Out of My League - Sarah Sutton Page 0,36

that. Scott told her about my article? “Just…focusing on the season, I mean. Nothing too exciting.”

“That’s fun. And I bet it’s been cool interviewing Walsh for it, now that he’s your boyfriend and all.”

I turned to look at her, squinting against the orange sun that shined just over her shoulder. “I’m sure Scott had something to say about that.”

“Scott has a lot to say about a lot of things,” Jewel said lightly, though her expression didn’t quite match her tone, “but you and Walsh do tend to be a frequent topic.”

“Hey, can you tie the strap behind my back for me?” Edith said as she came up to me, lifting the hem of her shirt a little and turning around. “I couldn’t reach.”

I picked up the red straps of Edith’s bikini top, double-knotting it. “There.”

“Thanks, it was kind of—oh. Uh. Hi.”

Edith’s eyes snagged on how close Jewel stood off to my side, expression going from calm to tense in an instant. Jewel’s first impression with Edith wasn’t the best—nor was her first impression with me—but part of me felt strangely defensive of Scott’s new girlfriend.

Jewel, though, acted like she didn’t notice the sharpness to my best friend’s gaze. She stuck out her hand. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Jewel.”

“Edith.” She didn’t offer her hand. “Interesting to find you with Sophia.”

“Oh, she’s one of the familiar faces that I know. We were both at Ryan’s party on Tuesday. Celia and I went with Scott.”

A shade of darkness washed over Edith’s expression, starting with her eyes. Celia. Crap, I never told her about that. When I opened my mouth to say something, anything, I got cut off by the girl behind the slushy stand.

“How do you know Celia?” Edith asked, folding her arms over her chest.

“We’re family friends.”

Had I been a bad friend for not telling Edith that Celia had been at the party? For not telling her how Zach seemed a little too friendly? Edith hadn’t really said anything was going on with her and Zach, but was that breaking girl code? Gosh, what even was girl code?

“Why did you two run out so fast the other night, Sophia?” Jewel asked after I ordered. “You and Walsh left almost as soon as we got there.”

“That’s because Ryan’s parties are lame,” Edith said on a huff, turning her gaze away. Yeah, probably a bad sign.

“Just had some things to do,” I said to Jewel politely. Like reading together in the car. In all honesty, that was way better than Ryan’s party. I turned to Edith as the girl handed over my slushy. “Are you playing in the tournament? Get your practice in?”

She hoisted her bag higher up on her shoulder, watching Jewel trail after us with a distrustful gaze. “I’m in the second round.”

Without warning, two arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me backward, startling me so badly that I nearly dropped my slushy cup.

A soft voice accompanied the embrace, warm words close to my ear. “Found you.”

The quickness of my pulse didn’t lessen as my brain registered the voice as Walsh’s. In fact, it almost started to beat faster. I tried to catch my expression, to morph it into a look of elation.

Get your game face on, Sophia, I thought again, and gave a small, feigned gasp. “Walsh.” My voice was so high, and I fought off a cringe. “You scared me.”

When I turned to face him, I faltered at the view, at least on the inside. I’d seen him an hour ago, but for some reason, the sight of him now had me doing a doubletake. Probably because he was shirtless.

His dark navy trunks and blond hair both were dripping as if he’d just jumped into the bay, dripping water droplets onto his skin. My back had just been against his bare and tanned chest, and I couldn’t get past that thought.

“Sounds like it,” he said with a grin. “Is that a slushy?”

I could feel Jewel’s eyes on us like a physical weight, bouncing back and forth. Gosh, was I paranoid now?

Paranoid or not, I made sure not to let it show. “Of course.”

Walsh swiped the cup from me, his mouth closing over the straw, taking a long pull. I tried to breathe normally, watching my slushy in his hands, jittering with nerves. He smacked his lips together. “Mm. A little syrupy for me.”

I couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. “Syrupy is the best.”

“Shouldn’t you be on the court?” Jewel asked Walsh, gesturing to the volleyball players. “Weren’t you