Blame It On the Beach

Chapter Twenty-eight

"So, Em, I heard you're with Milo now," Annabel suddenly says when we're all swimming around down by the beach.

Audrey and Quinn go quiet, and I look into Annabel's eyes, trying to see if there's any hostility. "Um, yeah, I guess," I reply awkwardly.

She splashes water at me playfully. "Fuck you, you stole my man!" she exclaims, then laughs. "Kidding, obviously," she adds, and the air is light again, but as I look at her closely she doesn't seem to be 100% carefree. I shrug it off, knowing it's not a big deal.

After a few minutes, we see the boys- Alex, Noah, Sawyer, and Milo- getting up from the sand and starting to walk into the water.

It's the first time I've hung out with Sawyer since we hooked up, and our eyes have awkwardly locked a few times. I haven't thought much about him since it happened; I've mostly been trying to forget about it, not wanting to think about my shame and embarrassment.

We float around in a circle for a while, talking about how the summer went and how we think the next year will go.

"It's like a time bomb," Alex says, his dark hair shooting up in random directions. "Every time I almost forget I'm leaving in a few days, it hits me and I get all depressed again."

"I just can't believe it's basically over," Audrey says, pouting. "It feels like I just got here."

"I'm gonna miss this group," Noah says, sniffing and throwing his arms around the shoulders of the two people floating on either side of him, who happen to be Quinn and Sawyer. "It was a good summer." Quinn rolls her eyes, but she doesn't move his hand off her shoulder right away.

"I'm having a party next Wednesday," Annabel says. "Got the parents to leave for the evening."

"Aww, yay!" Audrey says excitedly. "It can be our going-away party. It'll be the last time we see each other."

"Yeah, can everyone come?" Annabel asks, looking around the circle. We all nod.

"I think I'm leaving the next day," Milo says. "So that's pretty lucky." Our eyes meet from across the circle, and I realize that means he's leaving in five days.

Without breaking eye contact, I say, "I'm kind of cold. I think I'm gonna get out." I give Milo a pointed look.

"Yeah, same," he says, getting the message, and we start to swim to shore, ignoring the wolf whistles of the group behind us.

I grab my towel and wrap it around myself like a burrito, drying off as Milo lays back on the towel and wipes his wet hair off his forehead.

After a minute, I lay down on the towel next to him, turning on my side to face him. My heart skips a beat when he turns to face me too, smiling crookedly at me as our eyes meet. I thought it would be a little awkward to be alone together after... the other night, but when he looks at me I feel more comfortable than ever.

"So, summer's almost over, huh?" he says, bringing a hand up to softly caress my side, and I shiver a little, avoiding his eyes.

"I guess," I reply, my voice small.

I shift closer to him, laying my head on his chest, and his arm goes around my shoulders. Suddenly I'm angry; I feel like we just started, but things are already pretty much ending. He hasn't said anything about staying together and I don't think he's going to. And I don't think I will, either.

"Why do you have to live in Boston?" I ask, shutting my eyes as his hand starts to move up and down my side.

He chuckles. "Why do you have to live in New York?" he shoots back.