I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 54

LAKE

Standing under the Ferris wheel, watching it go round and round, made me sick. I did this until I lost track of Manning and Tiffany, then I crossed the path and sat on a step eating clumps of cotton candy while I waited.

A pair of ripped blue jeans stepped in front of me.

“Hey.”

popular Swenson brothers, Cane, Corey, and the one blocking my view, Corbin. Blond hair curled beneath a Billabong hat that sat low on his head, its stiff beak almost shading his face.

is stomach with stickers.

chool?” He asked.

meone else, I nodded.

chin.

stuff. .”

y, I wiped my fac

is blue.” He smiles.

rty on Marigold?”

bit.

are there.

u

ho I am?

d at his face.

“LAKE”

tton candy.

“No.”

?”

e preferred dry land to sunbathe with her music player and magazines.

eenager, so I shrugged.

We could use some girls in the lineup.

ou here alon

n’t seen Corbin with a specific girl that I remembered, but guys like him always had a girlfriend.

o is your siste

.” »

lan?” » He swung his

. I see the resemblance now.

y it was funny. This happened a lot, people would find out we were sisters and mention “the resemblan

older brother.

r below you.”

”

ould see why the girls liked the brothers with their perpetual surfer tans, their tall, lean muscular bodies. If I had thought much about talking to Corbin, I would have guessed it would be a goofy, mumbling, stomach butterflies kind of thing, but it wasn’t. I loved him, and I loved that he wasn’t nervous.

rbin, then through his legs, past his skinned knees, but he blocked my view with the skateboard.

camping toge

ubs,” he said. “You

different people then. Kids.

ll game, show them how it’s done. He winked. “I’d stay longer, but I

ar to the side that I almost fell over.

Tiffany? He asked.

l.’

ne?”

head taller than any adult, and in a crowd of children he bordered on giant status

d.

ho ?

.

afraid they were blue. I suddenly became aware of my breathing, of the fact that my shorts h

asked.

ooking away from Manning.

s Tiffany spotted us.

r me?”

o.” Corbin turned to me.

ying what’s going on with your sister.”

and pulled him away.

Have you met Manning?” she asked. “He is

d and planted a big, chunky Airwalk sneaker on it to keep it from rolling. “I should go back to my friends. We will be surfing Huntington Pier all next week, Lake. South side, in the morning. If you want to come and watch.

 “Who was it?”

same time.

ked.

s. “I’m just saying hello.”

ightened her ponytail. “Are you fr

er. I pulled my knees to my chest. “I wouldn’t say friends, more acquaintances.”

had a crush on me.

”

You and I are different. I cut classes. I went to bonfires on the beach, I drank, smoked weed. I

n the feeling of Tiffany’s fingers in my hair, but I was afraid an insult wo

your homework for

aker.

nocent as you think,” I said. Tiffany laughed and hugged me by

”

were gentle compared to most of the girls at my school.

teeth were gritted. “She has the rest of her life for the holidays. For punks like this guy.

d my hair like I was her child, not her high school-aged sister. “What should we ride next, Manning?” “

can win it?”

bysitters. I should have paid more attention to the guys Tiffany had dated in the past. How long did it take for him to lose interest and move on to the next one? To me, Manning seemed

with the stuffed animals, ignoring me. As long as I sat there, being my calm, innocent self, they could move on with their li

from the seat of my shorts. “I’m going to see if Corbin wants to ride the Ferris wheel with me.”

ound first. “What?”

“I said-”

I thought you were scared.”

ng, I might as well be alone.

ning’s expression didn’t change, but he crack

s. ” I will do it now. With Corbin.

ased. “I don’t blame you. All Swensons

han being ignored by him. ” You already left. With Tiffany. Remember?”

e entire left side of my body. Judging by the expression on his face, the sarcasm of my comment did not amuse him. “Do you want to ride it or not?”

someone their age…”

t’s a Ferris wheel, not Seven Minutes in Heaven. Don’t you remember being sixteen?”

.

he took a page from Tiffany’s book and ruffled my hair. Yet here I was pressed against him, surrounded by his soapy scent, his hip against my side, his huge hand squeezing my shoulder.

and that was a first. Was Is this how Tiffany always got what she wanted from men – by doing what they told her not to do? “Really?” I asked.

and I used to catch and release toads on the street, but I wasn’t a kid anymore. “Whose favorite animal is a frog?” They are slimy.

hree times.

one was worth being happy about. “It’s okay if…”

Another round.”

I didn’t want to share the spotlight.

o the man manning the booth.

t.

,” he muttered.

y,” I said.

second throw, the sleeve of his t-shirt rode up his bicep. The skin there was whiter than the rest of his arm, smoother. His muscles strained the fabric.

us.

ard that everyone jumped when it hit the target. Manning wiped his hairline with his sleeve and nodded. “Here we go.”

and toys.

a bigger one?” Manning

re.

eeks reddened. “I don’t name my stuffed animals.

passed it to me. “I think you sh

shivered. “Are you cold, Birdy?”

the first thing a boy ever given me – and not just a boy. Manning. “Birdy is hot.” ​​I nodded. “Birdy is perfect. Tha

welc

tall as her. She smiles. “And I didn’t even have to throw a single ball.”

cked it under his arm, looking a lot less annoyed than I did.

t me to take you?”

appier. “No it’s OK.”

she whispered out loud. “My dad will love you for this.”

going to introduce them?”

at Manning. “Well, maybe.” Will you, Manning?

“What woul

everything he could to make them feel small, and Tiffany knew it.

e should,” I said.

ffany said.

But

asked.

“Manning can handle it,” Tiffany said, running her fingers over the giraffe’s neck. ” You can no

even wanted it.

you?” Manning asked me.

I’m going to dinner with your

o come?” I a

ed at me. “It might be a good idea to meet your pa

idea that Manning was interested in my life had the opposite effect.

soar.