The Secrets We Keep

Rob and Chloe head down the beach together, and after a few steps, they turn back to wave. I watch them fade into the crowd of sun-worshippers, and then I straighten out my towel and succumb to tanning. I turn toward Courtney. “You think they’ll be okay?”

  “Yeah…probably.”

  “Well, you know the situation better than anyone. I mean, you’re kinda’ besties with both of them.”

  “Kinda’.” She sighs and draws a swirl in the sand between the beach towels. “But I feel like I’m always trying to make things up to her, because when she left, I took his side.”

  “Yeah, but none of us knew what happened to her. And we all felt bad for him.”

  “I know, and I was so angry at her. I saw Rob every day. He was a complete mess. But with her gone, it was weird, you know? It was the only time I ever came in first with him. It sorta’ felt nice.” She pauses. “And I used to be so jealous of her growing up. Always having his attention and all…” She draws a heart in the sand, then erases it quickly. “He was my first crush, but…he always liked her better. It totally sucked.”

  “Really? I never knew that.”

  “Because I never told anyone before.” She glances at me. “So with her gone, Rob and I got closer. It was kind of like getting a chance to play the part of Chloe for a while.” She flips onto her stomach, acting like the conversation should end there.

  Uneasiness swells in my stomach. “How close?”

  “Forget I said anything,” she dismisses and tosses me a bottle of sunscreen. “If you lay out on your back, don’t forget to spf your ghostly white abs.”

  I don’t fall for her quick change-of-subject since I can put the pieces together and draw my own conclusion: “You hooked up with Rob, didn’t you?”

  “Shush, don’t be so loud!”

  “And that’s what worries you? How loud I’m being?”

  “No! I’m worried about her finding out!”

  I shake my head. “You’re unbelievable, Courtney! You know that?” I stand up and then yank my towel off the ground, shaking it, and purposely spraying her with white sand.

  Courtney cowers. “Stop it! You’re getting sand all over me.”

  “Oops,” I deadpan. “I am so sorry.” I slide my foot across the rippled sand and spray her again, getting sand all over her freshly-lathered-with-tanning-lotion legs.

  I turn to find Rob and a giggling Chloe ambling toward us. “I can’t leave you two alone for ten minutes, can I?” Rob says with a broad smile.

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Apparently, no one should be left alone with her.”

  Rob tilts his head, questioning me, but Courtney rushes to Chloe and then uses her as a human shield.

  “Hey,” Chloe asks, her eyes widening, “what is going on?”

  I narrow my eyes at Courtney. “Slut!”

  “You don’t know everything.”

  I step toward her. “I know enough—because I know you!”

  Rob slides between us, holding a palm in my direction. “Why don’t you go up to the house and calm down, Callie?”

  I glare at him for a solid minute before I stomp across the soundless sand.

  *****