Page 99 of The Sweet Spot

“He’s cute, though, huh?” I press.

“Very cute. He’s intelligent, compassionate…a good storyteller and a goodlistener.”

There’s a catch in her voice. “But?”

“But Arlo’s busy and so am I.”

“So?”

“So, we had a nice time, but I don’t expect anything.”

It’s her way of saying what she always says. Men don’t stick around. But I remember what Arlo said to me on the beach, earlier.

“He’ll be back,” I say.

“Of course, he will,” she agrees. “For you.”

Arlo texts me when he lands at JFK later that afternoon. Well, it’s afternoon here, evening there.

Arlo: Landed. It’s hot and muggy.

I already miss the weather over there.

It feels weird going back to typed messages with Arlo, as if we didn’t just spend the past two weeks together. Getting up, I go to the window and snap a picture of the sky, a sunset gradient of orange, pink, and red.

Wren: It’s pretty tonight.

How was your flight?

Arlo: Probably fine, but I wouldn’t know.

I always sleep on planes.

We chat for a couple of minutes and then he logs off, eager to hit the hay so he can start recovering from jet lag.

Not that it matters much; he’ll be in Sri Lanka by the end of the week.

Wren

“Do you want to stay?”

He makes it so hard to say no. Luca is everything warm: his hand on my belly, his eyes burning into mine. His mouth on its way back to my nipple despite the fact we just went two rounds.

“Luca.” I groan, clasping my hands around his head. “You know I can’t. Not tonight.”

“Okay.” He doesn’t stop, though, his fingers wiggling between my thighs to where I’m still wet. And sore. And still wanting him.

“I have to be up early,” I whisper pathetically, my legs falling open.

“We should go, then.” But his hair tickles my skin as he disappears between my thighs.

An hour later, we’re in his car, hands clasped on his lap as we speed back to campus. It’s been this way for weeks now, ever since the end of springbreak, around when my dad left. Actually, maybe it was before that—since dinner at his mom’s. We’re together, all the time.

We meet between classes when we can, finding one another in the busy crush of people. Nights are for studying alone in his room, or at his kitchen table, surrounded by his friends. Saira comes along those nights. She and Kellan aren’t dating or even sleeping together, but they hang out almost as much as we do. Which is interesting.

Weekends find us driving around with the windows down and the music up, the wind in our hair. We hike and hit up beaches, noshing at drive-throughs and taco trucks. Luca and Kellan try to teach me and Saira how to surf. She’s way better at it than me so far.

We run errands. Grocery shopping is a lot more fun with Luca at my side.

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