Page 58 of Problematic Summer Romance

Eli sighs. “The Mayageddon hatches out of its depraved little egg every time there’s a competition. Two weeks ago I beat Maya at Trivial Pursuit, and the following morning I found the pie slices crushed in the blender and the question cards in the recycling bin.”

“It was a pre-2000 edition. I wasn’t evenborn. Keeping it in the house was ageist and—”

“Out,” Eli repeats ominously. “You’re expelled. Banned. If I see you within twenty feet of the field, Iwilltie you to the pier. Go play with Tiny, or something.”

I let out a typical Mayageddon groan and stomp away furiously, brushing past Conor, who holds out his bottle to me. “Have some water. It’ll calm you down.”

“No. It’s always water this and water that, but when I try to drink the blood of my enemies—”

“Can’t believe I’d forgotten,” he says, low. Fond, maybe. A few feet away, the others are straightening their shovel-made goalposts.

“Forgotten what?”

“The monster within.”

I look at him, letting my gaze slip from his sunglasses to his bare chest. It’s not the first time I’ve seen him shirtless. Last summer he came over to help Eli put up a couple of raised beds for Rue, and even before…I’m sure there were other times. Not a big deal. I know his workout regimen, so none ofthisis surprising.

Still, I glance away.

“It’s cute,” he says.

“What is?”

“How competitive you get.”

I grab his water and take an angry sip from the same spot where he just drank. “I’m not competitive. I just want to win.”

“Twoverydifferent things. Maya?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you leave, yesterday? At the theater.”

I bend my head. Curl my toes in the sand. “Did Avery not tell you? I wanted to explore on my own, and—”

“I know the excuse you gave her. Can I have the truth?”

My face heats in a way that has nothing to do with the sun. But I push through and turn to face him directly. “No,” I say firmly. “You can’t.”

He nods. Once. “Very well. Even so, don’t do it again.”

I laugh. Also once. “I will if I want to, Conor.”

“You said we are friends, Maya.” His lips thin. “Friends don’t do that.”

“Friends don’t do…what?”

“Disappear into the ether.”

A single, outraged laugh slips out of me. “Are youserious?Youare tellingme?”

His jaw tenses. “It’s not the same.”

“No? Please, then, enlighten me about how—”

“Maya?” Paul runs up to us. “I’m so sorry Eli kicked you out. Do you want me to speak to him? Get him to change his mind?”

I let my eyes linger on Conor’s face, defiant, angry. Don’t glance away from him until Paul says my name again, uncertain, clueless about the electric charge crackling between Conor and me. “Maya?”

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