“I do,” he answered.
“But do you really?” Kai asked, jumping in between us.
I giggled. “Shut up, Kai.”
“We don’t know each other well enough for you to tell me to shut up yet.”
My brows furrowed in apology. “I’m sorry, Kai. I was just playing.”
“I know. I’m just teasing, baby.” He laughed. Ezra’s arm muscles contracted. I noticed because I was watching him. Because I couldn’t help but watch him. “That was just my way of opening up a dialogue, Miss Jupiter. So, tell me, what’s your last name.”
“Corey,” Ezra answered for me with a slight smirk.
“Is that funny?” I asked him.
“No, not funny.”
“Why the smirk then?”
“I didn’t smirk.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I did not.”
“Oh my God!” Kai interjected.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing, but Ezra swallowed. Nerves, I suspected. What he had to be nervous about, I wasn’t sure, though.
“So,” Kai continued, “how old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“July tenth,” Ezra answered again.
I was a little startled he knew when my birthday was. “How did—?”
“My birthday is the fifth. In second grade I had a birthday on a Sunday and yours was on a Friday. They gave us parties together, remember?”
I didn’t. Shockingly. “That’s crazy you remember that.”
“Is it, though?” Kai asked with possible sarcasm, confusing me.
My phone rang. I dug through my bag to get at it, but before I could answer, Kai ripped it from my hands.
“Kai!”
He answered and put the phone to his ear. “Jupiter’s phone,” he greeted. His eyes lit up. “She’s a little indisposed at the moment.” Pause. “I’m Ezra’s cousin Kai. Who’s speaking?” Pause. “Oh, the hot one!” Frankie. Kai laughed heartily at whatever Frank said. “No, not yet,” he said, looking at me with a smile. Another pause, lengthy this time. Kai laughed. “I see.” He looked at Ezra. “Oh, really?”
I’d had enough so I took off my seatbelt and reached back. Kai reared back, laughing. “Gimme!” I shouted, our arms tangled. “Give it to me!” I insisted, pulling his arms apart and plucking the phone out of his hands.
I sat in my seat once more and brought the phone to my face. “Frankie,” I said.
“Well, hello there, angel. How are you today?”
“Idday ouday ustjay mbarrasseay emay!”
“I might have,” she answered.
“Frankie, really?”
“No, dinkus, I did not say anything embarrassing. Scout’s honor.”
“You are not a Scout.”
“Okay, I promise on my new All Fired Up MAC lipstick.”
I sighed in relief. “Okay, what’s up, buttercup?”
“Just checking in. Have you kissed him yet?”
“Frank, I gotta go.”
“Just ring me when you do!”
“Shut up, Frankie.”
She laughed. “Love you too!” she said before hanging up.
I stuffed my phone back in my purse.
“So,” I sang.
“So, where were we?” Kai asked. “Any siblings?”
“A sister,” I answered.
“Is she hot?” he asked.
“Ew, Kai, no.”
“Ezra you met her. Is she hot?”
My eyes blew wide.
“I don’t remember,” Ezra answered.
Liar.
“You lie,” Kai accused, voicing my thought.
Ezra stared into me when he answered Kai. “I didn’t really notice her,” he said, making my stomach churn.
Huh.
“So, Jupiter, let’s flip the script here, find out what you know about Ezra.”
“Uh, no,” I said, my face betraying my nerves.
Kai ignored me. “You already know how old he is, but let’s see what else you know. I’ll start with a few easy ones.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Ezra practically whispered.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Let’s start off with something simple. What’s his last name?” Kai asked.
“Brandon,” I answered.
Ezra smiled and I nearly keeled over.
“How many siblings does he have?” Kai asked.
“Ezra has two older brothers.”
“Correct,” Kai said, “but do you know their names?”
“Finn and,” I said, pausing, trying to remember him, “Holden!”
Finn was only two years older so I attended Endicott for a year with him before he left, but Holden was four years older so I never knew him personally.
