Chapter 18 Larissa
LARISSA
Becca, samantha, and i were floating in the middle of the lake.
Chris, Mike, Xavier, and Jesse looked Barbie-sized back on the dock.
Becca, Samantha, and I had fastened our tubes together and let ourselves drift away from the shore.
It was my idea. I had to get away. Mike was doing cannonballs.
I’d been here two hours and he was as amped up as he was when I got here.
He’d made three rounds of margaritas and had another beer.
I wondered how many drinks he’d had today.
He was a big guy, two or three didn’t faze him, so if he was this buzzed, what was it?
Six? Seven? More? I’d never been on vacation with him.
Maybe this was normal? I guess I just wasn’t expecting him to be this drunk.
Or this loud. This borderline obnoxious.
Mike laughed so loudly, it reverberated across the lake.
Chris had finally gotten into trunks and was sitting with Jesse and Xavier in beach chairs.
Mike and my dog were doing running jumps off the end of the dock, swimming back to shore, and repeating the course.
The way Chris sat there watching reminded me of a dad, supervising the kids while they played in the lake.
The only one who didn’t get to have fun.
“So how was the ride up?” Becca asked, her fingers skimming the water.
“It was fine,” I said, gazing at Chris.
We were too far away for anyone to be able to tell who I was looking at. Which was good, because I wanted to look at him.
He had on gray swim trunks and sunglasses. No shirt. He looked really handsome. I didn’t want to say that he didn’t know it, because I think he did. It was pretty obvious that women noticed.
When he told me he’d been in my bedroom, I don’t know why but it made my stomach flip a little.
Mom shouldn’t have taken him in there, but at the same time, I was glad she did. I was proud of those curtains. I wanted him to see them. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to take him in there myself, but if Mom did it…
I wanted Chris to be impressed with the little stupid things I made. It was silly, but it mattered to me. Maybe because he was so accomplished and all I had were curtains with embroidered cherries on them.
Mike whooped again and splashed Chris. It was too far away to tell for sure, but I swear Chris looked annoyed.
“He is wasted,” Samantha said, taking a sip of her beer.
I was so glad I wasn’t over there. A part of me worried Mike would decide to swim out to us. He’d probably sink my tube.
I stared at Chris, sitting on the dock. It looked like maybe he was staring back.
He went through the pantry to throw away the nuts. It was for me, obviously.
I never expected anyone to do that on my behalf. I was a grown adult—I could do it myself. Still, it was nice to know that someone else was being diligent on my behalf. It made me feel safe, like I could shut off my brain. And I could never shut off my brain. I lived in perpetual survival mode.
I was a little sad that I’d be driving home with Mike and not Chris.
That there would be no prescreened restaurant already planned and I’d have to find a place myself.
That Mike would play his music slightly too loud because he liked to keep the energy up when he drove.
He’d sing to the playlist and tap out the drum solos on the steering wheel and crack the sunroof so my hair whipped around and I’d have to ask him to close it.
I’d never been stuck in a car with Mike for that long before.
“What’s wrong?” Becca asked.
I must have been making a face.
“Nothing,” I said.
Mike did another cannonball. By the time it got to us, the ripples were almost gone. But it was still enough to push me just slightly farther away.