Page 40 of Old Acquaintances

I take the second tray of appetizers and follow her out to the pool. Floats have been blown up and the sun is dipping toward the horizon. The guys and Callie lounge in the pool, holding cans of beer and seltzer, while Tucker stands in the little hut behind the bar top. He holds down the top of a blender.

Serena sets our trays on the table. “So…did you and Tuck talk?”

“Why is everything about him?” I fuss.

Her crystal bracelets jingle. “Because you two being together again is the most exciting thing to have happened in years. I couldn’t even focus on theCatfishepisode I was watching this morning, I was so amped up.”

“I don’t even get a - hey Ell, good to see you, how was your Nutcracker season? Who are you sleeping with these days?”

She takes a bite of a chip. “Hey Ell. How was Nutcracker? How’s your love life? Did you and Tucker talk?”

“Good, dryer than the Sahara, andI hate him.” I glance at Tucker. “What exactly was your plan? Where did you guys think this would lead? Because I’ll tell you what, at this rate, this holiday is going to be featured onDateline, so you’d better start practicing describing Tucker as having a smilethat lit up a room.”

“We thought it was best to thrust you two together and have you work it out,” she says.

I put down the appetizers and sink into a nearby chair. “In what world is that best?”

“Because if you just talked to each other – finally – then you could resolve this whole thing.”

“Serena, I barely spoke a word to him until I was, like, sixteen-years-old,” I argue. “Tucker and I don’t work things out. We’re not even really friends. We’re more like…old acquaintances. One he didn’t call or check up on for seven years. End of story.”

She sits opposite me. “You wouldn’t be mad at him if you weren’t friends.”

“I misunderstood him,” I clarify. “I’m mad at myself for not seeing the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I was duped.”

“He’s single right now, you know.”

That’s information I wanted, but I will never let on. “Good for him.”

“Apparently his girlfriendjustbroke up with him.” She rolls her eyes, and I give her a look, prompting this response, “He always breaks up with a girl right before he sees you.”

I argue, “You just said she broke it off.”

“That’s what he claims butcome on. That’s awfully convenient.”

My eyes involuntarily move toward him, as I’m afraid they will too often do this week. He moves behind the bar with ease. Tucker only had short-term girlfriends, and I never understood why they always ended so soon. Apart from his handsomeness, Tucker has an easy-going personality, humor when it’s not funneled into jabs at me, and he’s kind. He cares for people, deeply, but you might not see it immediately behind the pretty-boy exterior. I also thought those girls didn’t truly know him.

Who would break up with a guy like that?

Reading my mind, Serena says, “He claims the girls break up with him, but look at him. Who would break up with that?Even if he was an asshole, they’d at least entertain it for a few weeks. You know he’s got to be good in bed.”

“No, I don’t know that,” I shoot, fast.

“No, I just mean you know he’sgot to be.He’s so hot. Look at him handle those plastic cups.”

I cover a laugh.

“Callie and I talk about it all the time.” She waves her hand, no big deal. “We imagine all of you having sex.”

“Please don’t.”

She wiggles her eyebrows and munches a chip. “I think you two should go for it. That’s probably what you need to do. Just get it out of your system.”

“Me and Tucker?” I question as though it’s the most ridiculous suggestion.

It is a ridiculous suggestion. Now.

I sit quietly for a moment.Don’t look at him and the plastic cups.With a mouth full of guacamole, I ask, “Have you seen the weather for the end of the week -”

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