“Suit yourself.” He rubbed his hands together. “One competitor down, three more to go.”
“Okay, who wants to hide first?”
“Me!” Shelly’s hand shot up. “Do I have any boundaries?”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea. How about the beach on the south, the closest cabin on the west, the big rocks on the east, and where the trail turns to the north?” Everyone nodded. “How much time do you need?”
“That’s a lot of area to cover,” Shelly replied. “Give me like three minutes.” Chloe pulled out her phone and set the timer. Shelly gave Matt a hard stare. “You guys have to promise you’ll close your eyes.”
He scoffed. “Why are you looking at me? I’m offended.”
Chloe chuckled. “We promise not to let him cheat.”
The four seekers sat in a small circle facing each other. Chloe held her hands over Matt’s eyes, and the rest of us closed ours. I pushed start on the timer, and we heard Shelly skitter off, her featherlight frame barely making noise as she moved. When the three minutes were up, Matt yelled, “Ready or not, here we come!” Then he gave us all a somber look. “Don’t try to follow me. I’m turning on stealth mode.” With that, he disappeared.
“Dork.” Chloe laughed. “What does he think this is? Mission Impossible?”
“You never know. Matt’s cuckoo.” Even though Marissa was mocking him, she gave us the stink eye. “But don’t follow me, either.”
“We’ll all go different directions.” I assured her, and we split off.
I wandered around quietly, pushing flat against trees, or lying on my stomach when someone else was near. The moon was bright, but this area of the woods was thick, and it blocked a lot of the light—a perfect night for sardines. Matt wasn’t that nuts. I felt like a spy.
Ten minutes later, I was down on the west side of the perimeter when I heard whispers. As I crept closer, it was apparent that Matt and Marissa had beaten me to the hideout. “Shut up, Matt,” Marissa ordered quietly, but not quietly enough. “She’ll hear you.”
I walked toward the back of a nearby cabin and found Shelly, Matt, and Marissa huddled under the front porch. “Hey, guys.”
“Hurry, get down here!” Shelly beckoned me with her hands. Chloe’s close. She’s passed us twice already.”
I squatted next to them and whispered, “I don’t think I can fit under there.” The opening was big enough if it’d been just me, but with three other people, it wasn’t happening.
“I’m happy to give you my spot.” Marissa didn’t sound very pleased to be shoved in the back. “I think I felt a mouse brush my leg a second ago.”
Chloe rounded the corner of the building. “There you are!”
“You don’t have to keep your voice down,” Shelly informed her. “You’re the last one.”
“Darn it.” Her face scrunched up. “Does that mean I have to hide next?”
“Yep,” Shelly replied.
We followed the same protocol as before, only Marissa covered Matt’s eyes this time. I guess he really couldn’t be trusted. When the timer beeped, everyone split off, but I hung back for a second. If I were Chloe, where would I hide? I thought back to all the secret places she’d shown me, and the make-out bush seemed like a logical choice. So, I looked around to make sure nobody was following and cut across the woods.
My hunch was right. “How’d you find me so fast?” Chloe asked when I crawled through the opening. “Were you peeking?”
“No.” I knelt down next to her. There wasn’t a lot of room, and I didn’t know if we could fit more than the two of us. “It seemed like the best place to look. I mean, you’re so fond of spending time here.” She slapped me on the shoulder, and I chuckled inwardly. “If I hadn’t found you, I was going to check under the dock next. I know that’s your other favorite spot.” That earned me a punch to the arm. “Ouch!” I whisper-yelled. “That one hurt.”
There was a crack of a twig in the distance. Chloe reached up and put her hand over my mouth. Then she dropped it and pointed down to my feet, where my white sneakers were still visible to the outside. I retreated further into the small nook, but that practically put me on her lap. We held our breath as footsteps swished through the nearby foliage and stayed like that until the seeker was well out of earshot.
“That was close,” Chloe said quietly.
“Will you scoot back so I can get my long-ass legs in all the way?”
“Just tuck your knees up.”
“Tuck them where? I’ll hit myself in the face.”
