Tan Lines: Sand, Surf, and Secrets / Rays, Romance, and Rivalry / Beaches, Boys, and Betrayal by Katherine Applegate
“And?”
“And that’s all.”
“You’ve been seeing him?” His voice was choked.
“No, I mean yes, I mean I’ve seen him, yeah. He’s sort of hard to avoid. But I made it very clear to him that whatever we had is completely over.”
“Do you still have feelings for him? The way you did last spring?”
Summer considered. She’d told so many half-truths, done so much evading, that it was starting to come naturally to her. But she wanted to clear the air once and for all. Even if it meant causing more pain.
“I did have feelings for him, Seth. I don’t think you can care about someone and then, bam, suddenly stop caring. But I realized something important when I was sorting through all this.” She slipped her hand through his. “We are engaged, Seth.”
“And this was news to you?”
She stared up at the vast expanse of stars. “Do you ever think about what that means? It means you and me, together until we die. It means loyalty to each other above all else.” She smiled wistfully. “And it means forgiveness—at least I hope it means that.”
For a while they didn’t speak. The waves rolled back and forth over the sand, waiting, it seemed, as impatiently as Summer was waiting.
Finally Seth stood. He looked down at her. She could not read his expression.
“You should have told me all this.”
“I know.”
“How can we trust each other if we’re not completely honest?”
“I know. I didn’t want to hurt you. Again.”
“It’s going to take me some time, Summer. I have to sort through all this.”
She nodded.
“Maybe—” Behind her she heard movement. She turned to see someone, a tall guy, walking down the beach at the water’s edge. Stumbling was more like it.
“He looks drunk,” Summer said.
“Plastered.”
The figure grew larger, clearer. He was humming to himself.
Suddenly he stopped.
“Shummer,” he said.
“Oh, God,” Summer whispered.
Austin sauntered over, nearly tripping on his own feet.
“Seth, let me talk to him alone, okay? He’s drunk. There’s no telling how he might act.”
“Maybe this is a good thing,” Seth said darkly. “We can clear the air at last.”
Austin paused before them, staring at Summer Wearily. “Shummer,” he whispered.
“Hi, Austin,” she whispered.
He stared unsteadily at Seth.
“You remember me, Austin,” Seth said. “We met during spring break. It’s me. Seth.”
14
The Whole Truth and Anything But
“I have to say, your timing’s perfect,” Seth said. “We were just discussing you.”
“I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be.”
“Austin,” Summer said gently, “this isn’t really a good time—”
Austin frowned, then swayed. “I came for the party. Diver said there was a party.”
“The party’s down the beach,” Summer said, but Austin just stood there, eyeing Seth as though Austin were a scientist who’d just discovered a new and intriguing species.
Seth turned to Summer. “Isn’t this the part where we duel for the fair maiden? Is that what you want, Summer?”
“I’m really sort of a pacifist,” Austin said. He swayed a little more, then plopped onto the sand with a grunt. “Could play poker for her, if ya want.”
“No, that’s too lowbrow,” Seth said sarcastically. “How about earnings potential? What do you want to do, Austin?”
Austin lay back on the sand, considering. “You mean when I grow up?”
“A big if, I grant you. What’s your game plan?”
“I’m going to be a starving poet. Suffer for my art. Then die a tragic early death. Or else I’ll write for Hollywood.”
“Well, I plan to become an architect and have my own firm someday. I’d like to see six figures by the time I’m thirty.”
Summer crossed her arms over her chest. “Since when?”
“Since always.”
“Seth, you’re being ridiculous.”
“Okay, then. We’ll look at the whole picture. You want to have kids, Austin?”
Austin narrowed his eyes. “With you?”
Seth grimaced.
“Well,” Austin said, “kids, I don’t know. They’re kind of like a long-term commitment. But I wouldn’t mind a dog. Maybe one of those big, sloppy pound dogs….”
Seth rolled his eyes. “I’m getting at least two kids. A boy and a girl.”
“So,” Austin said, rolling onto his side, “you can just, like…order them from a catalog?”
Seth sighed loudly. “How about your education?” he pressed.
“I watch Jeopardy! every afternoon.”
“I’m going for my advanced degree at UW.”
“University of Weeniedom?” Austin let loose an impressively loud burp. “A nice enough little preschool, I guess.” He glanced at Summer slyly. “Although I hear Carlson’s even better.”
“Say what?”
“Austin,” Summer warned.
Austin sat up and waved Seth off extravagantly. “Never mind. Look, I came for the party, not for Shummer. You already won.”
Seth glanced at Summer. “What do you mean?”
“She chose you and blew me off. Loyalty, honor, all that good stuff.” He shrugged. His body was loose, jointless. “It’s just as well. I’m what they call in insurance circles a ‘bad risk.’”
Seth stared from Austin to Summer and back again. “You’re telling me the truth, man?”
Austin offered up a goofy smile. “Yeah, I know, I had a hard time believing it too.”
“I told you, Seth,” Summer whispered.
For the first time Seth seemed to have come to a conclusion. He nodded firmly. “I believe you. I do.” He reached out his hand to Summer. “Come on. Let’s go back to your place.”
