If We Ever Meet Again - Ana Huang Page 0,22
a pompous, mansplaining jerk, but he was Sammy’s best friend, for reasons no one could fathom. Sammy was the most likable guy on the planet; Nardo was not.
“Whatcha reading?” Olivia flipped onto her stomach to peer at the thick tome in Nardo’s hands.
“A book.”
“No shit, Sherlock. What book?”
Nardo pushed his glasses up on his nose. He was the palest in the group and slathered on half a bottle of sunscreen before they hit the beach. Even so, Farrah could see the skin on his back turning pink. “War and Peace and War.”
“You mean War and Peace.”
“No, that’s a 19th-century novel by Leo Tolstoy about the French invasion of Russia. This is War and Peace and War by Peter Turchin. It explores the rise and fall of empires from the perspective of evolutionary biology.”
Olivia’s eyes glazed over. “Wow. Fun beach read.”
“Do you know you talk like a human Wikipedia?” Farrah asked.
Nardo looked touched. “Thank you.”
Sammy rolled over onto his side and kissed Olivia’s shoulder. “He’s always been this way. You should see our dorm at Harvey Mudd. It’s packed with political history books.”
Olivia wrinkled her nose. “Aren’t you guys math majors?”
“I’m economics.” Nardo returned to his book. “You can read outside your major.”
“I know. I just finished Crazy Rich Asians.”
Farrah’s face split into a huge grin at the look on Nardo’s face.
“Excuse me. I thought we were on vacation.” Courtney snatched the book from Nardo’s hands, ignoring his cry of protest. “Let’s do something fun.”
“We are doing something fun,” Sammy said. “We’re at the beach.”
“No, something fun. I know!” Courtney snapped her fingers. “Let’s go skinny dipping!”
Farrah’s eyes widened in horror.
“I love you, but that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” Olivia’s expression matched Farrah’s. “It’s broad daylight.”
“So? We’re among friends. Live and let live, Liv.”
“No, thanks.”
Luke raised his hand. “I’ll do it.”
“Me too,” Nardo said.
Every head whipped in his direction.
“You will?” Sammy asked, mouth agape.
Nardo’s cheeks matched his back. “Like Courtney said, we’re on vacation.”
“Great,” Kris said. “See what you did, Court? Now we’ll have to see Luke and Nardo naked.”
The boys looked at each other. Without saying a word, they gathered handfuls of sand and tossed them at Kris before she could duck out of the way. Her mouth froze into a shocked O as the grains peppered her hair and cleavage.
Everyone burst into laughter.
“Blech!” Kris sputtered. “I have sand in my mouth! I’m going to kill you guys.” She tried to wipe the sand from her face and smeared it further across her cheeks.
They laughed harder.
“A skinny dip will get the sand off. Come on, guys, don’t be boring,” Courtney wheedled.
“Chill,” Leo said. “The Full Moon Party is tonight. We’ll have fun then.”
“I am chill. Excuse me for trying to make sure everyone enjoys themselves.”
“We are enjoying ourselves,” Leo argued. “People know how to have fun without you. We don’t have to do everything you say all the time.”
The laughter stopped.
Farrah’s heart pounded like a carpenter hammering a nail into the wall. Courtney and Leo didn’t fight. Ever. He was too easygoing, and she was…well, she was Courtney.
“What did you say?” Courtney’s face turned red.
He pinched his temple. “Let’s not do this now.”
“Oh, we are doing this now. You started it. Finish it.” The challenge was clear.
“I’m just saying, you don’t have to be such a control freak all the time.”
Kris flinched.
Olivia buried her face in Farrah’s shoulder.
“Control freak?” Courtney was Mount Etna waiting to erupt. Farrah saw steam pouring out of her ears. “Screw you! It’s easy for you to be the chill, laid-back one. I’m the one who makes sure we have fun. I come up with the activities. I keep this group together. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me!”
“Listen to yourself.” Leo’s sharp tone sent a ripple of shock through the group. “No one asks you to do those things. It’s like you have some sort of god complex.”
Courtney, Olivia, and Farrah gasped at the same time.
“Leo.” Kris took off her sunglasses and flicked some sand off her shoulder. Her voice was glacial. “You should go back to the hotel.”
“Gladly.” Leo tossed his towel over his shoulder and walked off, leaving silence in his wake.
“That escalated quickly,” Luke finally said.
“Are you ok?” Farrah wasn’t sure what to say. They’d never had a big fight in the group before.
“Yeah. I can’t believe him. God complex.” Courtney squirted sunscreen into her palm and rubbed it onto her arms with more force than necessary. “I don’t have a god complex.”
Nardo coughed.
“Of course you don’t. You