Mouth to Mouth (Beach Kingdom 1)

What would it be like to ride behind him on that bike?

“Olive?”

Leanne’s prompt brought her back to the present. “Oh I’m, yeah. I’m here.”

As if he’d heard her voice, Rory’s head whipped in direction, but Olive drew back behind the pillar just in time, attempting to draw in a calming measure of oxygen through her nose.

“What is going on?” Leanne asked. “Are you okay?”

I don’t know.

But as the engine of Rory’s motorcycle revved, the purr moving farther and farther into the distance, Olive got good and irritated. Look at me. Hiding from a guy. Avoiding the beach. Crying at Allstate commercials. Rory Prince should be changing his routine to avoid her. She’d opened herself up to him and he’d rejected the offering. That didn’t mean she should mope around and forget why she moved to Long Beach. This was the summer she embraced new beginnings and prepared to start her college career. Leanne and her other classmates were living their lives and there was no reason she shouldn’t do the same.

“Leanne,” Olive said, her spine snapped straight. “What time are we going out tonight?”

*

Wow. Underage drinking wasn’t even a challenge. Were the police aware of this?

A senior lacrosse player named Zed passed Olive a foaming second beer in as many bars and she thanked him, saluting as he watched and taking a small sip. He put up his arms in exaggerated victory and she made herself laugh through the bitter taste.

Leanne nudged her in the ribs as Zed joined a rowdy conversation with the four other senior guys and girls along for the night. “He likes you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Olive assessed Zed, powerless to do anything but compare his Captain America good looks to Rory’s villainous ones—and annoyingly preferring the latter. “Cool. Want to share this beer with me?”

“That’s all you have to say?” Leanne rolled her eyes and took the beer, drinking deeply. “God, that’s gross.”

“I know. I wish he’d stop buying them for me.”

“Because you’re not interested in him? Or the beer?”

Both. Instead of voicing that opinion out loud, however, she forced herself to remember her resolve from earlier that day. She had to stop looking for Rory Prince around every corner and start enjoying herself. Zed was a decent sort, if a little boisterous. They’d started on one end of West Beech Street, grabbing food truck empanadas and piling into KJ’s Saloon. After that, they’d taken their beer buzz to the boardwalk, Olive and Leanne hanging back and watching the guys’ antics. Zed had started a bench hopping competition between the guys that had earned them exasperated looks from passersby. Olive could relate, finding Zed a tad on the immature side. Although, maybe she wasn’t in the best frame of mind for exploring new horizons and she should reserve judgment.

Leanne leaned in and tapped her arm. “You’re thinking about the guy from the milkshake shop, aren’t you?” Olive’s surprise turned Leanne’s features smug. “The guy who asked for your numbah.”

She started to deny the claim but gave in almost immediately. “How do you know? I purposely haven’t said a word about him.”

“Are you forgetting we’re psych majors? Not mentioning him was the dead giveaway.”

“Bravo.” Olive nodded, impressed. “You might as well skip right to graduation.”

Leanne considered. “But then I’d miss gross beer and dick jokes.”

“You’re not into these dudes, either, are you?”

“God no. And I had such high hopes.” She sighed. “Thanks a lot, Hollywood.”

They laughed so loud the group of seniors sent them suspicious looks. “Do we just leave? What is the protocol here?”

Two hands slapped down on their table. “Drink up, ladies. We’re heading to the next place.” Leanne handed Zed the beer and they watched as he made quick work of the remaining golden liquid, before plunking it onto the table. “Are you not entertained, freshman?”

Olive tried not to groan as they followed the noisy group from the bar. She and Leanne walked arm in arm on the boardwalk, pointing out places they wanted to try next time—preferably alone. The guys resumed their bench hopping competition and even though they were twice as drunk and ungainly this time, Olive decided she was having a good time. So two nerds hadn’t meshed well with some senior jocks. So what? It wasn’t exactly surprising.

Plus, the awkwardness of the night had allowed her to bond with Leanne. Having been homeschooled, Olive hadn’t grown up with a lot of close friends. Mostly just acquaintances from the neighborhood and church. Her mutual interests with Leanne made it easy to open up, though, and as they walked and Leanne shared details about her upbringing, Olive found herself doing the same, even confiding how YouTube had divided her family. Olive knew talking about it would help. Hello psychology. She just wondered when the memories would loosen their grip on the present. Tonight was about relaxing. A new start. So she set aside the past and tried to enjoy.