I laugh a little. “Uh, definitely not,” I tell her, shaking my head. “He couldn’t even get me to jump off the cliffs when we went swimming earlier.”
That seems to have silenced her, though I don’t know why. She just stares across the short space at me with a sort of surprised yet vacant look.
Luke walks up then with a plate in each hand. He hands me one carefully and I place it on the top of my legs and thank him with a smile.
“What, are you afraid of heights, or something?” Kendra finally asks as Luke is sitting back down next to me.
I notice them glance at each other again—that’s starting to annoy me a little, not to mention making me very uncomfortable. But this time the look that passes between them is something more serious. Kendra’s eyes are slanted with confusion and maybe concern—if I knew her well enough to decipher her expressions, that’s what I’d call it: concern.
Luke looks as though he wants her to stop talking altogether.
I dig a plastic fork into my potato salad and poke it around in there to distract myself, until finally they look back at me with smiles as if no secret conversation had just passed between them right in front of me.
Finally I answer, “Yeah, actually I am pretty afraid of heights. Planes. Bridges. Ferris wheels. If it’s more than ten feet off the ground, I’m uncomfortable with it.”
Kendra stuffs the edge of the burger into her mouth, and I get the feeling it’s more to keep her from saying something Luke doesn’t want her to say. She chews happily, a big smile plain on her face as her jaw moves around.
Luke does the same, but he’s not smiling so much as he is beginning to look as uncomfortable as I feel.
I notice Seth, from the corner of my eye, talking to a dark-haired girl standing next to the back door. He tucks his index finger behind the elastic of her bikini bottom, just below her belly button, and snaps it back. She giggles flirtatiously and pulls away. My player radar is still working at least—I was beginning to think maybe it stopped somewhere between seeing Luke through my lens and meeting him for the first time. Could Luke be playing me? I had started to think that, but decided that he just doesn’t seem the type. But this Kendra girl—I’m convinced that something at least used to go on between the two of them, and I may not be Luke’s girlfriend, but it doesn’t make me any less anxious, or feel any less out of place.
I stand up and set my plate in my chair.
“Mind if I use the restroom?” I ask, looking down at Luke.
He gets up immediately, setting his plate in his chair like mine, and he takes my hand.
“Yeah, let me take you inside and show you where it’s at.”
We leave Kendra on the patio and I feel like I can’t get away from her fast enough. Luke’s hand tightens around mine as he leads me up the lanai and into the dimly lit house.
“I’m sorry about Kendra,” he says as we make our way through the kitchen and into the hall. “She’s harmless though, I promise. Just ignore her if she starts talking too much. That’s what I always do.”
Did you two used to have a thing? I want to ask, but feel like it’s not really any of my business.
“It’s all right,” I say, and we stop outside an open door. I hear the toilet running faintly inside. “I do want to get back to my hotel before it gets too late though, if you don’t mind.”
Luke’s face falls and his shoulders rise up and down with a sigh. I step up and place the palm of my hand on his hard chest and gaze into his eyes. He looks down at my hand and is just as surprised that it’s there as I am.
“I’m having a great time,” I try to reassure him. I let my hand slide away. “I’m just really tired after surfing and swimming. Honestly, I haven’t had this much excitement in one day in a long time.”
A grin passes over his lips. “I find that hard to believe with that crazy job of yours.”
I smile and press my back against the wall, trying to put some space between us. The smell of some kind of air freshener from the bathroom rises up into my nose briefly. I don’t like it. I’d rather be smelling Luke.
“Work excitement and vacation excitement are two entirely different things,” I say.
He squeezes his lips in thought, nodding in agreement. “Well, I’m glad you’re having a good time,” he says.
It gets quiet then and a moment lingers between us as we just stand there in the hallway, together and alone. It feels more like we’re quietly feeling out the other, wanting to try the one thing we’re both afraid it’s too soon for. We both know it. We can both see it in the other’s eyes—I want him to kiss me and he wants to oblige, but neither of us is willing to go that far yet. But the attraction is undeniable. Yes, I want him to kiss me. My skin tingles beneath the surface with his closeness and I can’t stand it. I mean I can. I quite like it. But I can’t believe the effect Luke is having on me so soon. He’s like a magnet and I can’t pull away from the attraction fast enough.
I look at the bathroom door, stirring the silence, and say, “Well, I need to … go in.”
He nods, his eyes softening as he steps away.
“I’ll be outside waiting for you,” he says. “And remember what I said about Kendra, all right?”
“All right.” I smile and slip inside the restroom. The second the door closes behind me, I let out my breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
Luke
Kendra is on my ass the second I walk back outside and sit down with my food, as I knew she’d be.