2brown-eyes is the best!
God Bless the USA—Lee Greenwood
"This bevvy tastes a little dodgy," Mase says after a deep swig from his Rainier. "I bet it still gets ya plastered, eh?"
I don't know how I ended up on the beach sitting beside him in the sand while almost everyone else is gathered to watch the inky sky light up in a myriad of colors. But I am, and it's not so bad. He's all smiles with dimples and light, happy eyes.
The accent doesn't hurt, either.
"Do you really want your first night to be forgettable?" I ask as three bursts of red light the sky. "That's the kind of beer you sip through the evening. You don't get wasted or anything, but you feel like part of the crowd."
"Is that what you're doing?" He eyes the wine cooler in my hand. It's the same one I've had for the past two hours. "Or is it something else?"
My eyes flash to the crowd before coming back to Mase. He's cute. Really cute. "I'm entering a new stage of my life, and I want to make better decisions."
"Is there a bloke involved somewhere?"
"Nope," I say, the lyrics to God Bless the USA belting in the background of our conversation. "I feel like I've finally moved on from that."
"Did you love him?"
I meet his eyes under in glow of bright bursts of multi-colored light, nodding minutely. "Still do."
He turns up his beer and sucks it dry before wiping his mouth with the back of one hand and crunching the can in the other. "The way I see it is you have only one option. You move on with another cheeky bloke and allow him to dull the ache until it goes away completely."
"You sound like you know from experience."
He doesn't look at me, choosing instead to stare at the lit-up sky, so I take the opportunity to study his profile. Dirty blonde curls frame his boyish face and long, dark lashes line his sea-green eyes. His lips are full and pillowy, pouting without meaning to, and they conceal a set of straight, white teeth.
He huffs a not-so-funny laugh, tossing a piece of broken shell toward the lapping waves. "Why else would I be trekking across Europe alone?"
I'm silent for a minute, my eyes roaming his face. "That's a bummer, dude."
"Tell me about it." He shifts so his gaze is on me, and the explosion of white light forms a halo over his head. "She'd throw a wobbly if she knew I came here."
"She doesn't know you left the country?" I don't know what throwing a wobbly means, but I can read between the lines.
"Technically, I'd already left the country when I was in France," he replies, giving me a dimple-filled smirk. "But when she finds out I legged it to America, she's gonna go bonkers."
I huff a laugh, fisting sand and then opening my hand to let the grains filter through my fingers. "Sounds like we're two peas in a pod." My eyes search the crowd, and I spot Edward's tall form. He has his arm around Bree, and she's tucked neatly into his side. "At least you don't have to watch yours move on with someone else."
"That ginger bloke?" he asks, following my gaze.
"It's not what it seems," I tell him, gearing up to defend Edward. "I pushed him away for so long and so hard that this was the only possible outcome."
He snorts a laugh, shaking his head. "Sounds like a right mess, innit?"
"I don't want it to be," I say, pushing the nostalgia down. "I want to move on and have fun. Spend the rest of my time with my bestie and love every minute of it. I want my last summer before college to be memorable."
He stands, holding out his hand. "Then we should get a crack on."
Even though I'm not sure exactly what he means, I take his hand and let him pull me to my feet. "What now?"
He smiles, his dimples on full display. "We get bloody hammered."
And while I'm not sure getting drunk with a cutie from across the pond is the smartest way to kick off my summer partying, it's definitely the fun way.
So that's what I do.
Light, easy, fun.
Our girl needs some of that!
See you tmr :)
