Well, I guess it's fair to say I'm glad I wasn't Jeanelle when we were introduced to Logan Carter. It was killing me not to laugh out loud at her, tripping over her words and squeezing the water out of her shirt as she was talking to him. Her face turned a little red, and she kept touching her phone in her back pocket like she was willing Will into calling right at that very second, to save her from the most awkward of awkward conversations. I, of course, was flawless in this area. Years of experience had given me confidence around guys, and I'd learned how to avoid blushing. It was a perfect system.
***
"Girls, this is Logan," Mom had said, gesturing to a tall, tan guy with dark shaggy hair falling around his brilliant blue eyes. His smile made me want to smile like a Cheshire cat. There wasn't one imperfection on his entire body.
As I was busy staring at this gorgeous work of art, Jeanelle was standing a few feet away from us, drying her hair with a small white towel. The expression on her face was nothing but pure humiliation. I didn't blame her – shorts were soaking wet, and if you looked closely you could kinda of see her blue polka dot underwear (Rebecca had very conveniently pointed that out as soon as Jeanelle came close to the Carters). Her polo was half-drenched and completely see through from the buttons down. The cute side ponytail she originally had in was now a soppy mess, a curly wet flop on the side of her head. It made me chuckle, just looking at her.
The thing was…Logan was looking at her too. Not in that way, where you could tell he was thinking "wow she's a complete idiot; who falls off a dock?!" It was more…amusement. A small smile played at his lips, and his eyes sparkled as he watched her. I glanced over at my sister, trying not to be annoyed. She was trying really hard not to look at us, but I could tell she was watching out of the corner of her eye. I rolled my eyes and turned to Logan.
"So you're really staying in the house next door to us?" I said, looking up at him and trying to hide the smile that was forming.
He seemed to snap out of his Jeanelle-gazing, and glanced down at me like he was wondering if he said something. Then my words registered in his head, and he smiled. "Yeah, if the address is right."
I grinned back at him. My God, was he cute. Not to mention perfectly straight, white teeth. "Well I think that just made my vacation, even though it's barely started." I tried to sound as casual as possible to avoid the whole annoying-flirty-girl persona, but it was nearly impossible to hide the flirtiness in my voice. I couldn't help it; that was just me.
Logan laughed a little. His eyes were on me and his head cocked to the side, like he was trying to read my mind. I back at him, silently praying that magic telepathy would form and he would figure out that I was secretly screaming, you're hot! He didn't say anything, so I took that was my cue to make the first move. Flashing him a mysterious smile, I turned and walked slowly down to the water. The sun had set, and an orangey haze had set out over the water. It was beautiful.
My feet sunk into the soft sand as I walked, keeping my head up and my arms relaxed at my sides. This was not a fashion show; more so, trying to get this guy to take the hint and follow me. There was no better place than a beach at sunset for a memorable first kiss.
When I reached the water, I sat down in the sand and stuck my feet out in front of me, so the tips of my toes were just barely touching the gently lapping water. It was warm. I closed my eyes, and willed Logan to follow me. This was how it went in movies; the cute guy always follows the cute girl down to the water. And they run off into the sunset, and live happily ever after. This was my fairy tale. I could just feel it.
I heard footsteps behind me, walking quickly and with a purpose. I squinted. Not exactly how I had pictured his arrival, but I'd taken. Trying to look as natural as I could, I looked out across the water, at the other side of the lake. I could see the outline of buildings and houses and trees, and closer, a small white boat with white Christmas lights hung around the cabin, floating slowly across the water. It was peaceful and quiet. Just how I wanted it.
The footsteps got closer and closer. My heartbeat sped up. Stop it, I said to myself. Usually I could control these kind of things. But now my heart was pumping so fast it wouldn't have been surprising if fireworks started going off inside my chest.
The second someone sat down beside me, I knew it wasn't Logan. I looked over. Jeanelle was sitting next to me, her hair freshly tied up in a knot at the back of her head, a huge sweatshirt wrapped around her shoulders. My eyebrows drew together.
"I take it you were planning on me begin Logan?" she said playfully, looking over at me and smiling a little.
I narrowed my eyes, then softened and laughed. "Guilty as charged."
She laughed too, and then sighed. "He makes me miss Will."
"Yeah well, at least you have someone to miss."
My curtness made her blink hard a few times before she answered. "I thought you liked being single. More opportunity to flirt, right?"
I shook my head. "Yeah, but it's always nice to have someone to go back to."
Jeanelle nodded. "It definitely is. But where's all this coming from?"
"I don't know," I answered, shrugging.
She smiled. "Well, on the bright side, he's all yours."
For more of her benefit than my own, I allowed a small smile. She stood up and held out her hands. I grabbed them and pulled myself up, wiping all the sand off the bottom of my shorts. "Who's sweatshirt?" I asked.
Jeanelle looked down at her bare feet. "Logan let me use it. He said I looked cold."
Well. Maybe next time I should just shiver a little.
"Oh," I said flatly, careful not to show much emotion in my answer. Jeanelle was really good at picking up on stuff like that.
"You totally like him, Tay."
Okay, that was out the window.
I shrugged. "What can I say? He's a cutie."
"A cutie that lives next door!"
I grinned. "Did I mention that he lives next door?"
We both laughed; Jeanelle turned and started walking back up the beach, where our parents were waiting. "Where'd they go?" I asked, unsure if she would know what I was talking about.
"Back to the house," she answered automatically, like she was expecting the question the entire time we were talking.
