Page 18 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

Stella

The café was cute, a little cabana-style place down the street opposite the resort from the high street shops I’d taken Allison to, with the terrace bustling on a sunny day that was just on the right side of hot with a good breeze, but after walking around all day, I was glad we were eating inside.

Cute little cozy dark-wood booth seats lined up around tables underneath the thick round windows and frosted lamps, and the smell of cinnamon and pastry was rich with coffee in the air as my shoes made hollow-wood sounds underfoot as I walked, getting to the table where Allison looked absolutely killer in her houndstooth blazer, paired with the black slacks we’d picked up too and a loose tank I didn’t recognize but that looked nice with the outfit, sitting across from where Ryan looked way less high-strung than I’d expected her to after this morning’s encounter.

And Allison hadn’t been kidding about Brooklyn not being the busty blonde bartender girl I’d pictured—she was tall and slim and had arms of steel, a chic dark bob cut and gray eyes, dressed in combat boots and jeans with a tank, like she was too cool to take your shit.

I beamed at everybody with the obligatory hey, hi, nice to see you as I sat down, but I kept my gaze on Brooklyn, studying that playful smile she wore like armor, and when she said, “Hey,” I nodded back with a,

“Hi,” and then, “You’re Brooklyn, huh?”

“Charmed. And you must be the one forcing Allison to dress decently.”

So Allison had been gushing about our shopping trip, huh?

I was sure she’d had only good things to say.

I felt kind of warm and fuzzy knowing she was talking about it to her friends, even if I was sure she was shit-talking me as much as she had shit-talked Brooklyn to me.

I gave Brooklyn a studying look, tilting my head.

“You don’t look like I pictured,” I said, and she arched an eyebrow, a smile tugging at her features.

“Sorry if I’m not to your taste,” she said, laughter bubbling just under her voice, and I couldn’t square the circle—sleek and polished and too-good-for-you Ryan hanging out with this girl.

“It’s kind of weird that you and Ryan are friends,” I laughed, and Ryan elbowed me.

“Stella, be decent.”

Ugh, and there was zero-fun Ryan. Well, I wouldn’t recognize her otherwise. I sat up taller. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, and I turned to Allison, giving her an approving once-over. “And I’m glad Allison did actually use the new clothes! See, you can look good.”

Allison laugh-snorted in surprise, her hands up. “Hey? What’s that supposed to mean?”

I tried to fight a smile. I think I lost. “That you look good.”

She huffed, scrunching up her nose in that cute little pout she did. “That’s a backhanded compliment if I’ve ever heard one.”

Brooklyn instantly rocketed to my good list, because she took my side, nudging Allison in the side. “She’s right, though, you know,” she said. “I hadn’t realized you could look nice.”

I snorted, grinning at Brooklyn, and Allison rolled her eyes, a dry smile playing on her features. “Okay, everyone’s mean today, I see how it is,” Allison said.

“You two have been friends a long time?” I said, looking between the two of them, and Brooklyn spoke in a casual, easy tone—she had this rich, deep voice, an almost masculine tone to it, and it was kinda cool.

“We worked together here summer last year, and she’s here for this summer…” She shrugged. “I was nice to her last summer, but unfortunately for her, now she’s a tenured friend.”

Allison laughed dryly. “It’s true. It goes both ways though. I was sweet last year. Now I get to tell her she’s annoying.”

Brooklyn said, with calculated ease like she was waiting for her moment to say it, “You weren’t that sweet.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “She talked a lot about you while we were hanging out,” I said. “Are you also on task trying to get her a date?”

Allison groaned, a hand on her forehead. “Ugh, Stella, not you too. We’re not going to sit here and talk about my love life!”

Oh, now she was shy about it, huh? Well…

she’d been shy about it. I guess she’d opened up a little bit in all of our flirting games and I’d forgotten how awkward she’d been about it at first. I pouted at her.

“Then what are we here for?” I said, before I turned to my sister, elbowing her side.

“I guess we could try convincing Ryan to try bouncing back with somebody.” When Ryan looked away from me, that stare on her face like she wanted to be difficult and ignore me, I pushed.

“There were a bunch of cute guys playing volleyball together at the beach yesterday. Maybe you can ask to join them. Show off your volleyball chops.” I mimed hitting a ball. She ignored me. Typical.

“Er… I think I’ll pass,” she said. “I’m not feeling it.”

