“Actually, it’s—”
“Miss, you can’t have your dog in the pool area.” The lifeguard’s voice rang out, startling both Ethan and me. We paused to see Nittha looking like she might try to argue and get all of us banned from the pool, while Gabby looked like she’d commit homicide if Nittha did that.
“Well, that’s my cue.” I stood and started packing up my stuff as Gabby pushed Nittha to start walking. Throwing my sundress over my head, I then glanced over at Ethan. “Keep the sunscreen.”
“You’re leaving?” Ethan said, looking between me and my friends, who were slowly wading out of the pool as if the delay would make a statement about the rules. “I can bring it back to you.”
“Keep it. You’re gonna need it more than me.” I laughed and started cramming Nittha’s stuff into her bag right as she reached the chairs.
“Can you believe…” Nittha stopped midsentence, noticing that Ethan was sitting next to me. A Cheshire cat grin spread across her face as whatever romance she was spinning in her head started to kick into high gear. “Hey, I know you from—”
“Nope. No small talk, the lifeguard is coming. We gotta go,” I said, taking Cricket from her arms and handing her a swim cover-up.
“Jamie didn’t tell us your name.” Gabby jumped in where Nittha had left off, enjoying the fact that I was squirming. “I’m Gabby, this is Nittha.”
“I’m Ethan. Nice to meet you both.”
“Okay, great introductions. Time to leave.” I cut in again.Gabby’s face turned from mischievous to surprised as she watched me pick up her and Nittha’s bags. Apparently, she had underestimated how quickly I could get myself out of an awkward situation when highly motivated. I passed Gabby a tote and tucked the dog back into her carrier, then looped my arm through Nittha’s and said, “Bye, Ethan.”
He smiled at the two of them as if they were old pals, then turned to me, wearing an expression every bit as mischievous as Gabby’s, and said, “See you later, new friends.”
“Not if I can help it.” I rolled my eyes and tugged on Nittha’s arm to get a move on.
“What was that about?” Gabby asked, ducking her chin to try to catch my eye as I steered us toward the exit.
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “Ethan was trying to get us both disowned by our grandmas. Again.”
“Ugh. You’re gonna tell me that you sat there the whole time and had no fun? Who doesn’t want a little forbidden love?” Nittha giggled and took Cricket’s bag from me.
I was halfway through denying it when a sneaky little voice in the back of my head pointed out that Ihadhad a smidge of fun with Ethan.
“Nope. No fun. And, I value my life, so don’t get any ideas.” I said that last part to myself as much as Nittha. I certainly didn’t need to be getting any ideas about Ethan either.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Oh good, you’re back,” BamBamcalled over her shoulder as I walked into our room. “How was the pool?”
Ethan’s words floated back to me.No one will recognize us.
“Uh, you know.” I plugged my laptop in to charge before answering so she couldn’t see the trepidation on my face. “Fine until Nittha got us kicked out for bringing Cricket to the pool.”
“Shoulda seen that one coming.” BamBam laughed. “Bringing a dog to the pool. I’ll bet it was in a swimsuit, too.”
“It was. And they matched.”
“Nittha is always getting into something. That girl cracks meup.”
“Also, I saw Sterling James. I didn’t talk to him, but I talked to someone who knows him. It sounds like you two might have something in common,” I said, sidestepping the name of my informant. I didn’t like to lie to BamBam, but sometimes a lie by omission was necessary for self-preservation’s sake. ToBamBam, loyalty was everything. She once gave my dad the cold shoulder for a week for mentioning my late grandfather’s funky feet in public. Me being in close proximity to anything Buzzy-related would crush her. Better to tell a little lie and keep my grandma speaking to me than break her heart over one random conversation.
“Hmm. He uses a lot of glitter, which isn’t really my thing.” BamBam paused, her face pensive. Shrugging, she stood up. In one hand, she held her toiletry kit. In the other, her favorite snuggly blue bathrobe. “Then again, your grandma can learn new tricks. See if you can talk to him tonight and let me know if he seems interested in collaborating. I’m gonna go get in the shower and then get ready for the reception.”
“Alright.” I yawned and flopped onto my bed, suddenly jealous of her nap.
As if reading my mind, she said, “If you want to get some sleep, I’ll wake you up when I’m out of the shower and lotioned. Then we can talk strategy while we put our faces on.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. BamBam still called doing your makeup “putting on a face.” At this stage, I was pretty sure she was using the expression because she knew my siblings and I poked fun at it.
No sooner had my head hit the pillow than it felt like BamBam was gently shaking me awake. Groaning, I cracked one eye open to see my grandmother in her pink leopard-print shower cap hovering over me. “Baby, time to go get cleaned up.”
