I sigh and spin in my chair and ignore his comment about my cheeks. “I don’t know. We were there for dinner last Sunday and Delia and her mom walked in. My mom knows her mom. And it seems like they knew each other kinda well. No idea why they’ve never been around before now. Never heard my mom mention this chick either. Kind of a mystery.”
“Downright scandalous. Wonder where they came from. What’s she about? Think she’s down to hang? Have some fun?” he asks.
I roll my eyes at him. “I think you should leave her alone unless she talks to you.”
Niko waggles his brows at me. “Is that a challenge, Bro?”
I pin him in his spot with a glare.
“Dude. Chill. It’s not me you have to worry about. Hailie could smell that you like this chick from a mile away. She will destroy her to get to you.”
He’s not wrong. Hailie can be downright diabolical when she wants something. But as long as I don’t give Delia the time of day at school it shouldn’t be an issue.
“Ugh. Fuckin’ Hailie. I have zero interest in her. You know that right?” I ask.
Niko shoots me a sad smile. “Yeah, I know. Just giving you shit.”
I roll my neck and shoulders feeling tense. “Why don’t you just ask her out already. It’s a win-win. You get the girl and I get rid of the girl.”
Niko blows out a breath. “She wants you. No point in sticking my neck out until she stops throwing herself at you.”
Cracking my neck I see mom’s car pull down the driveway. “Mom’s home. Do not mention the river and definitely do not mention Delia.” I stand up knowing we’re about to be asked to help get dinner ready.
“Delia who?” he laughs and slaps me on the back.
Fifteen
Delia
I’m sated and lounging in bed while Mom gets a fire going outside. The descending sun makes the entire horizon glow and in the van, everything is cast into an orangey richness. I toss my summer reading book which I just started on the bed and crack open my journal while I have a moment alone to put my thoughts down.
I haven’t seen Langdon since he took me swimming. Apparently he doesn’t work Fridays. I won’t lie, I was fairly disappointed when I found out I wouldn’t be seeing him yesterday but I managed to get through my shift without getting distracted or irritated.
I stopped at a couple local shops with Mom after work and bought some new clothes for school next week. Senior year! One year left and I can move away and do whatever I want with my time. Mom had a million questions for me when I got home from theriver. She wanted all the details, of which, I left out most. As far as she knows I met some kids from school and we’re all instant best friends. She likes it when I have friends.
I keep daydreaming about Langdon basically naked in the river staring at me like he was about to devour me. I don’t think a guy’s ever looked at me like that before. I can’t shake the thought or the way it made me feel. My belly still wooshes the way it does when you’re on a roller coaster and you hit the first drop, when I recall it.
It’s the last weekend of summer. I assume tomorrow night we’ll be having dinner at Gramps again and that Langdon will be there too. I don’t want to be excited about that but I can’t seem to help myself. I keep trying to chalk it up to—he’s the only person my age I know in town—so obviously I feel a connection. It will go away when school starts and I find my own friends.
It will, right? Langdon is all the things I don’t generally like in people. Loud. Too good looking. Popular. Conceited. So damn sure of himself. And Hailie. I think I’m scared of her. The way she sized me up at the river and tried to throw herself at Langdon made me want to sprint out of the water screaming, “Don’t worry you’re perfect for each other, see ya!”
The crunch of tires on dirt breaks my chain of thought. I put my pen in my notebook as a bookmark and peek out the van window just as Mom stands up and blocks my view. She laughs at something and holds up a finger to wait.
Her head pops in the van door. “Delia! You have a visitor.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I do?”
“Langdon’s here.” She draws out the g in his name as if I have some schoolgirl crush on him. I roll my eyes.
“Tell him I’m busy.”
Mom slaps the back of the seat. “But you’re not!”
I widen my eyes, pleading with her. “Mom, please.”
She sighs and gives me a very maternal pointed look. “Tell him yourself.”God, she is so lame sometimes.
I stand up, irritated at Mom’s chit-chat with Langdon which I can clearly hear, tug at the hem of my shorts, and slip my feet into flip flops before stepping out of the van. Langdon lifts his hand half-assedly in my direction and while my mom glances at me over her shoulder, he shoots me a desperate look for help.Dammit. Why is he so cute?
