Page 27 of I Wish I Would've Told You

He laughs. “At least let him get to second base. He’s hot as hell and single, you know?”

“Yeah, I know…” I change the subject as we walk to the parking lot.

A few raindrops hit my skin, and I look up at the sky.

“Looks like we’re leaving just in time.” Kevin tosses my bag to me, and I pull a dress over my swimsuit.

Before I can ask him to give me the college guy’s phone number, loud screams fill the air.

We both look toward the beach and within minutes, hordes of people run toward us like the beach just caught fire.

“Go! Go! Go!” They’re shouting. “Now! Leave!”

Kevin and I exchange glances, and I spot Jeremiah and Easton running in the crowd.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask.

“Maybe there was a shark attack,” Kevin says. “Kind of fucked up that no one stayed around to help, though.”

“Somebody called the cops for underage drinking so we gotta leave before they start detaining people,” Jeremiah grabs my hand. “I’ll take you home.”

“No,I’lltake her home,” Easton says. “Your car is full, remember?”

“Right…” Jeremiah sighs and takes my phone from my hands. He saves his number and hands it back to me. “I want to take you out, so I expect you to call me sometime this week. ”

“She won’t,” Easton mutters under his breath, leading me to his car.

Bright blue and white lights are flashing in the distance, moving closer and closer to the beach.

“Wait,” I say. “You know what? I think I’ll just get an Uber back. I need to think.”

“About what?”

“It’s personal,” I say. “Just walk me to the taco stand and I’ll have someone pick me up from there.”

“I don’t think so,” he says. “What exactly do you need to think about?”

“A date.”

“You’re not going out with Jeremiah.” He shrugs. “There. I did the thinking for you.”

“I’ll never have one with you either…You can’t even save the smallest things for me.”

He looks over at the cop cars and sighs. “What do you mean?”

“I told you that I wanted us to try out Gayle’s for the first time together, but you already did that with Tully.”

“Oh?” He crosses his arms. “That’s what you think?”

“I saw you and her eating from the tins outside.” My voice wavers. “Isawyou.”

“You saw us using the tins from one of her friends.” He hisses. “We stopped at a grocery store to get cheap ice cream and shit to fill them with, to make itlooklike it was Gayle’s because I told her that I’d already promised someone to try it out with them first.”

“Oh…” I swallow.

“This is the part when you say, ‘Easton, I want you to take me to Gayle’s before taking me home.’ You can also add an ‘I’m sorry for accusing you of some shit you’d never do to me.’”

“Yes,” I say. “That.”

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