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When he says Oliver, it comes out like Ooh-li-vuh, and I try not to giggle like a delighted schoolgirl. Which would obviously convince him I’m insane, so it’s a good thing neither of us are interested or available. The other guy—Oliver—hesitates a moment, then sits down next to his brother, still looking grumpy about it. At least he’s on the other end of the blanket, so I don’t have to try to make conversation with someone who obviously doesn’t want to be here.
“I’m Meghan,” my cousin says. “This is Sky.”
“Hi,” I say. “Um, nice to meet you?”
It comes out like a question, and my awkward ass starts blushing like an idiot to top it off. It’s a good thing I have Todd, since I couldn’t flirt to save my life.
“Pleasure, I’m sure,” says Oliver. His accent is even stronger, his voice cool and smooth, but he doesn’t look like he’s ever been pleased in his life. He’s clearly the stick in the mud of the two of them, while his brother got all the charisma.
“You staying around here then?” asks the friendly one.
I drift into my thoughts while he and Meghan talk and flirt, since I’m spared having to make conversation. The girl who was with him doesn’t seem to mind, and she wanders down by the water and offers Lily a rock for her collection.
“Hello, dreamy,” Meghan says, elbowing me. I realize she must have said something while I was tuning her out and studiously avoiding looking at the guys so they wouldn’t consider it an invitation and talk to me, and therefore realize I am socially DOA. “Do you want to swim?”
“Um, no? Are you crazy? It was literally snowing a few days ago, and it’s barely sixty degrees out.”
“I’m going in,” says the friendly guy, whose name I missed. He stands and strips off his hoodie, dropping it onto our blanket.
He grins down at me when he catches me checking out his muscles and the heart tattoo on his shoulder with a banner that says “Mom” on it. I quickly look away, but not before I notice the inside corner of one of his front teeth has a tiny chip in it that gives him a kind of roguish edge that offsets the cheesy tattoo. He seems delighted by my admiration, but before he can say anything, Meghan stands and drops her pants like she does this every day.
I want to blush for her, but she shows not a shred of embarrassment as she peels her shirt over her head. She doesn’t do it in a sexy way, like Daria would, but the guy gapes at her anyway. She tosses her shirt onto the pile of clothes and follows him down to the water in her bra and panties.
“My brother’s a bit mad,” Oliver says, a small smile ghosting across his lips, the first trace of emotion I’ve seen on him besides annoyance and surliness. He has a little freckle above the corner of his mouth, and his accent makes me as mental as his brother’s.
“Are you guys, like, identical?” I ask, since all semblance of intelligent life seems to have floated out of my body. They’re clearly identical, and probably everyone they meet asks the exact same thing, the same way people feel the need to say, “Wow, you’re tall,” when they meet me.
“No,” he says frowning. Then he glances at me. “Just physically.”
He cracks the tiniest smile, and a little flutter darts through my belly. It’s not a flock of swarming birds or an all-out Monarch migration that blots out the sun like I get with Chase, but a solo butterfly is definitely beating its wings inside me. It’s not threatening to knock me out with a smile that could be weaponized, but it’s there. It’s probably just the accent, or maybe the color of his eyes, the strangest color I’ve ever seen, like ocean water after the sun sets when a hazy purple takes over rightbefore dark, or the dimple right below the corner of his mouth, in an exact line with the freckle.
He gives me a funny look and then drops his gaze, and I realize I’m staring. Blood rushes to my face, and I look down too.
“Sorry,” I say. “I just, uh, I like your accent.”
He chuckles, a quiet sound that rumbles in his chest and dies before it reaches his mouth. “I like your name,” he says.
“Me too,” I say. “I mean your name. Obviously. I don’t likemyname. That would be weird. Or I guess it’s not weird but… I’m just going to stop talking now.”
My face has turned to an inferno, and I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. I don’t even like the name Oliver particularly, and I’ve never met someone with that name, but suddenly I remember that Chase said if he was a girl, he’d want to kiss someone named Oliver, and now I’m thinking about them kissing because apparently I’m a pervert as well as a complete social failure.
I give up on conversation and watch my cousin and his brother finally duck all the way into the water. They splash around laughing and dunking each other under, like they’re just taking a casual dip and it’s not freaking December. I cannot even fathom taking off my clothes and getting in icy cold water with a complete stranger, no matter how charming or foreign he might be. I feel totally awkward just sitting here, not able to think of a single thing to say, and I have all my clothes on. The silence seems to stretch on and on forever, until it’s so thick I could choke on it.
I am literally in pain by the time the swimmers finally emerge, covered in goose bumps and shivering. Their lips are blue from the cold, but they’re both laughing through chattering teeth as they return.
“How long are you staying?” Oliver asks when they’re a few steps away.
“My god, what a rush,” his brother says cheerfully. “You’ve got to try it before we leave, Ollie.”
“Aye. I’ve got to get back,” Oliver says, seeming to forget that he asked me a question that I didn’t have time to answer. “You coming?”
“Wait for me, yeah?” His brother turns to Meghan. “Want to meet up before you leave then?”
She gives him herOnlyWordshandle while I gather up our things and pretend no one’s there. When I’m done, Oliver is standing there awkwardly, his hands shoved into his hoodie pocket, watching me like he’s waiting for something. Since I don’t know if he expects me to give him my contact info or answer his earlier question, I do neither.
I’m cool like that.
“I, uh, I better get my sister,” I say. “It was nice talking to you.”
