Last Year's Mistake - Gina Ciocca Page 0,25

partial ride.” He leaned forward again and stabbed his straw through the lemon in his soda. “Your friend could really screw this up for me.”

“Who? David?”

“He’s good, Kelse. Really good. And on top of it, Coach and his dad are, like, college buddies or something. There’s no way he’s not making the team, and he’ll definitely be starting. Which means everyone will be watching him when they should be watching me. Which means he’ll be eligible for all the scholarships I would’ve had in the bag if he’d stayed the fuck away from here.” He ran his hand through his hair and grumbled, “Sorry for the f-bomb.”

Oh, wow.

No wonder he’d been so on edge around David. Not only did he see my past with him as a threat to our relationship, he saw David’s presence as a threat to his whole future.

This could get ugly.

“Ry, David’s a good ballplayer, but so are you. And you’re a senior. . . . Haven’t those decisions been made already?”

Ryan’s lips twisted. “Clayton doesn’t announce their scholarships until the postseason banquet. And I wasn’t interested in any of the universities that offered early signing. I’m sort of holding out to see what else happens.”

“Maybe David’s already picked his school and you’re freaking out for nothing. Besides, you’ve played at Clayton for three years, and if anyone deserves one of the school’s scholarships, it’s you. They’re not going to screw you over if they know what’s right.”

Ryan frowned. “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.”

I leaned across the table and took his hand again. “I don’t want to talk about this particular ‘who’ anymore, okay? No more distractions tonight, for either of us. I want to enjoy the amazing night my boyfriend planned for me. All right?”

Ryan squeezed my hand and smiled, his beyond-adorable dimple coming out to play. My heart expanded about three sizes, and I pushed thoughts of David to the back of my mind.

“All right, babe. I love you.”

“I love you, too. And I’m sorry I’ve been such a mope lately. I’m over it, I promise.”

I meant it. Or I wanted to. As Ryan and I walked hand in hand toward the marina after dinner, the sound of live music floating through the salty air, I’d almost forgotten why I’d been such a drudge all week. I might have succeeded in forgetting completely if I hadn’t spotted a pretty blond girl walking with her tall, dark-haired boyfriend. They were laughing and talking and one of her hands curled around the crook of his arm. In the other a bag from the taffy store swung in rhythm with her steps.

I swallowed down the sourness that rose in my throat as Ryan pulled aside into a little patch of concrete that jutted out between two restaurants, where we could lean against the fence and look out at the silhouettes of the docked boats. He put his arm around me and I settled against his shoulder.

He leaned in and kissed me, the soft warmth of his lips sending a thrill through me from head to toe. It was like having some of the poison from my toxic week drained out of my body.

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him with everything I had, determined to force the rest of the demons out. By the time we pulled apart, both ready to escape to my mercifully empty house, I decided I’d never let David, or anyone else, get under my skin again.

Ryan deserved so much better than that, and I was going to give it to him.

Ten

Rhode Island

Summer before Sophomore Year

I’ll never forget the first time things got weird between David and me. It was only for a minute, but it definitely happened.

It was our second summer together in Newport. We’d bought some taffy on Thames Street and taken it to the Cliff Walk. The sky was the perfect shade of summer blue, and the sun sparkled off the ocean as we walked, biting our candy and stretching it as far and thin as we possibly could before it broke.

“That was definitely a record!” David laughed, slurping a long, sagging ribbon into his mouth. “That had to be, like, twelve inches!”

I nearly spit my own glob of strawberry taffy on the ground, or I would’ve if it hadn’t been stuck to my teeth. “Leave it to you to make it sound dirty! Do you boys always exaggerate when it comes to size?”

David leaned against the railing, pulling another wrapped piece of candy