Summer jerked her head toward Austin, who was lying on his back, arms spread, making sand angels.
“We can’t leave him.”
“Leave him,” Austin advised. “He’sh fine.”
“I can’t, Austin. Remember that other time? The time you went swimming at night over spring break?”
It seemed like ages ago, but it had been only a few months. Austin had been upset over his father and gone swimming, half intending to drown himself. Summer had saved him, but not without nearly drowning herself in the process.
Seth let out a long exhalation, slowly shaking his head. He held out his hand to Austin. “Come on, buddy. We’re taking you home.”
“A threeshome?” Austin inquired.
Seth gave a rueful laugh. “Yeah, Austin. Something like that.”
At two in the morning Diana eased open the door to the apartment. The lights were out, which meant Summer and Marquez were already asleep. Good thing. She was exhausted and angry and not in the mood for another episode of The Seth and Summer Show.
She locked the door behind her and tossed her keys on the counter. Moonlight streamed through the balcony doors.
She’d spent the whole evening watching Summer and Seth together. Hoping that Seth would take note, she’d even pretended to flirt with some guy named P.J., an old friend of Blythe’s. When she’d danced with the guy, he’d smelled of licorice and sweat and held her too close. Diana had watched over her shoulder while Summer and Seth went swimming in the ocean. Swimming and kissing.
She wondered where Seth was staying that night. She wondered if she really wanted to know the answer to that question. She was starting to realize that ignorance was sometimes bliss.
“Where’ve you been?” a low voice inquired.
Diana jumped, her hand to her heart. Seth was sitting on the couch in the dark.
“You scared me, Seth,” Diana hissed. “What are you doing lurking around there? Why aren’t you with Summer?” She s
“How about a little poolside chat, Diana?”
“I’m tired.”
“We could do it here,” Seth said in a hushed voice, “but I’m not sure you want Summer to hear what I have to say to you about you and her ring.”
Diana sighed. She might as well get it over with. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s go to the pool and you can tell me how you believe all Summer’s nice little lies.”
Seth didn’t speak all the way down to the backyard. The pool was unlit, save for the silver moonlight frosting the water. A dragonfly struggled across the surface, unable to free itself from the water’s hold. Diana knelt down and scooped it out. It buzzed away in wild loops.
“You lied to me, Diana.” Seth said it wearily, like a disappointed teacher. His hands were on his hips.
When he wanted to, he could be downright parental, Diana reflected.
“Summer lost that ring. She didn’t take it off because she wanted to break up with me.”
“So that’s the story,” Diana said. She sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in the warm water. “And you’re buying it. Seth, you are nothing if not eternally gullible. You are the ultimate used-car salesman’s fantasy. You’ll buy anything as long as it comes wrapped up in a pretty package.”
“One thing about Summer, Diana. Unlike you, she’s a lousy liar. She told me how the ring disappeared while she was painting. The story was too Summer-like not to be true.” He sat down on the edge of a pool chair, hands clasped between his knees. “The thing is, she didn’t know the ending to the story. The part where you somehow found the ring and flew it all the way to California.”
Diana’s mind was in overdrive, searching for ways out of the corner she’d boxed herself into. But nothing could help her. She’d trapped herself. “Fine, whatever,” she snapped, her tense voice betraying her outward calm. “Believe what you want to believe, Seth.” She hesitated. “So…did you tell her about me and the ring?”
“No. I didn’t see the point in hurting her.”
“Very noble. Of course, there’s still the little matter of Austin Reed.”
“Funny you should bring him up. Guess who crashed the party this evening—Austin himself.”
“Any bloodshed?”
“Sorry to disappoint you. He was righteously drunk. He told me just what Summer told me,” Seth said, sounding way too much like a prosecutor going in for the kill. “She chose me. She wanted me, Diana.”
“Interesting. Did he also tell you how he pawed her by this very pool a few days ago?”
Seth gave her a long-suffering look.
“You saw the picture, Seth. Austin and Summer, right here. Extremely close together. Some might say intimately close. And that’s just the time I was able to capture it on film. Who knows what went on with them behind closed doors?”
“This is why you’re so good, Diana.” Seth wagged a finger at her. “There’s just enough truth mixed in with your fiction to make it compelling. Summer’s not wearing her ring, true enough. Austin’s here in Coconut Key, true enough. And yes, I bought your version of events hook, line, and sinker. But it wasn’t the whole truth. I’m starting to realize you’re not very good at the whole truth, Diana.”
“I told you the truth about my feelings for you.” Her voice was soft and indistinct. “That was the whole truth.”
“Maybe,” Seth said. “I suppose I’ll never really know.”
She could hear, in his indifferent tone, his condescension. Seth was slipping from her grasp. Panic hammered at her. And when Diana felt panicked, she fought back tooth and nail, like any cornered animal.
She stood, eyeing him with cold disdain, waiting until she saw a hint of worry.
“You know, Seth,” she said, “it seems to me that I’m not the only person here who has trouble with the concept of the whole truth. You’ve been known to leave out part of the story yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re a hypocrite. It means you used me. It means”—she turned to go—“this isn’t over yet. You want the whole truth? Fine. You know what they say. Watch out what you wish for, Seth. You might just get it.”
