Between Us and the Moon - Rebecca Maizel Page 0,21
“I want to just take it easy this summer. I’m so tired of parties, you know?” I lean back in the chair and cross one leg over the other. “I went to so many this—whoa!”
The weight of the chair flings me back and I yelp as my legs fly in the air. Andrew grabs onto my ankle and pulls me forward just before I completely teeter backward. The chair hits the sand and my teeth clamp together.
“Wow, that was close,” he says, and his face is red. He’s trying hard not to laugh in my face. He dips his head and laughs between his knees. I place my sunglasses back on straight.
“I do that all the time,” I say with a scoff.
I want to die. I put my face in my hands. That was not Scarlett-like. “Why can’t I ever be graceful?” I say with a chuckle.
Andrew shakes his head at me, but this time we share a laugh. At least, I think he’s laughing with me. He squints at me and a little smile lingers on his lips. “Andrew,” he says and extends a hand. “Andrew Davis.”
I meet his warm palm with mine. “Sarah Levin,” I say and immediately tense up.
Oops. He was with Scarlett last night, he has to know her last name. He doesn’t appear to have made the connection between Scarlett and me.
“Sarah,” he says. “I like that.”
I am in no way going to explain that people call me Bean.
He’s still holding on to my hand as I slowly cross one ankle over the other and curse myself for not painting my toenails bubble gum pink. I bet Scarlett has nail polish I can borrow.
“So how did you become a dune grass expert?” he asks.
His hand is still in mine.
“I’m a scientist,” I say. Scientist has a very regal sound. Maybe it can redeem me from the falling incident.
He cocks his head a little. “Really?” he says. “That’s cool.”
“Do you always shake people’s hands for this long?” I ask with a glance at our intertwined fingers.
“Just beautiful, smart scientists.”
I lift my chin and try to mimic the many ways Scarlett has done this same behavior. I wonder if this is when I should act like I am disinterested so he’ll be more interested. Our eyes flicker back and forth from our touching skin to each other. I don’t even know how to act like I’m uninterested. “Actually, I’m an astronomer. I’m tracking a comet this summer,” I say instead. Being an astronomer is also impressive.
“The only things I track are lobster traps.”
We laugh again and he lets my hand go.
The side of his mouth lifts. The rest of his mouth follows, as if something is dawning on him.
“What?” I ask.
“I’ve never met an astronomer before.”
“I love the stars,” I say. “They’re my whole life.”
“That’s how I feel about working at the juvie camp,” Andrew says. “Right now, I lobster full time. But I work part time with troubled kids out in Brewster. You know, in the part of Brewster you don’t see. You go to school for astronomy?”
“Not yet.”
I want to ask about the juvie camp, but he keeps throwing questions at me.
“You starting in the fall?” Andrew asks.
A dash of happiness runs through my belly. This boy, with his sun-streaked hair and proud, bronzed nose is so gorgeous and is talking to me. I wonder if he has ever broken his nose and why the bump seems to fit him like that. I wonder why I have never spoken to a boy who looks like this in my entire life. The Scarlett Experiment is working! I am a Scarlett-pheromone-wielding phenom who can summon anyone while wearing an American flag string bikini.
“What about you?” I ask, trying to turn the question of school back on him. I figure the more vague I am, the more time I can buy to figure out what I should say.
“I’ll be a sophomore at Boston College,” he says. “I’m nineteen, but I’ll be twenty in August.”
I almost blurt out that I’ll be sixteen in a few days. He’s nineteen? That’s not that old. Granted, he’ll be twenty soon but that’s not for a few months.
“What do you study?” I ask, stalling.
“Well, it should be criminal justice.”
“Should be?”
He hesitates.
“I just want to make sure that’s really what I want to do.”
I can smell the ocean salt in the air and I love the way he licks the drops of water off his top lip. He keeps talking, using expressions like “the