I turned to Wesley. “Let’s go.” We’d be long gone before “the authorities” got here. “Race you!”
We ran toward the ocean, shouting “Yarrr!” and “Avast, mateys!” Wesley held my hand the whole time.
Wednesday THE BOARDWALK 8:00 P.M.
The next night I led us to the shops by the beach. “Do you want to get some ice cream?”
Wesley nodded. It was our last day together, and I was weirdly quiet, even though I’d spent the whole summer talking his ear off. Wesley was a good listener like that.
We’d met that summer on the beach. I’d spied Wesley watching me play backgammon a few weeks ago, when Dad had gotten all the other Middle Eastern people vacationing here in on his game. I’d noticed how Wesley’s parents were the kind of people who were absurdly proud of their fancy cooler, and how his dad wore a gold college ring on his finger. All their beach towels were monogrammed.
I finally asked Wesley if he wanted to play, and when he said yes, his mom and dad looked terrified and moved their umbrella farther away. Who doesn’t like backgammon? Still, he hung out with us anyway.
Wesley was cute and skinny with sandy hair bleached blond by the sun, and his lips seemed permanently chapped from the salt. He didn’t talk much, but he was always interested in what I had to say. Whatever I suggested, from ice cream to boogie boarding, he usually said yes. For once, I had a friend at the beach while my BFFs, Ruth and Fabián, were stuck in the DC suburbs.
Though I was secretly hoping Wesley and I could be more than friends.
We got our ice cream cones, walked to the water, and sat down on the cool sand. I shivered in my dress. Wesley wore a nice sweater that brought out the blue in his eyes, and I wondered if he thought my brown eyes were just as beautiful.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“A little.” I took a bite of my freezing cold ice cream.
“Here,” he said, putting his arm around me. Whoa. He didn’t even pretend to yawn or anything! Friends didn’t just sling their arms over each other, did they? Oh, wait. I did that with Ruth and Fabián all the time. Either way, I hoped Wesley would break out of his shy shell and make a move.
After all, starting high school with a boyfriend would be amazing. Everyone in middle school had already coupled up by the end of spring, and Ruth and Fabián had even turned people down. It was time for me to get a boyfriend of my own, even though nobody from middle school had been interested.
Wesley didn’t even have to be my soul mate or anything, just someone who would laugh at my jokes and hold my hand. Knowing someone thought I was cute would probably be the best feeling in the world. But I had no idea. It hadn’t happened to me before.
“Are you nervous about school?” I asked, inhaling his sweater’s salty, soapy smell. Wesley was from my part of town back near DC and was starting at the same high school as me. He didn’t know anyone going to James K. Polk High, since everyone else from his private school would be going on to Sacred Heart High. He said his parents were switching him because it made more “economic sense,” but I think that just meant that James K. Polk was cheaper, as in, free. I would have been freaking out about the change, but Wesley didn’t talk about it much.
“I’m a little nervous,” he admitted. I could feel his arm shaking as he rested it on my shoulder. He leaned into me.
“Yeah?” I breathed. We were really close together now. C’mon, Wesley! I signaled with my eyes. Make a move!
He gulped. “Yeah.”
Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Mom and Dad were probably texting me to come home soon since we had an early drive back to Northern Virginia in the morning. Not now, parents! Couldn’t they tell Something was about to happen? I had no idea what that Something was, of course, but it felt important.
“Listen, Parvin,” Wesley said suddenly. He pronounced my name the way it was spelled, even though the proper pronunciation in Farsi was PAR-veen. I’d never bothered correcting him.
“Mm?” I replied. Was he going to ask me to be his girlfriend? Or even better, his date to the fancy Home-coming that Polk High threw every year? Or what if he was just going to tell me his arm had fallen asleep, and yank it back?
But instead of saying anything, he leaned toward me. I realized what was happening just in time and shut my eyes.
His face crashed into mine, the imprint of his braces digging in. I’d never been kissed on the lips before. It felt like eating a melted Popsicle, only with more teeth.
It’s happening! my brain kept shouting. THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! Thank god I had gotten my braces off before coming to the beach, otherwise they would have tangled with Wesley’s. This was a dream come true.
He pulled away. I wiped my lips. Kissing was messier than I thought.
“I think you’re really cool, Parvin,” he said.
Finally! A boy liked me! I didn’t want to leave the beach and drive home tomorrow. I wanted to stay in this moment forever.
“Thanks, Wesley,” I said, not sure what else to say. My bright orange lip gloss was all over his face, and somehow by his right ear. “Er, you’re pretty cool, too.”
He wrapped a thin arm around me again.
“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked, his face super serious. Which was hard, considering all the lip glitter shimmering on it.
YES! I fist-pumped in my mind. This night was going better than I could have imagined. YOU’RE GONNA START HIGH SCHOOL WITH A BOYFRIEND! HA-HA-HA-HAAA!
“Sure,” I said casually, as if my head
