Page 5 of Surfer Girl

“You can’t have just one, Sophie, Jesus. Who’s the girl here, anyway?”

She snorted at how quickly they’d reverted to their old roles: she clueless and distracted and play-acting, he sincere and sarcastic in his endearingly charming way, knowing he never had a chance with her but trying to get a little action just the same.

“Sorry, Colton, I didn’t know you were such an expert on bikinis these days.”

He gave her a sly wink, leaning down to murmur closely in her ear, “It pays to be one in this business, Hot Pants…”

She shivered nervously and skittered gently away, stumbling into a nearby sunscreen display and nearly toppling over the standup cardboard surfboard in the process. He noticed. He always noticed. “Dang, you mean you’re still batting for the other team, girl?”

She slapped him on the nearest bicep. Hard. “Colton Conners!”

“Sorry, Sophie, it’s just… A guy can dream, can’t he?”

“You can dream of being canceled once and for all if you keep talking like some Republican Boomer all the time.”

“Only around you, Sophie.”

“Please,” she murmured, following alongside as he wove them through the seemingly endless miles of clothes racks full of baggies and tank tops and itty-bitty bikinis on the way to the sales counter. “I bet you’ve got a different beach bunny in your bed every night, Pretty Boy.”

“I wish,” he murmured as if to himself, ever the horn dog as he rang up her bikinis. “But I’m at this weird stage of life where all the girls I crushed on back in school are long gone and all the girls who live here are too young, so…”

She smirked and waited for the total, all the while wondering why Conner was avoiding her eyes and talking so cryptically. “What’s a poor pervert to do, huh, Colton?”

He chuckled and read her the total from his digital display. She frowned. “That can’t be right. The first ’kini was almost forty bucks alone.”

He winked and took one of the twenties from the four she’d extended already. “You got the heartbreaker discount, Sophie. Just zip it and put your money back.”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, you moved on the day after prom, Big Guy. Tina Caruthers couldn’t wait to snatch you back off the market, remember?”

He glanced past her, as if unable to make eye contact when talking about other girls. Was he just that polite? Did he think she’d still be jealous after all these years? “How could I forget? But you know you always want the one you can’t have, so…”

Sophie thought of Jessie, her wet auburn hair caressing her smooth shoulders and those long, endless legs. “Don’t I know it,” she pined, obviously distracted.

“Gross,” he chuckled, clearly knowing what she was thinking.

“Listen, Connor, you know if I…uh, batted for your team, you’d be tops on my list, right?”

“Doesn’t exactly help at the end of prom night, now does it, Sophie?”

She rolled her eyes. No way his balls could still be blue after all these years, even though he sure was acting like it. “Listen, I’m in town all summer. Give me a call once I get settled in and we’ll share some chocolate shakes and fries down at the Diner like we used to after school, okay?”

He brightened, ever the opportunist. “What about later today?”

She waved her plastic Foam shopping bag as if for show and tell. “Can’t, Pretty Boy. I’m learning how to surf.”

“You?” His laughter followed her all the way to the door. “That’ll be the day.”

She turned with a fiery look in her eyes, challenging him playfully. “That’ll be today, Connor. Give me a week and I’ll be hanging ten right beside you.”

He snorted. “You’ll be hanging ten alone, Dorkus. Nobody does that anymore, either…”

Still, she left him laughing, and as far as running into ex-flames with blue balls and broken hearts went, she considered that a win-win. She only hoped Colton did too…

Chapter Four

JESSIE

“You mind doing the retail inventory before you go, Jess?”

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