Page 106 of Promise Me Nothing
“Yeah. Spending time with these guys on holidays is definitely something I miss about living here,” he says, taking a seat next to me.
I reach over and grab two beers out of our cooler “I don’t understand sand sports, though.” I twist one open. “I’m not coordinated at all. Running is as athletic as I get, so this?” I swirl my hand in a circle, indicating the four guys bouncing the ball back and forth before their game starts. “Looks like the most miserable thing I could ever imagine.”
Wyatt laughs. “My soccer coach in high school used to make us jog in the sand, and it was always the most horrible thing I’d ever experienced. Always. It never got any better. So playing a sport designed to be in the sand? Ridiculous.”
He twists open his own beer and we clink them together, each taking a sip. Then I take a moment to glance around, spotting Eleanor sitting next to Paige and Rebecka.
“Thanks for inviting Eleanor.”
“I’d like to take credit, but it was Paige’s idea. She said you guys were friends, and I just wanted you to enjoy the day,” he says on a shrug.
My smile is wide.
We spend the afternoon just like that, side-by-side, flirting. But also chatting and laughing with our friends. Well,hisfriends. Mostly.
Plus Eleanor.
Who is really enjoying the fact that Hamish called and told her she didn’t need to come in for her lunch shift today.
Wyatt may have given me a devious little smirk when he heard us talking about that. Makes me wonder how impromptu that decision actually was.
“Are you and Wyatt Calloway dating?” she asks me later in the afternoon, her voice a whisper as she stretches out on the towel next to me that Wyatt left vacant when he decided to play volleyball.
I glance at her. “I’m not sure. Why?”
Her eyes widen, a sweet expression coming over her face. “Because you guys are so cute together. Seriously, you would make an adorable couple.”
I shake my head, though I can’t hide the smile that wants to bloom onto my face. “He’s great. I don’t know entirely what’s going on.” Then I have a thought. “But don’t tell anyone, okay? I know this town is all about gossip, and we need some time to just get to know each other.”
She nods, her eyes wide. “No problem.” Then she adds, “And thanks for trusting me with something like this.”
I look at her and decide I want her to be someone I can talk to. About life. So I lean closer to her and whisper, “We went on a date on Saturday night, and he went down on me.”
Her smile is huge. “Oh shit, tell me everything.”
I share most of what happened, though I keep a few of the dirtier details to myself, Eleanor smiling and nodding and making commentary at all the right moments. And then we move on to other topics, like work and her life. She tells me all about Travis, the new guy that moved into her apartment complex that she has a crush on.
“I saw his penis,” she says, and I spit out some of the beer I just sipped. “It was an accident. It’s not my fault he decided to stand naked with a massive erection in front of his window.”
I break into a fit of laughter and Eleanor tumbles behind me, the two of us unable to control ourselves.
Eventually, she wanders off to chat with Paige and Rebecka, and Wyatt makes his way back over to me. He lathers me in another layer of sunscreen, flirtatiously letting his fingers stroke under the straps of my suit.
“I told you this bathing suit looks amazing on you,” he says into my ear as he finishes lotioning under the strap at the base of my neck. “I’m glad you kept it.”
I spin in his hold, coming face-to-face with him, and allowing the alcohol in my system to make me brave.
“If you play your cards right, you just might be able to see me out of it, too.”
His lips part and his eyes fall to my mouth. Before he can say anything, I give him a wink and then head over to the huge blanket Ji-Eun laid out, stretching out next to the girls.
When I look up at Wyatt, he’s biting his lip, but then he looks away, out to the ocean.
A small part of me wonders if I might have been a bit too forward. But I shove that aside. It’s okay for me to flirt with him, tell him what’s on my mind. And if it doesn’t work for him, well… that’s not something I can control.
Eventually, the sun dips lower in the sky and people start packing up.
“I don’t want today to end,” I say as we lug our items back to the bikes.
