The Love Square by Jessica Calla Page B

you know he was blond? I didn’t tell you that.”
    “You didn’t?” Shit. He had only a second to think but was too tired to come up with a valid answer. Too late.
    “Oh. My. God. Are you fucking nuts?” Jenna yelled, grabbing her stuff and heading for the door.
    “Wait,” he called.
    She flung it open and disappeared into the hallway. Alex followed.
    “Wait!” he shouted again, breaking into a run.
    Alex caught up with her in the stairwell. “Jenna,” he started, although he had no idea what to say next.
    “You fucking followed me? That’s so…creepy. What is wrong with you?”
    Alex had nothing but the truth, so he went with it. “Look. I wasn’t about to let you go alone to meet a stranger who picks up women online. So sue me.”
    She bounded down the stairs again, her shoulder bags slamming against her back with each step. Alex followed her to the sixth-floor landing as she yelled behind her, “You stalked me! Oh my God, that’s so”—she shook her hands in front of her—“ick.” She busted through the stairwell door to her apartment and dug out her key.
    “I’m sorry,” Alex said, even though he wasn’t. “I was worried.”
    She opened the door, threw her bags inside, and braced herself on the doorframe. He tried to push past her into the apartment, but she blocked him. “You don’t get to play the jealous boyfriend,” she said, poking him in the chest.
    Jenna tried to slam the door, but he stuck his arm out, making it impossible. “Listen,” he said more sternly. “I don’t care if you’re mad. I wanted to make sure the guy was on the up and up. He’s a stranger, Jenna, and you’re way too trusting.”
    “Whatever, Alex,” she said. “Just go away.”
    Alex worried when her anger lost steam. Anger he could deal with, but he feared her ambivalence. “Will you let me in so we can talk about this without waking up the entire building?”
    “No,” she said as she shut the door in his face.
    I must be insane , he thought as he walked to his apartment. He fell on his bed and pulled the sheet over himself, then restless, threw it aside and stood up to pace. Had he been playing the part of the jealous boyfriend with her? He needed to get his shit together, or despite his best efforts at keeping her, he could end up losing her forever.
     
    ***
     
    Dylan
     
    Dylan drove Clare’s pickup truck while she played with the radio.
    “Guess where you’re going today,” he said as she bopped around in her seat.
    “Um, the beach?” she said snottily.
    “Yes, smartass, but today’s different.”
    She smirked with her super cute, freckled face. “What’s up, Lusty? Fill me in.”
    He smiled. “You, my Midwestern Princess, are going in the water today. The big, blue Pacific.” Clare hadn’t been in past her ankles. Whenever they went to the beach, Dylan pleaded with her to join him in a swim, but Clare refused, claiming the waves scared her. “No more excuses,” Dylan said.
    “Nuh-uh.” Clare shook her head. “I don’t do the ocean. I don’t even have a bathing suit. I’ll burn! It’s July, Dylan.”
    “Listen, Clare. You have to get over this fear of the sun and the waves. You are in California now, trying new things, living the coastal life. Come on. Time to try. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
    “I’m supposed to go into the water in my clothes? I don’t think so,” she said, gesturing to her pink top and long, flowy skirt.
    They stopped at a traffic light, and Dylan reached behind his seat to grab his duffel bag. “Check the bag,” he said, handing it to her.
    Clare opened it and gasped. “Is this supposed to be for me?” she asked, pulling out the bikini. “Did you buy this?”
    “I asked Gretchen to buy you a suit. She said she knew exactly what size to get.”
    “It’s a little…” Clare started, in what Dylan knew to be her complaining voice.
    “Waterproof?” he finished.
    “No.” She dangled the small pieces of red fabric in front of