All In by Marta Brown

both girls to giggle, but his eyes are
locked on me.
    Ugh.
    I glance around looking for an escape
when I spot Lane walking up the beach. Perfect.
    “I’ll be back.” With a smile and a
wave I head in Lane’s direction.
    His head is down as he crosses the
private section of the beach, staying close to the water’s edge but
avoiding the moving tide.
    “Lane,” I call out over the noise of
the party and the waves, but he doesn’t seem to hear me, so I call
his name again, this time louder. “Hey, Lane.” He glances up and
scans the party, squinting before finally seeing me. A smile
flashes across his face. I smile back as I approach him, my flip
flops kicking up sand behind me.
    “Hi,” I say. My drink, mostly
untouched, sloshes and spills over the lip of the cup when I stop
in front of him.
    “Looks like you’re having fun.” He
nods at my drink and then up at the party.
    “I actually just got here too. I’m
glad you came.” I feel my cheeks heat up, and I’m relieved it’s
dark enough that he can’t see. “I think Andrew’s around here
somewhere.” I look over my shoulder trying to locate him to point
Lane in the right direction.
    “Ah, no thanks. I think
I’ll steer clear of your kind of parties,” he says, shoving his hands in
the pockets of his cargo shorts.
    “What do you mean my kind of
parties?”
    “Nothing, never mind.” He kicks at the
sand and looks uncomfortable.
    “Oh no.” I cover my mouth with my
hand, remembering Gregory had implied Lane may have been caught by
the police at the bluffs last night. “Did you get in trouble last
night when the cops showed up?”
    “Yeah, thanks to your boyfriend,” he
says with a sneer that makes me take a step back.
    My boyfriend?
    “I’m not sure what his deal is, but
he’s a serious dick.” Lane’s jaw is tight, and there’s not a hint
of joking in his tone.
    “Gregory?” I ask wide eyed. Why would
he think Gregory is my boyfriend? I have a flash of Greg and I at
lunch together looking very much like a couple and then again at
the bluffs when he gave me his coat, something a boyfriend would
do. Oh.
    “He is definitely not my boyfriend,” I say
seriously. “He’s my ex, if you can even call it that. We dated for
like a second, but it was never very serious.” Why am I telling him
all this? Stop rambling, Ashley. I dig my toes into the sand. “But
you’re right about one thing. He is a dick.” I give Lane a playful
grin and watch the light from the bonfire bounce off his features
as his jaw loosens and a tentative smile spreads across his
face.
    From a distance, I hear Gregory’s
voice, and when I glance over my shoulder, he’s stumbling our
direction, obviously drunk and completely uninvited.
    “Speak of the devil.” I roll my eyes
and that makes Lane smile bigger.
    “The rest of the staff is over there,”
Gregory slurs, pointing to the tent where the cater waiters are
busy putting out more hors d'oeuvres. Lane ignores his snide
remark, never taking his eyes off of me.
    “It was nice seeing you again, but I
gotta go,” Lane says and I’m immediately disappointed that he’s
leaving.
    “Are you sure?” I look down at my feet
and try to garner enough nerve to ask him not to go. “Stay,” I say
so softly it comes out as more of a whisper when I look back up at
him.
    He peers over his shoulder across the
small peninsula to the lighthouse then back at me. “I’m sorry I
can’t… I…I have to work.” He looks genuinely disappointed, and I
wonder if he knows I am too. “But hopefully I’ll see you around,
okay?” He gives me a smile that makes my knees go weak before
taking off down the beach. In the faint light coming off of the
fire, I see him glance back at me before he cuts across the sandy
peninsula and disappears into the shadows of tall sea
grass.
    Wait. Didn’t he say he had to work?
Why is he going to the lighthouse? I can’t focus long on where Lane
went when I feel Gregory’s arms wrap around my waist