"Says the girl who's never been to a theme park."
"Theme parks are expensive. Renaissance fairs are for the everyday person. "
"Fair enough," he teased.
I laughed at his cheesy pun.
"Besides the environment, what else are you into?" I asked, laying down a king of hearts and grinning when he dropped the king of diamonds. "War," I chortled gleefully. We both counted out three cards, pausing dramatically before turning over our fourth card.
"I'm into you," he said as I squealed with delight when I won the round of War. He reached over for my hand and drew a heart on my palm with his finger.
"That sounds like a song," I teased, even though the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to us. Thankfully the room was loud and everyone seemed wrapped up in their own games. "What about school? Is Seabreeze any good?" I asked, watching his finger trace the lines on my palm.
He shrugged. "It is, but school really doesn't interest me much. I'd rather be here working all day. History bores me, but I've always been good with numbers, so math is pretty easy."
I shuddered. Math was not my forte. "Ugh, trigonometry freaks me out. I can hardly handle algebra. I want to know what jackass came up with mixing numbers and letters together. I love history though, and English."
Josh chuckled. "Algebra's not that bad. It's kinda like solving a puzzle. Maybe I'll tutor you in math and you can help me stay awake in history class."
"Deal," I said, lacing my fingers through his.
"I wish we were anywhere but here," Josh murmured, leaning in close until his knees rested against mine.
"Why?"
"Because when you look at me like that all I can think about is how much I'd like to kiss you again, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go unnoticed."
I glanced around the crowded room. "You might be right." I picked up my cards as a distraction even though all I could think about was his lips pressed against mine.
Mitch came into the room with the news that the storm had slowed down and seemed to be maintaining its strength. The party-like atmosphere in the room changed as everyone began discussing the ramifications to the coast. Flooding and dow
ned power lines could be dealt with, but beach erosion was a serious problem to handle.
The conversation came to an abrupt close when Vanessa entered the break room and announced that water from the flooded parking lot was now making its way into the lobby under the front door. Everyone jumped into action. I wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation; the fact that we had all worked so hard filling sandbags and no one thought to stack some in front of the station door. Buttercup and Vanessa mopped up the water as best they could with the remaining towels from the supply closet while Josh and I wrung them out in the oversized sink in the break room. It was a tedious process since the towels were completely saturated. By the time I made my fifth trip to the bathroom, I was soaked again and my arms felt like cooked spaghetti from wringing out the towels.
"Are we having fun yet?" Mitch asked, joining me with an armload of wet towels.
I snorted. "Tons. I just hope the roof doesn't blow off next."
"Don't worry about that. This puppy isn't going anywhere."
I couldn't tell if he was being truthful or just trying to make me feel better.
We no sooner cleaned up the mess in the lobby when Vanessa pulled Mitch aside to speak to him privately. "You're kidding," Mitch said, shaking his head. Whatever the problem was, he got Larry involved and before I knew it they were both suiting up in raincoats.
"What's going on?" I asked Josh.
"Not sure, but if Mitch and Larry are heading out, it's got to be serious. Maybe somebody's stuck on their roof or something. That's the only reason I could see them going out now."
"Isn't it unsafe?" I asked.
"You see what the wind is doing out there, so yeah. It's really not safe. I'm going to go check," Josh said, rising from the table.
A group of patrol officers had huddled around Vanessa, Mitch, and Larry. Judging by the animated conversation, it was clear that no one was thrilled about Mitch and Larry venturing out in the storm. After a few minutes, curiosity got the best of me and I stood up to join them. "What's going on?" I asked, pulling Josh aside.
"The sheriff's office contacted us about a call that came in from a parent out of state. His son called him while he was drunk saying he was going surfing in the storm."
My hand moved unconsciously to my swollen eye. "Evan," I stated, knowing instantly. "Is he—" I asked, unable to finish my sentence.