Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

Ember shrugged. “No idea. Maybe not. He hasn’t come back since he left me.”

“That’s because he’s a lily-livered slime ball.”

“You know, Ally, you should say what you really mean.” Ember grinned at her.

“I’m serious, he knows he treated you badly. He wants to keep far away from the heat. If he comes back he’s crazy.”

“Well, he’ll have to come back some time. His family is here,” Brooke said.

“You know, you should take a guy as your plus one to the party.” Ally pulled down her sunglasses and peered over the top of them at Ember. “That would show them all how little you still care about him.” She paused for a second, then blinked, as though an idea had come into her head. “Hey, how are you getting on with that dating app? Have you matched up with any hot guys yet?” Ally wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t had much luck. I keep seeing the same guys I’ve already dated. It’s disconcerting.”

“Um, I haven’t used it.” Ember’s eyes shifted guiltily to her phone that was lying on top of her beach bag. The Sizzle app that they’d both downloaded the previous Sunday hadn’t been opened once. It had only been taking up space on her phone screen.

“Ugh. Do I have to do everything?” Following Ember’s gaze, Ally reached across and took Ember’s phone from her bag. Resting it on her palm she tapped in the unlock code. “You really should change this,” Ally told her. “You’ve had the same one for about ten years.”

“But then I’d never remember it,” Ember pointed out. There weren’t many people she’d let have full access of her phone. Only two of them to be exact and they were both here. “What are you doing anyway?”

“I’m going to show you how to make a profile. Now smile.”

“Why?” Ember frowned right as Ally pressed on the phone, making the camera click. “Hey, did you just take a photo of me?”

“You need a good picture for your profile.” Ally held the phone in front of her, scrutinizing the result. “Though this is definitely not good. Why are your eyes bulging?”

“Give that to me.” Ember grabbed the phone from her friend’s hands. The screen was still displaying her photo in all its glory. It was terrible. Her hair was pointing in all directions from where she’d been laying on it, her breasts were practically pouring out of the bikini she was wearing, but worst of all was the expression on her face. She wouldn’t have looked out of place in the House of Horrors at the fair.

Ember quickly hit the delete button.

“If I have to have a photo, there’s one I had taken at school. She ran her thumb along the gallery on her phone. “Look, that’s much better, see?”

Ally looked at it and scrunched her nose. “It’s terrible. Your shirt is buttoned right up to your neck, and you’re not even smiling. Trust me, you need a photo that shows a guy everything you’ve got. You have amazing boobs, they need to be on your profile.”

“Just her boobs?” Brooke sounded amused. “Or should she have her face on there as well?”

“Careful, or I’ll make you a profile, too.” Ally grinned at their friend.

Brooke raised her hands up. “Hey, leave me out of this. Single mom, remember?” She inclined her head at Nicholas. “I don’t want him finding any risqué photos of me on the Internet.”

“I don’t want risqué photos either,” Ember protested. “I’m a teacher, imagine if one of my students found them. Or their parents.” She shuddered. “Here, I’ll take a selfie. Neck up. That’s the most I’m willing to bare.”

Ally sighed. “Okay.”

Once Ember had taken the photo, and they’d all agreed it was a good one, Ally uploaded it to the app, then filled in the details it requested. Within minutes, the phone buzzed with a notification that her profile was viewable and the app was ready to use.

“Ooh, you’re live.” Ally grinned as she held the phone out to show Ember. “Now you can search through your potential matches, make contact, and message them.” If she hadn’t been holding the phone in her palm, Ember swore her friend would be rubbing her hands together in glee. “Not that one, I’ve dated him.” She swiped her finger across the screen. “Not that one either. Ah, this guy looks good. Let’s right swipe him.” She slid her finger across the screen. “This one, too. Oh this is so much fun.” She swiped again. “What do you think of guys with tats?” she asked, tipping her head to the side. “And beards – do you like them? I think they’re hot.”

No, she didn’t think that guys with beards were hot. She liked them clean-shaven. In fact, she liked guys with closely cropped dark hair and eyes that seemed to see inside you.

There she went again. Stop it, Ember.

She hastily reached for the phone, wanting to take it from Ally’s grasp before her friend had any more of a chance to do damage. Shaking her head, she put the phone back in her bag, resolving to look at it again later.

Maybe she’d humor Ally for a while. It was better than getting stuck on a real-life guy, wasn’t it?

* * *

“Lucas, I can’t get this damn thing to work.” His mom called from the kitchen table, as she pushed wildly at the buttons on her laptop as if it was a piano keyboard.

His dad glanced up from his newspaper and then hastily looked back down again. He knew better than to interfere between his wife and technology, the two mixed together like oil and water.