Chapter 31
THE PRINCE OF TIDES
I must have passed out shortly after my unanswered prayer the night before, maybe even as early as ten o’clock, so when I woke up, it was still completely dark outside. I figured it had to be the middle of the night, so I tried to close my eyes and get back to sleep. But the extra shuteye, combined with my humiliation over what I’d said, kept me wide awake, tossing and turning for the next hour. When I saw a hint of grey seeping through the window blinds, I figured morning wasn’t too far off, and decided to get out of bed.
My hair was an absolute rat’s nest because I’d never gotten around to blow-drying it the night before, so I gathered the whole mass into a ponytail. I threw on a pair of black biker shorts and a chartreuse green tank top before tip-toeing out of my room.
I had to pass by Trip’s door, so I did so as quietly as possible. But at the first creak on the top step, I heard him whisper, “Layla?”
I stopped dead in my tracks, hoping that he’d go back to sleep and leave me to go on my merry, mortified way, but of course I was having no such luck.
“Layla. What are you doing?”
I spat out a silent dammit, and took the two steps back to stand in his doorway. He was lying in his bed, the sheet tangled around his hips, his bare chest exposed, an arm propped behind his head. God. Even at five-something in the morning, the boy managed to look irresistible.
I could barely look him in the eye. “I can’t sleep. I thought I’d go for a run on the beach.”
There. Good enough. I managed to speak to Trip without blurting out any further avowals of my undying love.
I started to turn when he whipped the sheet off and said, “Hey, give me a minute. I’ll go with you.”
Shit. “Oh, okay. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Since I didn’t have to worry about waking him up anymore, I allowed myself to pee and brush my teeth before heading down into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass of water and was just finishing it when Trip showed up, dressed in grey nylon basketball shorts and a white T-shirt. I didn’t allow myself to speak and just headed out the back door, Trip following on my heels. We walked across the street and up to the boardwalk, the hum from the streetlamps offering the only sound between us. But once we started down the walkway to the beach, I looked toward the ocean and couldn’t help the, “Oh!” that escaped from my lips.
The sun was just starting to rise, offering a hazy orange glow along the horizon, shooting off purple and pink streaks into the rest of the ashy sky. In the minutes it took us to reach the water’s edge, the sky had lightened considerably, the first edge of sun making its way out of the sea.
It was happening so quickly, this dawning of a new day, and my only instinct was to plant myself down to watch every second of it.
Trip sat down with me, and I wished things were different between us at that moment. All I could think was that I had possibly ruined everything that could have happened between us because I just couldn’t keep my big mouth shut.
I tried to push those thoughts aside and just enjoy the view. But having Trip sitting right there with me was proving to stress me out, in spite of the peaceful sight in front of my eyes. Finally, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pretend there wasn’t an elephant between us.
“So, what, is everything gonna be all weird between us now?”
Trip gave me a confused look and asked, “Why? Because we...”
“No. Because I... Because of what I said after.”
His head dropped down and his shoulders started shaking.
Glad to see he finds this so funny. Not.
“Jesus, Layla. You think too much. You were in a moment. You think I never blurted out something stupid in the middle of having sex?”
I didn’t know whether to be grateful that Trip thought my confession was no big deal, curious because he’d mentioned having sex like it was an everyday thing, or angry because he thought what I’d said was “something stupid”. I decided to just run with the out he had given me.
I started laughing, even though I was sort of dying a little inside. “Really? Like what? Tell me something you’ve said.”
“Uh-uh. No way.”
The majestic sunrise was only a blip in my peripheral vision, my main focus trained on Trip’s reddening face. Holy crap, was he blushing? That made me start laughing for real. “Trip, tell me!”
“A gentleman never kisses and tells.”
“Oh, shut up. You’re no gentleman.”
“True, but few people know that.”
“Tell me, Chester!”
I nudged into him and he nudged back harder, knocking me off balance and forcing my elbow into the sand to stop my fall. He promptly pounced on top of me, laying me out flat on my back anyway, despite the efforts to save myself. He grabbed my wrists, pinning them into the sand next to my head and straddled my chest, his face hovering over mine. “Drop it, Warren.”