15
Just One Big Happy Family
Marquez checked the mileage counter on her exercise bike. “Wimp,” she muttered. A couple of days off and she’d completely lost her stride. Not only that, her morning weigh-in had been positively devastating.
She’d been eating, that’s why. And to get Diver and Summer off her case, she’d completely blown her exercise strategy. If she let them have their way, she’d blimp up like a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
She pedaled even faster. Sweat trickled down her chest. Diana was still asleep, Summer was in the shower, and Seth was crashed out on the couch, oblivious. For once she could work off some calories without the diet narcs on her case.
At the beach party the night before, Diver had been all over her about going to counseling. When he talked to her at all, that was. For most of the evening he’d been busy gawking at that Caroline girl. Beautiful, skinny Caroline. All night they’d eyed each other.
Marquez was not an idiot. She could see what was going on. And if there’d been any doubt, the way Diver had clammed up was all the evidence she needed. He’d been quiet, even by his standards.
She was losing him, she was sure of it. Someday soon she was going to walk in on him and Caroline, just the way she’d walked in on J.T. and that slut.
Sure, Diver swore everything was fine, swore he loved her. But he was like Summer that way. Too nice to say the truth of things.
She’d just clocked another mile when Diana emerged from her bedroom. She had on her red silk robe. Her hair was mussed, and there were dark, shiny circles under her eyes. That was pretty rough around the edges for Diana. She usually arose looking as though she’d just had a Seventeen makeover.
“Is this fresh coffee?” Diana muttered, holding up the pot.
“I have nothing to say to you, Diana,” Marquez replied.
“And that would be, like, a punishment?”
Summer came out of the bathroom dressed in a slinky blue sundress. She took one look at Marquez on the bike and groaned. “You’re not overdoing it, are you?”
“Not if the scale is any indication.”
“Marquez—”
“All right, all right.” Marquez slowed her pedaling. “I just need to cool down. What are you all dressed up for, anyway?”
“My companion interview.”
“Seems to me you have plenty of companions,” Diana said under her breath.
“What?” Summer asked.
“Nothing.”
Summer leaned over the back of the couch and kissed Seth lightly on the lips. He opened his eyes. “Excellent wake-up call,” he said, yawning. “Hey, you look great.”
“Does anyone know if this is new coffee?” Diana demanded.
“I made it a while ago,” Summer said. “It’s probably kind of bitter.”
“Perfect,” Diana said. She popped a cup in the microwave, cast a dark glance at Seth, and headed for the bathroom.
“What’s the matter with her?” Summer asked.
Marquez shrugged. “Let’s just say some of her best-laid plans fell through.”
“Well, I’m off,” Summer said, grabbing her purse. “Wish me luck. Do I look like companion material?”
“You do to me,” Seth said with a leer. “Hey, you sure this guy just wants you to, like, run errands and stuff?”
“No, Seth. He wants me to clean the house wearing a French maid costume.” Summer rolled her eyes. “He was in a really bad accident. He’s in a wheelchair.”
“But his hands work, right?”
“Seth, please shut up. I am desperate. It’s this or I get a job at Jitters.”
“Whoa. Knock ’em dead.”
Summer snapped her fingers. “Marquez. Before I forget, the nurse at the hospital
Marquez just kept pedaling. She suddenly realized that she’d already come to a decision.
“You’re not backing out?” Summer asked.
“Look, maybe I’ll go next week. I’m just not in the mood, okay?”
“But you promised.”
“Well, I lied. God knows I’m not the only person around this place who’s done it.” Marquez was pleased when both Summer and Seth looked equally uncomfortable.
Still, Summer wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Marquez, please go, for me. For Diver.”
“Summer, I am a big girl and I don’t want to be nagged. Nagging would not be a good idea.” She gave Summer her best back-off look. “Not, I repeat, a good idea. Got it?”
Summer sighed. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“It’s going to be a very brief, very one-sided conversation.”
“We’ll talk,” was all Summer would say. She kissed Seth one more time. “I’m glad we’re okay,” she said.
“Me too. Real glad.”
Before leaving, Summer cast one last disapproving, hopeful, plaintive, annoyed look at Marquez. It was amazing. The girl could convey more guilt trips with her blue eyes than all the nuns at Marquez’s junior high combined.
When the door closed behind Summer, Seth sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What did you mean,” he asked, jerking his head toward the bathroom door, “about Diana’s plans falling through?”
Marquez climbed off the bike, testing her rubbery legs. “‘Should auld acquaintance be forgot—’”
Seth gulped. “New Year’s?”
“New Year’s.”
“You didn’t tell Summer?”
“I haven’t yet. But let me just say this. You and Diana had better behave yourselves, or I may be feeling a lot more talkative.”
“There’s nothing between Diana and me, Marquez.”
“I guess she just flew out to California for the scenery?”
Seth actually flushed.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Marquez wiped her brow with a towel. “Look, this apartment has more secrets in it than my eighth-grade diary. I can’t even keep track anymore. Let’s just keep things simple. You behave, I’ll keep my mouth shut. Deal?”