“I guess,” I say.
“Then dive in.”
I hesitate. What if when I dive in I swallow a couple hundred gallons of chlorinated water and then lose my bikini top?
“If you want someone, you have to go after him.”
“I know, but…”
Hailey looks up from her paper and eyes Checker Boy in the pool now doing laps. “He is cute, Kristin,” she says. “Go for it.”
Liz smiles at me as if to say, “See, even the girl we just met thinks you should.”
I sigh. She’s right. I know she’s right. Unlike me she knows what she’s doing. Unlike me she’s done this before. Many, many times.
But…I don’t want to look like an idiot. What if he blows me off? What if he has a girlfriend? What if he has a wife? What if he has children? Okay, he looks a little young to have a wife and children, but what if—
Liz sighs. “Kristin, watch how it’s done.” In a fluid motion she removes her sunglasses, wrap, and iPod and dives, rippleless, into the deep end.
She surfaces like a supermodel, hair glistening and shoulders pulled back to show off her oh-so-tiny bikini top. She is directly blocking Checker Boy’s path.
He swims right into her. He pulls his head back, treading water and coughing.
“So sorry,” Liz purrs. “Do you need mouth-to-mouth?”
Hailey laughs.
The look on Checker Boy’s face says he would love some mouth-to-mouth, thank you very much. “Sorry about that,” he says. “I have to learn to look where I’m going.”
“I don’t know if I can accept your apology,” she drawls. “You may have to buy me a drink to make it up to me.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Checker Boy says, eyes blinking rapidly, not believing his luck. They swim toward the pool bar.
“Wow,” Hailey says.
“She’s a master,” I respond.
“But she’s not twenty-one! How can she drink?”
“She has her ways.”
“She stole your guy. You should have called dibs.”
I shrug. “There are other fish on the boat.”
An hour later Liz sashays back to our chairs.
“What’s he like?” I ask.
She runs her fingers through her damp hair. “Who, Jarred? Not bad. He offered to buy me lunch. I told him we’d catch up with him later maybe.”
“Does he have any cute friends?” Hailey asks.
“I didn’t ask, but this one’s our priority this weekend,” Liz says, pointing to me. “She needs to take care of a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
My face heats up, and it’s not from the sun.
“Her virginity,” Liz says with a half smile.
“Oh, don’t do it,” Hailey says. “I wish I would have waited. I lost it last fall, beginning of junior year, to a total idiot. He told the entire school.”
“Jerk,” I say.
“So trust me, don’t rush,” she says. “Wait for someone you’re madly in love with.”
“Do not listen to her,” Liz says. “It will be too scary to do it with someone you’re madly in love with.”
“Maybe,” Hailey says, hesitating. “At least if you do it with some random stranger, it won’t matter who he tells. It’s not like you’ll know the same people. Have you ever come close to losing it?”
“Once,” I admit.
“What happened?”
I hesitate. “It was with a guy named Tom. I thought it was going to happen. I was in his room. His parents weren’t home. And I was just about to when…”
“When what?”
“I chickened out,” I admit. “And bolted.”
“He must have loved that.” Hailey laughs.
“I’m sure he got over it,” I say. Not that I ever saw him again. Better off for both of us, I’d say.
“What about you?” Hailey asks Liz. “When did you lose it?”
She shakes her head. “It feels like forever ago.” She shrugs. “Who can remember?”
Hailey stretches her arms above her head. “I should probably go check on my mom. Make sure she hasn’t thrown herself off the side of the boat.”
“Or gotten attacked by vampires,” Liz says, winking.
Hailey laughs. “Will you guys be around later?”
“Yup,” I say.
“Cool.”
“We’ll be at the casino,” Liz says, reclining in her seat again. “Meet us at nine.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“Wait, Hailey?” I ask. “Are you finished with the Eagle?”
“Yup. You want it?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
She tosses it on my chair. “Enjoy.”
Liz snickers as I open the paper.
“It’s not funny,” I say, reading the details. “It says there have been seven disappearances on six different cruise ships in the past year. Two people were found in the water, drained of blood. Drained of blood! Aren’t you even a little bit worried?”
