Blame It On the Beach

Chapter Fifteen

"Ok, now you can tell us everything," I tell Quinn as soon as she walks into the kitchen, joining me and Margalit- Cassandra is the one person that sleeps in later than Quinn- at around 12:30. Quinn's hair is matted on one side, and there are makeup smudges around her eyes.

"Chill, I'm not even fully awake yet," she replies, getting a mug from the cupboard and walking over to the coffee maker.

I wait patiently, my legs stretched out onto the chair next to me, as Quinn takes a few sips of coffee. Last night, as soon as the last person left, we rushed around the house, cleaning up mysterious, sticky stains, and picking up red cups left on the tables and floor. When my mom got home at 1:15, slightly tipsy herself, we had cleaned up most of it, and she collapsed in her room anyway, too tired to ask questions. By that point, we were too tired to talk about the events of the night, but now, Margalit and I look at Quinn expectantly.

"Alright, what did you guys want to talk about?" she says, putting her mug down and wiping her mouth.

"Hmm, how about we start with you and Noah happening?" I say.

Quinn lets out a breath, rubbing her eyes. "God, I feel so weird about that," she says. "He was just being all nice when I walked over and I guess I just really wanted to hook up with someone."

"Ok, but Noah?" I ask. "And you guys were up there, for like, an hour."

"Surprisingly, he's a really good kisser," Quinn says, and I raise my eyebrows.

"Wasn't it awkward at all?" Margalit asks. "Like, since you guys are good friends."

"In the moment, it really wasn't. I think 'cause we were both pretty drunk," she replies, looking down, her light brown eyes distant. Then they widen. "What if it's awkward now?"

I look at Margalit, who is looking unsure. "I mean, it could be," I tell Quinn honestly. "But only if you let it be. I guess try not to act like anything's changed?"

She chuckles a little. "But it has."

"Do you like him?" I ask.

"No, not like that," Quinn says quickly. "But, I don't know, after last night..." she trails off, looking at her nails. Then she looks back at us. "Alright, anyway, you tell me stuff now. What happened with you guys after I went upstairs?"

"Ok, I had a weird moment with Sawyer in the kitchen. He was like, 'Why haven't we happened?' and talking about he didn't even want to get with Krista, and then he started leaning in," I say. Quinn's eyes widen. "But nothing happened, Audrey and Kara walked in."

"But you leaned in too?" Margalit asks. I nod slowly.

"But I don't know, something was kind of weird about it. It felt really awkward," I say. I turn to Quinn. "You sent me the most mixed signals. The first day we got here you were all, 'hook up with Sawyer!' and then you were suddenly against him."

"Yeah, after he flirted with you all night and then hooked up with another girl I kinda changed my mind," she shoots back.

"Also, Quinn obviously ships Emilio more," Margalit adds. I look her, confused, as Quinn giggles.

"Emilio?"

"Oh, yeah, we thought of it last night. It's your couple name with Milo," she replies.

I roll my eyes. "That's just a terrible couple name."

As they start to defend their choice, my mind drifts back to last night. Parts of it are hazy, but I remember feeling light and shaky whenever Milo touched me.

And then my mouth drops open the slightest bit, as his words by the beer pong table suddenly come back to me.

Kinda have my eye on someone else.