Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Marley looked between us distrustfully. It wasn’t until we were up in her room with the lights off that she asked, “Did you and Maddox hook up?”
“No,” I said quickly.
“Did he try?”
I hesitated. “No.”
“I’m shocked. Be careful with him, okay? You know he’s in love with you.”
I hid my secret smile. “Yeah, I’ll be careful.”
She didn’t say anything else, but I spent way too long awake, imagining what it would be like to kiss someone who was actually in love with me.
5
SAVANNAH
SEPTEMBER 1, 2007
“Man, it’s too busy to be at the beach.”
Two years after that hope-filled spring break, I flopped backward on the towel and brought my wide-brimmed hat over my face. It made it so I couldn’t see the hundreds of people that had congregated on Tybee Island, but it did nothing to block the noise. The beach was my happy place, and they were ruining it.
“Words I never thought I’d hear out of your mouth,” Maddox said.
“I don’t like it when it’s this busy.”
We’d spent all summer with Lila and Marley at the beach. But they were safely away at their respective colleges. It was just me and Maddox left behind. We wouldn’t start at Savannah College of Art and Design until next week. And Labor Day on Tybee was packed.
Maddox chuckled. “You love people, Jos.”
“True. But tourists,” I groused.
“Fuck tourists.”
I smirked and pushed back my hat to catch a glimpse of him in a beach chair with his sketchbook balanced on one knee. Charcoal darkened his fingertips, and his eyes were intent on the page. Sometimes glancing up at our surroundings before dropping back down.
“What are you working on today?”
He caught my look, and his cheeks flushed. “Nothing.”
“Your fingers are dipped in black. That’s not nothing.”
He shrugged. “It sort of sucks.”
But when he flipped the page, it was far from nothing, and it definitely did not suck. It was a perfect rendering of me lying on the towel. One leg propped up, the other flat, the line of my exposed stomach, the curve of my shoulder. Even the hat obscuring my face. The background empty of tourists. Waves crashing in deceptively close.
My breath hitched. “Wow, Maddox. That’s incredible.”
“Nah, it’s nothing. Just brushing up on my skills before I get into drawing classes this semester.”
When I’d gotten into SCAD, I’d sat on the floor of my kitchen and sobbed with relief. There were great film programs all over the country, but I’d wanted SCAD more than anything. I called Marley to let her know, and Maddox was in the room. He’d gotten his acceptance letter the same day. With a full scholarship, of course. Dad had gone apoplectic at the price of tuition to an art private school for me, but I was lucky that my mother had agreed to pay for my education. Not that it made Dad any happier. We’d been living off of my mother’s child support checks long enough. I knew Dad wished that he could support us more fully. That we didn’t have to rely on Mom. But my shitty grades hadn’t gotten me a full ride anywhere.
“You’re probably already way ahead of everyone anyway.”
Maddox shrugged. Eternally modest. “Maybe.”
“You took visual effects classes at SCAD the last two semesters,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Not for credit,” he mumbled. I flung my hat at him. He caught it with a laugh. “What?”
“You need some of your sister’s confidence.”
“Ah, you think I should walk around and tell everyone that I’m smarter than them?”
“Sometimes!”
Maddox shut the sketchbook and tossed it back into his bag, dropping the charcoal at the bottom. “It doesn’t make me any better than anyone else. And I’m not trying to cure an incurable disease, like Mars.”
“No, but I bet you’re going to do just as much in whatever pursuit you put your mind to,” I argued. “You got a perfect SAT and ACT score. You could have gone wherever you wanted and cured diseases too.” He wrinkled his nose. “Exactly. That’s not what you want. It’s not what I want either.”
“You need to pass your science classes to do that, Jos.”
I smacked his leg. “Hey! I passed.”
With a C, but it was a pass. Math and science were not my forte. Debate? I’d been awesome at that. And drama? So much better than numbers.
He snorted. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. If you’re done, then I’m craving some Leopold’s.”
I grinned broadly. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
After throwing everything in my bag and tossing my towel over my shoulder, I followed Maddox to his truck. We put everything in the backseat, and then Maddox opened my door for me. I slid against the hot brown leather, hissing as the heated seat burned my bare skin.
“Sorry. Sorry.” Maddox dropped a towel across the seat. I slid it under my butt and sank back down.