“Gimme a break. It’s the Eagle. Hello, there’s no such thing as vampires, remember? Anyway, you’re transferring your anxiety from what you’re really afraid of.”
“And what’s that?”
She gives me a knowing look. “You know. Losing it.”
“Thank you, Dr. Laura. But I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I flip over in my lounge chair, turning my back to her.
“Are you hungry?” she asks a few minutes later.
“No,” I say, still mad.
“Stop being a baby,” she says. “I’m starving. I’ll get us something to eat. Let me find Jarred.”
“Hailey says I should have called dibs.”
“Hey, he’s all yours if you want him,” she offers.
“No, you go ahead. I don’t want your charity. I’ll find my own guy.” I take a deep breath of ocean air. “Promise.”
Liz and I meet Hailey at the casino later that night, by a James Bond slot machine. If I put in a quarter, will a gorgeous spy pop out?
“You two look amazing,” Hailey says.
“So do you,” I say. She does look very pretty in a simple black cotton dress.
“Oh, please, you guys look like you’re going to a Manhattan gala, and I look like I’m going to a school dance.” She admires the purple strapless dress Liz forced me into and Liz’s glamorous backless red sheath. “Can I come raid your closet?”
“Anytime,” Liz says, fixing the strap on her shoe. “And you smell great. What perfume is that?”
Hailey smiles. “Thanks! It’s called Parfum de Vie.”
“Very yummy.”
“How’s your mom?” I ask.
“Passed out. So pathetic.” She rolls her eyes and straightens her shoulders. “What do you wanna do? Gamble? Scope the scene? Find cute boys? Slay vampires?”
“I’m up for the first two,” Liz says, and scans the room. “Let’s start at the bar.”
When we make our way over, a much older but still very hot bartender asks us what we’d like to drink. Liz purrs her order over the bar, showing extra cl**vage.
She turns back to us and murmurs, “Dibs.”
“He’s old enough to be your father,” Hailey says.
“I like mature men. They smell better. Like fine wine.” She lifts her glass to ours and we clink.
As I lower my glass, I spot him.
The one.
I know right away. He’s it. He’s perfect.
Standing by the blackjack table.
If I thought Checker Boy was cute, this guy is a whole other level of cute. The level twelve of cute. He’s gorgeous. Tall, shiny dark hair, sculpted cheekbones, shoulders like a quarterback’s. Unlike Mr. Bartender he can’t be more than twenty-two. And he’s wearing a tux.
Seriously.
Who needs a quarter? I just found my very own James Bond. An old-school, dark-haired one too. Go me.
“Dibs,” I whisper.
Liz squeezes my shoulder. “Good call.”
“I’m in love,” I say.
“I can see that,” she says. “Wipe your chin. You drooled.”
“Where, where? Show me him!” Hailey says, jumping in place.
“Don’t be too obvious,” I warn her, flipping my hair in my most nonchalant way. “Look over at the blackjack table.”
She oh-so-casually spins a hundred and eighty degrees. “Ooooh. He’s hot. Go for him!”
I fidget with my dress. “How? What do I do?”
Hailey turns to Liz. “Yeah, tell us what to do. How did you know what to do to get that swimmer at the pool? Where is he anyway? Are you meeting up with him?”
Liz shrugs. “Nah. It’s over. He was boring.”
Hailey laughs. “I guess you already found someone new. Tell us your secrets so we can follow in your footsteps, will you?
She motions us closer. “It’s all about the attitude. He should know that you think you’re all that. If you think you’re all that, he’ll think you’re all that. But being all that doesn’t mean ‘I’m better than you.’ It means, ‘I’m fantabulous and you seem like you are too, so maybe we deserve each other.’”
“Fantabulous?” I repeat.
“Yes.” She nods emphatically. “Absolutely fantabulous.”
“I can do that,” Hailey says. “I can be absolutely fantabulous. What else?”
“That’s it.”
“That’s all it takes to find a boyfriend?” Hailey asks.
Liz grins. “Boyfriend? Who wants a boyfriend? That was how to score a hook-up.” She rubs my shoulders again. “So are you ready?”
“Yes,” I say while shaking my head no.
“Go play next to him. There’s a seat open.”