Page 44 of Let It Be Me

“Yeah, in vivid detail, because it sounds fucking great.”

I sit back. “Summer after freshman year. You, me, Leo, Carlos, Lisette, and her cousin, that creepy-ass wrestler guy you used to hang out with ...”

“I get it, one boat, lots of people. Cut to me getting laid constantly.”

“Does the name Greer Jacobs mean anything to you?”

A sly smile flashes across his face.

“It was her idea to go skinny-dipping once the sun started setting. And then as soon as the whole crew is naked in the water and thirty feet from the boat, there you two are, bare asses scrambling up the ladder so you can roll around the floor of the boat together.”

“You couldn’t even see us.”

“Didn’t need to. I heard you.” I can still feel the way my stomach dropped when I noticed him flirting with Greer and then, hearing them in the boat, the way my jealousy cut so swift and so deep it felt like disgust. And then the way I laughed along with my friends, enduring the sharp kick in the stomach, burying the feelings deep and going on with life. With sudden exhaustion, I wonder,Will I ever stop doing that?

“Whatever. I had to witness plenty of your make outs. There just aren’t words to describe the feeling of watching a future convict shove his tongue down your best friend’s throat.”

“I never pulled in the numbers you did. Girls were so obsessed with you in high school. It was gross.”

“Can we stay on you?” He leans forward and grabs his sunglasses off the seat and slides them on, hiding his eyes from me.

“What about me?”

“All the guys who were into you who you flat-out ignored in high school?”

“Hey, no lies on the lake, remember?” Lake Foster was the setting for a lot of truth-or-dare games when we were teens.

“I could name twenty right now.”

“How about guys who weren’t disgusting animals?”

“Okay, eight.”

“Name one.”

“Jason.”

“Jason who?”

“TheJason. Jason Braggs-Flynt.”

“No way!” I wave him off. Jason Braggs-Flynt was a sometimes-member of our friend group, but an odd one. He was gentle and charming, never partied hard, headed a bunch of school clubs, and pulled in amazing grades. He ended up class salutatorian senior year. He was also surprisingly good-looking.

“You were the only reason he came around. You think he had a single thing in common with the fuckheads we hung out with?”

“You know me, I only like guys who treat me like shit.” I’m playing it off, hoping Lorenzo will drop it. I don’t like how appealing the idea of Jason wanting me is.

“I’m serious, Ruby. He was so into you. He thought you were all sexy and wild and badass.”

I roll my eyes.

“You were. Why do you think I hung out with you?”

“For protection?”

“Please. I stopped needing you as a bodyguard by fifth grade.”

I give him a long look.

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