Page 39 of Now and Forever
"Mmm, he looked after you so well he made sure Gaige kept every guy miles away from you. I didn’t even attend the Heights but I heard the rumors."
Golden let the memory fade and focused on the hot sand slipping between her flip-flops as they trudged across the beach.
"It's going well," Golden finally answered.
"And in relation to you two actually becoming something, what does that mean exactly?" Lydia said drily as she stopped in a clear spot and set down her blanket.
Golden winced at the question. She didn't know. Nothing? She thought questioningly. Was that the answer? While she and Grayson had certainly grown closer there had been no repeats of that moment in the foyer, a moment she was firmly starting to believe was all in her head.
"I don't know," she grumbled, helping her pull out the pop-up tent.
Releasing the straps, the pink tent popped to life mid-air before gently settling onto the beach blanket. Within seconds both women were lying down under its shade with their sunglasses on and their bodies glistening with sunscreen.
They lay there talking and staring at the ocean. A few yards in front of them a family sat under their own tent talking amongst each other as two toddlers built a messy sand castle. Occasionally, the wind would carry the music from the bar on the pier directing their eyes to the partying patrons.
Lydia suddenly sat up onto her elbows and lifted her sunglasses to squint off into the distance. "Oh my God," she mumbled before sitting up fully and lifted her hand to wave at someone. "That's Kaleb and Carter!"
Following her line of sight, she saw a group of guys standing around one of the bar's tall tables drinking beers. One of the guys was looking their way. His face slowly transformed from confusion to a wide smile.
Golden groaned. It was them: Kaleb Hull and Carter Serrano, old friends of Gaige from back in high school, along with a few other guys she didn’t recognize.
Grabbing her coverup out of her bag, Golden slipped on the black sheer fabric as the guys began to walk down the pier steps and head their way.
Lydia looked at her as she smoothed down her hair. "What? Did you not want them to come over?" she asked, seeing her less than enthused expression.
No! This was supposed to be just a girl's day at the beach.That was what she wanted to say, but Golden held her tongue. She knew Lydia had a thing for Kaleb years ago.
"It's fine," she smiled instead and watched as the guys approached them.
"Hey ladies," Kaleb announced as he stopped in front of their tent.
But it wasn’t him who Golden focused on; it was the handsome dark-haired guy standing at his side looking directly at her with a wolfish grin.
Unable to hold back her smile, Golden acknowledged him. "Carter. It's good to see you."
Dropping to his knees in the sand inches away from her feet, Carter let his eyes dramatically rove her body taking in the neon green swimsuit under her lacy black cover-up, and grinnedeven wider. "Golden Ray, as I live and breathe," he sighed dramatically, holding his hand over his heart.
Golden laughed. Yeah, Carter was annoying and claimed he was in love with her all throughout her senior year but she was never unnerved or afraid of the boy's attention. Carter was mischievous and a downright manwhore, but he was sweet and at the end of the day that was what was important.
The day stretched on around them as they all hung out. They played in the ocean, somehow managing to find a football, which led to hours of laughter and scrambling in the sand under the blazing sun. By the end of it all, the boys were utterly exhausted, fighting for a spot under Lydia's pink tent, desperate for some shade from the relentless heat.
Unwilling to be sandwiched between the guys like Lydia so happily was, Golden got up and grabbed her bag. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," she told Lydia.
She didn't even have to go to the bathroom, she just wanted something cool to drink that wasn't beer and maybe a bite to eat.
"Hey, wait up," Carter called out, jogging to her side to catch up. "I'll come with you."
Wiping sweat from her brow, she turned to give him an amused look through her shades. "I'm a big girl, Carter. You don't have to escort me."
"I know that, but why give up the perfect opportunity to talk to my favorite person right now? Besides, I don't want to go back to that sausage fest," he added, pointing a thumb over his shoulder back to where the others were.
Golden nodded, he had a point.
Stepping onto the hot boardwalk, they made their way to a nearby vendor booth. Carter was explaining how he’d decided to visit Stardust from his college in California for his younger sister's birthday when Golden let out a sharp cry, jumping back and holding up her foot.
"What happened?!" Carter reached for her, steadying her as she hopped on one foot.
Golden moaned in pain and lifted her injured foot higher despite the pain. Sticking out from underneath her thin foam flip-flops was a shard of curved glass.
