I wake up to the tapping on my leg, “Allie. Wake up, Sweetie.”

I open one eye and see Mom wearing a yellow dress and a big ass beach hat.

I sit up, “Mom?”

She sits on my bed, “We’re going boating with some people we met last night. Are you okay staying here with Alex?”

Alex’s plan worked. They’re not dragging us along.

I smile, “Of course. We’ll be out having fun on the beach later anyway. Maybe meet some people too.”

She smiles and gives me a peck on the cheek, “I have my phone on me, but I might not get a decent signal while we’re at sea.”

I wave a hand at her, “It’s fine Mom. We can manage.”

She leaves the room and I lie back down on the bed grinning.

#

I wake up to someone tapping my leg again. I sit up, “What?”

He chuckles, “all that work and pretending, and for what? So, you can lock yourself in here and sleep all day?”

I lie back down and stretch. 

I yawn, “It’s a vacation, Alex. We’re not supposed to do anything.”

He sits on my bed, “Well, I promised our parents we would do something today. I don’t think they’d be too convinced if you’re all pale and shit.”

I sit back up, “I’m planning to swim in the pool later.”

He shakes his head, “No. C’mon, we need to get some tan.”

He pulls at my arm, “It’s almost noon and you haven’t had anything to eat yet.”

Oh my God. He’s worse than Mom.

But he’s got a point about getting that tan, so I stand and pushed him outside the door, “Give me five minutes.”

#

“Okay, this is ridiculous.”

I squint at Alex who’s standing beside me. “What now? I’m getting a tan.”

I’m lying down on the beach reading a book.

He sits down beside me and looks out to the ocean.

“Would you look at that. It’s an amazing view and you’re reading-“, he checks the cover of the book I’m reading, “’Flipped’?”

I yank the book away from him, “It’s one of my favorites.”

He sighs, “What’s it about?”

I flip over so I can get some tan on my front, “It’s about a girl named Juli, she has a huge crush on her neighbor Bryce. It was love at first sight. But Bryce is annoyed with Juli and he doesn’t really like her. Juli gives her eggs, he throws them out.”

He chuckles, “Eggs?”

“Shh! Anyway, Juli finds out that Bryce isn’t as nice as she thought he was. So, she decides to move on. And then it flipped, Bryce develops feelings for Juli.”

I look over at him and find that he’s smirking at me.

I scoff, “Forget about it.”

He chuckles, “What? I didn’t even say anything.”

I cover my face with the book, “You think it’s silly.”

He lifts the book, “I don’t think that.”

I looks at the cover of the book, “I think I’ll borrow it actually. I want to see what’s the deal with those eggs.”

I laugh and I nod to him, “You’ll like it.”

I look at him as he reads the back of the book, “Why do you act like a dumb jock?”

He chuckles, “What? Where did that come from?”

“I know you’re acting dumb in school. Hanging out with those dumb jocks.”

He sighs, “What makes you think I’m not one of them?”

“I know you’re not. I almost always catch you reading some book in you room. While other guys our age waste time on video games, you keep your bookcase full. And I’m not talking about novels, you read heavy stuff. Jane also brags about how smart you are, but you pretend you’re not. Why?”

He shrugs, “Actually, I hang out with those ‘dumb jocks’ as you so eloquently put it because they’re fun to be around. I don’t really care what people assume because the people that matter to me know who I really am. I don’t feel the need to correct people’s assumptions, because I’m comfortable in my own skin. I know the truth and that’s what’s important.”

He sighs, “And can you imagine how crazy it would be if they knew I have a functioning brain? Everyone would think I’m perfect.”

I roll my eyes, “Oh God. Your head would explode.”

He laughs and looks down at me.

He clears his throat and looks away, “Uh. I think you’re good now. All tanned and stuff.”

I look down and realize I’ve been talking to him in all my tanned glory. I’m wearing a two-piece bikini, but I removed my shorts before I lied down on the beach. 

I wrap a beach towel on my body, “Oh yeah. Thanks.”

I sit up beside Alex and look over the water.

“So, what are we going to do now?” I ask.

“Maybe we should go grab some dinner?”

I nod, “Dinner sounds good.”

We go to a diner nearby and have a relatively quiet meal. We talk about school and all the different girls Alex used to date.

Alex is good looking and popular so it’s natural that he’d be a magnet for hot-blooded females. We’re walking back to the house when I ask, “But seriously? Why Krista? She’s evil incarnate.”

He laughs, “Hey. Krista wasn’t that bad. She’s just raised differently.”

I knew the rumors about Alex, I’ve heard that he breaks up with all his exes in a nice way. That he always becomes friends with girls he dated because he treated them well. I’ve seen girls cry in the restroom talking about how he broke their hearts and that they felt like they’ll never get another guy like him.

It’s such a contrast to how I’ve gotten to know him. He’s just a jerk to me honestly.

I scoff, “Krista was so mean to me back in grade school. Much meaner to me than you.”

He laughs, “She’s different. Yeah.”

I’ve been pressing him about his exes, and he wouldn’t even say anything bad about them. Turns out, he’s actually a gentleman. Well, to his exes maybe.

I grunt, “Oh and she looks so innocent too. Those dimples! I hate those dimples. It makes her look sweet.”

He chuckles, “Well, the devil comes in many forms.”

I nod and laugh, “They do.”

Mom opens the door and sees us laughing. 

She smiles, “Did you kids have fun today?”

I look at Alex and smile, “Yeah. We did.”