What Happens Abroad by Jen McConnel Page B

don’t think I’ll forget them anytime soon.”
    â€œWell,” I hesitated, realizing how dumb it sounded, “they want to hang out with us.”
    Sarah stared at me. “What do you mean?”
    â€œI was in the kitchen, and one of them started talking to me.”
    â€œWhat, they came back?”
    I shook my head. “No. Their hostel actually
is
next door, and I had my head out the kitchen window.”
    Joelle laughed. “Why were you doing that?”
    I shrugged. “I like to look at the city at night.”
    Sarah shook her head impatiently. “Back to the guys.”
    â€œRight. They’re next door. I was hanging out the window when the cute one with the curly hair leaned out his window, and we started talking.”
    Joelle cocked an eyebrow.
    â€œYeah, I know. But anyway, they asked if we want to hang out down at the park on the corner.”
    Joelle shrugged, but Sarah hopped up and stripped off her pajamas. “Heck, yes!”
    I hurried back to the kitchen to let him know, and my heart flip-flopped a little when I put my head out the window and saw the guy still leaning there, staring up at the stars.
    â€œThey said yes. We’ll meet you guys down there!”
    â€œWicked! We’ll bring the wine.”
    I laughed and waved. He waved back, and we both pulled our heads inside at the same moment.
    ~
    It took us a few minutes to fix our hair, and Sarah insisted on putting her makeup back on, but we finally left the apartment and headed down to the piazza. We didn’t run into the boys in the hall or on the street, and my heart clenched, wondering if they’d just been playing with us. But when we rounded the corner to the park, they were all there, sprawled out on a wrought iron bench.
    The guy with curly hair stood up as we approached, and he grinned at me. “Thought you changed your mind.”
    I smiled back. “Nope.”
    He stuck out his hand. “I’m Topher.”
    I resisted the urge to say something stupid about gophers, and I shook his hand. “Camie.”
    He waved his hand at the boys behind him. “These are my mates, Sam, Michael, and Gerald.”
    Sarah stepped forward, dragging Joelle. “I’m Sarah, and this is Joelle.”
    One of the guys, Sam I think, held up a large bottle. It glistened darkly in the moonlight. “We wanted to apologize.”
    â€œAnd the best way we know to apologize is with a little wine.”
    There wasn’t room on the bench for everyone, and Topher sat down on the roots of the big tree. He motioned for me to join him, and after a glance at Sarah and Joelle, I did. Sarah ended up sitting on one of the guy’s laps, and I raised an eyebrow at her. She was certainly committed to her new “just have fun” attitude! Joelle perched on the arm of the bench.
    â€œSo,” I said, trying to make small talk, “where are you guys from?”
    Topher unscrewed the wine bottle and took a swig before answering. “Australia. You?” He handed me the wine, and I took a sip.
    â€œThe States.”
    He nodded. “I figured. The accent’s hard to miss.”
    I laughed. “You’ve got a pretty thick accent, yourself.”
    Joelle pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. “Anyone?”
    A couple of the guys reached for the cigarettes, but Topher didn’t. His attention seemed fixed on me, and I fiddled nervously with my hair. Hadn’t I been wishing for a vacation fling to take my mind off my boy problems?
    We passed the wine bottle around, and orange embers from the cigarettes glowed faintly in the darkness. It all felt like something from a movie. It shouldn’t have surprised me when Topher slid close to me on the ground and bumped his knee against mine.
    â€œSo, Camie,” he began, “what are your dreams?”
    I almost laughed, but something about the way his eyes glistened in the darkness seemed deadly serious.