Sunset Island - Sunset Kiss Part 12

She caught the crab with one of its claws sticking up over the top of the sneaker. That should be a funny picture, she thought, smiling to herself.

Farther up the sh.o.r.e, someone had drawn a big heart in the sand with a stick.

Inside was written Sonny loves . . .The name of whomever Sonny loved and the point of the heart had been washed away by the surf. Carrie took a picture of the heart just as the rising tide lapped up a little more of the word loves.

Carrie decided to t.i.tle the -picture "All Washed Up." For the next hour, Carrie lost track of time. Everywhere she looked, another photo presented itself to her artistic eye. As the sun sank lower in the sky the light kept changing, creating new challenges, new effects.

At one point she was squatting in the rocky surf, aiming up at a seagull that had Ianded on a boulder. Her dress was hiked up around her thighs, but it was getting wet anyway. She clicked just as the bird took flight. It would be an even better photo than the one she'd envisioned.

Getting to her feet, she turned and froze. Billy was standing at the sh.o.r.eline watching her. "Hi," she said finally. "How long have you been there?" "A few minutes," he admitted. "Claudia told me she thought you'd come down here." He wore jeans and a black T-s.h.i.+rt. His long hair was loose and fluttered slightly in the soft evening breeze that had suddenly come in off the ocean. "You were pretty intent on getting that shot." "I got it, too," she said with a small smile. "I guess you came to get this," she said, lifting the camera strap from around her neck as she walked toward him. "I wasn't expecting you till later."

As she neared him she realized he was holding something at his side.

"Claudia's shoes!" she cried.

He held them out to her. "Here you go, Cinderella," he said. "After I saw you at the beach today we all went over to the studio to put the last touches on the demo. Frank and Pres were horsing around and a drumstick got tossed behind a cabinet. When I went to get it, there were the shoes." "That's weird," Carrie commented. Maybe they'd gotten kicked there by accident. Or maybe someone had hidden them-someone like Kristy Powell. It didn't really matter anymore. She had the shoes. That was one mistake she could repair.

"Thanks for returning them," she said. She held out the camera to him.

"Okay, well, I'll see you," he said, taking it from her. Carrie watched as he headed for the steps. All of a sudden he turned. "Can I ask you a question, Carrie?" "Sure." "Who the h.e.l.l are you, anyway?" "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, you keep changing. I had one impression of you, then you come to the party at the studio and you act like some airhead groupie who's hot to trot and can't hold her liquor. The next day you're back to being the girl I was attracted to, but when I ask you out, you do some kind of born-to-be-wild routine on me."

"I guess it must .have been pretty confusing," Carrie admitted.

"I had pretty much decided that you were too strange for me. Then I saw you today at the beach and you were back to your old self. All during the studio session I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept seeing your face the way it looked when you were hugging Chloe and you were crying. You looked really beautiful." He thought I looked beautiful? At that moment?

"You like girls with wet, stringy hair and puffy eyes, huh?" she joked uncomfortably.

"I'm not kidding," he stated.

"I know you're not," she said quietly, kneeling down on her blanket. Billy knelt down beside her. "All right. If you want the whole mortifying truth, here it is," she blurted out. "Around the island I always saw you with these very s.e.xy-looking girls. They come to your shows, they hang all over you. Kristy Powell in particular. I really liked you and I didn't want to lose out because you thought I was just this dumb kid who didn't know anything about life." To her surprise Billy threw his head back and laughed. "Man, were you wrong!" he said, catching his breath. "After the first time I met you at Wheels, I said to Pres, 'Now there's a good-looking girl you can actually talk to. Not like those other dingbats we're always meeting.'" "Then I went and turned into a dingbat on you," Carrie realized.

"Yeah, you did," he agreed.

"Why didn't you tell me how you felt sooner?" she asked.

"It's my turn to make a confession. I'm so attracted to you that I wanted to make it work, even if you were kind of strange. It was like I was having this tug-of-war with myself. Part of me said I should forget about you, and another part of me couldn't do it." "What a mess," Carrie laughed. "You and I sure managed not to communicate. I wish we could start all over again." "Maybe we can," said Billy as he took her hand in his. Carrie looked deep into his eyes and felt that familiar flutter. Then she looked down, self-conscious. She wanted to take it slowly this time, even though her body was telling her to surge ahead. Billy seemed to catch the awkward feeling, too.

"Well, what about teaching me how to use this camera?" he said huskily.

Carrie looked up. He really is a nice guy, she thought, almost surprised. I feel so comfortable with him. Like I used to before I started acting like a jerk and wrecked it all.

