Beautiful Graves(11)

“Everlynne!” His voice booms behind me. I turn around so fast my head spins. He is not standing where I left him. In fact, we are less than fifteen feet apart. He followed me. I wipe my face quickly.

“This is stupid!” he yells, opening his arms, laughing incredulously. “I don’t want to say goodbye. We don’t have to.”

“You’re staying.” The wind carries my voice like it’s a ribbon. My heart feels like it wants to rip my chest open and jump its way to him.

“You’re going,” he replies softly, as if to say, No one is to blame. It’s all just crappy luck.

“I don’t want to go,” I admit.

“I don’t really want to stay.” He ducks his head, hiding what’s in his eyes, and I wish I could take a picture of him like that, all beautiful and raw and mine on the beach. My wilted sunflower.

“I’ll give you my number?” I offer.

He looks back up and grins. “I’ll call.”

“Hey, Joe.”

“Yes, Ever?”

“What’s your favorite English invention of all time? Don’t say Emilia Clarke.”

He laughs. I’m going to miss this laugh so much. “The World Wide Web, also known as the internet. Tim Berners-Lee is the bomb dot-com. Yours?”

“The chocolate bar,” I say without hesitation.

We run toward each other, exploding into one unit. He wraps his arms around me. His lips find mine, and we kiss, and we kiss, and we kiss. I want to hit roots in this sand. To become a tree of limbs and kisses with this guy.

Joe pulls away. He takes my phone and programs his number into it. He saves himself as Joe Boyfriend. I laugh and cry simultaneously. I don’t even know his last name. I’m about to ask for it when he pats his front and back pockets.

“Shit. I left my phone in the hostel.” He flings his backpack open, takes his notebook out, and rips a paper full of text out of it. Now that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen. “Give me your number. I’ll write it down and save it as soon as I get back. I’ll probably tattoo it on my arm. What’s your favorite font? Don’t say Times New Roman. It’s the white bread of fonts, and we’ll have to break up.”

“Cambria,” I assure him.

“Good choice, girlfriend.”

I write down my number, then read it again and again to ensure that it’s correct. It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll call him as soon as I get back home. I’ll probably text him when I land, to tell him I’m okay. He is my boyfriend now.

Mother of pearl. I’m coming home with a boyfriend. Mom is going to freak out. Renn is going to tease me to death.

Joe shoves the note with my number into his front pocket, grabs the edge of my dress, and tugs me to him.

“Fuck, I’m gonna miss you,” he murmurs into my mouth, devouring it again.

“I’m going to climb the walls while you’re in Europe.” I wrap my arms around his shoulders.

“I’ll come visit as soon as I get back,” he promises, kissing my nose, my forehead, the side of my jaw. “Butter up your folks for me in the meantime. A smoking college dropout with no job or prospects isn’t exactly every parent’s dream.”

“You dropped out?”

“Never applied. But it sounds better, doesn’t it? Like at least I gave it a shot.”

There’s more laughing and more kissing before I hear a familiar shriek.

“There she is! Ugh, I thought he murdered you!” Pippa’s voice is getting closer to us. I remove myself from Joe. She is trekking barefoot on the sand, sinking a little with each step. “How was I supposed to explain this to your parents? They would have killed me.”

Joe drapes an arm over my shoulder. Pippa stops and glances between us. Her Cheshire cat smile says she is over her momentary anger.

“I see what’s going on here, rascals.”

“Nothing’s going on,” I say impishly.

“If that’s the case, I’ll have two of these nothings. Wrap it up, lovebirds. We have a flight to catch.”

“Five minutes,” Joe bargains.

“And who are you again?” Pippa arches an eyebrow. “We didn’t get a chance to meet properly.”

“Joe.” I gesture toward him like Vanna White revealing an important vowel on Wheel of Fortune. “My boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend,” Pippa echoes, grinning.

“Her boyfriend.” Joe squeezes me close. “Keep her safe for me till I’m back, Mainstream.”

“It’s the twenty-first century. She can hold her own. But I will, asshat. You’ve got twenty minutes.” She wiggles her finger at me. “And because I’m an amazing, understanding friend, whom you’d totally give a kidney to if I ever need one, and also because I’m sure you did use a condom tonight, and that’s worth celebrating, I’ll go back to our hotel, pack up both our stuff, and check out. I’ll meet you back here in a bit.”

“You’re the best, Pip.”

“I know.” She flicks her hair. “But it’s nice to be reminded.”

Joe and I spend the next twenty minutes kissing, and hugging, and promising each other phone calls, and letters, and the entire sky, stars included. Then Pippa comes to collect me, and I steal a few more minutes with him, because if I’m about to maybe give her a kidney, I feel like I can milk a bit more time with Joe. Then, finally, we say goodbye.