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4
TODD
Ahonk sounds from outside, and I look out the window to find Cooper’s truck waiting to pick me up. We’re headed to the lake with the girls today. I’d rather be fishing with Cooper than swimming.
I’m nervous about seeing Megan. It’s been a week since I saw her on a date at the bowling alley. I have no idea what I’m going to do if she brings the douche-sicle she was with before. I can’t believe she went out with another guy. I guess I’ve always known it could happen. It was only a matter of time before some other guy tried to get with her. I just don’t understand why she had to start dating now.
I walk out of the house towards Cooper’s old farm truck. The thing looks like it should barely run, but he loves it. He’s always working on it, making sure it runs well.
“Hey, man,” Coop says as I get into the truck.
“How's it going?”
“Not bad. Wish we were fishing instead of swimming.”
I laugh at how similar our thoughts are. “Same.”
“You still pissed about Meg?”
A growl rumbles through my chest. “Yeah, and I already know what you’re going to say.”
“What’s that?” he presses.
“I need to man up. Ask her out myself, but you already know why I can’t.”
“Yeah, some bullshit excuse because you’re scared of putting yourself out there.”
I whip my head around at his words. “It’s not bullshit. You know she deserves better than what I can give her.”
“I know she’s been in love with you since before I can remember. Plus, she already knows a lot about you. I think she’d know if you're worthy of her by now.”
He makes a good point. The girls do know quite a bit about my upbringing. You can’t be friends as long as we have and not know all of the important things about each other.
“But what if I disappoint her?”
“You will.”
I frown at him.
“Dude, you’re a guy, you’re going to disappoint her, but do you think Meg is the kind of girl who would drop you because you pissed her off?”
“I guess not.”
“Exactly. So, you need to grow a pair and fucking ask her out already.”
I roll my eyes. Is he right? Am I’m being a baby about this? Probably.
“What about the dude she went out with? I don’t want to jump in if she’s taken now.”
“Sara told Levi they haven’t been out again since the bowling alley.”
“Really?”
Cooper nods. Well, that’s interesting news. They looked pretty cozy sitting next to each other, so I’m surprised they haven’t gone out again.
“What if she doesn’t have feelings for me anymore?”
“I doubt they would go away after one date. Maybe just feel her out today. She’s never been able to hide how she felt before.”
“True. Okay, I’ll try to get a read on her. If it seems like she still likes me, then I’ll ask her out.”
“Fucking finally. And I swear, I will punch you if you wuss out.”
I roll my eyes again as Cooper pulls into the parking lot of the lake. I can see the girls, as well as Levi, standing around Nat’s Subaru, pulling stuff from the trunk. We get out of the truck and walk over to help them.
“Good timing. Can you get the cooler? We’ll get the rest,” Natalie says, pointing to a blue box in the back of her car.
Cooper and I grab the sides, lifting the heavy cooler out of Nat’s trunk, and then follow the girls to an empty picnic table with a red striped umbrella. I’m surprised we were able to snag one with how busy it is today. There are people scattered all across the beach. Some are swimming, others are drinking or eating the concession stand food, and everyone is enjoying the beautiful summer day.
The lake stretches out for miles with green trees surrounding the perimeter. A tackle shop selling anything you’d need for the lake sits off to the left; the beach is spread out next to the shop while the marina is farther off to the right so the boats can’t come close to the beachgoers.
I catch Megan’s eye as she sets her stuff down. She looks beautiful today with her blonde hair pulled back, her blue dress making her skin glow. A smile curls at my mouth before I can stop it. Her head flinches backward in surprise while her brows furrow in confusion.
Okay, fine. It’s rare for me to smile around her. I think the idea of potentially going on a date with Megan has filled me with so many emotions there’s not much else I can do.
A smile grows on her face, making mine get bigger.
God, I am so in love with her it hurts sometimes.
She looks away when someone calls her name, so I take my shirt off to put on sunscreen.
“That was your answer, bro,” Cooper says, slapping me on the shoulder.
“Answer to what?” Natalie asks.
“Nothing, just something Todd asked me before we got here.”
