Lost Stars (The Jewel Project #3)

10.2|| Lost Stars

After that full day and getting some sleep, Sam woke up feeling optimistic that they'd finish the quest soon and head for India. How hard could it be to get approached by some guy?

It turned out it was damn near impossible. They spent the entire day walking around aimlessly, visiting local attractions and institutions, hoping to make themselves as visible and as invisible as possible at the same time. It was a total bust. Sam never had the feeling that he was being watched or followed. He just felt like it was a total waste of time.

As the evening came, he found that he was exhausted and discouraged. He and Kay were the only ones left in the cafeteria for dinner. Jerry had gone to the reception to call home and lie to their parents some more while Kyle, Jessie, and Jimmy were by the pool, trying to cool down.

Sam looked at the fish lasagna on his plate and had the sudden impulse to gag. He knew he should eat something because he'd missed lunch, but he just couldn't. Everything was made of either pasta or fish. Except for the soggy French fries Kay was drowning in ketchup.

"I can't eat this," she said, getting up. "You can finish it if you want. I'll go see what the others are doing."

Sam watched her heading out and pulled her plate towards him. One interesting thing he had noticed was that the heat was doing weird things to everyone. It made Jerry grumpy, it made him exhausted, and it made Kay and Jessie wear extremely short shorts. Which in turn had a very interesting effect on Kyle and Jimmy. It was so funny to see them trying to act normal for the sake of avoiding another of Jerry's lectures. But Sam could tell they were both seconds away from drooling, and he couldn't blame them. Objectively speaking, Kay and Jessie were gorgeous.

What he found even more amusing, was that it went both ways. Like right now, Jessie was lounging in a beach chair, pretending to read some material for their research, while actually ogling Jimmy who was taking swimming lessons from Kyle. Doomed lessons, since the pool was extremely small and crowded.

Once Kay approached the edge of the pool, Kyle immediately dropped Jimmy and focused on her. He swam to the edge and grabbed her hand. Kay pulled back, probably telling him off. As he ate a soggy fry, Sam wished he could hear what they were saying. Oh, right, he could. So he picked up the plate and made his way outside.

"That's stupid and immature," Kay was saying, trying to pull further away, but Kyle had grabbed her calves and was keeping her in place.

"It makes sense, since I'm stupid and immature," he answered.

Sam sat on the chair next to Jessie's. "What's up?"

Jessie hardly tore her gaze from Jimmy and glanced at his plate. "Would you like some fries with that ketchup?"

He shrugged. "It's either ketchup or grease."

"Seriously, Kyle, back off," Kay said, finally escaping his grip. "If you want to pull me in the pool..." She pulled her t-shirt over her head.

Sam had never seen Kyle's eyes going so wide, even if Kay actually had a bikini top on. Then he narrowed them.

"Well played."

"Get a room," Jessie called at them over her book.

"Give us one and we'll take it."

"Shut up!" Kay threw one of her flip flops in Kyle's head.

Sam chuckled into his fries. This was way too amusing. Until a wave of water splashed him and Jessie from head to foot.

"Jimmy, what the hell?" Kay shrieked.

He and Kyle were both laughing their butts off, while Jessie shook her book, cursing under her breath. Sam looked from Jessie, to his fries, to Jimmy and Kyle and Kay and for a moment he just felt lost. These interactions were confusing.