Page 4 of Summer Skin

THE LAST WEEKENDbefore the autumn equinox was lazy with late summer heat, the air sticky, and swimming in the bay seemed like the only thing to do.

“You’re going out?” Brooklyn asked him, as though Chase had announced he was planning to hold up a gas station in broad daylight.

“Andi invited me.” Despite Chase”s hunch that Andi would move on once he wasn”t shiny and new, her friendly attitude towards him was still going strong a few weeks in.

“Oh, Andi. The Island Barbie. Well, better run along then, lil’ doggie.”

His eyes snapped to hers. “Why are you being so mean?”

“Why are you leaving me?” she shot back, pinning crossed arms over her chest.

“I’m not … I’m not leaving you. I’m meeting up with someone from school. Besides, if I stayed here, it’s not like we’d be hanging out. You’d lock yourself in your room like every weekend, reading your Raymond Chandler mysteries.”

“Yeah, but ...” She paused, her eyes looking away for a moment and then back. “I’d know you were around.”

His stomach flipped over at her words, knowing the truth was he wouldn’t be around for much longer. Once his senior year of high school was over, there was no way his aunt and uncle would let him stay on. They didn’t even want him now. And it wasn’t like Chase had the finances to take care of Brooklyn on his own, not in a way the courts would ever allow.

“Hey,” he said, tapping her lightly on the shoulder, like none of this was actually a big deal at all. “Tomorrow we’ll walk to the pond, and you can show me that bird’s nest you found last week.”

“Tomorrow is your birthday,” she reminded him. “I already have something planned.”

Of course she did. Brooklyn and Mom always made his birthday a memorable occasion, a day to be celebrated. Chase’s heart dropped at the thought of his mother, of her infectious laughter, the way she lit up any and every room. Tomorrow would be his first birthday without her. But he clipped that thought short, throwing on a smile. “Can’t wait, Brook.”

“Don’t let Andi turn you into her Ken!” Brooklyn called out, a final warning as he walked out the door.

Chase didn’t bother to turn around to tell her Andi already had one.

Aven.

***

On the island, nothing was close to anything else, but Andi’s place happened to be only a couple of miles from Chase’s aunt and uncle’s, and that made a quick enough walk, even with the late summer sun beating down.

Chase fanned his sweat-soaked t-shirt away from his chest a few times, giving his skin some breeze as he stood at the head of Andi’s driveway. He peered down at his phone again, making sure he had the address right before trekking down the long drive.

The house sat on the banks of the bay, boasting way more square footage than Chase could imagine one family would ever need. It was framed by a well-manicured lawn, trimmed neat and tidy, perfectly green even with the last gasp of summer in the air.

Muted voices were coming from the backyard, so he skipped ringing the bell, following the sound around the side of the home, coming to a stop when he found a tall, wooden fence that he couldn’t peer over. Glancing to the right, he noticed a gate and pulled it open, only to pause at the entrance after hearing his name.

“He”s not invited,” Aven said, hefting a giant watermelon onto a cutting board atop the patio table. He was speaking to Andi, their backs turned to Chase.

“Too late, he already said yes.”

“Andi.” Aven folded his arms across his chest and fixed her with a scowl. “Seriously, come on.”

“Are you going to work yourself into a fit here?” she asked, popping back the lid on a can of Diet Coke. “Pull out some hair?”

“Maybe.”

“Cool. Listen, I’d totally love to stand here and baby you into not being a complete asshole for the next few hours, but I’ve got to grab the rest of the food from my car.” She shifted past Aven, giving him a little pat on the arm. “So can you please be your chill, lovable self by the time I get back?”

Aven didn’t budge. “I don”t get why he has to come.”

“I mean, have you seen him?”

Chase wasn’t sure what she meant by that. His thrift store clothes and shaggy hair down to his shoulders set him apart from Andi’s usual crowd, but was he a pity invite? A charity case for these rich kids?

“Fine,” Aven said, raising his palms in defeat. “I’ll go home.”

“Really.”

They glared at each other over the table until Aven broke eye contact, looking out at the water. “I don’t want him here.”

“Then leave,” Andi told him, calling his bluff. She spun on her heel towards the house and Chase shut the gate door as quietly as possible.

He chewed on his thumbnail for a moment, thinking. The thing was, he hadn’t realized this was a group hang when he’d said yes. The notion he’d have to deal with Aven hadn’t crossed his mind. At this point, the smartest idea would be to head back to his place. His presence was obviously not wanted, and though a tiny, petty part of himself wanted to stick around—if only to rain on Aven’s day—in truth he didn’t care to make any problems for Andi.

Or for himself.

Darting down the driveway, sticking towards the hedges in an attempt to go unnoticed, Chase startled when the front door flung open and Andi jogged out, keys jangling in her hand as she pressed a button to unlock the car sitting in the drive.

“Oh!” she said, spotting his deer in headlights act almost immediately. “Chase!”

Well, hell.

“Dude, help me grab snacks from the car!”

She hefted a couple cases of soda into his hands, and he followed her out back while she chatted about her morning—which was apparently spent with Aven, filling out college applications to universities Chase could never dream of getting into, so if Aven was grouchy, that was why.

Slipping through the wooden gate to the backyard, Chase readied himself for whatever Aven was about to serve. But … there was no one waiting. The patio stood empty. It wasn’t a bluff. Aven has just forced Andi’s hand, which definitely meant this was Chase’s one and only time hanging out at her place. The battle line had been drawn, and Andi wouldn’t choose Chase in the end.