“Correctomundo,” Kai responded. “Now,” he said, “what is Ezra’s middle name?”
I was stumped. “I can’t remember,” I told him.
“Julian,” Ezra’s deep voice offered, sending cool shivers down my skin. I looked over at Ezra. “And your middle name is Willow,” he told me.
All the air in my lungs rushed out at once. “That’s right,” I told him.
We stared at one another for a long moment before he turned his attention back to the road.
“So, uh,” Kai began, unsure of himself for once, which I could tell was uncommon for him. “Jupiter,” he said gaining control again, “did you and Ezra hang out a lot?” he asked.
I turned toward Kai, both my hands on the back of my seat, and said, “Never.”
“Oh,” Kai said, obviously surprised at how well Ezra knew me since we hadn’t ever really hung out. I was just as surprised, let me tell you.
Ezra didn’t comment. Instead, he stared straight ahead, apparently done with participating.
We arrived in Winter Park at a quarter to two in the afternoon, pulling into a condo timeshare Ezra and Kai’s grandparents owned there. Ezra grabbed my bag first and all three of us walked up the short path to the condo’s aluminum door. When he swung it open, we were greeted with the smell of cinnamon and vanilla.
“Smells amazing in here,” I said, making Kai laughed.
“What?”
“My grandma’s obsessed with potpourri,” he explained. “It actually drives Ezra and me crazy.”
“This is your room,” Ezra said, gesturing to a door to the right of a small living area that connected with the kitchen. The open room ran the length of the condo to an open porch that butted against a golf course. There were two rooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom in between. Ezra set my bag inside the comfortable room then bounded back out to the GTO to get his own.
I stood within the frame of my bedroom door, leaning against the doorjamb as Kai fell onto a wicker couch with a bright tropical pattern on the cushions. He sighed.
“Want to go swimming?” he asked. “There is a wicked resort pool here.”
“Sure,” I said, grateful I threw in my suit at the last minute.
Ezra walked in. “We’re going swimming,” Kai told him.
“Cool,” he said, taking his bag into his room.
Kai made a funny face at me and I laughed. “Are you going to come, dumb ass?” Kai yelled at Ezra through his door.
“Think I’ll just rest,” Ezra yelled back.
Kai shook his head in exasperation. “Suit up,” he said to me. “Be right back.”
I shut my door then dug through my case to find my C-3PO swimsuit. Two-pieces were impractical where I lived since we were always boating, etc., so I settled for a novelty one-piece instead, and it rocked my socks. I threw my hair into a haphazard topknot, tossed my black swim tunic over my head, and slipped on my gold flip-flops. I looked at myself in the mirror. Missing something. Bright red lipstick and I was good to go.
I opened my door and sat on the wicker sofa where Kai had been earlier. I heard hushed voices arguing back and forth and decided to give them some room. I slipped out the front door and made
my way to the main clubhouse on the property, hoping to catch a few signs directing me to the pool.
I slid my phone out of my pocket and dialed my sister.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mercury, it’s me,” I said.
“You called me,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
“I told you I’d call every day and I meant it, even if I just saw you this morning. I promised.”
She took a breath. “Thank you,” she said, her voice more buoyant.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine now,” she said, “but it’s only been a few hours.”
I giggled. “Will you tell Mom and Dad I arrived in Orlando?”
“Sure,” she said. “Love you, Jup.”
“Love you too,” I said, smiling as I hung up.
I tucked my phone into my tunic pocket. “Who was that?” a deep voice asked, startling me.
My hands flew to my throat as I took in the hulking figure beside me.
“Ezra,” I breathed. His smirk showed itself. “It was my sister, Mercury. I told her I would call her every day. She was pretty broken up that I was leaving.”
“She must love you a lot then.”
“I hope so. I think so.” I glanced his direction. “Decided to come, did you?”
He laughed and I thought I’d never get used to it. “Yeah, Kai can be pretty convincing.”