“C’mon,” I insisted. “At least give it a try. It probably just feels bad right now, but it’ll feel different once you get into it. Just one guy, a little time on the beach, maybe a drink or two…”

Ryan cleared her throat. Based on the way Brooklyn and Allison both looked like they wanted to laugh. I probably wasn’t the only one getting on Ryan’s case about this, which I was glad for. “I’ll… pass,” Ryan repeated, her voice thin, and I gave her a frustrated sigh.

“It wouldn’t have to be anything serious! This is a vacation. You could take the opportunity to just… reset,” I said, and Brooklyn laughed, trying to cover it up with a cough. Was there some kind of in-joke I was missing? Maybe Brooklyn had already told her the same thing.

Allison, meanwhile, was on my page, because she leaned across the table with a smile that verged on vindictive—I guess they had some score to settle—and said, “Stella’s right. What kind of guys do you like, anyway?”

Ryan sighed, fingers to her temple, and she said, punctuating each word, “None, right now.” I scowled.

“At least say you’ll keep an open mind to it,” I said, and she relented with, at least, a polite smile as a waiter started towards us.

“You know?” she said. “Maybe. I’ll keep an open mind to the idea of a… vacation… fling. Why not?”

Yes. We were making progress, the three of us. We’d have Ryan get out of her own head yet. “There we go,” I said. “I knew you weren’t all boring.”

Everybody else fumbled with the menus once the waiter was at our table, clearly not having looked and having to pick, but Ryan knew me—she directed the waiter’s attention to me, and I took a glance at the menu and pointed to the first thing that popped out as nice, a battered cod sandwich with tartar sauce.

It bought enough time for Brooklyn to order the chicken wrap—she was clearly the type to load up on a kilogram of protein per meal, with her arms and abs—and Allison was the last one to order, which meant that Ryan had the opening to improve my opinion of her even further once the waiter had left, leaning across the table with her own vindictive smile.

“So what about you, Allison?” she said. “What kind of girls do you like?”

“Uh—” Allison shut off completely, going blank, blushing brilliantly again. I was obsessed with how quickly she got like that as soon as you said the word girl in her vicinity. “I dunno…” she mumbled awkwardly, shifting in her seat. “I thought we weren’t having this conversation.”

“Well,” Brooklyn said, joining in the bullying match, “looks like you thought wrong.”

Allison shot her a look, and Brooklyn just shrugged like she’d never done anything wrong in her life, and I kinda liked her. Whole crew was fun. I was even kinda liking Ryan at this point, watching her pick on Allison with us.

“Um—” Allison looked away, out the window, fussing with the salt and pepper shakers sitting in the sill. “I dunno. I haven’t been with a lot of girls.”

“That means you’ve been with some,” I said, and she prickled.

“I mean, I had a girlfriend when I was fifteen. Nothing really counts at fifteen. I had a girlfriend more recently, but, uh, in retrospect, not someone like her. I don’t know!

” she said, now clearly trying to battle away the blush, something I’d seen her do plenty of times by now.

It always had the opposite effect. “Girls who are… uh… pretty?”

I shrugged, relaxing as the waiter came back and delivered our drinks, and once he was gone, I said, “Well, we’ll play a game at the beach, point out girls and see which ones you like.”

Allison withered a little. Maybe I was being mean, but I couldn’t help it. She was cute like this. Brooklyn smiled brilliantly at us. “You should,” she said. “The beach will be great. Allison loves an athletic girl.”

Allison looked horrified at her. I wasn’t surprised she reacted like that to having her type aired out like that, but I for one was holding on dearly to that particular piece of information.

An athletic type, huh? I could do that. I was going to see her with the most ripped girl on this island, if that was what it came down to.

∞∞∞

“Allison—” I interrupted her in the middle of a conversation with Ryan, coming up behind her on the beach, and I put my hand on her shoulder before I’d thought it over.

I really needed to stop grabbing the girl, with how awkward she was about it, especially like this, out on the beach under the setting sun with Allison in her swimsuit.

She tensed up even more with my hand on her bare shoulder, but it at least did the trick, turning her away from Ryan to where she faced me, lifting up her sunglasses to look at me, and I dropped my hand from her shoulder.

“You’re coming with me,” I said, and she put her hands on her hips.

“What is this, a kidnapping?”

“Yep. Get in the van.”

Ryan gave me a dry smile, inquiring, but I waved her off with a kind of I’ll explain later gesture, and I immediately screwed up again, because I put a hand on Allison’s back as she stepped away from Ryan with me. She tensed up, and I pulled my hand away with a quick,

“Sorry.”