Chloe snorted. “Trade me spots.” We inched past each other until I was in the back and she was closer to the opening. But she had long legs, too, so it was still problematic. I saw the outline of a frown on her lips. “Are you a bubble person?”
“A bubble person?”
“Yeah. Do you have a problem with people in your personal space?”
“Depends on the person.”
Her head dropped to the side. I could literally hear the eyeroll. “Me, dummy.” She didn’t wait for my okay before she scooted between my knees until our bodies were pressed together, my chest to her back.
“That works,” I replied, swallowing down the lump in my throat. She was definitely all up in my bubble. Not that I minded. It was actually pretty nice. I hadn’t sat this intimately with a girl since I left for college. Man, I was pathetic.
She wiggled for a second, trying to find the best position. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, but she took care of that for me by wrapping them around her waist. Then she rested her arms on top of mine.
“Much better,” she said. I tried not to think of how nicely we fit together. I usually felt like I was drowning girls because they were so tiny next to me. “You comfortable?”
“Yes,” I responded, pulling a few strawberry strands away from my face. “But your hair is getting in my mouth.”
She gathered it to one side, then laid her head back against my shoulder so it wasn’t hitting me in the chin. When she glanced up at me, our cheeks brushed. “Is that okay?”
“Uh-huh.” My voice cracked softly. “Are you comfortable?”
“Are you kidding me? You’re like a big, muscular teddy bear. Most guys are too small for me to sit like this. You’re just the right size. I could probably sleep right now.”
This was bad. So, so bad. But not bad-bad, bad-good. That made it even worse. Her hair smelled nice, her skin was soft, and her hand was resting against mine, which made me want to hold it. I was snuggled up with a fun, smart, beautiful girl. We were alone, in the moonlight… I finally understood what she meant about summer camp being romantic. Because now, all I could think about was kissing her.
“What do you want to do when you graduate?” Chloe asked me. We were playing a game she called truth or truth. I asked her what happened to the dare part, and she said the dare was to tell the truth.
There hadn’t been any more “bubble breaking” since last week’s sardines excursion, but we’d spent a lot more time hanging out. Sometimes it was with our family. Often Clint invited himself to join us. I hated that he was always trying to touch her, but at least she didn’t instigate it. My favorite time of the day was when Chloe and I chilled on the porch swing before bed, just the two of us. It’d become our nightly bedtime ritual.
We were currently on our sweep rotation, though we’d switched to the late shift this time because Clint had called an impromptu meeting for all the moms and dads right after dinner. It was dark, but since Chloe had forgotten her flashlight, we were walking arm in arm so she wouldn’t trip. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she forgot it on purpose.
“I don’t really know what I want to do,” I replied. “That’s why I majored in business. I figured it was general enough that I’d have lots of options.”
“Good call.”
“Why aren’t you going to college?” It was something I’d been curious about for a while, but thought it’d be rude to ask.
She grabbed my hand an
d shined my flashlight on her face so I could see her narrow her eyes. “Did my parents call and ask you to grill me?”
“No, but they said if I could get you to move out, they’d pay me a hundred dollars,” I teased.
Chloe laughed. “Ha! Tell them you want to renegotiate for a million. I’ll move out as long as you split the money with me.”
“Deal.”
She sighed. “I plan to go to college. Really, I do. But I’ve been putting it off because I don’t know whether I want to attend a traditional university or a dance academy. If I pursue dancing professionally, then I need to go to dance school. But if I graduate and I can’t get a job, then I’ll have a useless degree.”
“It won’t be useless,” I argued.
“Yes, it will. It’s not like I can get a job as an engineer with a bachelor of fine arts in ballet.”
“Is that something you’re interested in? Engineering?”
“No clue. I’m as lost on that as you are. I’ve wanted to be a dancer for so long that I hadn’t thought about other options until recently. The whole long-distance thing with Clint gave me some perspective. If I join a company and go on tour, it’d be almost impossible to have a serious relationship—unless I dated someone from work. Plus, being pregnant isn’t ideal for a dancer. Someday, I’d like to get married and have kids.”
