Samara: A Kilenya Romance

by Andrea Pearson

  “Oh, but that would just get us both in trouble,” I said, laughing.

  “Duh . . . That’s the point.”

  “Okay, you win.”

  He grinned happily and leaned against me on the couch.

  I glanced up and found Matt’s eyes on me—but only briefly. He responded to something Molly had said, and she laughed. He turned to her again.

  ***

  The birds outside my window woke me up, and I pulled the blankets off and swung my feet to the floor. Brrr! I tucked my feet underneath me, then when they were warm, reached over and grabbed the fuzzy socks I’d put on the nightstand the evening before.

  Socks on and book in hand, I padded out of my room and down the hall, then climbed the ladder to the loft where comfy couches waited. I settled in, finding my spot in the book.

  I’d only been reading for maybe half an hour when Molly interrupted me, making me jump.

  “You are so predictable,” she said. “If you’re not in your room playing the guitar, you’re somewhere else reading. How can you stand to spend so much time with your nose in a book?”

  “For someone with such good grades—not to mention the fact that you graduated from high school early—you sure don’t have a whole lot of intelligence when it comes to reading.”

  She laughed, sitting next to me. “Yeah, we all know reading is only for people who have nothing better to do, such as find hot boyfriends. You have to admit Matt is dang good looking.”

  I went back to reading, pretending not to have heard her.

  “So, what do you think?”

  Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the couch, waiting a moment before answering. “About?” Of course I knew what. I wasn’t that dense. I just didn’t want to make it obvious.

  “Matt, silly.”

  “He . . . he seems cool.”

  “Cool? Girl, he’s captain of the football team!”

  “As you keep saying.”

  “Plus, he’s way hot. You have to have noticed.”

  I shrugged then nodded, pulling the book back up. She’d figure out sooner or later I thought Matt was attractive.

  “I knew you’d think so!” She bounced in the couch next to me, then fell silent for a moment, obviously contemplating something. Finally, she bent closer, lowering her voice. “Listen. We’re going hiking soon, then after that, swimming at the pool.”

  I nodded—I’d heard already from Grayden.

  “Do you remember last year when we went? How there was that totally hot lifeguard?”

  “Yeah . . .” Where was she going with this? I groaned inwardly. I could guess.

  “Do you think you could get his number? I mean, for you, of course, but also for me? I want to make sure I have a backup plan in case things don’t work out between Matt and me.”

  I put my book down and stared at her. “Molly, how can you say that? How can you act like this? He’s a great guy. Don’t do this—don’t cheat on him.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to. Of course not—he’s different from the others. I haven’t even been tempted to look at anyone else.”

  “You’ve only been dating for a week. And asking me to get the lifeguard’s number is looking at someone else.” I sighed. “Molly, you’ll never, ever figure things out if you don’t settle down and stop being a player!”

  She laughed again. “And you’ll figure things out soon enough, Sam. You gotta run around a bit! Make sure you’ve gotten to know all the guys. Just so you know you’re making the right choice, you know?”

  I buried my face in my book, and she laughed more.

  “Besides, I was a different person before we started dating. Now I’m a week older—and I really do know a lot more about relationships and how things work. You don’t need to worry.”

  I rolled my eyes. We would see how things were looking in a month. If they were still dating. “Okay, go away. I want to finish reading.”

  “You and your Jane Austen books.”

  “Jane Austen re-writes.”

  “Whatever.” She got up and left, smiling at me as she climbed down the ladder.

  ***

  I made sure there were enough sandwiches and drinks in my backpack for myself and Grayden. Mom had decided Cale wasn’t old enough to go on the hike—thank goodness—and it would only be me, Grayden, Matt, Molly, and a few cousins.

  We set out, Grayden and me in the middle, a bunch of people behind us, and Molly and Matt in the front. Watching those two hike together was like watching a horror show. You’re too disgusted to want to watch more, but you can’t seem to look away. He was an awful tease—kept pretending to knock Molly over, and she’d get all dramatic and act like she was hurt. Then he’d make it up to her by kissing her arms and face.

  I was still fascinated with him—I hadn’t been successful in getting over the crush yet, and had to soon. Molly would literally have a conniption fit if she found me ogling her boyfriend.

  But they were being so . . . so touchy! Even Grayden got annoyed, and he was usually easy going.

  Keep my eyes on the trail—I had to tell myself this over and over again. Watch where you’re going, or you’ll end up face down in the dirt.

  I never listen to myself.

  Matt grabbed Molly, flinging his arms around her, half-picking her up, and landed a big one on her lips. She giggled around it for a moment, then finally melted in his arms.

  And I tripped over a root.

  Neither of them noticed, but Grayden did.

  “Why do you keep staring at them?” he asked after he’d pulled me to my feet. For a ten-year-old kid, he sure noticed a lot of things.

