Page 33 of The Other Side of Paradise

I raised my eyebrows, hands on my hips. “I look like a homewrecker?”

“What—no. Just—I shouldn’t have even said that. Just, you know,you’rereally pretty and everything, and, well… yeah.” She shifted against the wall, fussing with the edges of her cute little one-piece swimsuit. I studied her for a second before I said,

“You’re plenty pretty.”

“Yeah, I know, I know, we’re practicing flirting…”

“No, I mean it,” I laughed. “You have a really pretty smile. You’re very cute and sweet. You are really pretty, you just don’t acknowledge it.”

“Psh…” She hunched her shoulders higher, burying her face against one, looking away from me. “I guess that’s the polite thing to say in this situation, isn’t it?”

“And you look hot in a swimsuit.”

She put a hand over her face. “This isn’t the point.”

“The point is that this girl is apparently a huge asshole and won’t react well to you talking about her girlfriend cheating, and it reminds you of the whole situation when I go grabbing you.”

“It’s… um… it’s not like I don’t want you to,” she mumbled. “Just that I, uh… I’ll probably be all tense and awkward at points, but it’s not about you, and, um…”

“It really is okay to not want me to.”

“I mean, it’s not like it’s something I want to associate with her.”

I stared at her for a second before I said, softly, “So, you want to override the association with her, then.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay… I get it,” I said, and I paused for a beat before I said, “So you’re asking me to feel you up.”

“No—that’s not what I meant—” She put a hand over her face. “That wasn’t—I didn’t say that.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Oh, so you don’t want that, huh?”

“Oh my god.” She groaned into her hand, and after a second, she said, “Only if, uh, you know, fair’s fair.”

“Oh, you want to feel me up, too,” I said brightly, and I turned away. “You can slap my ass if you want to, you seemed interested in that.”

“Thanks, I won’t. Flattered by the offer though.”

I laughed. “Thanks for telling me,” I said. “I’ll support you with facing things with that girl. And with getting over it.”

She winced at the mention of it, but she nodded. “Yeah… thanks. You’re, um… you’re very sweet, actually.”

“Actually?What, because I seem bitter?”

She laughed. “No, spicy.”

“Ooh, nice one. I like that. You’re getting better at this.” I clapped a hand on her shoulder, and when she tensed up, I kept it there this time. Some chaotic part of my brain told me to move down lower and squeeze her ass just to see her reaction, but thank god, sense prevailed. “Now, let’s put your skills to the test.”

“Huh—my skills—what skills?”

“Your flirting skills. There’s a girl Ineedto know your opinion on.”

“Oh…” Her shoulders dropped lower, like she was relaxing, breathing out. “Um, sure, I guess. Who is it?”

“She’ssohot. Come on.” I moved my hand between her shoulder blades, and I guided her walking a little awkwardly along towards the water’s edge up the beach a little bit, where I found her—the same girl I’d tried pointing out to Oscar just the other day, right here on the same beach, out with her friends again, except this time, her friends had gone out to surf, and she’d been left behind, apparently not interested in surfing. Which left her hanging around awkwardly clearly wanting someone to talk to, and she wasseriouslysexy, and at this point, I was only willing to entrust the hottest girls in the world to Allison. “Her,” I said, stopping Allison up in where the surf was cool over my feet. “In the red bikini, blonde ponytail.”

“Uh… okay.”