He held my hand and said he would always be there to nudge me along, just like the ripples.
I’m clinging to what he told me, as Link parks the car right under one of the lights in the parking area of Fun Tides. I stay close to Reece as we follow the noise of laughter. The closer we get the louder the laughter and music gets.
One look at Link’s sparkling brown eyes tells me we won’t be going home early. I’ve never been here, and I’m relieved when we walk through a well-lit entrance. My eyes do a wild dance to take in everything. To my immediate left are some deck chairs. I recognize some of the kids from school standing around in groups. A ticked booth is on my right. Up front is where the music is coming from, a makeshift DJ stage.
I spot Wyatt and my eyes follow him, hoping he’ll lead me to Cole, but then he disappears into a crowd dancing in a shallow pool and I resume my exploration of the park.
“I’m gonna get somethin’ to drink,” Link says, “y’all want somethin’?”
I shake my head and spot a bonfire on a stretch of lawn between two huge tubes and pools. Fire means light. Guess I’ve found my spot to hide.
“I’m going to head over to the bonfire,” I say, and I do just that, not waiting to see if Reece and Link is coming. We can meet up later again. I just want to get to the light right now, that’s all that matters.
As I step up close to the fire, waves of heat hit my face. I’ve learned to live with the uncomfortable heat in summer, always wearing sweaters to cover myself up. The summer night is hot, and with the fire’s heat licking at my face, I feel sweat dampening my neck and back. It’s a small price to pay for the light, because there is no way I’m sacrificing the light for cooler air. It’s either the bonfire or standing at the entrance like an idiot.
Scanning the faces around the bonfire the only familiar ones are Laurie and Aiden’s. If Cole’s cousins are here then he has to be around here somewhere. It’s his party after all.
Loud hollering from behind me has me turning around. Travis, Cooper and a bunch of guy are responsible for the noise. I watch them run up the stairs to the entrance of a huge twisting tube.
“Insane,” I whisper to myself. “There is no way you’ll get me up there.” I watch them disappear into the black mouth of the tube. You can hear their hollering echoing as they come down the twisting snake, and then one for one their screams are drowned in the deep end of the pool. “Like I said, no way in hell.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” a voice says right behind me. “You should give it a try.”
My stomach tightens nervously. I keep my eyes on the group of guys now fighting to dunk each other in the pool as my mind races to say something back to Cole.
“Are you enjoyin’ yourself?” he asks. I feel him move from behind me, coming around my left side. I can’t help it, my eyes jump to him the second he comes into my line of sight.
I wonder if it will ever change, this effect he has on me. Every time I see his icy eyes shivers race over my skin.
“I am,” I say softly.
I wrap my arms around myself, trying to make myself smaller. I had a four inch growing spurt over the past three years, but the doctors said I will always be small, because of what happened. So when guys like Cole stands next to me, I’ll always feel dwarfed by their size. Cole and his cousins are a different breed altogether.
There is something about the way they carry themselves. Every girl is head over heels for a Holden brother or Cole Trenton, and then there is Travis to round of the equation. Cole, Travis, Aiden and Wyatt round of the elite four of Lyman.
I dart a nervous glance up and lock eyes with him. It feels like he is looking right through me.
“I’m surprised to see you came. I haven’t seen you at a party before.” The corner of his mouth curves slightly in a trademark family smile, guaranteed to make any girl’s knees go weak, including mine.
“I don’t,” I start to say but the group of guys in the pool breaks out into a loud chanting.
“Dunk her, dunk her, dunk her!”
I hear screeching laugher to my left and see Wyatt running up the stairs with Brooke in his arms. She’s clearly enjoying the attention. At the entrance of the tube he disappears with her. Brooke’s screeching echoes all the way down to where it thankfully gets drowned out by the water.
“Grab Laurie!” Travis screams.
Laurie starts to back up on the other side of the fire when her younger brother gets out of the pool.
“Wyatt, touch me and die!” she yells, but she still turns around and runs from him.
My heart launches into my throat as Wyatt comes closer. If he comes near me I’ll have a heart attack. Instinctively I step around Cole using him to block Wyatt’s view of me.
“Hey, it’s okay. If you don’t want to go in then you just have to say so,” Cole says. He steps into my personal space and takes hold of my arm, right above my elbow.
“I don’t want to go in,” I say, my eyes jumping between Cole and Wyatt who got hold of Peyton. Laurie up and vanished into thin air.
The group in the pool starts to yell for Wyatt to dunk her. I can feel Cole’s eyes on me and I don’t want him to think I’m weirder than he already thinks I am.
“I can’t swim,” I explain.
His smile grows wider, lighting his face up. It also makes his eyes look softer. “Stick with me for the night and Wyatt will leave you alone.”
Did he really just say that? Maybe I imagined it? Did Cole Trenton just tell me to stick with him for the night? I know he kissed me last week, but I didn’t get my hopes up. People like Cole just don’t mix with people like me.
“You,” I clear my throat when my voice sounds too throaty, “you have a party to get back to.”
His hand skims up my left arm, leaving a hot trial right through the material. Placing his arm around my shoulders, he draws me against his side for a quick hug. I’m so stunned that I can hardly take in how it feels.
He chuckles softly as if he’s finding something funny. I hope I don’t have anything on my face. His eyes dart to something over my head before they settle back on mine.
“It’s getting hot here. You want to go sit over by the picnic tables?”
His eyes dart over my head again and I look over my shoulder, following his line of sight. The picnic area is dark, bathed in shadows. I really want to spend time with Cole. I’d be stupid to say no. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
But that corner is so dark!
But I won’t be alone. Cole will be there with me.
“Okay,” I murmur, not able to muster much more.
His arm falls from my shoulders. I’m caught off guard again when I feel his hand take hold of mine. His fingers interlace with mine as he leads me away from the fire. My heart thumps faster with every step I take closer to the dark area. I focus on keeping my breaths steady and as the last of the light dies away behind us I take hold of Cole’s arm with my right hand as well, and I hold on for dear life.
I hate letting go of him when we reach the table. I sit down, torn between my need to run back to the light and my want for Cole. He straddles the bench I’m sitting on so he can face me. At first he only sits close to me, one leg going behind me and his other leg touching my knee, with his arm resting on the table behind me. It’s a consolation price knowing he’s this close to me.
“What are your plans now that we’ve graduated?” he asks. It might be my imagination but his voice sounds lower, more intimate.
“I’m not sure yet. Yours?” I’d rather divert the conversation back to him.
His knee nudges mine, sending sparks racing up my hips and beyond.
“We signed up.” He clears his throat.
Even though I can’t see his eyes clearly I still try to search them. I’m not sure I understand what he’s saying.
“We? For what? For army?” I pray I’m assuming wrong. Lyman will be a ghost town without him.