Read Seaside Sunsets for Free Online Page A

Amy and knew that before the summer’s end, she’d be considered one of them. The question was, would he be on the outside looking in, or the one sitting beside her by the fire?
     
    JENNA’S ONE-BEDROOM cottage was nowhere near big enough for the five of them. The kitchen was about five feet long and wide enough only to open the refrigerator. The counter barely had enough room for the five shot glasses Jenna was filling with tequila. When Bella reached above Jenna and pulled down the blender from a high cabinet, she squished Jenna against the counter.
    “Hey,” Jenna protested.
    “Oh, hush. You wanted margaritas.” Bella set the blender on the coffee table in the living room, where there was a little more room as long as Sky, Amy, and Jessica remained sitting on the couch.
    “Come on, girlies.” Jenna waved them over and they huddled next to the kitchen while Jessica stood a few feet away, watching them. Jenna handed a shot glass to each of them, then poured salt onto a cutting board while Amy squeezed past her and sliced lemons. Each of them sucked on the webbing between their finger and thumb; then they put salt on their wet skin and grabbed a lemon from Amy.
    Having never done shots before, Jessica’s stomach was all kinds of nervous. Sky took her hand and pulled her over to the counter.
    “Just do what we do.” Sky licked the webbing of her own hand, eyes wide, and nodded at Jessica, encouraging her to do the same.
    “Um…” Jessica’s pulse quickened.
    “I think we have a virgin with us.” Bella draped an arm over Jessica’s shoulder.
    “I’m not…” Oh my God. You’re talking about my virginity?
    Bella smiled down at her. “Good to know, but I meant the tequila.”
    Jessica let out a relieved sigh. Oh, thank goodness .
    “To Jessica. The first victim of Thong Thursday.” Jenna sucked back the drink and drew in air between clenched teeth. “Woo! Go on, girls.”
    Jessica watched as each tossed back her head and sucked down the tequila like they did this every night. Maybe they did, but Jessica never had. Not once. She rarely even drank wine. With her orchestra friends, drinking was never a part of their evenings out, and when she was by herself, she never had the desire to drink. Watching the girls, she realized again that she had been moving in a very small and sheltered circle. She stuck her fingertip in the tequila and sucked the alcohol off of it. It had a strange taste, not at all pleasant. She wondered what the excitement was all about.
    Amy touched her shoulder. “Jessica, don’t worry. I’m a lightweight, too. We’ll take care of you.”
    “Like Tony takes care of you?” Jenna raised her brows in quick succession.
    “So, you and Tony are a couple?” Jessica had seen the way Amy looked at him, and she imagined it was the same way she couldn’t stop looking at Jamie. He looked so casual and sexy, and every time their eyes met, her body got hot and flustered.
    “Don’t I wish.” Amy rolled her eyes. “We’re just friends.”
    “Okay. Okay.” Jenna bounced on her toes. “Come on, come on. We gotta do this before Petey comes in here and...”
    Bella set a hand on her hip. “And what? Wants to get down and dirty? Trust me. He’ll love it even more when you’re three sheets to the wind.”
    Jessica had spent the last few years with people who were reserved, focused on excelling in a highly competitive, highly skilled field that was also cutthroat and unforgiving. This fun banter, this girl talk, was all new and exciting to her—and she didn’t want it to end.
    “Okay, here goes, but please don’t let me embarrass myself. And if I throw up, don’t let Jamie see. And if—”
    “Ha! Five bucks.” Jenna slapped a hand out toward Bella and wiggled her butt from side to side in a celebratory dance. “Pay up.”
    Jessica’s heart crashed to her feet. Am I a joke to them? Like Thong Thursday? Her face must have reflected her horror because Amy took hold of her shoulders