Emmy & Oliver - Robin Benway Page 0,27
explain that to my parents, so yeah.” I shrugged and ate another chip. Surfing always left me starving afterward. “On my island.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s something Caro and I say. Like, if you don’t like the way something is, you just say ‘on my island!’ As if things would be different on your own private island where you could make up all the rules.”
“Well, on my island, no one would have ever created that smoothie-juice thing,” Oliver said, moving the cup even closer to me. “Because that’s not right.”
“It’s all natural!” I protested even as I laughed. “Made from nature!”
“Nature is cruel,” Oliver replied.
“Well, we’ll just see who’s stronger and fitter when we go surfing next time,” I said without thinking, then realized that I just invited Oliver to hang out again.
He looked at me a second longer than he had before. “Again?” he repeated before chowing down on another chip. “Yeah, that’d be cool. It’s not like I have plans or anything.”
I twisted the napkin between my fingers. “Not to sound like I was stalking you or anything, but I saw you watching movies in your room.”
Oliver just nodded. “Yeah, my dad and I, we used to watch movies together. He was a big film buff and he got me into it.” Now Oliver was shredding his napkin. Between the two of us, the napkins didn’t stand a chance.
“That’s cool,” I said. “You know, there’s a film-appreciation club at school, you could . . .” But I trailed off as Oliver just looked at me, skepticism in his eyes.
“Not joining any clubs,” he said. “That’s not my thing.”
“Not everyone is an asshole at our school,” I pointed out, “but I’m sorry you’re getting harassed. It’s just because you’re new. They’ll get over it.”
“What makes you think I’d want to be friends with them in the first place?”
I didn’t have an answer.
He looked at the skyline, which had turned blue and purple to match the ocean. “Thanks for asking me to hang out today,” he finally said. “It was fun. I’m glad I didn’t die.”
“I’m glad you didn’t die, either,” I said. “It’d be bad if you disappeared for ten years, then you died on my watch two weeks after you got back.”
“Yes, it would,” Oliver said, smiling at me. He looked like his second-grade photograph, the one that had been plastered on MISSING signs everywhere. “I was starting to go nuts just hanging out with my mom and Rick the whole time.”
“Well, they said we should give you some sp—time to adjust,” I said. The word space sounded mean all of a sudden, like Oliver was a shrapnel bomb set to explode.
He just laughed. “Not enough time for that.” Before I could respond, he looked at me. “Hey, you cold? You’re shivering.”
“A little,” I admitted. I hadn’t even noticed until he said it. “What, are you going to do something chivalrous like give me your coat?”
“What coat? All I’ve got is your hoodie and it smells like the back of your car,” he replied. “C’mon, finish so we can crank the heat and get back so you can lie to your parents.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, and we finished our burritos and went back across the street to the car. My hair was almost dry, but hopefully I could sneak into the shower before my parents noticed all the salt that would inevitably crust up around my hairline.
In the car, Oliver looked at me as we sat at a light, his face highlighted in red. “Hey,” he said. “What movie did we see?”
“Oh yeah, right. Let’s get our story straight. Um, the new one with that Australian actor guy.”
“Okay, good. Don’t screw up under pressure, Emmy. We’ve come this far, we can’t go back!”
“I won’t!” I laughed. “I’ve been lying to my parents way longer than you have, don’t forget.”
“True. Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry there’s a gap in our friendship.”
“Yeah,” I said, glancing at him. “Me too. But it’s not our fault.”
He was about to say something, but the light changed to green and he sat back as I hit the gas, the light telling us it was time to go.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When we got back, I pulled the car into the driveway and cut the engine. “I’m covered in sand,” Oliver said, brushing at the leg of his jeans. “How are we supposed to keep this a secret, again?”
“We went to the Stand for dinner after the movie because we were starving, and then we walked on the beach.” I turned in