Page 20 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

Allison

Jessica wasn’t my type.

The swimmer Stella had basically shoved me out into the water to try to talk to—she was objectively gorgeous, with that whole model build where she was tall and slim but still had curves, tanned skin that made her blue eyes stand out more, the whole deal.

I’d probably have gotten all quivery and nervous and awkward around her a week ago, but now all I could think about was that she wasn’t Stella.

God, that girl had ruined me. Right when I’d made a resolution to actually hook up with a girl, here we were. Guess the universe heard me say something stupid like that I, Allison Holt, would try a casual fling, and it stepped in to help stop me, once it was done laughing its ass off.

Paradoxically—or I guess obviously, the way it always worked—I was a million times smoother in conversation when I wasn’t remotely interested.

Now that I was too distracted with Stella to be into this girl, I was able to wade out into the water next to her and strike up a casual conversation as easily as anyone, and she was really sweet—introduced herself as Jessica, here on vacation from New York, together with her friends.

Stella had the right read on the situation with her—all her friends loved to surf, and Jessica had been right there with them, but she’d had a surfing accident last year and was still hesitant to get back on a board.

“Well, I guess I kinda feel that,” I said, once we’d passed the heavy point of that conversation, the two of us floating out in the water at that point, idly kicking with the low waves that rolled in and out.

“I came out here with three friends, and two of them ditched me to, as best as I can tell, have sex, and the other one—the one I have a crush on despite my very, very best efforts—is off flirting with guys right now.”

She let out a low whistle. “Hell of a beach trip. Crushing on a gay guy is rough.”

“I’ll… I’ll tell you what’s worse, is crushing on a straight girl.”

“Oh. Damn. Yeah, that feels worse.”

“One who’s trying to get me to have a hookup…

and totally clueless that I’m never going to be interested in another girl as long as she’s around.

” I sighed, looking up at the sky, faintly peachy now with the sun getting low.

“She actually said you were hot and told me to come hit on you, and I couldn’t tell her I wasn’t interested in you as long as she’s around, so I had no choice but to come out and make conversation. Sorry to drag you into it.”

She laughed, eyes twinkling as she looked at me. She had a really vibrant smile. I was seriously fucked up if a look like that stirred absolutely zero in me. “Oh, this is my first time having a girl hit on me.”

“I’m sure you’re absolutely swept off your feet by me coming out here to talk about the unattainable girl I wish I could have instead.”

“Very romantic,” she laughed. “I’m glad for the company, anyway. Let’s swim a little.”

We swam for a while, getting back up onto the beach and toweling off, and I felt my soul die a little mid-conversation when I saw the worst thing I could have seen, which—if you’d asked me a week ago what was the worst thing I could have seen, I probably would have said, like, oh, I don’t know, a crazed chainsaw murderer, maybe Godzilla rising from the waves, but those were small fries compared to the actual answer: Stella flirting with a lifeguard guy who very clearly matched her description of Jacob.

I blanked, standing there with the towel in my hair, and I didn’t even realize Jessica had asked me a question until she waved a hand in front of me, and I jumped.

“Shit—sorry—what?”

“I said any sign of your sex-happy friends,” she laughed.

“Oh. Uh. No. Not…” I shook my head. “Sorry. I dunno.”

“Something up?”

I hung my head. “Ugh… the—the blonde girl with the polka-dot bikini and glasses.”

Jessica followed my gaze, and she lit up at the sight of her. “Oh—that’s your girlfriend?”

“Jesus, don’t say that, you’ll kill me. That’s Stella. And the guy she’s been talking about wanting to hook up with.”

“Oh, yikes.”

I already wanted to sink into the sand and disappear, and it only got worse when Stella looked our way and lit up, waving the two of us towards her.

Like I wanted to sit there and listen to her flirt with Jacob?

Jesus fucking Christ, she probably wanted it to be a double date situation. Jessica laughed.

“She’s friendly.”

“Oh, god. Can you come with me? Just to give me an out? I could not sit there and listen to them flirt. I’m begging you.”

“It’s not in my nature to ignore someone in urgent need.” She paused. “Besides, I want to meet your girlfriend.”

“Ugh. Do not say things like that in front of her.”

She just smiled, making no promises. Ugh.

