Ari Callahan has no idea how to talk to boys -- or how to talk to anyone for that matter. Enter Zac, the cute new guy in town who won't stop texting her. But is his interest real, or does he have a hidden agenda?
...
Ari turned off the cold water tap and sank beneath the water's surface. She lay flat on her back in the guestroom Jacuzzi tub, fully submerged. Her hair swirled in the water, tangling in front of her face, but she didn't clear it away. She lay completely still, her face an expressionless mask, as she watched the hazy mid-morning light filter through the blood-red strands of hair.
It was over, she thought.
She felt strangely calm about everything now. She'd been doubled over with panic after the text message fiasco with Zac, but the cool bath had washed it all away. She felt safe here in her watery cocoon. Cut-off from oxygen. Cut-off from humankind. Cut-off from all the mortifying words that threatened to drown her with embarrassment.
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Ari squeezed her eyes shut to block out the image of that text message from her mind. Easier said than done. Her brain had this annoying way of latching on to awkward moments, forcing her to relive the anxiety and humiliation over and over again. That memory would keep bubbling up to the surface for months... For years, if she let it.
There was only one way to put the burning shame behind her. She knew what she had to do. Simple, really. She saw it now, as she reopened her eyes beneath the surface. The water had a way of clarifying her thoughts.
She would simply disappear.
Zac was the only one who had seen that message, so she would never see him again. She couldn't possibly face him. She wouldn't even check if he responded. She'd simply pack up the whole memory of this past week's flirtation, drop it in the ocean, and let it sink to the bottom, never to be seen again. Done. Problem solved.
It sucked though. She couldn't pretend it didn't suck. One ill-timed message, and it was all over with the only boy she'd ever really liked.
Ari knew she'd feel depressed about it later, but not now. Not here in the bath. That was the other reason she found it soothing to lay submerged like this with the water covering her face. No point moping when you're underwater. It wasn't like you could cry. Even if your eyes formed tears, you wouldn't feel them fall. They'd mix in with the bathwater and wash away, unnoticed and unshed.
Ari's lungs were burning now. She pursed her lips, annoyed. If only she could go for more than a few minutes at a time without taking a breath. Someday...
She surfaced, pulling in a deep lungful of air. One hand gripped the edge of the tub to steady herself. The other hand still rested in the bathwater, clutching an object. Ari's eyes flitted down to it briefly, and she wrinkled her nose at the sight. That was another reason she'd probably feel depressed later.
Her cellphone. Soaked. Probably ruined beyond repair. No amount of waterproofing or white rice could salvage a phone that had been underwater for half an hour.
With a sigh, Ari lowered herself back beneath the water. She'd definitely regret that later. She hadn't intended to drown her phone—not consciously, in any case. After she sent that text, she'd been so overcome with panic that she ran down here to the guest suite and jumped into the tub without pausing to think. She hadn't bothered to remove her nightgown first, or to set aside the phone that she'd gripped in a tight fist.
