Flirting with Boys by Abbott, Hailey (books to read for beginners .TXT) 📕

“I’m not!” Devon giggled. “Whoops!” The silver flask slipped from her hand, tipping its precious contents into the sand. “Are you worried someone might try and take advantage of me, Nick?” She leaned over to whisper something. Celeste couldn’t hear what she was saying but she could take an educated guess.

“Maybe later,” Nick told Devon.

“Oh, but I—” The rest of Devon’s words were lost as she murmured close to his ear. Nick glanced over at Celeste and Travis. Celeste couldn’t believe it—he actually looked a little shocked. Amazing that Devon could actually make this wildly inappropriate jerk blush. She never would have thought it possible. “Um, okay,” Nick told Devon. “See you guys later.”

“Yeah! Have fun,” Travis said. Celeste rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Come on!” Devon was on her feet, tugging at Nick’s hand. He got up and a grin split his face as he looked at Travis and Celeste.

“Don’t wait up, kids!” he said. They disappeared into the darkness just beyond the ring of light cast by the campfire.

Travis laughed. “Maybe that guy’s not as bad as I thought.”

Celeste watched their retreating backs. Whatever.

Nick could hang out with whomever he wanted. Now that she didn’t have to worry about keeping Travis and Nick apart anymore, her summer had just gotten a lot easier, she thought. So why did she have a lump in her stomach?

Chapter Twelve

Several days after the beach party, Celeste was

crouched, struggling to unlock the storage cupboard at the base of the towel station. Top on her list this morning was to refill the station, but when she finally got the sticky cupboard door open, she found an awful mess. The cupboard was a stew of jumbled-up towels, water bottles, and the sample tubes of sunscreen they were always handing out. Celeste sighed. She sat down cross-legged on the deck and started pulling everything out. The hot morning sun on her back and neck put her in a kind of trance as she steadily folded and stacked the eighty thousand white Pinyon towels. Only a few guests were out by the pool, and a sense of peace and quiet lay over the place. The only sounds were the dry rustle of the palmetto fronds overhead and the gentle splashing of the turquoise pool water as a sleek, dark-haired woman stroked from one side of the pool to the other, over and over.

“Hey,” a voice said from behind her. Celeste turned her head around so fast she could hear her neck crack.

Nick sank onto a lounge chair next to her and stretched his legs out in front of him and his arms over his head.

“Ahh,” he said, letting out his breath. “This is nice.”

Celeste resumed her folding. “I haven’t seen you around for the last few days,” she said, watching her hands instead of his face. “I thought maybe you’d gotten bored of the country life and hitched back to L.A. or something,” she teased.

Nick grinned without opening his eyes. “Nah. I’m starting to actually like it here.”

“Wow. Thanks for the glowing compliment.” Celeste smacked him with a towel.

“Hey! No abusing the guests. Devon and I have been doing a ton of work on the screening party. We still don’t have a theme though.” He looked around suddenly, as if something had occurred to him. “Where’s your Neanderthal boyfriend?” he asked.

“Dude, I thought you guys were getting along.”

Celeste piled the first stack of folded towels into a corner of the storage cupboard.

“Oh, we are. Just as long as he understands that I like my face arranged just how it is.” Nick dropped his head back on the lounge and closed his eyes.

“So why don’t you have a theme yet?” Celeste asked.

“Are you and Devon too busy exploring each other’s minds?” She grinned at him, getting to her feet and lining the water bottles up in a neat row on the top of the towel station. The sun was beating down on the back of her neck and she lifted her hair up. She looked around and caught Nick staring at her. He dropped his gaze fast and tucked his hands behind his head again.

“I don’t know—we’ve tossed around a million ideas.

Doing a color theme—like the Truman Capote Black and White Ball. Or maybe something with a jungle theme. I kind of like that—you know, tigers strolling around, bird noises over the speakers.”

Celeste considered this. “I don’t know if that would give the party the right …” She searched around for the word. “… ambiance—you know what I mean?”

Nick nodded. He swung his legs around the side of the chair and planted his feet on the deck. “Hey, toss me a water bottle, would you?”

Celeste flipped one of the cool clear bottles over to him and he caught it in one hand. He unscrewed the top, took a long drink, and then stopped. He held up the bottle and examined it.

“What?” Celeste asked.

“Hey,” he said slowly. “What about a water theme?

Everything water … like all blue and white and transparent things.”

Celeste thought for a minute and then nodded. “I think that could work. You mean like see-through blue fabric, maybe, and, like, fancy waters all laid out somewhere?”

“Yeah!” Nick said, leaping to his feet. “And we could get one of those clear dance floors that goes over the pool water.”

“That would be awesome.” Celeste was catching

some of his excitement.

“Yeah, everyone would be, like, walking on water.”

Nick reached out and grabbed Celeste around the waist, twirling her dangerously close to the pool.

She gasped. His face seemed very close above hers and his arms were tight around her waist. She giggled.

All of a sudden, her feet left the ground as he swept her up and tipped her backwards in an exaggerated dip.

“Nick!” she yelled, still laughing. She faux-struggled to release herself and took a clumsy swing at his shoulder.

He pulled her in tighter.

“Ow! Is this how you always treat your dance partners?” He grinned, swinging her back up as if she weighed nothing at all and setting her on