was going to be hot.
***
“Buddy, it’s ninety degrees out,” said Buff, collapsing into an empty picnic table at lunch. “We’re ditching practice and going to the beach.”
“Not me,” said Aaron, sliding on his sunglasses.
“Yes—you, me, Tina, and Amber. Tina invited us all to Arroyo beach.”
At the mention of Amber, Aaron’s heart fluttered. “Since when does Tina invite us to the beach?”
“She’s okay now,” said Buff. “She broke up with Breezie because his birthday’s in a few months . . . ”
Aaron missed the rest of Buff’s explanation. Even in the scorching heat, the prospect of seeing Amber again gave him goose bumps.
So she was fine with breaking their consensual goodbye. Okay, so they hadn’t really said goodbye. In fact, as Aaron recalled, their goodbye was interrupted . . .
Through his sunglasses, the sky blinded him. The sun’s heat seared his scalp and the back of his neck. His black T-shirt scalded him, and he clawed at the material, trying to pull it off his skin—at least he could take his shirt off at the beach.
Amber would take hers off.
And he could check her back for the mirror image of Clive’s tattoo.
***
At two in the afternoon, Aaron and Buff trudged through the sand to Amber and Tina, who were sunbathing on two fluffy beach towels—and the center of attention of three chatting teenage boys. Amber lay on her back with one knee raised, stunning in a bikini, Aaron noticed.
“You three,” he said, once they’d made it to the boys, “beat it.”
Buff smacked his palm. The kids, probably juniors, took one look at the rugby player and stumbled away.
“So you’re rude to everybody,” said Amber, perching herself up on her elbows as Aaron approached her.
Now was his chance.
Heart racing, Aaron tossed his shoes behind her, and while he pretended to stash his wallet and phone inside them, he glanced at her exposed back. At first he wasn’t sure, the way sunlight glanced off her bare skin, silvery white. A spiral shaped scar, or was it sunscreen? It was almost too bright to tell, even with sunglasses.
Aaron squinted, shifted positions, then perceived her back clearly. He felt a wobbly twinge in his knees. Amber’s skin was unblemished, and he let himself sigh his relief.
Next to them, Buff and Tina were arguing.
“Stop blotting out the sun,” said Tina, arching her upper lip in disgust. “I’m trying to tan!”
“Why’d you bring this bullshit washcloth?” said Buff.
“Oh my God,” said Tina. “Don’t you own a towel?”
To Aaron, their voices sounded distant, hollow. Still feeling faint, he crouched in the sand next to Amber and scrutinized her face. Today, her eyes sparkled brighter than he’d ever seen them. Her golden hair winked at him in the sunlight.
“So . . . I kind of missed you.” she said, holding his gaze.
Those simple words made his heart race. Up until now, he doubted she felt anything for him. This was the closest she had ever come to admitting she did.
“Yeah, you might have crossed my mind once or twice,” said Aaron.
“Per second,” she said.
“Has Clive tried to see you?”
“I’ve been ignoring his calls.” She scooted over to make room for him on her beach towel. When he didn’t move, she said, “What? Am I too cool for you?”
He eased in next to her, careful not to brush her skin. She tugged his shirt over his head again and dropped it in the sand.
Buff, now sick of Tina, paced a few feet away.
“First league game this Friday,” he muttered, mostly to himself. “We play Corona Blanca, and coach won’t let me play because of my grades—this is bullshit!” He kicked a crater in the sand. “I bet Breezie set me up.”
Tina sighed. “All you and him ever talk about is getting revenge on each other—it’s so lame.”
Buff threw a practice punch through the air, then another. His fists whistled. “Friday, Breezie’s gonna get it.”
Aaron scanned the distant line of buoys lost in thought, and his eyes settled on the one he and Clive swam to the night of the bonfire, hardly more than a dot on the horizon. What did it all mean? If Amber didn’t have the matching tattoo, then who did?
And why had Clive insisted all this time that Amber was his half?
Aaron blinked. It was right in front of him.
The buoy.
***
The buoy marked the exact location where the vial sank. He could swim back out; he could dive to the bottom. He could recover the vial.
A wave of sweat soaked his skin, and he peeked at Amber,