Carrie might not know how to be a s.e.xpot airhead, but now she didn't want to.

She did know about cameras, and as she began to explain she felt so comfortable she even forgot to be self-conscious.

"It's pretty automatic," she found herself saying easily. "Composing the picture is probably the most important part of taking a great photo." Billy sat back and leaned on his elbows. "All right, then, tell me about composition." Carrie sat up and began explaining elements of basic composition that she'd studied in books. "You want to avoid flatness," she said at one point. She took three rocks and lined them up side by side. "See? That's boring. But now look." She rearranged the rocks, one to the front of another, the third one off to the side and slightly behind. "I've added some depth to the composition, and the same objects are now a lot more visually interesting. A painter can move objects, but a photographer often has to use what's given. So since you can't always move the objects, you have to learn to move yourself into angles that will make your shots more interesting." "You know what else is interesting?" said Billy, sitting forward.

"What?" she asked.

"You. You're very interesting. I'm glad we're finally talking." "Me, too," said Carrie, suddenly feeling a little shy. She jumped to her feet. "Come on, I have a few more pictures on this roll. Why don't you take them? The sunset should give you some nice effects." Billy tried a few shots, asking questions as he went. Carrie realized that she wasn't the only one who had been putting on an act. For the first time, she was seeing the natural, relaxed Billy.

The strong, kind of quiet, s.e.x-symbol persona had fallen away. Underneath was a person with an easy smile and an inquisitive, even delightfully childlike eagerness to explore new things.

It occurred to Carrie that although the rock-star stance had attracted her with its aura of glamour and danger, it wasn't really what she'd responded to in Billy. This person she was seeing now as he fumbled earnestly with the camera, this was the person with whom she'd felt that silent communication.

Now he stood taking a picture of the stairway leading down to the beach. The brilliant sunset had colored the white, weathered wood a warm pink. "That's going to be pretty," she commented, silently impressed with his selection of subject. He could have turned the camera to the spectacular sunset behind him, but instead he chose to shoot its more subtle reflection. There was a lot more to Billy Sampson than she'd thought.

While he set up his shot, Carrie turned out to the water and gazed at the sunset. She had no trouble understanding why they had named this Sunset Island.

The sunsets here were nothing short of spectacular. Tonight's was exceptionally so. Golden and pink clouds made a calico pattern across the sky.

Moving directly behind Billy, she tried to envision what he was seeing through his lens. Putting her hands on his side, she gently moved him over a few steps.

"You don't want the staircase exactly in the middle. Your picture will look like it's chopped in half. Putting it off center makes it more pleasing to the eye," she explained.

This is a switch, she thought. With Josh, she had always been in the role of student. Josh was an avid reader and a natural teacher. He'd opened up all sorts of interesting subjects for her. Yet it was nice to be the teacher for a change.

It made her feel more equal.

Billy took the picture. "You're right, that does look better," he agreed. "That was the last shot, I think," he added, checking the film count.

He turned toward the ocean. "G.o.d, this is a beautiful place," he said. "When you're on the beach alone like this, you feel as if the rest of the world doesn't even exist." Then he gently drew her to him. They seemed to melt together as they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed.

At that moment Carrie knew what he'd been talking about. For her right then there was nothing else in the world. There was only Billy's strong caress and the soft, warm gentleness of his tender kiss.

"I don't believe it," squealed Sam. "He actually took you to dinner at the Sunset Inn." Carrie nodded happily. "He said he owed me a proper first date since we were starting all over again. He even went home and got a sports jacket. But when we got to the restaurant, the maitre d' said he had to wear a tie. I figured it was all over then, but Billy didn't argue at all. We jumped in the van and drove down to the Cheap Boutique. Beth was just closing up, but she let us in anyway. We found this great tie with a picture of a dead fish right down the front. The maitre d' didn't seem too happy when we came back, but he had to seat us." "Was it great?" asked Emma dreamily.

"It was the best evening I've ever had in my life," sighed Carrie. And it had been. After the elegant dinner, they'd gone dancing at the Play Cafe. Everyone wanted Billy's attention, but he had made it clear that he was with Carrie.

After that, they'd walked along the ocean, talking and, later, stopping to kiss some more in the light of the full moon.

Now the girls sat on the beach enjoying a few hours off. "See?" said Sam. "I told you a little makeup would work wonders for you." "Aaagh!" Carried screamed, holding up her hands as if she were about to strangle Sam. "Billy doesn't care if I wear makeup or not; he likes me the way I am. Or at least the way I was before you redid me." "Hmmmph," Sam sniffed. "There's no accounting for taste."

