3. Savannah
1877 Words
3
SAVANNAH
MARCH 29, 2005
“You made it!” Lila cried. My best friend dashed out of the front door of Marley’s house, throwing her arms around me.
I laughed and caught her head-on. “I made it!”
The person who completed our trio, Marley, hopped down the front sidewalk. “It’s about time.”
“It’s a four-hour drive!” I shoved at her shoulder and then pulled her into a hug.
“You should have come last night.”
“I wanted to, but you bitches were busy.” I shrugged.
It hadn’t been my fault that I couldn’t drive down to Savannah from my home in Atlanta the day before. My spring break had started Friday afternoon, and Dad had said I could leave whenever I wanted. But Marley had been working at the dance studio all weekend, and Lila’s mom, Deb, had made her be involved in all the Catholic church activities for Easter. Deb had started working for the church, and she’d forced Lila into the all-girls Catholic school, St. Catherine’s, when tuition was waived. Lila wasn’t even Catholic, but it was the best school in town.
“Yeah, yeah,” Marley said. “At least you’re here now.”
“And I am ready to get down to Tybee.”
Marley shivered. “It’s not even going to be warm enough to tan.”
“Does it look like I care?”
“Maddox is already there with his friends,” Lila said as she tugged her long blonde hair up into a ponytail. “Get changed, and we’ll go.”
“Are we taking the minivan?” I asked. We joked about the car, but as much as Marley hated that Gran and Gramps had given her a minivan for her sixteenth birthday, she loved having her own wheels.
Marley rolled her eyes as she stomped back toward her house. “Can’t we take your BMW?”
“And get sand everywhere?” I scoffed. “No thanks.”
Marley was muttering under her breath about where I could stick sand. Lila caught my eye, and we both burst into laughter. I lugged out the duffel bag I’d filled mostly with bathing suits and cosmetics and then followed, shooting out a text to Dad.
Just got to Marley’s house. Love you.
Are you going to see your mom?
Not if I can help it.
Your choice, Jos. Check in now and then.
Sure Dad.
I pocketed my phone with a grin. My dad never cared that much where I was or what I was doing. Not when it meant he got to spend the entire week of spring break in his studio, creating his precious artwork.
“Where’s Gran?” I asked once I dropped my bag in Marley’s room.
Marley shrugged. “She went somewhere to volunteer. Gave me a twenty and told me to have my phone nearby at all times or I was grounded and you couldn’t stay here.”
“Sounds right.”
I was used to Gran’s overprotective behavior. Marley and Maddox had been raised by their grandma and grandpa, and they were strict. I still thought it was better than my situation, which included zero adult supervision. Or more accurately … zero adults who gave a single f**k what I was doing at any given point in time.
But I certainly wasn’t going to break any rules. Deb would probably let me stay with Lila, but it might be just as likely that she’d send me to stay with my mother. Deb was eternally charitable and never believed any of the baser rumors about my mother. I wasn’t sure which ones I thought were true, but I knew that I didn’t want to see her if I didn’t have to.
So, I changed out of my travel clothes and into a bikini and a teeny-tiny cover-up. Then, the three of us piled into Marley’s minivan and careened toward Tybee Island.
“I still wish we could have made the Florida beach trip work,” Lila said.
Marley pursed her lips and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Tell me about it.”
“One day, we’ll all make the trip.”
“I doubt Gran will ever let me go on an unsupervised trip to Florida. I’ll be thirty, and she’ll still be dictating my life.”
I snorted. “And I thought I was the drama queen. We’ll do it in college or something. We’ll have just as much fun hanging out this week. We can go to Tybee every day. It might not be as warm as Florida, but we will make it work.”
Marley shot me an appreciative look. I was just glad to spend the time with my two best friends. The girls back in Atlanta were all at Florida beaches unsupervised. I could have gone with any of them on the trip, but I hadn’t wanted to go without Mars and Lila.
A half hour later, through the marshy islands that surrounded Savannah, we made it to Tybee Island. It wasn’t quite Florida, but it had miles of sandy, pebbled beaches and a boardwalk. We used to beg Gran to drive us out here every summer to build sandcastles and devour low-country boil at a local beachside shack. Just thinking about it made my mouth water.
Marley tossed me her phone. “Check where Maddox parked.”
I scrolled to the text chat with Maddox. “13th Street.”
Marley pulled down 13th a few minutes later. She parked behind her brother’s pickup truck. I hopped out of the minivan and went to the machine to feed it cash for our stay.
