“You haven’t been sneaking out the past few weeks.” Brandon takes a right turn to get onto the windy road that takes us to town.
“Thanks for telling me. I thought I had.” I don’t want to talk to him about Charlotte. He wouldn’t get it. He’s still always giving me shit about screwing her. It’s not like I can make him see that we’re just friends. It’s also not like he’d understand why things are awkward with us. Hell, I’m not even sure I get it.
“What’s up with you and her?”
Damn, what is this? I don’t get why he wants to start talking all of a sudden. We’ve never talked about girls before. “What’s up with you and Sadie?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious that nothing is. Whatever. Be a douchebag. I was just trying to talk.”
For a second I wonder if that means he needs to talk to me about something. It doesn’t take a genius to see something went down. Especially when you factor in he hasn’t really been seeing any girls since. Did Sadie somehow break my brother’s heart? Doesn’t seem likely, especially since he’s the one who ignored her. Plus, he doesn’t really seem to care about her, but I don’t know what else it would be.
“Brandon—”
“Shut up.” He turns up the music, so look out the window, hoping things don’t ever get screwed up enough with Charlotte that we can’t be friends.
It doesn’t take us long to get there, because Lakeland Village is so damn small. I’m shocked to see how many people are here though. The biggest group I’ve seen in the past two years is at the bash Charlotte’s family throws at the beginning of the summer and it’s nothing compared to this.
We park the car and buy wristbands before going inside. Brandon pulls out his phone and texts. It’s only a few seconds later he gets a reply and says, “Everyone’s over by the Ferris Wheel. They’re waiting.”
“Why do you want to hang out with them so much since you and Sadie don’t get along?”
Brandon shrugs. “Because the only alternative is only hanging out with my brother or parents all summer and that makes me feel like a loser. Plus, Alec’s cool. He’s a kickass running back.”
“He’s pretty good at being a prick too.”
Brandon just shakes his head at me as though I’m being stupid.
There’s a big group of people waiting right where Alec told Brandon they’d be. Sadie with her boyfriend, Alec, Charlotte, and a few more girls and guys that I’ve seen around a lot since last year.
“Hey,” I say to everyone as we approach. Brandon fist bumps the guys and I nod at them. Charlotte is off to the side, behind Alec, and I look over at her, but her eyes are steering clear of me. What a way to put me in a shitty mood.
“We’re going to play some games,” Alec says.
“Yeah, Brice promised to win me a stuffed animal.” Sadie grabs her boyfriend's arm, and I’m pretty sure it’s obvious to everyone but Brice that she’s doing it because of Brandon.
As the group begins migrating through the carnival, I notice Charlotte sort of hangs back from Alec. I step up to her because I only have about six weeks left here and I don’t want to spend them being all weird with her like we have been.
“Want me to win you a teddy bear too?” I tease.
She gets it just like I knew she would and nudges my arm with hers.
“You done ignoring me now?” I ask.
“I haven’t been ignoring you.”
“Yeah, you have, and we both know it.”
Last year I knew she liked me. More than a friend, I mean. I told myself it didn’t matter and she knew we were just friends. We couldn't really be more, but now I find myself looking for it. Wondering if that went away, but then I tell myself to chill the hell out because nothing has changed. She's here, Alec is here, and most of the time...I'm not.
Doesn’t stop me from wanting to knock him out, though.
“It’s hard,” she whispers. I want to ask her why, but don’t know if I should—want to make it easier on her because I care too much to see her hurt. I’d do anything to make it easier on her. I wish more people did, but then the thought of Alec helping her pops into my head and I’m pissed again.
“I know,” come out of my mouth and I realize I get it more than I thought. It’s hard for me, too. It’s been like that since the beginning. She’s cool and I like spending time with her. Hell, I remember the feel of her lips and wish I could do it again, but then…she’s like a friend too. I can tell her anything and I want to know everything about her. Maybe I already do. “I wish we lived closer.”
She doesn’t reply to that. Looking up, I see we have fallen pretty far behind the rest of the group. Everyone’s standing there waiting for us. Brandon’s giving me this stupid ass smile that means he’s thinking all the wrong things about what is going on. Alec is next to him and I don’t see the anger. Not as much. It’s almost like he’s confused.
“You guys coming or what?” Alec shouts.
“We’re coming,” Charlotte calls before jogging to catch up. It’s déjà vu. We never really get anywhere when we talk and she’s always running to him.
We play tons of games. I beat Charlotte in a basketball shootout and she takes me at flipping coins into fish bowls. She’s the only person I’ve ever seen really do it, so we’re walking around with a betta fish in a bag. We’ve stopped to eat and ridden a few rides. We will have about forty-five minutes until the fireworks start at ten.
Looking up, I see a ride that looks like it was designed for ten year olds. It’s not very big or anything, with one big cart where people ride in, but it has a huge shooting star on it. All the thing does is go back and forth, like a shooting star would, but still, I grab Charlotte's hand and nod toward it.
“Wanna?”
She’s quiet and she gets this sad look on her face. I wonder if I said something wrong or how I screwed up, because she’s still not speaking and she’s just looking at me.
“We don’t have to… I just thought…”
“I do. Want to, I mean,” rushes out of her mouth.
“What are you guys doing? You’re always the ones lagging behind. Need me to carry you so you can keep up, little bro?” Brandon teases.
“Fuck off,” I call back. “We’re going on this one.” I point to the shooting star. Someone laughs. A few people grumble.
“Dude, that’s lame,” Alec sneers.
“Dude, no one asked you,” I shoot right back at him.
He takes a step like he’s about to come at me and I do the same. No way am I backing down to him. It’s been a long time coming with us, but Brandon grabs his arm and shakes his head.
“I don’t need you to fight my fights for me.”
“Whatever. I’m not fighting you,” Brandon says before Alec pulls free of him. “We’ll catch you guys later.”
I face Charlotte, not giving a shit about him, or if they’re leaving or not. “What the fuck is his problem? One of these days there’s not going to be someone there to stop us.”
“Alec and I have always been best friends. He’s been pretty much the only person I care about. He’s protective of me.”
I back away from her, an unexpected pain piercing through me.
“I mean, he’s pretty much been the only person I really hang out with. It’s been us and he’s never really cared to be friends with people who stayed here before. It’s always been a job.”
I close my eyes, not able to believe she’s defending him to me.
“I don’t want to fight with you anymore. You know that’s not how I see you. Can’t we just…I don’t know, just forget about everything else and have fun. Last summer…”