“Warren? What are you, Rymer now?”
“That may be the worst thing anyone’s ever said to me ever.”
I started laughing, in spite of the weight of him practically sitting on my chest. “Ow. I can’t breathe. Trip, you gotta get off.”
He took mercy and rolled off of me, landing his butt on the beach. I got up on my knees, pretending to catch my breath and dust myself off before yelling, “Sucker!” and dive-bombing into him, throwing him backwards into the sand. He used the momentum of my tackle and rolled us both over, pinning me flat on my back again. Without the use of my arms, I was sputtering my hair out of my face and trying to spit the sand out of my mouth.
“Bleh! You jerk! No fair, you’re bigger than I am.”
“Yep. Stronger, too. Don’t ever forget it.”
“Trip! I think I have sand in my eye. Let me up.”
“Oh, right, you big faker. Think I’m falling for that again?”
“No, Trip, seriously. I think I have sand in my eye.”
He got up and I stood, brushing out my hair and clothes, making a big, phony show of trying to blink some non-existent particles out of my eyes. While he was busy dusting himself off, I went for a surprise tackle, diving right for him... just as he rolled out of the way, landing me face-down on the beach.
I cracked up, fully breaded now from head to toe, as Trip stood over me laughing. “You are the worst actress ever. Like I was really going to-”
His words were cut off as I grabbed his ankle and tugged, sending him ass-over-teakettle next to me. He looked stunned for a second, before he bared his teeth in a snarl, and I knew I was in deep shit. I got on my feet and made a run for it, Trip following right behind. I only got a few yards from him before he caught up, hip-checking me down to the ground once more. I tried to grab his ankle again, but he jumped back, then flopped down on his side next to me anyway.
“You just don’t give up, do you, Warren?”
“Never, Rymer.”
We were both cracking up, the beautiful sunrise barely registering on my radar. Nothing on God’s green Earth was more beautiful than making Trip Wilmington laugh like that. How could any stupid sunrise possibly compare? After we’d caught our breath, dusted ourselves off and salvaged the last remnants of the brilliant dawn before us, I realized Trip and me were going to be just fine.
All I had to do was keep my trap shut from then on.
By the time we got back to the house, everyone else had gotten out of bed and was busy packing up to go. We had to check out by eleven and not only were we tasked with gathering all our personal belongings, but the place was an absolute mess to boot.
Lisa and I were cleaning out the fridge when Rymer staggered in, some random trollop at his side. He walked her to the back door, told her he’d call and kissed her goodbye. I shot Lisa a “whatsgoingon” look, but she was too busy trying to contain the giggle that threatened to escape her throat. I must have missed quite a show the night before.
Rymer closed the door and gave an exaggerated stretch. “Ahh. Good morning, ladies!”
Lisa raised her eyebrows at him. “Um, good morning, Rymer.”
He saw the look on her face and asked, “What? You’re the only one allowed to get laid around here?”
Lisa gave a huff. “Date rape isn’t ‘getting laid’. In fact, it’s a crime.”
We started laughing while Rymer floundered for a comeback. We were both surprised when he came up with, “Hey, fuck you, DeSanto.”
“Whoa! Hey, hang on there, pal,” she started back. “I was only busting your chops. Since when do you get so pissy about it?”
“You’ve been riding me all weekend, Lisa. Enough is enough already, okay?”
He stormed out of the room, leaving Lisa and me completely wordless and flummoxed.
“What was that?” I asked.
Lisa bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know. You think I actually hurt his feelings?”
“I didn’t know he had any.”
That made us both laugh, but I knew she had a case of the guilts going on. “I have been kind of rough on him lately. Maybe I’d better go talk to him.” She got up humbly to leave, but not before offering, “Jeez. Next time Rymer picks up some random skank from the boardwalk, remind me not to comment on it.”
I just shook my head.
I don’t know what Lisa said to Rymer during their conversation, but by the time we were loading up our cars, those two must have found a way to make nice. He actually helped us carry our bags out to my Mustang and loaded everything into the trunk for us. Wow. Maybe Rymer needed to get laid more often. Having sex seemed to turn him into an almost normal person.