No.” I gave her a stern look. “Just camp stuff.”
“Boo,” she jeered, waving her downturned thumb at me.
“Sam!” I laughed. “I swear. It was just something we both needed to get out of our systems.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, unconvinced.
“You know no one who says that bullshit line about getting things out of their system really means it, right? Because I can guarantee you both have a lot more things in your systems that you’re going to want to get out with each other.”
“Oh my god, you’re relentless!” I said. “I promise, I’m already over it.”
“Sure,” she said in a tone that told me she wasn’t buying a word of what I was saying. “And I’m not a hundred weeks pregnant.”
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