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"I did you a favor, brother," Casey said to him. "It's better to just come out and say it if you like someone."
I turned and looked at Casey with complete confidence and sincerity. "Oh, Charlie comes right out and says he likes me," I said, causing both of them to laugh.
I was familiar with Charlie. We had a long friendship before it turned into more, and because of that, my mannerisms around him were completely comfortable. I sat next to him, and we smiled at each other before I leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"I'm telling AJ," Casey said, staring at us.
"Good, somebody needs to," Charlie returned, joking around.
"I will," I said with a shrug.
Charlie looked at me with a smile. His hand was on the key, and he went ahead and started the boat motor. I gave him another shrug, letting him know that I didn't care who knew about us, and he grinned at me as if he knew what I was saying. We didn't say anything else about it because Charlie turned the boat and headed onto the lake.
For the next couple of minutes, we didn't say anything at all. I sat next to him in the captain's seat, and we looked out at the water. He put his hand out once we were cruising, and I readily reached over for him. I leaned in to speak closer to his ear.
"I was sitting here thinking about your dad," I said.
"What about him?" Charlie asked.
Casey stared straight ahead from several feet in front of us, not paying attention or even hearing us.
"He came up to me in the house and said some really nice things just now. And, I don't know, he said that you liked me, and now I'm in a really good mood about it because it made me feel like he was okay with us seeing each other. It just feels good to know that he doesn't care if we date each other. You know, with the thing with my dad."
"I told you that was nothing to worry about," Charlie said.
"You did, but your dad was really nice about it just now, and it put me in a good mood. I feel like I want to climb Michael's Bluff about fifty times."
Charlie laughed and put his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder. I moved, leaning into him, getting comfortable.
We were still riding like that ten minutes later when we pulled around a bend and reached Michael's Bluff. I sat up and slipped out of Charlie's grasp once I knew we were in danger of being noticed. Charlie looked at me and smiled as he took my hand and placed it on his leg. He let go instantly so that he could tend to guiding the boat to a place near Max's bigger one. He wasn't holding onto me, and I could have easily withdrawn my hand, but I left it on his leg. I moved it slightly where it was in a little more discreet position, but I let my hand touch him as we pulled up next to his family.
AJ and Beau stood at the edge of the big boat looking down at us from their higher vantage point. Charlie knew how to maneuver on the water and the small boat approached the larger one gracefully in a side-by-side position. Casey stood up in preparation to act as a buffer for our boat.
Charlie moved to drop the anchor and AJ threw over a ladder. I knew we would climb up onto the larger boat with the others. Charlie and I broke contact in the process of pulling up but it was already too much for Casey.
"I know Hope was hanging out with you last year, AJ, but I think my brother is trying to score with her."
"Casey!" Charlie scolded his brother even though that was something we would all expect Casey to say.
"Yeah, you think so?" AJ said, sarcastically. We all glanced at him, and he gave us a sly grin and shrugged. "I figured it out the other day when I first got here, but then today she mentioned him about twenty times before he got here, and then he pulled up in the boat, and I watched her just jump off that cliff and float all the way over to him like she was full of helium." AJ motioned with his hand in the air as if I had jumped and floated in the air for a while before falling into the water, and everybody laughed, including me.
"I just jumped in the water—a regular jump," I defended, raising my hands and shaking my head.
"Yeah, but you jumped off of that cliff the second Charlie came around the corner, and then it took you about three seconds to swim over to him." He paused and made a dramatic face. "Then you guys took off together right after that. I think I did the math."
