"Leena," Claire yelled, her voice barely heard over the TV. "Dinner is ready!"

"Coming," I called from where I was perched on the couch in the living room, grabbing the remote control to turn off the television.

I hefted myself off the plush couch, jostling the colourful cushions in the process. Swiping my arm across the couch to rearrange the square-shaped pillows, I yawned, dog-tired.

The previous day had been exhausting.

Zach returned to his workplace, Athena's Used Books, after having coffee with me at Java Lava. Instead of going home after meeting Claire for lunch, I headed back to the bookstore, remembering how Zach and I had left over a hundred books just lying on the floor. Coincidentally, Claire planned to finish up early at work that day. She agreed to pick me up from the store at four in the evening.

Upon entering Athena's Used Books, I nearly bumped into a short, bespectacled guy dressed in crisp chinos and a white button-down shirt. 

"Sorry!" I said, sidestepping to avoid colliding with him.

"Leena?" Zach called from behind the stranger. "I thought you were going home after lunch. What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, I was," I explained. "But then I remembered that we didn't put all those books back. So, I came back to finish the job."

"You're a lifesaver!" Zach beamed, obviously relieved. "Thank god, I don't have to do the rearranging all by myself."

Throwing his arm around the bespectacled stranger, he announced, "By the way, this is my boyfriend, David. David, meet my new friend, Leena. She's from London!"

"Hello, Leena," David said, speaking in a distinct and familiar British accent that emphasised his surprisingly deep voice. "I'm from Manchester."

"Oh, it's very nice to meet you," I greeted him, shaking his hand heartily. "Zach told me you're very good with computers."

David laughed good-naturedly, pushing his rectangular glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know if I'm very good, but I'm definitely better than him," he said jokingly, nudging Zach's stomach with his elbow.

"Oh, you're just being modest," Zach complained. Beaming with pride, he said, "Dave works the night shift at this super fancy tech company. I'll never understand what he actually does. For all I know, he could be some shady vigilante hacker."

"Hey!" David protested as I laughed, raising his hand to swat at Zach playfully.

"Speaking of the night shift, you have to get some sleep," he chided. Turning to me, he said, "He comes over with lunch every day when he's supposed to be at home, sleeping before his shift."

Zach's words implied that he was complaining, but his tone was filled with unbridled affection and concern for his boyfriend.

Will anyone ever love me like this? I wondered as David gazed up at his boyfriend adoringly.

"I do have to go," David admitted, snapping my attention back to the moment. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Leena."

"Likewise," I replied with a grin.

"We have to hang out together another time," Zach enthused.

"Definitely," David and I nodded in unison.

"Now, go," Zach instructed his boyfriend. "Get some sleep, babe."

David's entire face reddened in the cutest possible way when Zach's lips connected with his cheek. He squeezed his hand in return, waving goodbye to me before leaving the store.

"Come on," I said to Zach, leading him towards the aisle that was scattered with numerous books. "Let's get back to work before I spontaneously combust from the cuteness of you and David."

***

"But, Claire," I complained, pacing around the kitchen behind her. "I have to go!"

After a light dinner of green salad and quinoa, I casually informed Claire about Jason's plan to go to the beach late night the next day. What had started off as "casually informing" spiralled into a heated squabble when Claire disapproved of the plan.

"Jason and I made this plan on Wednesday," I whined like an adamant four-year-old. "And I already said I'd go!"

"You should have discussed this with me first, Leena," Claire chided, shaking her head in disapproval. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

I stood next to the marble countertop silently, the late evening air turning stifling hot with tension.

"I didn't think it would be a problem," I muttered.

"You're going to spend the night with that boy at the beach, and you're telling me just the night before?" she asked incredulously.

"Spend the night?" I asked with a surprised laugh. "It's not like that, Claire! We're just driving to the beach and hanging out."

She sighed in frustration, a few strands of her straight blonde hair escaping the loose ponytail and falling against her cheeks.

"Leena, look," she began, guiding me by the arm back towards the living room. Once we were settled comfortably on the couch, she said, "I know that you want to enjoy this trip. A little fun is the least you deserve after all that you've been through. I understand that, darling."

Claire clasped my hands within hers, her emerald eyes burning into mine.

"That's why I let you get into a car with Jason even though I didn't know him," she explained, her voice rising. "I was worried sick the entire time, but I let you go, anyway."

"But you met him just the day before yesterday," I pointed out. "You said he was very nice, remember?"

"I know, darling," she sighed. "He is nice, but . . . I don't know how to explain this to you."

"What?" I asked, perplexed. "Explain what?"

"Leena, I can tell that Jason really likes you," she said, ignoring my protest. "If you're going to go out with him like that, he might try to --"

"Try to what?" I demanded, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

"He might try to make advances on you," she said, the words leaving her mouth in a rush. "You're both young and curious . . ."

"Oh my god!" I cried, withdrawing my hands from hers in shock. "You won't let me go to the beach with Jason tomorrow because you think we're going to hook up?"

Claire flinched at my choice of words, looking embarrassed.

"It's not that I won't let you, Leena," she mumbled. "You're eighteen now, I can't stop you from doing anything. But your father has sent you here, trusting me to keep you safe."

I sighed, the apprehension and concern in her face melting away my outrage.

"Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to . . . be intimate with Jas—"

"Whoa, whoa!" I interrupted her, holding my hands up in a gesture of surrender.

The conversation had taken such an unprecedented, awkward turn that all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and disappear.

"No, let me say this," she insisted, shushing me. "I know that you're smart and responsible, Lee. But I don't want you to get hurt or regret anything. You're perfectly capable of making your own choices, but to me, you're like a child. And you can't ask me to not worry about you."

"Oh, Claire," I whispered, touched by her motherly concern. "You don't have to worry about Jason. Yes, I've only known him for a few days, but I trust him. He's a good friend, and he won't do anything stupid. Neither will I. You know me well enough to know that, surely?"

She nodded in response.

"I really, really want to go tomorrow," I said. "I'm saying this for the hundredth time, Jason and I are just friends!"

Claire continued to stare at me dubiously.

"Look, on the off chance — with extra emphasis on the off chance bit — that Jason and I ever choose to be more than friends, we will be responsible," I assured her.

I struggled to hide the effect that my own words had on my thumping heart, my mind slipping into a frenzy as my imagination ran haywire.

"Very mature, with lots of adultness," I joked with a small smile, forcing myself to reign in my thoughts. "Taxes and investments kind of adultness."

Claire laughed, our moods improving instantly.

"Please say I can go tomorrow," I begged her, still smiling.

She regarded me quietly, chewing on her lower lip.

"Okay," she conceded finally. "I trust you, Lee."

"Thank you!" I gushed, leaning forward to throw my arms around her in a grateful embrace.

"You better go to bed now if you're going to stay up late tomorrow night," Claire instructed, pulling me off the couch and turning me towards the staircase that led to my bedroom.

"Okay!" I obliged gladly. "Goodnight, Claire!"

"Goodnight, darling," she replied with a soft smile.

I hurried to my bedroom, grabbing the pouch of candy that Jason had bought for me before brushing my teeth. A few minutes later, I settled into my cozy bed, squirming under the newly washed covers.

Tired yet unable to sleep, I stared up at the ceiling, the vague tune of an upbeat song about Californian beaches playing inside my head. I searched my mind desperately, failing to recall the lyrics.

Finally, exhaustion took over, and I fell asleep just as the song's verse resurfaced in my memory. I tried to grasp at it, but the words faded back into oblivion.