She stretched out her long legs and poured handfuls of warm sand on her ankles.

"So when are you going to set up a double date with you guys for me with Pres?"

"Do you really want to?" Carrie asked.

"Oh, no. I have no desire to date a gorgeous hunk of burning love. I must have been out of my mind. Forget I "even mentioned it," Sam cried. "Maybe it's sunstroke. What could I have been thinking? I must be-" "All right. Okay,"

Carrie laughed. "I was just checking. I'll ask Billy if he thinks it's a good idea." Sam patted Carrie's shoulder. "You're a pal." "It's great to be in love,"

sighed Emma, resting her chin on her knees. "I don't even want to think about September." "Things are getting really serious with you and Kurt, aren't they?"

Carrie noticed.

Emma nodded. "You know what he told Lorell about our renting a sailboat and going around the world together? I'm getting the idea that he's more than half-serious." "Oh, how totally romantic!" said Sam. "Has he actually told you this?" "No, but he keeps talking about it. He says, 'Wouldn't it be great if we could . . .' but the daydreams are starting to sound more and more real." "Would you go?" asked Carrie.

"I don't know," Emma replied.

"That's a big choice to have to make," Carrie sympathized. "I was so excited about going to Yale in the fall; now the thought of leaving here gives me a stomachache." "Would you two relax?" Sam scolded. "July isn't nearly over. Lots of things are going to happen before September. So just chill and enjoy yourselves." "You're right," Emma agreed, smiling.

Suddenly Sam's hands flew to her chest. "Oh, G.o.d!" she whispered dramatically.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing. This is too great for words." Emma and Carrie followed her gaze down the beach. Walking along the waterline were Daphne and Lorell. Daphne looked like a gangly scarecrow with her thin arms jutting out of an oversized T-s.h.i.+rt-but she looked good next to Lorell.

Lorell was wearing the leopard-print-and-mesh suit with the built-up bra. It looked every bit as awful as it had on Carrie. Even more so, since Lorell's figure put her at more of a disadvantage.

"You know, I've often heard my mother talk about outfits that wear you instead of you wearing them," Emma said, giggling. "Now I know what she means." Slim Lorell was all mesh-exposed white flesh and dangerously pointed b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Sam was nearly gasping with hysteria. "I can't believe it really worked," she finally managed.

"I feel a little guilty," said Carrie, laughing nonetheless.

"No you don't," Sam said. "Lorell deserves it." "I think she does," Emma agreed.

Lorell caught sight of them and waved. Choking down their laughter, they waved back. Lorell spread her arms wide and looked at them with a how-do-you-like-it expression.

Sam stuck her thumb in the air. Emma nodded coolly and Carrie smiled. Tossing her dark hair back proudly, Lorell gestured for Daphne to follow her as they headed on down the beach.

"Oh, there is justice in the world after all," Emma said happily. "That was great." Sam got to her feet and picked up her tote bag. "I must bid you ladies adieu," she said. "I must go home and prepare for my c.o.c.ktail rendezvous this evening with Flash Hathaway. I want him to see my modeling potential in its full glory." "They won't serve you in a bar," Emma pointed out.

"So I won't drink. But I couldn't invite Flash out for sodas, could I? I mean, it's not exactly the height of sophistication." "Be careful with him," Carrie warned again.

"No problemo," Sam said glibly. "See you guys later. I'll have a full report."

"I hope she'll be okay," Carrie worried as she watched Sam saunter away on her long legs.

"She will be," Emma a.s.sured her. "Sam has more experience with guys than both of us put together." She, too, got up and began gathering her things. "I'm on duty tonight, I'd better get back. Are you coming?" Carrie shook her head. "No, I'll stay awhile and finish my book. Lately Claudia and Graham are on this spend-time-with-the-kids kick. I want to enjoy my freedom while it lasts."

"Enjoy yourself," Emma said as she left.

Carrie took out her book and opened it. Before she began reading, she gazed out past the crowd of people to the blue waves cras.h.i.+ng against the sh.o.r.e. Sam had been right. So much more was still going to happen, she thought. There would be a lot more ups and downs before the summer was over.

But for now she felt happy. Billy and she were together. She still had her job.

And most important, she knew herself a little better.

Closing her eyes, she lay back and let the warm sun wash over her. She'd never imagined this summer would turn out to be so wonderful. Especially after its rocky beginning. With a little luck-and Billy at her side-it was only going to get better.