Natalie shrugs her shoulders, thankfully moving on without asking any more questions. Once we’re ready, we head to the beach to swim first. The water is tepid despite the hot temperatures, making it feel refreshing instead of like swimming in the bathtub.
We go back and forth between the water and playing on the beach. Despite preferring to fish, I always have a great time when we go to the lake. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the summer.
Cooper suggests playing a three on three football game. Even though the girls teasingly groan, they agree to play, too. Cooper, Lucy, and Natalie are on one team while Sara, Megan, and I are on another. Levi is refereeing this round. He’ll take mine or Cooper’s spot the next game.
“You ready for this?” I ask Meg before we start playing.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Todd?” she asks, which makes me laugh. I get it. This is a side of me she doesn’t normally see, but finally going after what I want has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I don’t have to use every ounce of control I have to not encourage her feelings. It’s freeing.
“Maybe you’re seeing a different side to me.”
“I’ve never heard you use so many words. Can this continue?”
“Sure.” I wink at her.
She looks up at me with desire in her eyes. I have to clench my hands into fists to keep from grabbing her and pulling her close to me. She’s so damn pretty.
“You love birds ready?” Cooper calls out, startling Megan. Luckily, Lucy, Sara, and Natalie weren’t paying any attention. I’m sure there would’ve been questions if they were.
“Let’s do this,” Natalie says, rubbing her hands together.
Natalie takes the football, then crouches down in front of Cooper. “Blue forty-two, swan dive,”
“What the hell is that?” Cooper asks.
“Plays, dummy,” Nat says with a roll of her eyes.
“We don’t have plays. We barely have a team,” Cooper argues.
“Just hike the ball!” I yell at them. Natalie does, catching Cooper off guard. We converge into the middle, mostly goofing around, trying to outrun each other or fake each other out. We usually end up laughing, and the ball is forgotten somewhere.
My team ends up with possession, and Meg is bent over, ready to hike. It is seriously distracting with her bent over the ball like she is. I swear she’s wiggling her ass around to tease me.
She hikes the ball to me, and I step back, waiting for Meg or Sara to get open. Megan finds an open spot, allowing me space to throw the ball to her. She catches it like a pro, then runs down the beach to score a touchdown.
Before I can stop myself, I run towards her, wrapping my arms around her to spin around in celebration.
Her eyes are wide as we spin, her smile big and beautiful.
I realize her boobs—barely encased in the tiny triangles of her bikini—are smashed against my bare chest. I quickly set her down before my cock gets any more ideas to show himself in front of everyone.
I clear my throat. “Nice touchdown.”
“Thanks,” she says, sounding winded. When I look around, our friends are all gathered at the picnic table, getting drinks.
Knowing this is the only chance I’ll have today, I start talking. “Um…Meg, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Well…I was wondering if…” Jesus, this is harder than I thought it would be. I clear my throat and try again. “I was wondering if you’d want to go on a date with me.”
I look down at the sand, suddenly worried she’ll say no.
“Wait, you want to go out with me?”
I look back at Megan, her shock is almost palpable.
“Yeah, I’ve wanted to go out with you for a while. I just never had the courage to ask you before.” I cringe. I can’t believe I admitted that to her.
“I’m a little lost for words. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”
“Say yes,” I all but demand.
“Okay.”
“Okay, you’ll go out with me?”
“Yeah.” Megan grins. The sight has a smile stretching across my face.
“Awesome.”
We stand there for a minute grinning at each other like loons until someone yells, “Will you guys just kiss so we can move on?”
I roll my eyes. I can’t tell who said it since they’re too far away. I grab Meg’s hand because I can now, and pull her over to the group. Her fingers wrap around mine like they were always meant to be there. Like the missing piece of my life is back in place.
“Finally! God, we’ve been waiting for this to happen since you moved here, Todd,” Natalie says, making me pretty confident she was the one who told us to kiss.
“Wanted to make sure it was perfect,” I say, winking at Megan. She blushes. I can’t wait to see what else I can do to make her blush.
This may be the best summer of my life.