The three of us headed toward the bridge that passed over the dunes leading to the beach. I grabbed for my Ray-Bans as the sun beat down on our shoulders. We were lucky that it was unseasonably warm. It had been in the sixties all weekend, but it was high seventies today and even supposed to hit the eighties tomorrow.
We trekked down the beach until we found Maddox throwing a Frisbee with a few guys I’d never met before. But I barely paid them any mind. My eyes were locked on Maddox.
I’d known him since we had been kids. I’d always known he was into me, and I flirted with him relentlessly because of that fact, but I wasn’t supposed to have any feelings toward Maddox. He was Marley’s twin, and we’d practically grown up together. But something had happened between coming into town for his sixteenth birthday over Halloween and today. He was … hot.
He was shirtless and in a pair of cerulean-blue board shorts that stopped just above his knee. My eyes traveled down the washboard abs that I’d never seen look this good before. His mess of brown curls bounced as he ran forward and tossed a Frisbee to one of his friends. He ran a hand back through his hair, and I saw a defined bicep before he caught sight of me.
Maddox stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes lit up as they traveled over my bare shoulders, down my skimpy, strapless cover-up, to my long, tan legs. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, dumbstruck.
Then, the Frisbee hit him squarely in his chest.
He guffawed as he faltered backward a step, and the Frisbee landed in the sand. My hand flew to my mouth. His friends, Marley, and Lila all laughed.
“Pay attention, dipshit,” one of his friends called, jogging over to him.
Maddox rubbed his chest reflexively. “Maybe call my name next time.”
“I did,” the guy said. He slapped him on the back and picked up the Frisbee, shooting it back out.
Maddox headed over to us as we laid our towels out. I stripped out of my dress, leaving me in nothing but my hot-pink string bikini. Maddox was staring again, his mouth slightly agape.
“You’re going to let in flies,” Marley snapped at him, brushing her own dark curls out of her face.
He quickly shut his mouth, a hint of pink at his cheeks. “You made it to town.”
“Yep. It was an easy drive.”
“I’m glad.”
His friend followed him, wrapping an arm across Maddox’s shoulders and leaning forward. “You going to introduce me to your girl?”
“She’s not …” Maddox started, eyes wide. “She’s, uh, just …”
“Philip Kearney,” Marley chided.
Lila knocked her hip into him. “Surely, you’ve met our friend Josie? She’s here every summer.”
“Oh, this is Josie,” he said with a smirk in Maddox’s direction.
Maddox’s jaw worked. “Hey, Josie.”
“Maddox.” I smiled at him.
I wasn’t embarrassed by everything going on. As much as Marley hated people noticing her for anything but her big brain, I was perfectly okay with these guys stumbling all over themselves over me.
Even Maddox.
“Let’s get back to the game!” one of the other guys called.
Philip yanked on Maddox’s arm. “Come on, dude.”
Maddox met my gaze for a split second longer before following his friend back into the sand.
I flopped down onto my towel and spread suntan oil with minimal SPF all over my body. Marley still looked irritated, but she was busy putting up an umbrella, so that she could promptly hide her soon-to-be lobster skin.
Lila snagged the tanning oil from me and slathered up her legs. “I know what that look means.”
“What look?” I asked conspiratorially.
But I was still watching Maddox run up and down the beach.
Lila flipped the bottle at me. “You know how Maddox feels about you.”
“Do I?”
“Don’t even think about it, Josie,” Marley said, sitting down underneath the umbrella and dropping her giant beach hat over her curls.
“Think about what?”
“That’s my brother. My twin brother. And I know how you are with boys.”
I put my hand to my chest. “Moi?”
Lila snorted. “Love ’em and leave ’em is practically your motto.”
“Do not break my poor little brother’s heart. He has all that artist angst. I could not deal with it.” Marley’s eye roll was definitely exaggerated, but her words were for real. “He’d probably write a song about you.”
I sighed. “Okay. I will stay away from him,” I promised. And flirt my ass off. “But I can still appreciate that he’s gotten hot this year.”
Marley groaned, and Lila just cackled.
I tied my black hair into a messy bun on the top of my head and lay back against the towel. The sand was warm. The sky was blue. The sound of the waves lulled me. This wasn’t the spring break I’d planned, but I was at the beach with my friends and had cute boys to look at. I couldn’t ask for more.
Except for maybe a cute boy to kiss …
- Writer
