On the stage, Chase was apologizing to a camper, despite the loud applause and laughter. Apparently, he’d lassoed the guy a little too hard, and they’d fallen over. There were severalother hoots and offerings to be lassoed next. Were they mostly women? His expression of regret and graceful stage exit only made him more enduring. The crowd really loved him.
I quickly looked away from the commotion and jumped into problem-solver mode. I didn’t know the song Leo had mentioned. “Unwritten”? Nope, never heard of it. I was surprisingly good at picking up songs, so I yanked my phone out to look it up, but it was already too late. She was setting up her microphone and looking around for Leo.
I stepped up onto the stage and smiled at her. “Leo had something come up,” I whispered.
Her shoulders dropped. “Well, I guess you’ve won this event,” Nat said solemnly as if she had accepted her fate.
I didn’t like that one bit. “If I’m going to beat you, princess, it’s going to be at your full strength,” I teased. I’d give up the competitive edge if it meant Nat having fun and enjoying herself up on this stage.
She looked shocked, then relieved as I pulled the guitar strap around my shoulder.
“We’re playing a different song,” I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. I lowered the strap around my neck and began to play.
She perked up, and her lips curved into a smile as I whistled while strumming the bars to “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. She’d been playing it nonstop in our cabin for the past two weeks, whether she was doing her evening skincare routine, editing videos, or cleaning. I had the damn thing memorized through sheer proximity.
Still, I surprised even myself when I knew every line of the duet as we faced each other, singing with our whole hearts for all of camp. Even with my help, it was clear who the star was. I lost myself in Nat’s voice. There was a raw, honey-smooth quality to it that had me transfixed as we pulled off the unpracticed tune.In the quick moment I pulled myself away from her and looked at the crowd, I found them enthralled.
The song ended, but Nat and I stared at each other, locked in the moment. We must have pulled off sounding completely in sync, because a whistle blew, and resounding cheers broke me out of my haze. We collected ourselves, bowing once for the audience before exiting the stage. Autumn’s cheery microphone voice took over from there.
The crowd was still cheering, but I wasn’t paying attention. Our hands were clasped tight as I led us away from the crowd. We walked at a brisk pace filled with adrenaline and surrounded by joy in the air.
Nat stopped between some expansive trees, away from the bonfire. The excitement from our performance buzzed between us, but I couldn’t take my eyes off hers, noting the catches of pretty moonlight in them. It was enough of a distraction that I was caught off guard as she went up on her toes and pressed her lips to mine.
With our foreheads pressed together, she let out a soft sigh against my lips, sending goose bumps down my arms. “I can’t believe you did that,” she said quickly. “I love you.”
My heart faltered. Blood whooshed through my ears as I looked at her. Her eyes were wide as saucers. I must not have heard her right.
My brain tried to explain it away. She hadn’t meant it. It was a colloquialism. A meaningless phrase that had spurted from her lips in the heat of the moment.
But she went from looking like she’d had a slipup to looking determined, and I knew it was too late.
“You… love me?”
THIRTY
Nat
An indistinguishable lookcrossed over Jack’s face as he held my heart in his hands.
A nonspiraling version of myself would give the man a minute, but the anxious version wanted to fill the silence. She won out.
“You don’t have to say it back,” I said calmly, like someone trying to stop a bear from approaching. “I just think there’s something here. We’ve spent all this time together. We had that night under the stars. Look what you just did for me. I know we’ve spent this summer at each other’s throats, but the past few weeks have been different. And it’s not like I didn’t feel anything during all that anyway, even if…well, you know what they say about love and hate.”
Radio silence.
I cleared my stinging throat. “You’re leaving me hanging here, Jack. Say something.”
The pained look on his face deepened, his voice sounding like sandpaper. “You don’t mean that.”
I didn’t expect him to say what I wanted him to say, but did he have to choose the dumbest thing in the playbook?
I stood stock still. “Don’t try to tell me how I feel.”
Jack’s brow furrowed as he took on a different tactic. “I told you I don’t do relationships. I’ve seen them fail, and I’ve been through enough. I was clear, Nat.”
I shook my head, stepped forward, and touched his hand. This poor guy had been through the wringer, and I just wanted to make him feel better. But what better words were there to make you feel better thanI love you? “I know you’ve had your heart broken. I’ve been there, and I know how hard it is to come back from that. But you can’t believe you’re going to be alone forever. We have something worth fighting for. So why not me?”
Why not me?