It was my turn to laugh. “He’s a bully,” I corrected, “but he’s a well-meaning, sweet bully.”
“Is there such a thing?” Ezra asked.
“I think so. There are people who want so badly to do the right thing, they’ll stop at nothing to do it.”
“That’s Kai,” Ezra observed.
I checked out Ezra’s board shorts but my eyes traveled lower to his calves, and that’s when I saw the scars from the many pins he’d had in his legs. I winced, remembering how many he’d had. He’d sat in that miserable wheelchair for weeks as they healed, only to endure painful, from what I’d heard, physical therapy.
My knees went a little weak at the memory.
“You looked so miserable back then,” I told him when he’d caught me looking, his gaze following mine.
Ezra swallowed but didn’t respond. We walked in silence until we reached the gate.
“Kai was right; it’s a wicked pool.”
“Over here!” Kai yelled, motioning us over to where he sat near a group of girls, already working that suave, and making me giggle.
“How did he beat us here?” I asked.
“Took the shortcut, I guess.”
“Ah,” I commented, then turned toward Ezra. “Why didn’t you?”
“Wanted to make sure you got here okay.”
I nodded and bit my lip to keep from smiling.
“He is shameless,” I said, nodding toward a flirtatious Kai.
“He is a Lothario,” Ezra added.
We closed the distance between us and Kai.
“Ezra, Jupiter, these are some new friends of mine,” Kai said when we drew near. “This is Kate, Sophia, and Lane.”
“Hey,” Ezra said with a nod, taking up a pool chaise between Kai and the girl named Kate.
“Hello,” I said with a smile, setting my stuff on the chaise to Kai’s far right.
I sat down.
“Are you here for Disney?” the girl Kai introduced as Lane asked.
“Nah, just passing through. Ezra and I are cousins and this is our grandma’s timeshare,” Kai explained.
“On vacation?” Ezra asked her.
“Yeah, we wanted a little girls’ getaway,” Kate answered for Lane. “We’re going out tonight if you all want to join us?”
“Maybe, yeah,” Ezra answered, surprising me.
I glanced around to see where the pool towels were but couldn’t find any.
“Are you looking for the towels?” the girl named Kate asked me.
I smiled at her. “Yes, point me in the right direction?” I asked.
“Here,” she said, standing up. “I’ll take you myself.”
When she stood, I finally noticed she was wearing an extremely small string bikini. I nearly cringed knowing I’d have to take off my coverup in front of Ezra, knowing he’d probably be comparing me to her. As we walked toward the pool towels, I could feel their eyes on us, and my face heated in embarrassment.
“You from around here?” Kate asked.
“No, Ezra and I are from Key West and Kai’s from Chicago. Ezra and I are going to the same school in Seattle, and Kai is helping us with the drive.”
“Oh, that’s cool of him,” she asked, looking over her shoulder.
“So, uh, are you and Ezra, like, together?” she asked.
“Nuh-uh,” I answered. I looked over at him wishing otherwise, though.
“Cool,” she said, her voice seeping in excitement, despite her attempt at squashing it down. “Here you go,” she said when we arrived at the cart. I pulled a few towels off before we set back toward the group.
Kate left me in her dust, making a beeline for Ezra’s side. I felt my stomach ache. I threw Ezra a towel, which he thanked me for, and then did the same for Kai. The girl named Lane had moved to the end of his chaise and had begun talking to him about her major. She was a university student in New York visiting her grandparents for the summer. I laid my towel out on my lounger and sat.
Moment of truth, fraidy cat. I pulled my tunic over my head then sat back. There, not so bad, I thought.
“Whoa!” Kai said, startling me.
“What?” I asked, bringing my hands to my chest to check if the scissor sisters had escaped their hatch. They hadn’t.
“That suit!” Kai said, pointing at me.
“What about it?” I asked, my face getting hot.
“Ezra!” Kai said, waving him over. “Ezra, come look at Jupiter’s suit.”