My heart sank. Well that certainly hadn't gone as planned. We went from a romantic evening on the beach to me and my sister sitting on our butts, gushing about how cute he was. Not to mention the fact that Logan probably thought I was a total creep for just randomly walking away and sitting down in the freezing sand. Perfect.
"Nel, did you not notice the way he was looking at you?" I said, keeping my tone light, playful, and excited. This was one of the great things about Jeanelle having a boyfriend – she was totally helpless around other guys, which gave me the opportunity to pounce.
She rolled her eyes. "Tried to."
I smacked her on the arm. "How could you not?! His eyes were on you the entire time!"
She sighed, trying to ignore what she knew was the truth. I fell silent as we walked. We were both lost in our own tangled mess of thoughts. I was wondering how it was possible to think one of us prettier than the other when we were TWINS. And she no doubt was thinking of Will. I smiled to myself. Jeanelle being tied down was going to give me a much better chance at this game. She's never been much of a flirt to begin with. When she and Will first met I knew they were going a be a "thing." And it's been five months; who called it?! Yeah, that would be me!
That's one of the main differences between Jeanelle and me. Yeah, we may be twins and look almost exactly the same, but the truth was, we were two completely different people. I've always been more outgoing, more sure of myself, and the one that's into huge parties and sleepovers and malls and dates. That's totally not Jeanelle. She's athletic and sporty, loves guys from a distance and much prefers a one-on-one basketball game in the driveway to a long day of dress shopping. She's definitely not shy; I don't think I could find anyone more crazy than she gets with just a couple Pixy Sticks. But she's not one to put herself out there like me. She stays with her own group of friends, in the safety zone. I'd like to say I'm friends with everyone, but that would be a lie. My group of friends is pretty cliquey as well. We're basically Abercrombie & Fitch all the way through, but we're not jerks. People portray us as evil, self esteem slaughterers because we wear expensive clothes, eyeliner, and have a couple highlights in our hair. Not that I especially care what other people think; but I can't lie and say it doesn't get anything. Even Jeanelle's posse seems to have something against us, even though I'm her sister! There's never been a real cat fight but the looks they shoot us from across the caf every day at lunch are enough to imply six million insults spearing in our direction.
The odd thing is, Jeanelle and I rarely hang out at school. I guess we're just worried about our very different groups of friends clashing and causing problems. She does her own thing, hanging out with the sporty kids, and her best friend that hates me, Sara. And Will of course, always standing behind her with his arm around her waist or fingers intertwined with hers. They really are so cute. But whenever Sara catches me looking over, she sends me nine hundred daggers with her eyes. Usually, my friend Kerri retaliates with mouthing bitch to her from across the room. Lunch is always very interesting.
I was so lost in thought that I didn't realize Jeanelle was talking to me until she tapped my arm and said, "Taylor, are you listening?!"
I blinked and looked over at her. "Mmm, yeah. What was that last sentence?"
She rolled her eyes and smiled. I turned my gaze back to the top of the beach, where Mom, Dad, and Becky were all standing around a picnic table, discussing some kind of shell Becky had probably found.
"I said, Mom told me we're going back home tomorrow to pick up more sleeping bags, 'cause Dad only brought two. She said we might be able to stop by Will's, and Kerri's or whatever if you want." The way she said Kerri's name was of interest to me. Like she really didn't want to say it, but she felt she had to, or something. Whatever the reason, I wasn't about to let an opportunity pass by to see one of my best friends. Especially considering that we'd be away for two weeks!
"Oh yeah, I'm definitely in," I said. Jeanelle nodded, totally expecting that. We finally reached the rest of the family. Mom was now sitting at the picnic table, her head resting on her arm; she looked completely bored. Who could blame her - Dad and Rebecca were still at the other end of the table trying to "hear the lake" inside the shell. "You can't actually hear the ocean or the lake or any fluids in a shell," Rebecca was explaning, "it's just the air bouncing around inside the shell, making a sound that appears to be that of waves." Dad was nodding, genuinely interested. I rolled my eyes. Typical.
"Oh, Nel, what happened to Logan and...them?" I asked quietly , stopping before we got close enough for Mom to figure out what we were talking about.
"They just like, left," she said with a shrug. I eyed her for a second, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not. She stared intently back at me, her hazel eyes the same tone as mine; only hers were soft and relaxed, as mine were most likely bright and sparkling and full of excitement. Finally I let my gaze drop.
"Alrighty then," I said, turning towards the family. Mom looked up at me and smiled. "So what did you girls think of Logan, hmm?" she asked in a playful tone. I snickered and rolled my eyes, trying to hide the complete uncomfortableness of the situation, while Jeanelle just stood behind me, transfixed in a blushing silence.
"Jeanelle?" Mom pressed, laughing as Jeanelle struggled for words.
"Uhm. Cute," was all Jeanelle managed to squeak out. Mom raised her eyebrows and glanced over at me. I just stood rooted to the ground, smiling in spite of myself. "Well I guess it would be pointless to ask Taylor; we already know she's head over heels," Mom said, amusement dripping from her voice. All three of us laughed.
Dad and Rebecca were finally done their in-depth shell conversation, thank God. Frankly, I didn't understand exactly how it was possible that there would be a shell in a lake, but it was easier to wonder than ask Rebecca and get a five hour long explanation that I would only be able to understand three sentences of. I linked Jeanelle's arm through mine and we turned onto the road, walking in thoughtful silence all the way back to the house that was, let's not forget, right next door to the Carters.