I twisted my body away so he couldn't see my face and I reached for the cloth. I was about to lay it out on the ground in front of the headlights, but he stopped me by quietly taking the blanket from my hands. Without a word, he went out in front of the car a few feet and flipped the tablecloth up in the air. For a moment, the cloth fluttered in the cool night and wavered above him. As it began to float down, Luke stepped back and held the blanket wide. It landed perfectly, settling over gravel and dirt with such grace and style my breath caught in my chest. Luke's back was to me as he bent down to straighten a slightly wrinkled corner. His shoulders were wide and well formed. And I saw his midnight hair glistening in the headlights.
He stood slowly and I noticed his grace of movement. He was so beautiful. As a chilly gust of wind came up and stirred 144
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his hair and clothing, artistically ruffling his perfection, it seemed like he was meant to look exactly as he was. When he turned, I swallowed and held up a watermelon piece. He stared at it a moment before reaching out slowly and taking it from my fingers. My stomach curled as he lifted it to his mouth and took it between his teeth.
"Mmm," he said. "At least it still tastes sweet this time of year."
I tried my own sample bite, and while I chewed Luke led me to the tablecloth and we sat down. It was cold enough to make my teeth rattle, but they didn't because the temperature didn't bother me. In fact, a strange warmth had ignited in my stomach and was steadily working its way up my arms and down my legs. And the closer Luke settled himself next to me, the hotter it burned.
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145
The Stillburrow Crush
by Linda Kage
Chapter Eleven
We taste-tested the wine first. Luke held the bottle by the neck as he drank and I watched his throat work when he swallowed. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His blue eyes were bright as they met mine. Then he moved his hand from his face and sighed. After he handed the drink to me, he never took it back. I hadn't had more than one glass before. And when I told Luke this, he said I wouldn't get as sick if I drank slowly.
It was so nice being there with him. I forgot I'd been nervous, and I teased him about the way he sucked the juice out of his watermelon before eating it.
After we polished off the rest of our snack—which he just had to note was all "health" food—we delved into the fireworks. I realized I hadn't brought any form of fire. But Luke came up with the idea of using his car's cigarette lighter to light the bamboo punk I discovered mixed in with the fireworks.
We set off the jumping jacks first. They made little sparks of light and sounded like crackling pops in the night. Then we worked our way through the sparklers. I tried to spell my name but Luke started to use his as a sword and we ended up having a jousting match instead—a short one because the sparklers stayed lit for only so long.
Next we set off bottle rockets. We'd toss them in the air right before they took off. Luke had better aim than I did because mine would dive right into the grass before popping. 146
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His always managed to fly up and explode into a short volley of crackles, briefly lighting the night.
We collapsed on the tablecloth when every last firework had been set off. I was surprised there'd only been a few duds in the old pack. Almost everything had exploded with a satisfying report.
I sat huddled in my coat, shivering, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.
From his corner of the blanket, Luke glanced up. "Cold?" I sent him a get-real look. "Nope. I'm nice and toasty." He sighed. "You really can't control that smart mouth, can you?"
"Would you rather I had a stupid mouth?" I watched him as I tilted the bottle up and took a long drink. When I was done, I started to shiver again.
"Come here," Luke said.
I scooted away and gave him an uneasy look. He rolled his eyes. "Are you telling me you can invite me out here to the middle of nowhere all alone in the dark of the night, but you're too chicken to sit next to me and share a little body heat?"
I stared at the headlights of his car, wondering how much longer they could stay on before the battery went dead. I trembled again and used my numbed fingers to wipe the hair out of my eyes. "It's not the middle of nowhere," I said.
"We're not that far from town."
Luke took two handfuls of my coat and yanked me across the blanket toward him. His voice nearly growled as he said,
"Get over here before you freeze to death." 147
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"What a polite invitation," I said, trying not to fall into him as he threw off my balance.
But he ignored my sarcasm. "Geez," he said, rubbing my coat between his fingers. "This thing's paper thin."
"That's because I can't afford something decent," I said sarcastically, a little put off that he'd made fun of my favorite jacket.
"Well, being the rich guy I am, I can," Luke shot back and pulled open his coat to wrap it around us both. He propped my back against his chest and cradled me in a warm embrace. Then pulling the edge of the tablecloth over our laps, he cuddled in close. I held in a dreamy sigh and looked up at the stars while resting my head back against him. The breeze froze my toes and the ground was hard under me but I was toasty everywhere else.
Luke tried to give me another drink of the wine, but some spilled out and leaked down my chin. He wiped the juice away with his thumb. His warm breath was at my ear and his lips were close to my jaw when he murmured, "Thank you for tonight."
I felt his hand in my hair then, working the clasp from my ponytail. "Be careful," I said, closing my eyes. "If you get too close, you might slip and fall for me." I'm not sure why I said it. I was trying to joke, but it wasn't so funny. Luke pulled my hair the rest of the way free. Fingers skimmed over my cheek and then against my scalp. It felt like I was sitting with my back to a campfire, he was so warm.
"Maybe I already have," he said. 148
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My mouth fell open. I jerked away and twisted my body around to face him. "No, you haven't." I made it sound more like a demand than a denial.
Luke sat up and the red-and-white-checkered patterns slid off his knee. He demanded right back, "Why can't I?" I dug a finger into my chest. "Because I'm the one with the crush on you. You can't get one on me!" Luke paused. "I thought you said you didn't have one for me anymore." He said it carefully, as if he wanted me to understand each syllable.
"Well, I lied."
"Well, good." His voice rose to match mine. "We like each other. So let's go steady."
"No," I said, my body instantly tightening. Luke wanted to be my boyfriend. I couldn't believe it. He actually wanted to be with me. I frowned. Had I just told him no?
In the gleam of his Mustang headlights, I watched his teeth clench. "Hey, you started this," he accused. "I was ready to leave you alone, but you called me. You asked me out here."
I glanced away. "I just wanted a Fourth of July poem," I said. I wanted to remind him I wasn't good enough for him, so he should quit teasing me like this.
"You're still lying, aren't you?" he said. When I spun to glare at him, he shook his head sadly. "I don't know what you're scared of, Carrie. Maybe it's the same thing I am. This isn't easy for me, either. I've never—" He broke off suddenly to run his hands through his hair. 149