“Does Clint know that?” I asked the question as if it were a joke, but secretly I was hoping it would give me some insight to their relationship. It was still hard to tell what was going on. Most of the time it seemed one-sided, but she never actually shut him down.
“Uh-uh. That’s like your third question in a row. It’s my turn.”
Well, that wasn’t helpful.
“Do you like going to Dunhurst?”
I nodded. “I really do. It’s a small school, so the student-to-teacher ratio is good. All my professors know who I am. There are lots of on-campus activities, it’s close to home. The dorms are pretty nice—though Evan and I are getting our own place next year. And the cafeteria food is surprisingly awesome. Benji must be a cook there in the off season.”
“I’m sold! Sign me up.”
“That was easy. Maybe I should minor in sales and marketing.” I laughed. “Have you thought about applying there?”
She got quiet for a moment. “Actually, I did. And I’ve already been accepted for the fall.”
Something buzzed inside me, like a small jolt of electricity humming through my veins. “Cool,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. I liked the idea of her being there. But I thought if I expressed that, I might sound desperate.
“Please don’t tell Abby,” Chloe rushed on. “She’s been begging me to come be her roommate forever. But I also got accepted to La Étoile School of Dance. I don’t want to break her heart if I don’t choose Dunhurst. And I don’t want my parents to know I applied at La Étoile yet. It’s in France.”
No! Forget Abby. Abby would always be her sister. Chloe would break my heart if she went clear to Europe. I raised my hand high in the air. “I vote Dunhurst. Abby will be miserable if you move that far away. And if Abby’s miserable, Evan will be unbearable, which means I’ll have to find a new place to live.”
She snorted softly. “Oh, well then, I definitely can’t go to Europe.”
“Definitely not.” We both chuckled, but the sound died out, leaving a silence. It wasn’t so much awkward as it was filled with uncertainty. I wanted to say more, but I didn’t know if she wanted me to say more.
“Is that the only reason I should pick Dunhurst? So you don’t have to find different housing accommodations?”
I want you to come there because I might have a teeny-tiny crush on you. That’s what I should have said. But instead, I cracked a joke. “No. You should also come to Dunhurst so I won’t be outnumbered when we’re picking where to eat. Evan never cares, which means he always sides with Abby. And that means I always lose.”
I don’t know what kind of answer she was looking for, but my comment made her laugh, and the uncomfortable tension melted away. “That’s two really solid reasons. I’ll be sure to consider them when making my choice.”
I elbowed her side. “I think they should be weighted pretty heavily.” She scoffed as if she were about to make some smart aleck comment, then stopped suddenly, pushed up to her toes, and whispered in my ear, “Did you hear that?”
I shook my head. We were on our third loop past the make-out bush. We’d checked it the last time, but that was almost half an hour ago. The stars were bright enough that I could see her eyes grow wide, and a giddy grin spread across her face. The amorous current running through my body turned to adrenaline. I was about to make my first bust!
We didn’t bother sneaking up. There was no place for the offenders to hide and no way to run without being seen. “Did you hear something over there?” Chloe said loudly.
“Over where? By that bush?”
Both of us were being extra dramatic for effect. “Yeah. I could have sworn I heard something.”
“Should we check it out?” We walked closer and paused. I could hear heavy breaths. But it wasn’t the breathing of two teenagers sucking face. It was the breathing of a couple kids who were scared out of their gourd. I knew what I was about to do was mean, but they were the ones breaking the rules. Maybe if we frightened them enough now, we wouldn’t catch them back out here again.
“I thought it might be kids,” I called, “but that sounds more like raccoons. I hate racoons. Grab that giant stick over there.”
Chloe didn’t miss a beat. “You mean this stick?” She pretended to stomp through the brush. “It’s huge. Be careful. You might hurt one of the poor little things.”
“Duh. That’s the point. I’m swinging on three. Ready? One…two…th—”
“Stop!” A female voice screamed. Two bodies scrambled from behind the bush. “Please don’t hit us.”
