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Everyone was silent.
Then, the boys were singing, voices out of tune. “Lucas and Joan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes the baby in the golden carriage!”
I watched the girls on either side of Joan nudge her. She stood up and patted the grass off her pants, but Lucas stayed where he was.
“Lucas?” Misa said. “You need to go into the shed.”
“It’s not pointing at me,” he replied.
Misa huffed as everyone looked at the bottle. Technically, it pointed between Lucas and the boy sitting beside him, a guy named Brian who had volcanic acne covering his forehead.
“It’s closer to you than to Brian,” one boy shouted out.
“Actually, I think it’s closer to Brian,” a girl said.
Everyone argued for a minute before Misa made the executive decision that it was closer to Brian. Brian jumped up to his feet, and Joan didn’t react. She wore the same business-like expression she wore when everyone thought it landed on Lucas. I was surprised, to be honest. I knew loads of girls thought Lucas was good-looking. Even I could tell that he was handsome. He was taller than me, and he wasn’t slowing down growing anytime soon. And something about the colour of his eyes, his bone structure…he was simply pleasing to look at.
When Joan and Brian went into the shed, everyone resumed chatting. Some of the boys had started throwing blades of grass at each other. Lucas said he was going to get another cup of lemonade and asked me if I wanted any. I said no. I watched him go.
It was obvious when the bottle finished spinning that it had landed on Lucas. Everyone saw it. And then later, it appeared to point between Lucas and Brian. Then it seemed closer to Brian.
Lucas must have moved it. Maybe he turned the bottle, but someone surely would have caught him. He must have moved closer to me.
He didn’t want to kiss Joan, that much was clear. Maybe he thought she was ugly. Well, she was plain, and she didn’t have her hair out or wear makeup.
I would have happily kissed Joan. I would have happily kissed anyone.
But maybe Lucas didn’t want to kiss her because he had higher standards. Maybe good-looking people have higher standards, because they can. Maybe it’s in their DNA to be pickier.
That was the first time I really thought about Lucas’s looks, beyond a vague recognition that he was handsome. It was the first time I considered that Lucas’s way of looking at the world might be different from mine, just because he was gorgeous.
I was still thinking about that, even when Lucas returned, even when Joan and Brian came out of the shed, even when the next people in the circle had their go.
Then it was my turn, and I spun it.
The neck of the bottle pointed at Lucas.
I expected him to protest. Everyone was quiet, like they expected the same, like they thought Lucas would refuse and some other poor soul would be forced to go into the shed with me.
I wondered how he would doctor the spin. Maybe he’d shift ever so slightly away from me, so it wasn’t pointing at him, but me instead. What would happen if everyone decided it was pointing at me? Did that mean I would have to go inside the shed all alone?
None of that happened, though, because Lucas stood up and offered me his hand.
I wasn’t sure what was happening. I was vaguely aware of Misa’s voice in the background, urging me to get up. I took Lucas’s hand, which was soft, but his grip was firm, and he led me into the shed. I almost had to run to keep up with his long strides.
I felt dazed.
I thought: this is not how this is supposed to go.
I thought: I was supposed to have my first kiss tonight. Now I had to hope that one of the girls’ spins landed on me.
We entered the shed, which couldn’t have been any larger than an ensuite bathroom. The air was cool, and inside it smelled like soil and sawdust. Tools were hung up on the walls. A hammer, a saw, wrenches, screwdrivers. There was a wooden workbench, pockmarked with dents and burns, and a lawnmower was tucked in one corner.
Lucas closed the door. It was dark, except for a few cracks in the tin and the lines around the door frame that let in silvery light.
All I could make out was Lucas’s silhouette. I couldn’t read his expression. I doubt he could see mine. If he could, though, he’d see nervousness on my face.
Strangely, my heart was beating like crazy. Loud enough that I wondered if he could hear it.
