Those cookies were for her. They were her favorite. I hadn’t wanted them to be put out as a party snack. But I knew they’d all be gobbled up by the end of the night.

As Vince ambled to the kitchen, Penny sized Levi up. “You want some weed?”

Levi started.

“The drinks are back there,” said Penny, pointing behind her. “Coke, wine, beer, you can pick your poison.” She shot him a teasing grin. “Tap water if you’re not into having fun.”

My eyebrow twitched. There were more ways to have fun than getting blackout drunk.

“Uh, okay. Can I get you ladies anything?” Levi gave me a faint smile.

I began to move toward him. “That’s okay, I’ll go with y—”

Penny grabbed my arm. “Wine, please. Right to the top.”

He looked at me.

With my friend’s arm manacled around mine, there was nothing I could do except shrug. “Beer, please.”

“I’ll be back,” said Levi.

Penny waited until he was out of earshot, edging between grinding bodies, a pucker etching deeply into his brow. Then, “Babe, what’s going on?” Her voice dropped. “You’re with a summer boy?” She made a soft, strangled noise.

I shifted uncomfortably. “These people are mostly your friends, not mine. Without Chad here … I just didn’t want to be hanging around by myself while you did whatever you were doing. I didn’t want it to be weird.”

“For you?” Her face scrunched.

“Well, yeah.” I shifted my weight, looking at the polished wood below my feet.

“I don’t get why.”

Because you wrecked my perfect summer when you broke up with Chad! I wanted to shout. Because he kissed me, and even though it would never have gone any further, I still feel like I’m betraying you! Because I don’t know how to talk to you about all these changes—about any of this!

My stomach surged and crashed like waves against a rock. It had nothing do with the cloying smell of weed or the swaying of the boat.

I closed my eyes. Before it all changed, things hadn’t been simple, but there was a consistency to life. Chad. Penny. Me. Hysteria bubbled up. What had I been thinking, getting attached to Levi? What good was attraction when everything else was falling apart?

I stared out across the water. The sun was low in the sky, almost within reach of the grasping mortals below. It reflected red and yellow on the water, rippling like molten gold. The salt air and the heat made for a heady combination, more intoxicating than any perfume.

In the elongated silence that followed, Penny repeated, “I don’t get why.” This time, it was said with a hardened edge.

“Don’t you?” I whispered.

Penny’s face softened. “Did something happen?” She touched my shoulder. “Whose ass am I kicking?”