I didn’t recognize the girl, but the boy was Derek, one of the freshmen from the cabin I supervised. “Garland!” He squeaked when he saw it was me. “This isn’t what it looks like. We were just…I mean, we weren’t doing anything. I swear.”
“I’m sure you weren’t. Most people who come here only want quality talking time.” I was oozing sarcasm. When I used air quotes around the word talking, the girl covered her face with her hands and shook her head in shame.
“Alyssa, you know better,” Chloe rebuked her gently. She was being a lot nicer than I was. Derek was the guy, though, and call me old-fashioned, but I felt like he carried the greater responsibility with their indiscretion. “Go back to your cabins, right now.”
“Your own cabins,” I emphasized.
“Yes, sir,” Derek said, and started to leave.
He got about twenty-five feet away when I yelled at him. “Derek.” He turned around. “Are you really going to get this young lady in trouble, then make her walk back alone? In the dark?”
“No, sir.” He waited for Alyssa.
She came closer to Chloe and pleaded softly, “Please don’t tell anyone.” I thought she was worried about Vivian finding out, but her reasoning almost made me laugh out loud. “I’ll never live it down if my friends find out who I was with.”
Chloe smiled with sincere compassion. “Your secret’s safe with me, as long as nobody catches you out here again.” Alyssa let out a sigh of relief, then ran to catch up with Derek.
“That was strange. Why wouldn’t she want her friends to know? Don’t chicks always talk about that kind of stuff? I’m no fourteen-year-old girl, but I think Derek’s a decent-looking kid. He actually seems pretty popular among the ladies.”
She laughed. “He’s very cute. And a lot of girls do like him. That’s not the problem.” I waited for her to elaborate. I must have looked really confused, because she laughed even harder. “Derek’s a freshman. Alyssa’s a senior. It would totally ruin her street cred.”
“Ah…she’s embarrassed about robbing the cradle. Girls are dumb like that.”
Chloe hooked her arm through mine and led us back to the trail to finish our rounds. “Not all girls care. I’m a year older than you, and we spent twenty minutes together in the kissing bush last week.”
“Yes,” I rebutted. “But there was no kissing.”
“That’s not my fault.” It sounded flippant. Mostly.
Not her fault. Not her fault…meaning it was my fault that we didn’t kiss? Was I supposed to kiss her? Did I even want to kiss her? That was a stupid question. Of course I wanted to kiss her. She’s funny and smart and has a great personality. And she’s freaking hot—let’s not forget that part. But just because I wanted to kiss her didn’t mean I should. And just because she pointed out that I hadn’t kissed her, didn’t mean that she wanted me to. Holy crap. Is this what it felt like to be inside a girl’s head? I was on the verge of stroking out.
I needed to stop thinking and rethinking, then overthinking every little thing where Chloe was concerned. Yes, she was a flirt. But in all fairness, she was kind of like that with everyone. Normally I wouldn’t be too chicken to come out and ask her, but this was Abby’s sister. If I made a fool of myself, things might be weird when school started back up. Especially if Chloe came to Dunhurst. I already drove the awkward road with Abby, and it took a while to get down it. Going right back to the start with her sister would be torture.
I hadn’t admitted it to myself until now, but I liked Chloe. A lot. Enough to date her exclusively if we were in a situation where dating was a possibility. It wasn’t, though, not here, not for real. I wasn’t a summer hookup kind of guy. And if she went to France, anything that happened between us would be pointless. Stupid Chloe and her stupid kissing comment. It was best to forget that she’d ever said it.
“Did you hear me? Hello? Earth to Garland.” Chloe was snapping her fingers in front of my face.
I shook my head. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I said I’m splitting off here. I want to check that Alyssa went straight back to her cabin. Are you okay to finish the sweep without me?”
“Yeah. No problem.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you in a little bit.” She cut across the quad, and I went to kick everyone out of the rec room. When the kids were all out and the lights were off, I shut the door and headed home.
The Danger With Fireworks (Holiday Romance Book 3) Page 5