The Summer Deal

Seventeen - Noah doesn't need a sugar momma

Today, the beach was less crowded than usual.

With my flip-flops in one hand and the other holding my hat firmly in my head, I wandered on the beach, searching for Noah. 

"Hey, you!" A woman sitting on one of those beach beds waved at me excitedly. "Sandra!"

I ignored her and kept looking around. She must have mistaken me for someone else. 

"Samatha!"

Noah wasn't there, so I decided to look for him somewhere else. 

"Sidney! Sally! Wait!"

I hope that woman finds her friends because she has not stopped calling out names. 

"Sophie! Sabrina!" I heard her yell behind me, then finally, "Sarah! YES! Sarah!" 

I turned back and pointed at myself, scrunching my nose. Who the hell is this woman, and how does she know me? "Me?" I mouthed, remembering that she cannot hear me at this distance. 

"Yes. YOU!" She then patted the empty beach bed beside her. "Come. Sit with me."

The old term Stranger Danger did blare off in my mind like sirens, but then I remembered the last time I encountered a stranger, nearly a week ago, I flashed him my nude body. I cringed at the memory. Thank God we were past that phase now.

The woman seemed harmless though. With a drink in her hand and a big smile on her lips as I approached her, I doubted she could even hurt a fly at the moment.

"Am I supposed to know you?" It was the first thing I asked when I sat down. "I think you've called the wrong Sarah."

The woman giggled. "Sorry," she apologized and sipped her drink through a straw. "I have a thing for English accents. Tom Holland and Tom Hiddleston. You can understand, right?"

"That's not what I asked."

She continued, "Noah did mention that you'll be in a grumpy mood, but I told him it doesn't matter to me. I just wanted more company. I'm Sasha, by the way."

Sasha... Sasha, Sasha. Why does that name sound familiar to me? I thought as I scanned the beach, looking for Noah. "Where is he?"

"He's gone surfing with the other boys," she told me, "there are four of them, but the ladies canceled today's meet-up. Sonya had her birth control appointment, which was TMI, and my maid-of-honor Raven has gone to visit her parents. Carol made it at the last moment, but she had to bring her son. He is a menace to all of us, so she took him for a walk to wet his feet."

I blinked rapidly, trying to process all the unnecessary information. "... okay?"

"And let me guess, everything I just said was absolute bullshit for you."

"What?" I snapped. Maybe it was, but I was trying to be polite. "No. It was not."

Sasha rolled her brown eyes. "Please. Noah also mentioned you don't like making small conversations which is why I liked you ever since I heard about you. I can keep talking, and you would never interrupt me."

I was so confused about everything going on here. What exactly has Noah been talking about me to these people? "I'm sorry... I still don't get it. How long have you known Noah?"

She shrugged. "We've met twice. Including today."

"Oh," I nodded in surprise, mentally thinking of ways to strangle him when I see him again. "That's refreshing to hear."

"I'm so glad Noah found someone like you. I heard what you did to Tiffany. Everybody did, and between us ladies..." She got close to me. I tried to back away, but it was of no use. Sasha still got close enough, "I'm so relieved you got rid of her. Tiffany was my replacement. With the wedding coming up next week and my pregnancy, I knew I had to step down from modeling, but I wanted to choose my own replacement. The agency didn't let me. So it serves them right. Thank you for that."