We padded over the sand to where Stella had a cocktail in hand and had pulled up a chair next to the lifeguard’s chair, and it was a good thing there were a few lifeguards on duty, because he was at least a little distracted with Stella hitting on him.

I couldn’t blame him. If I were in charge of protecting lives and Stella flirted with me, people would die.

“Hey, Allison,” Stella said, beaming. “This is your friend?”

“Hi… uh, hi, Stella. This is Jessica. We’ve been chatting.”

Stella grinned, flashing a perfect smile. I hated how perfect her lips were. “Jessica and Allison, huh?”

Jessica snorted. “Hi, Stella. Nice to meet you. Allison was talking about you.”

Ugh—I was going to kill her. Stella laughed. “Yeah? Did she say anything nice?”

I cut in before Jessica could. “Terrible things. The worst. A little bit of good, though. You know, like, how well your glasses work.”

Jessica laughed, relaxing her posture, one hip out. “She was saying how pretty you are.”

I should not have brought Jessica over. I should not have come out to the beach.

I should not have gotten out of bed today.

I stiffened, and Stella made it ten times worse by saying, “Well, don’t get too jealous, I offered to let her smack my ass and she said no, so I’m not getting between the two of you. ”

Jessica gave me the subtlest girl-what-the-fuck look I think she could manage, and I tried to give her the subtlest no, it’s not like that, I mean technically that did happen but it’s not how it sounds look that I could manage.

I don’t know how well that, uh, came across.

I laughed nervously. “It was, uh, very generous,” I said. “So, who’s your friend?”

She beamed, gesturing to the lifeguard and confirming my terrible suspicions. “This is Jacob,” she said. “I was just bugging him on duty.”

He raised a hand in a wave. “I don’t mind a little interruption. The job’s boring today, thankfully. Plus, some interruptions can be very enjoyable…”

I was going to be sick. Especially when Stella nudged the side of his chair with a, “ Some of them, huh? Any chance I get to know where I fall on that spectrum?”

“Hey, I mean, I haven’t run off. You know how easy it is to get out of a conversation as a lifeguard on duty? You can literally just run away and everybody will say oh, yes, what a hero, go save somebody. Take it as a mark of high esteem that I’m still parked here in my chair.”

Stella laughed. “Yeesh, when all a girl wants is a direct compliment.”

Jacob grinned, and it was Jessica who said, “Allison was paying you lots of direct compliments, but she’ll try to drown me if I tell you all of them…”

I considered drowning myself. Jacob put a hand up. “Hey, go for it. You’ve got a lifeguard on duty if she starts trying to drown you.”

“Oh, do,” Stella said. “I’m so fragile and I need constant reassurances.”

“Well, let’s see,” Jessica said, putting up one finger. “We covered the pretty one, she said—”

“That’s really more than enough,” I said, pulling Jessica’s arm down.

Some ten minutes later, when I’d seen more than enough of Stella and Jacob flirting and I’d escaped the conversation, we’d barely gotten out of earshot before I huffed and said to Jessica, “Are you trying to kill me? Or get me to kill you?”

She laughed. “She gave you permission to smack her ass.”

“I—I know—how that sounds. She was talking about how she does it as this joking thing with her friends, and when I didn’t quite seem to understand how that was a thing for friends, she was like, oh, try it, c’mon, you can do it to me. ”

“I think she might be a little less straight than you billed her as…”

“No—she’s not. She’s just— so straight that she can slap a girl’s ass and it’s still completely straight, because she’s that straight.”

She furrowed her brow. “Is that a thing?”

“Yes. Apparently. You and I are finding this out together.”

She laughed. “She was talking to you and about you more than she was with the guy she was supposedly flirting with. I don’t know…”

“Yes, because—because she’s my friend. That’s all.”

“Right… your friend who likes when you think she’s pretty. And who tells you to smack her ass.”

I really didn’t need her giving me false hopes like this. But here we all were, I guess.

We spread out our towels and sat down on the sand before long, and we made small talk as the wind rolled in off the waves, talking about her vacation and my working summer, and it was a nice distraction from the rattling, broken thoughts in my head—enough I was a little disappointed when her friends came back up off the surf and she was finally able to rejoin them, and I wound up on the beach alone, which wouldn’t have been a problem if I’d actually been alone—I’d had plenty of days enjoying a solo trip to the beach when I wanted some quiet, but I was currently accompanied by spiraling thoughts about Stella Valerie Bell.