“That stubborn, manipulative dick,” Andi muttered under her breath, then she sighed exasperatedly, piling bags of chips beside the tray of watermelon Aven had cut into perfect, uniform slices before vanishing as part of his ongoing anti-Chase Matthews crusade.

“Knock, knock!”

Piper peeked her head through the gate, pushing it wide open when she found Chase and Andi at the table. Following a few feet behind her was Elena with a guy from school Chase had seen once or twice.

“Where”s Aven?” Piper asked, craning her neck like she might spot him just out of sight.

“Hey, Piper!” Andi said brightly. “So good to see you, I”m doing super great, thanks for asking.”

“Sorry,” Piper said, with a sideways smirk and a shrug. “I like something nice to look at.” Her gaze shifted to Chase. “Oh, hello.”

“Don’t start,” Andi warned.

Piper rolled her eyes at Chase, smiling, like they were sharing a joke. “I’m only saying hi,” she told Andi, who glowered like Piper was full of shit. Which, truth be told, she probably was.

“Do you know Hank?” Elena asked, nodding her head towards the other guy, who made a short grunting noise, giving him a once-over that said everything Chase needed to know. As ever, he’d come up lacking in the eyes of another island boy.

Chase quickly turned away, finding Andi’s eyes on him. “Help me lift the ice chest from the kitchen?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“Hot today, huh?” she said, leading him inside.

“Summer’s last stand,” he joked, taking in the spacious, light-filled kitchen. “I don’t mind the heat.”

“Yeah.” She spun around, meeting his eyes. “About that. I’ve sort of noticed the guys are kind of being dicks to you?”

He wasn’t sure how best to answer, scratching behind his head, shrugging a little.

“Look,” she said, “the island’s small and we’ve all known each other for-fucking-ever.” She pulled a bag of ice from the freezer, handing it to Chase. “But give them some time to get over themselves, okay? They’ll come around.”

He didn’t bother with telling her he had no interest in befriending dudes who took time to learn basic manners, just nodded his head and started dumping ice into a chest Andi hauled out from the pantry.

“I’ve got it,” she said when he went to lift the cooler. “You get the door.”

Outside, the others sat in Adirondack chairs around a fire pit full of blackened logs and ashes, their plates piled high with snacks.

He grabbed a soda and took a seat beside Andi.

“Is the secret ingredient to your hummus,” Piper smacked her lips together, scrunching her nose, “garlic?”

“Garlic usually goes in hummus, Pipes,” Andi told her.

“I have a guess,” Hank said. “It’s the juice of ball sweat.”

“Nope.”

“Aven’s jizz?” Hank tried.

“Really,” Andi said, swinging her head in Elena’s direction, “did you have to get back together with this Neanderthal?”

Elena lifted one shoulder. “I was bored.”

“Pick an activity other than boning a bonehead next time.”

“I’m not a bonehead,” Hank protested. “I have a refined palette.”

“For jizz?” Chase blurted out, and despite the shrieks of laughter from the girls, he immediately regretted his choice of words as he took in the I’m gonna murder you and dig a grave so deep in the woods they’ll never find your body look pasted on Hank’s face.

“Oh, a real funny guy,” Hank said, rolling his eyes like he’d seen a million dudes try and fail in the exact same way. “Like you know me well enough to make a joke?” He leaned forward in his seat a little, making a motion to include their entire group. “Like you know any of us? What are you doing here anyway? You the reason Aven’s not around?”

“Hank, show a little mercy, please,” Elena said. “Just because Chase is new doesn’t mean he can’t crack a joke.”

“A little mercy?” Hank repeated, making an expression saying that must be a joke. “He”s a big boy. Can”t he take it?”

“Seriously, Hank. Quit with the baiting,” Andi warned.

Hank bit his thumbnail. “I’m just saying, Maybe don’t go poking when you don’t belong.”

“Chase wasn’t poking,” Andi corrected. “You’re only acting like a jerk because his joke landed when yours crashed and burned.”

Hank”s head whipped in Andi”s direction. “Are you calling me an asshole?”

“Well—”

“Please don’t, Andi,” Elena cut in. She tacked a short laugh onto the end of the sentence but there was no mistaking the edge in her tone.

Andi raised her brows, eyes going dramatically wide. “Oh, sure,” she said. “Why not let Hank act like a total d-bag whenever he likes?”

“I”m not saying—”

“See, okay, this is exactly what you asked us to warn you about when you dumped Hank last time. You forgive him for anything, no matter how rude, and—”

“You know that”s not—”

“—now he”s being a dick to my date!”

Hank held both hands up. “Hey, hey, now—”

Both girls turned in his direction, glaring. “Shut up, Hank!” they exclaimed in unison.

Her date? Chase deflated, making himself small in his chair. An awkward silence hovered over them. Hank scowled at Chase across the circle of chairs, but screw that, absolutely none of this was Chase’s fault. He’d said yes to Andi thinking it would only be him and her, hanging out as friends. No Aven Sinclair, no friend group drama, and definitely not a date.

Yet, here he was again, forced to deal with some alpha-type who wanted nothing more than to drive him off to wherever he thought Chase came from. Which, judging by Hank’s dismissive demeanor, was a shithole. And to be fair, that wasn’t actually far from the truth.

Chase pulled himself up, squaring his shoulders. “It”s not a problem, Andi.” He didn’t take his eyes off Hank’s. “We’re just joking around, right?”

Hank gritted his teeth, forcing a smile. “See? We”re all good.”

“Best of buds,” agreed Andi dryly. Piper flashed Chase a wink, like not backing down from Hank was a way of flirting with her.

Brooklyn was right.

For countless reasons, he should have stayed home.