“Yeah. He asked me about you and Callum.”
“He did? What did he say?”
“Nothing much. Was just saying how he saw it coming.” She pulls a hair tie off her wrist before tying her hair up in a loose pony. “Anyway, we started off talking about you, and before I knew it, we ended up hanging out the entire night. Funny, I never really cared for the guy. I think maybe I misjudged him.”
“Are we talking about the same Tripp Daniels? That boy is a player and you know it.”
“Of course I do. But isn’t that the point? It’s not like I wanna marry the guy or anything, but a fun, week long fling doesn’t sound half bad.”
“So that’s your plan? You’re going to sleep with him and then what, pretend like it never happened once we return to the real world?”
“Pretty much.” She giggles.
“What is happening right now?” I say more to myself than to her, pressing the palm of my hand to my forehead in an effort to dull the ache.
“Says the girl dating Callum freaking Hanson.”
“I don’t know that we’re dating...” I let the statement hang.
“Well, according to Callum you are. At least that’s what he told Tripp. That you two are officially an item.”
“He told Tripp that?”
“Yep.” She pops her lips. “Now get dressed. I’m gonna run next door and make sure the guys are up.” With that, she tugs open the front door and disappears outside, leaving me to wonder what the hell else happened last night that I can’t remember.
“YOU FEELING ANY BETTER?” My eyes flutter open at the sound of Callum’s voice, landing on where he’s floating next to me seconds later.
“I am,” I confirm. “I still feel a little woozy but, all in all, I feel good.”
“Good.” He smiles, the dark tint of his sunglasses hiding his eyes from view.
“So, I hear we’re official now.” I slide my hand into the water and make tiny circles with my finger.
“Wasn’t that the plan?”
“It was. I just didn’t realize...”
“I planted the seed with Tripp. If you’ve heard about it, then clearly his big mouth is not disappointing.”
“Obviously not.” I snort.
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“No. Nothing like that.” I shake my head, not really sure where my mind is right now.
On one hand, I feel stupid and sleazy. On the other, I’m surprisingly enjoying this time with Callum, which is something I did not expect.
“So what happens now?”
“Now we make people believe it’s true.”
“And how do we do that exactly.”
He gives me a smile that says everything I need to know and my stomach immediately twists. I’m just not sure if it’s from anxiousness or excitement.
Excitement?
Before I have a chance to think it over for too long, a loud squeal draws my attention to the right where April, Brock, Tripp, and Camila are playing chicken in the water a few feet from where Callum and I are lounging on our floats.
Camila is on Tripp’s shoulders and April is on Brock’s. The girls are pushing and pulling at one another, trying to knock the other off their partners’ shoulders.
“Look at them. All of our friends getting along. Who saw that coming?”
“It’s kind of nice, isn’t it?” He slides his sunglasses on top of his head.
“It is,” I admit, surprised to find my answer is truthful.
Seriously... What the hell is happening here?
“Hey, we got the winner,” Callum hollers over at our friends.
“Oh it’ll be us,” I hear Camila shoot back a strained answer as she continues to battle April who’s laughing uncontrollably.
“What do you say, P? Up for a game of chicken?”
“You can’t be serious.” I roll my eyes at him.
“What? If I remember right, we made a damn good team back in the day. Undefeated if I’m not mistaken.”
A memory of us as kids, goofing off in Callum’s pool comes to the forefront of my mind. God, how many times did we do things just like this? Hang out. Laugh. It was so easy back then. So uncomplicated. I miss those times. I miss a lot of the things. None of which I realized until the last couple of days.
“I am not playing chicken,” I tell him on a laugh.
“Why, afraid you’re not as good as you used to be?”
“More like, afraid I might puke in your hair.” I give him a pointed look.
“You said you felt better.”
“I do. I’m just not sure being up on your shoulders, wrestling with another person is the best idea right now.”
“Well you better get over that because we’re up.”
“Huh?” I follow his line of sight as April resurfaces out of the water.
“Come on. Let’s show them how it’s done.”
I try to object, but when he slides into the water and lifts me off my float with ease, I don’t have much say in the matter. He sets me to my feet before grabbing both of our rafts and pulling them up to shore.
“I hope you’re ready to go down,” he tells Tripp when he reappears.
“Bring it on.” Tripp grins, Camila still on his shoulders.
Callum dips down, disappearing under the surface. Seconds later, he slips between my legs and suddenly I’m being lifted several feet in the air. I hold onto the top of his head, trying to steady myself.
“You ready, P?” he calls up to me.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I murmur.
“Okay.” April appears to my left, Brock standing directly behind her. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”
Camila strikes first, knocking me hard against the shoulder before April has even finished the countdown. I slip but quickly right myself, grabbing onto her arm as I tug her toward me as hard as I can. Tripp stumbles forward, having trouble holding himself steady as I swing Cam’s arm back and forth, not allowing her to get any kind of grip on me. The way I have her arm angled, she can’t reach me well enough with her other to do any real damage.
It feels like only seconds have passed before Tripp’s balance gives and they both tumble into the water.
“Victory!” I squeal, holding my arms up above my head.
“That’s my girl.” Callum chuckles.
His girl?
I get that we’re pretending, but hearing him refer to me as his girl is doing some weird things to my stomach.
“No fair. I want a rematch.” Camila pouts, always the sore loser.
“Well then let’s go,” I challenge.
“Here we go,” April grumbles. “I hope you guys are prepared to be at this all day because Camila isn’t going to stop until she wins.”
“Then I guess we’ll be going all day.” Callum laughs as Tripp lifts Cam back onto his shoulders and the two prepare to square off against us again.
“CAMILA DOESN’T TAKE well to losing, does she?” Callum snags my hand, entwining his fingers with mine as we make our way out of the water.
I try to ignore the sudden swarm of butterflies in my stomach or the way my hand feels tingly in his, but it’s impossible not to notice.