Read Online The Season of You & Me by Robin Constantine - Free Book Online

surfing . . . that’s why you looked familiar. I wasn’t sure at first, but when I saw Mr. Beckett, I remembered meeting him there too, and it all kind of clicked.”
    “Wow.”
    “I hope it was okay that I brought it up. I mean, it was kind of driving me crazy where I’d seen you before.”
    “I’m so sorry,” I said.
    “For what?”
    “That you had to sit through something as lame as a fish fry. You know, if I’d had anything to do with that, I would have made it a burrito fest or something. Fish fry just sounds so sad, so very, very sad. And I hate fish.”
    Her smile rearranged the atoms in the hallway. Damn.
    “Is that . . . well, is that how you got hurt? Surfing?”
    “No, nothing that exciting. So you’ve been to Crest Haven before? How is it that we’ve never met? Your dad was my chem teacher.” I began pushing down the hallway again, hoping my vague answer wasn’t a turnoff. I just didn’t feel like rehashing my accident at the moment, not after I’d made her smile that way. Not after we were actually getting along.
    “I guess I’ve always sort of kept to myself, done things with my dad’s family. I visit a few times a year, but I usually spend a week in June. This is the first time I’m down here for the whole summer.”
    She was here for the whole summer. I could get used to seeing her every day.
    “Cool. What made you want to work here?”
    She shrugged. “Don’t know, change of scenery, I guess. Or maybe it’s this fashion-forward polo and goofy logo. Do you think any self-respecting manatee would ever wear a beanie copter hat?”
    “No, I don’t.”
    Just then, Tori opened the door to the test kitchen, her eyes darting between Cassidy and me, as if she’d caught us in the middle of something suspicious.
    “Are you my help?”
    “Co-counselor, yes,” Cassidy said. “You must be Tori.”
    “And you’re ten minutes late.”
    Cassidy bristled.
    “Tori, this is Cassidy. Owen asked me to show her around; it’s my fault she’s late.”
    “Whatever, look, we have, like, no time before we have to get to the sing-along, so whenever you feel like getting in here to pitch in, that would be awesome.” She spun and went back in the room.
    “What’s her deal?”
    I knew exactly what Tori’s deal was, but Cassidy didn’t need that baggage this early in the morning. Anyone who’d be taking Olivia’s place was toast, even though it wasn’t intentional.
    “First day, lots to do,” I answered.
    “Well, thanks for the escort,” Cassidy said.
    “Anytime.”
    She was about to go in, but turned back. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable before.”
    “You didn’t.”
    “So, we’re cool then?”
    “Totally.”
    “Oh, and it’s Cass. My friends call me Cass,” she said. Tori appeared again, shaking her head as she reached for the doorknob. Cass waved and scooted into the room in front of her. Tori leveled me with a look.
    “What?”
    “Really, Bryan? You are so basic sometimes.”
    With that she closed the door, leaving me in the hallway with a stupid grin on my face. If that was being basic, so be it.
    Cassidy Emmerich remembered me from my picture . . . which meant she’d thought about me . . . which meant—well, I really didn’t know what it meant, except that I suddenly felt as high as my brother must have been the other night when he’d been hanging out the window. I made my way back to the multipurpose room.
    I fucking loved summer.

FIVE
CASSIDY
    “SO YOU AND BRYAN KNOW EACH OTHER?” I ASKED as Tori closed the door.
    “Yeah, since, like, forever.”
    “He seems cool.”
    “He’s a great guy. My friend is sort of seeing him. She was supposed to be my co-counselor this summer,” she said, looking right through me. There was an edge to her voice, not nasty exactly, more protective. I’d been employed for all of ten minutes. How could I be on someone’s bad side already?
    “Your friend was supposed to have this job?” My father had mentioned pulling