Page 17 of The Ex-Best Thing
“Of course.”
He peers at me. “You should have brought at least one with you here, Bree.”
“Is that why you brought me to lunch? You’re afraid I’ll be taken if I come out alone, and someone will keep me in their basement and sell my hair on eBay?”
He gives me a funny expression, then kicks the incoming surf. “No, eBay would never allow that anyway.”
“I bet there’s a workaround.”
“We’re not going to unpack that right now. I think it’s unwise to be here alone. Is anyone coming to join you?”
“No.” I look out over the ocean, water stretching out until it meets the blue sky. Yellow sunlight reflects on the water’s edge and glares in my eyes.
“Do they know where you are?” he hedges, like he suspects the answer already.
I take a few steps closer to the water and let an icy wave run over my feet. Holy cold, Batman. A shiver wracks my shoulders.
“Bree?”
My patience is ebbing. Possibly because I know he’s right. The guilty taketh the truth, and all that. “No, they don’t. I’ve run away.” I’m running away now from his question, stepping further away like it’ll keep me from needing to remain in this conversation. “I told you that the first night I got here, remember?”
“Yeah, but I figured your mom, at least?—”
“Nope, not her. Not anyone.” I close my eyes and step closer to the water again, letting it run over my ankles this time. My feet sink into the wet sand when the wave recedes. It would be easy to say the words now, to purge myself and admit how badly I messed up. How everything is going to change in two days when the song releases. But I’m scared it’ll push him away.
I enjoy having Benny here, talking to him so easily, the way he looks at me. Once he knows about my stupid diss track, any remaining respect he has for me will be gone, down the drain forever.
Like it will be for the rest of the world.
I can see the light leaving his beautiful blue eyes already.
Maybe I didn’t escape far enough. I should have gone to Australia or Singapore or somewhere else far away where no one would ever find me. With each wave, my feet sink another inch and I imagine myself fully fading away.
Benny takes my hand and gives it a gentle tug. I tip my headback and look into his questioning eyes. “My cousin owns the house you’re renting. He told me you have it for a month.”
“That’s the plan.”
“It’s a long time to hide, Bree.”
“Probably not long enough.”
He doesn’t ask what I’m hiding from, but I can see he wants to know. There’s a little line between his brows, and the sun is shining on his Wayfarers enough to show how solidly his eyes are set on me.
Also, he hasn’t let go of my hand. I’m standing here as the water recedes over my feet, holding his hand in the warm sunlight and wondering what alternate universe threw me into the past like this.
As much as I’m enjoying this moment, it can’t last. This isn’t a sustainable thing. The moment he sees what a revengeful, vindictive person I’ve turned into, he’ll be disgusted with me.
I’mdisgusted with me.
Right now, though, he looks interested. I know this face. It kissed me a lot when we were teenagers. His eyes drop to my mouth as if he’s thinking the same thing. How would it feel to kiss him all these years later? The moment is right, the setting is romantic, the waves are crashing, and?—
Cold water slams into our legs as a huge wave rushes the beach. I tear my hand free from his and squeal, twisting away to run from the ice bath they call the Pacific Ocean.
Whyis it freezing? It’ssummer.
The wet sand grabs at my feet, but laughter bubbles out of me. Before I know it, I’m ripped from the water and my feet are tossed in the air. I throw my arms around Benny’s neck. He high-steps it out of the surf, a smile over his mouth while water splashes beneath me.
“I was walking just fine,” I argue.
