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“I know,” she repeats, then rises up on her tiptoes to kiss me.
I move closer to her; tightly enough, the water coating both our bodies doesn’t have a prayer of sliding downward.
It’s been a long time—years—since we first kissed at the baseball field I spent high school playing on. Up until that moment, I wasn’t sure if she had the slightest attraction toward me.
I thought that was why kissing Lennon Matthews felt different than kissing any other girl. But it’s been three and a half years since Lennon Matthews first kissed me. And the feel of her lips against mine is still a sensation I know I could never replicate with anyone else. There wouldn’t be this rush of love, along with lust.
“Get a room, you guys.” Jake’s on board, Luke right behind him.
“The room next to yours, you mean?”
My cheeks stretch with a grin in response to Lennon’s comment as she slips out of my arms, leaving me leaning against the side of the boat to watch Colt swim toward us.
* * *
We spend the day driving around, disturbing the pristine surface of the lake: swimming, tubing, and water-skiing. Drinking and joking. By the time we return to the dock, we’re all sun-kissed and exhausted.
Jake and Luke collect sticks for a fire in the stone pit set up in the yard, while Colt and Lennon head inside to grab hot dogs to roast for dinner. I contribute nothing, stretching out on one of the benches that surrounds the fire pit and staring up at the rapidly darkening sky.
I know my future holds a lot of options and question marks. I also know I’m fortunate to have the choices I do. But this is one of those meaningful moments in time not resulting from any accomplishment or dedication on my part
I’m at his family’s lake house right now simply because I wasn’t a dick when Colt asked me if I wanted to sit with him at lunch on the first day of high school. There’s been no investments of blood or sweat to get to this peaceful spot in the woods. But I feel the same sense of accomplishment and contentedness I do when I throw a perfect strike anyway.
It makes me wonder if I might be happy living in Landry. If settling in a small town might not be so bad if I get to stare up at the stars every night the way I’m doing right now.
“Up for some Truth or Dare?” Jake asks loudly, disturbing the peace.
Without looking over, I can tell he and Luke managed to light the fire. The air temperature has risen thanks to the dry heat cast by roaring flames.
I sit up, turning my gaze to catch the grin Jake’s aiming my way. Luke is looking at the freshly lit sticks, barely interested in our teasing. Like usual. Of the four of us, he’s usually the most mature.
I narrow my eyes at Jake, not rising to the bait dangling in front of me. Guess I’m not the only one who’s been recalling our senior year trip today.
“Wrong approach, Barnes.” Luke opts to get involved, after all. “Just get Lennon to play.”
“Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Jake replies, settling back in one of the Adirondack chairs with a huff.
I smile.
The sound of Lennon’s laugh echoes through the pines, and I turn to see her stumbling down the path to the fire pit, giggling at something Colt is telling her. They reach us. Colt takes a seat across the campfire, next to Jake. Lennon plops down in my lap, dropping a package of hot dogs on the dead pine needles that litter the ground.
“Feel like roasting me one?”
“Are you admitting you always burn them?”
“Once. It happenedonce, Caleb.”
“Hey, Lennon,” Jake calls. I shake my head as I grab a roasting stick and stuff it through the raw meat. I know what he’s going to ask. I also know what the answer is going to be.
“What?” she replies.
“Feel like a game of Truth or Dare?”
Lennon laughs. “No.”
I shoot Jake a triumphant smirk. He pouts. “Why not?”
“I don’t feel like it,” Lennon responds as she opens the bag of hot dog buns and fishes a couple out.
