"How could he not feel it?" I asked.
Cassie lowered her voice. "If you saw his abs, you wouldn't ask."
And just like that, another image of Joel flashed in my brain. Now, he was half-naked and wet, with drips of water falling suggestively down the well-defined ridges of his stomach. Before those drops could head lower, I blew out a nervous breath and admitted, "You know, I can actually see it."
"Yeah." Cassie rolled her eyes. "And you know who else could?"
"Who?"
"Angelina. By this point, she's totally ditched Derek, and is doing her best to show off for Joel instead."
"How?" I asked.
"Well, she's laughing, and giggling, and…" Cassie paused. "Um, bouncing?"
From experience, I knew exactly what Cassie meant. This was a small town with only one public beach. Over the last few years, I'd seen Angelina out there, plenty of times, working her special brand of bouncing-bikini magic.
I felt myself frown.Did it work on Joel?
Before I could dwell on it, Cassie continued. "So now, Derek's going totally nuts, swearing and yelling, and just generally making an ass of himself. He winds up and hits Joel a couple more times, and misses even more than that."
Okay, that made no sense. "What?"
"Well, like Derek swings a dozen times, but mostly he's hitting air. And by now, he's totally unhinged, especially because Joel's just standing there, utterly unfazed."
"So he didn't fight back?"
"Not at first," Cassie said. "To be honest, he looked more amused than anything. But then, Derek takes a wild swing, misses, and grazes this older guy, standing a few feet away."
I frowned. "Was he hurt?"
Cassie waved away my concern. "Nah, like I said, he was just grazed. But Joel gets this look, like the fun's over. And he clocks Derek right in the stomach."
"You mean in the same way that Derek punched him?"
"Yeah," Cassie said, "except with Derek, it doesn't bounce off him. He doubles over and…" She gave a little shudder.
I leaned forward. "And what?"
"Well, he staggers back, and then, well, barfs all over his own feet."
At the image, I was feeling kind of queasy myself. "Seriously?"
Cassie gave me a solemn look. "Seriously."
I was almost afraid to ask. "So then what?"
"So then, everyone's totally grossed out. And Derek, he's trying to kick sand over the barf, like if no one sees it, it didn't happen. But we all know it happened, because we saw it ourselves, and even if we didn't, there's Angelina making a huge deal about it."
"How?" I asked.
"Well, she's pointing and laughing and making all these cracks about how gross it was. And finally, Derek tells her to shut the hell up, unless she wants to find her own ride home. Andshetells him that she's moving on anyway, because he's a pussy, and besides, she's found someone new."
My jaw clenched. I could only guess who that someone new was. "Joel?"
Cassie nodded. "Yup, you guessed it."
I was almost afraid to ask, "So, then what happened?"
