Shipwrecked Summer by Carly Syms Page B

heart sank as he pulled himself up onto the ledge next to Pia. Her smile returned.
    A few more people I didn’t recognize walked onto the patio and Joey left Gianna to greet them. She walked over to me and sat on the side of the pool, dangling her legs in the water.
    “You didn’t tell me he was so nice,” she said.
    I furrowed my brow. “Who?”
    “Who? Girl, get it together. Joey, that’s who!”
    I just stared at her. “Well, yeah, he’s nice. He’s my friend.”
    Gianna rolled her eyes and sighed, obviously exasperated with me. “Not nice like that!”
    “Huh?”
    “Lexie!” she hissed. “He’s...you know...cute nice.”
    “Cute nice?” I raised an eyebrow. “You mean you like him?”
    She nodded excitedly. “I think so! I haven’t met a guy like him, well, ever.”
    I didn’t say anything as I thought this over. Gianna and Joey? I liked it. Not only would it give me a leg up on Pia--it wasn’t like Gianna was about to start hanging out with her so I’d likely get more time with Joey--but it made sense. They were both Jersey through and through and they were both great people.
    “Well, what are you doing over here? Go get him!”
    Gianna sighed again. “This is why you’re hopeless, Lexie. He needs to come to me.”
    I shrugged. “Okay.”
    “I didn’t miss you walkin’ in with Anthony, though. What was that about?”
    “It was good,” I said. “He just told me that he’s sorry I got the wrong idea about us, but he isn’t looking for anything serious this summer.”
    Gianna snorted. “Anything serious with you, he means.”
    “What? No. He said that about Pia, too.”
    I followed her gaze to where Anthony and Pia were sitting close together against the ledge. His hands disappeared below the water and it was too dark to see where they’d landed. She didn’t look particularly sad, like he’d just told her that he wasn’t interested in anything but friendship with her.
    I frowned.
    “Doesn’t look that way to me,” she said.
        “He said that!”
        “Oh, I believe he said it,” she replied. “I just don’t believe he meant it.”
        “Then why--”
        “Because he’s a guy, Lexie.”
       “And?”
      “And he didn’t want to tell you that he isn’t into you. So he figures he tells you he just wants to hang out with you and Pia. That lets him spend time with both of you while he’s still tryin’ to get with her.”
        “So he wants her.”
        Gianna shrugged. “Probably. And he probably wants you, too, but you killed that when you told him you wanted more. He’s not going to deal with you if he thinks you’ll turn into a clinger.”
        I glared at her. “I am not a clinger!”
        “He doesn’t know that.”
       I looked at them over my shoulder and saw that Anthony was now standing between her legs in the water and my cheeks reddened as if I’d walked in on something I shouldn’t have. I turned around.
        “Sorry, Lexie,” Gianna said. “I know you want to think he’s a good guy and maybe he is, but he’s not the guy for you.” I didn’t say anything. “What now?”
        “Nothing,” I said. “It’s just...I know he doesn’t want me, fine. But I don’t want him leading Pia on.”
        “What? After what she did to you? Please. Girl’s got it coming.”
        I shook my head. “If I know he’s just using her, I can’t let her make an idiot of herself.”
       “Yes, you can. She won’t listen to you, anyway.”
        “Of course she will! We’re best friends.”
        Gianna rolled her eyes. “Before I list all of the reasons you’re not best friends, I’ll just tell you that there’s no way she believes you over him.”
        “Why not?”
        She shrugged. “I didn’t say I understood it, just that I know how it is. You could be her sister, her very best friend, and she’d still choose to believe his words over yours. We see what we want to see, no matter how