“Oh. Uh, right. Well…”
June gave me another look, and I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what it meant.
“Well,” I tried again, “we’re happy to have you here.”
There was a knock at the door, and a familiar voice yelled, “Hey, anybody home? Sorry we’re late!”
Grateful for the distraction, I excused myself, running out to greet Cam.
“Sorry,” he sighed. “I had some car trouble.” He grinned at me, giving me a quick hug before stepping aside to reveal Levi, laden down with Tupperware.
“What he means,” Levi said, “is he got lost.”
Cam rolled his eyes. “Dude. Come on.”
Levi laughed, then held the Tupperware up. “I come bearing baked goods. Brownies and snickerdoodles and cake pops.”
“We,” Cam corrected him. “We come bearing baked goods. I helped.”
“You put the cake pops in a container.”
“That counts as helping in my book,” I decided, and told Cam gravely, “Thank you for the cake pops, Cameron. We’re very grateful for them. So, uh, everyone’s down on the beach. Food’s not gonna be long. Tell everyone I’ll come grab them when it’s ready?”
“Gotcha.” Cam bounded off, calling, “Hey, Mrs. Flynn!” as he went.
I closed the door behind Levi, then led him to the kitchen, aware he hadn’t been here before like Cam had. I announced him and all his baked goods, and snuck a cake pop before June could tell me not to.
“I thought you were coming up to check on the food.”
I turned around to spy Noah hanging in the doorway from outside. But he wasn’t looking at me.
“I am. I sent Cam ahead. I’ll come grab everyone when it’s ready. Hey, you want a cake pop?”
Noah was staring past me at Levi, and no sprinkle-covered cake pop could distract him right now. I found myself holding my breath.
“Levi,” he said.
“Hey, man.”
Noah nodded. Levi was nodding beside me. Noah cleared his throat and left again, stopping to help out at the barbecue, where our dads were currently debating over something to do with the ribs. (But seriously—it was grilling some meat. Could it really be that much of an art form?)
Levi let out a long breath and bent to whisper in my ear, “Think he’s still mad at me?”
“I think you’re off the hook,” I told him. I shoved the cake pop I’d just offered Noah into my mouth before grabbing Levi’s hand to tell him, “Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
There was a time when Lee and I were attached at the hip pretty permanently. But right now I was nibbling at my second hot dog, hanging out near the guys as they joked around and talked about plans for next year at college, and Lee hadn’t stopped talking to Ashton for maybe an hour now.
They were practically attached at the hip.
Dixon said, “Right, Elle?”
I had no idea what he’d just said.
“Right,” I said.
What was Ashton saying that had Lee’s face all lit up like, well, like the Fourth of July? What the hell could they even be talking about? What was so funny that Ashton was almost doubled over, half choking on his burger?
I chomped on my hot dog angrily, trying not to glare in their direction.
Wasn’t it good that Lee had such a good friend for when he went to Berkeley?
Wasn’t it good that he was replacing me so easily?
I shook myself. I knew I was being ridiculous and it wasn’t like Lee was actually replacing me, but this was weird. Seeing him hang out with someone else like he did with me.
I kept watching, mumbling, “Oh sure,” and “That sounds great,” whenever the guys reeled me back into their conversation. Lee and Ashton gestured wildly as they talked about something; then Lee took out his phone and the two of them pored over it for a while.
“Hey.”
I jumped at the hand on my arm, smiling when I saw it was Noah.
“You’re gonna burn a hole in that poor guy’s head if you keep staring like that.” Noah nodded in Ashton and Lee’s direction with a gentle, somewhat amused smile. “Jealous is a cute look on you. When it’s not directed at me, obviously.”
“Mmm-hmm,” I mumbled, blinking a few times and dragging my eyes away from them. “Ugh, am I that obvious?”
“Hideously obvious,” Cam said suddenly just behind me. “Warren told you that you had mustard in your hair and you said, ‘Sounds good.’ ”
I ducked my head, trying not to be as obvious about looking for the mustard apparently in my hair. Noah’s hand was still on my arm and he tugged me aside.
“I promised Lee I’d help set up the volleyball net, but I just wanted to check you’re okay. Are you?”
“Just dandy.”
“And not at all jealous that Lee’s made a new friend?”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “I’m fine. Just…It’s weird. It’ll take some getting used to, that’s all. Ashton seems great. He does,” I enthused, not sure whether I was trying to convince Noah or myself. “I’m glad they’re getting on so well.”
“Let’s hope they’re not too much of a team, huh?”
“What?”
“They put together the volleyball teams,” Noah said, folding his arms and jerking his head in their direction. “They’re on the same team, so let’s hope they’re not too great together.”
“They…” I swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat. “Ashton and Lee made the teams up?”
“Yeah. And”—he dropped his arms and laced one of his hands through mine, smirking—“I happen to know that you’re on my team. So don’t worry, we’ll win. Show them who’s boss.”
My mouth was still dry, the lump still in my throat. Lee and I were supposed to put the volleyball teams together. And we were supposed to be on the same team. I was awful at the game (at most sports, generally), but Lee and I were always on the same team for things. We’d obviously planned to put together the best team for ourselves, just so Noah would be on the losing team. We’d discussed all of this.
So why had the plan changed?
Noah didn’t seem to notice how bothered I was over the volleyball thing and excused himself to go set up the net—at which point I noticed Lee and Ashton had gone, too.