“No, no, that’s okay,” I said, bringing my tunic up to cover myself.
Soon all three girls and Ezra stood trying to get a peek at it. My hand went to my face. I am going to kill Kai Brandon. Kill him dead. I removed my hand and gave Kai a death glare.
“Uh, never mind,” he squeaked. Oh yeah, that helped.
“What is it?” Kate asked.
I intensified my look and Kai started to pray under his breath. I stood up and let the tunic drop, forced to own the moment.
“It’s C-3PO,” I told them, running my hands down the design. “You know, ‘Don’t call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.’”
I looked up and took a deep breath, but it caught when I met Ezra’s eyes. They burned at me, filled, and sparkled while looking at me. At me.
“Do you like it?” I breathed.
Ezra swallowed, the line of his throat moving up and down slowly. “It’s, uh,” he said, clearing it, “it’s cool, Jupiter.”
“Thanks,” I said.
I turned toward the pool because I needed to hide my big, gigantic, geeky Star Wars grin, and jumped in. Soon bodies started piling in beside me, so I stood. Ezra, Kai, and the girls had jumped in as well.
“You mad at me?” Kai asked.
“Nah,” I told him, thinking of Ezra’s facial expression.
Chapter Nine
We decided not to go out with the girls from the pool after all and instead watched Star Wars at Grandma Brandon’s timeshare. The next day we all three piled into the GTO after a decent night’s rest. Kai sat in the back again.
“You can have shotgun,” I’d told Kai.
“No, I don’t believe I could,” Kai had cryptically told me.
We barreled down Interstate 75 after stopping for gas, which Ezra again refused to let me help pay for, which irked me, but he refused to argue, so I was forced to give him the silent treatment, but when I give the silent treatment, it only lasts five minutes because I don’t have the willpower.
I turned to talk to Kai, but he was asleep with his mouth open. I took a picture for future extortion purposes.
br /> “That was evil,” Ezra said quietly, but his smirk was present, so I didn’t think he actually thought it was all that evil.
“Not evil. No. It’s, uh, a bargaining chip of sorts.”
“Ah, blackmail fodder.”
“Precisely.”
We were quiet for a moment.
“How are your legs?” I asked.
He shifted. “Fine,” he said.
“You don’t have to be afraid to talk about it,” I told him.
“What if I don’t want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Well, then I won’t force you.”
We rode for five minutes in silence.
“They only hurt when I’ve been sitting for long periods of time,” he said, shocking me a little. I checked my excitement.
“Well, that’s only natural,” I told him.
“I, uh, I hate taking medicine for them because I’m afraid I’ll get addicted, so I just work through the pain instead.”
I shifted my body toward him. “That sucks, Ezra.”
He looked at me briefly before looking back onto the road. “It’s not that bad, really. I just have to make sure I move them so they don’t get stiff is all.” He was deflecting, but I wasn’t about to call him on it. Pride was a big thing for Ezra Brandon. I was discovering this.
It’s why I hadn’t offered to drive. He’d insisted on doing all the driving, as if giving up the reins meant he was less of a man or something.
“What happened that day?” I asked him.
I counted the breaths he took and with each one, he exhaled his thoughts. I could see them floating in the air around him, those worried, anxious thoughts. He didn’t like to admit a weakness. He loathed it. I could tell. I could see him working up the nerve to tell me when we both heard a grating, scratching noise from behind us.
We turned just in time to see Kai sparking a lighter to light up a joint.
“What the hell, Kai!” Ezra yelled.
“Kai, are you insane?” I shouted, echoing Ezra’s outrage.
Ezra pulled over on the shoulder in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t a car or town to be seen for miles. We both jumped out. Ezra met my side, reached in through my window, grabbed the joint from Kai’s mouth, and flicked it into the field next to the GTO.
“What the hell, Kai?” he roared. “I told you, you weren’t allowed to do this shit on our road trip! I told you you had to quit if you wanted to come, and you promised!”