Chapter 17 Larissa
LARISSA
I could hear mike down at the dock all the way from the window of our room. He was being so loud. I think he was a tiny bit drunk?
I’d never seen Mike drunk before. I’d seen him drink but not drunk.
I really hoped he wasn’t going to be like this the whole time. It was a little much. When he’d hugged me earlier, he smelled like stale beer. My dad used to smell like that. Phil smelled like that.
Chris didn’t.
In the car on the ride up, his cologne circulated softly through the vents.
It smelled good. Like the hoodie and the shirt he’d loaned me and the way Woofarine smelled when it was my turn to have him.
I found it really comforting, the way Chris smelled. Maybe I should get that cologne for Mike. For his birthday maybe? But something told me it wouldn’t be the same on him.
My cell phone pinged. It was Becca.
U coming ??
I looked out the window and spotted her on the end of the dock with Samantha next to a set of inflatable tubes.
She put her hands up in a come on gesture.
I laughed and got changed into my bathing suit.
I paused for a minute in front of the mirror before I left the room. Maybe I should put on a cover-up?
Everyone was in their bathing suit, so it wouldn’t be weird if I walked out there without one, but the idea of Chris watching me make that long walk across the lawn to the dock in nothing but a bikini made me self-conscious.
I grabbed a sundress and pulled it on, and I was glad I did because when I came out of the room, I bumped into Chris taking out the trash.
“Oh, hey. I thought you were out there already,” he said, looking guilty for some reason.
“Wow, you’re already cleaning up after everyone and you just got here,” I joked.
He smiled a little, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He wasn’t in his trunks yet.
“Aren’t you going swimming?” I asked.
“Yeah, I just… had to do this first,” he said, lifting the bag.
Woofarine made an excited growly noise and we looked over. He was staring at the floor vent, trembling.
“Well, that’s not good,” Chris mumbled.
“You think there’s something alive in there?”
“Or dead.”
I laughed a little. “If only we could all be loved by someone as much as Woofarine loves mayhem.”
I looked back at him to find him looking at me.
“I can take that out.” I nodded at the trash.
He pulled it closer to him. “No, I got it.”
I took the top of it. “I’m going out the back door anyway.”
“It’s fine—”
“Chris, let me help with something.”
He paused so long I thought he was going to say no, but he let me have it. He didn’t look happy about it.
“Is this your emotional support trash?” I teased. “I’ll see you outside. Go get changed.”
I tossed the trash into the bin by the back door. Someone had dropped an empty ketchup bottle, so I picked that up and lifted the lid to toss that too—and that’s when I saw it. The bag that Chris had given me had opened and spilled over when I threw it in.
The only thing in it was nuts.