  “I’m not. Be quiet.”

  “Yes you were—that’s why you tripped.”

  “Okay, fine. So I was looking at them. Big deal—they’re ahead of us. It’s bound to happen.”

  “But not all—”

  I shushed him as our cousins caught up, asking if I was okay. I told them I was, and let them go ahead, wanting as much distance between myself and the couple as possible.

  How on earth was I going to shake this? It wasn’t getting any easier. And then there was the inevitable train wreck at the end of their relationship that would be bad for all involved. Molly didn’t know how to be in a successful relationship. The longest she’d ever dated anyone was four weeks—four weeks! She’d been so proud of herself. Of course, it didn’t seem to bother the guy that she flirted with all his friends.

  I sighed. Even if Molly did break Matt’s heart, I would probably still be more loyal to her than to him. I had to be—she was my only sister, and I really did love her.

  ***

  At the pool, not much happened. Okay, that’s a lie. Tons of stuff happened. I still can’t believe how badly Molly acted.

  Back at the cabins, after the hike and before we went swimming, Molly showed me her new bikini.

  “There’s barely anything there at all.”

  “I know! Isn’t it great?”

  “No, Molly, it isn’t.”

  Matt was waiting for us at the pool and handed us our passes when we got near. I nearly tripped when I saw him, standing there without his shirt on. His abs were absolutely perfect and well defined. So were his pecks and deltoids, and it was obvious he didn’t ignore his legs—his calves, even, were amazing. I might’ve drooled if Molly hadn’t beat me to it.

  “Wow! Baby! You look amazing!”

  “Oh, these old muscles?” He looked at them as if he’d had them for years, then laughed. “Yeah, they’re pretty cool. I worked hard to get them like this!”

  I rolled my eyes, and Molly jumped into his arms, planting kisses all over his face. I pretended not to notice, waiting for them to get over their excitement at seeing each other. It had only been half an hour since the hike, for crying out loud. I sighed in exasperation.

  Finally, I was able to get to the coolness of the water. I hoped it would clear my thoughts of Matt. I jumped in like a cannonball and splashed Grayden and Cale who shrieked at me li
ke I’d been about to murder them. Thus began the water fight. Which I won, of course.

  Anyway, back to Molly’s behavior. The hot lifeguard didn’t work there anymore, but apparently, somewhere in the universe there’s a rule that lifeguards have to be attractive, and Molly quickly zoned in on one.

  “I’m going off the high dive,” Matt said. “What should I do?”

  Grayden’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I know, I know! Do the can opener!”

  I smiled at my little brother’s enthusiasm.

  Matt nodded enthusiastically. “It’ll be the best can opener you’ll ever see!”

  Matt and Molly both got out of the water, but instead of walking with her boyfriend to the dive, Molly sauntered around the pool. I rolled my eyes. I could see the smug expression on her face whenever a guy noticed her, and at least one girl smacked a guy next to her for staring at Molly. I should’ve known the swimming suit wasn’t really for Matt, but for everyone else.

  Grayden pointed when it was Matt’s turn on the high dive. He flexed his muscles, making a few different body-builder poses, then finally, when it appeared everyone was watching, jumped off, executing a perfect can opener. Grayden cheered. I rolled my eyes again. That guy was a serious showoff.

  Molly finally got back in the water while Matt was swimming over, but she insisted we move our group closer to the side of the pool. I shook my head when I realized why—we’d gotten as close as possible to the hot lifeguard, who probably hadn’t taken his eyes off of her since we’d arrived.

  Matt reached us, grinning like he was the best thing any of us had ever seen, and Grayden told him how cool he’d been. I think the guy’s head actually got bigger.

  “What should I do next?”

  “A cannonball!”

  “Okay, but I’m not gonna do it on the high dive. I’ve done that before, and it hurts!”

  Grayden laughed, and Matt got out of the water again, walking to get in line to go off the dive. He made Grayden laugh with his attention-getting antics while waiting. I couldn’t help but smile, too. I envied how comfortable he was with himself. I mean, it wasn’t like I struggled with my self-appearance or anything, but this guy’s confidence was seriously impressive.

  Eeek! Stop thinking about him like that, Samara! I pretended to rub water out of my eyes just so I would have an excuse not to look at him.

  “Hey, you,” the lifeguard said to Molly.

  She pretended not to hear.

  “Hot girl in the bikini.”

  She looked up at him coyly, a slight smile on her face. “Can I help you?”

  I turned away in disgust as the two of them flirted. A lot. And what made it worse was the fact that the rest of the time we were there, whenever Matt came back, Molly was all over him again, ignoring the lifeguard. I couldn’t believe it. Matt most definitely was the best guy in the pool—personality, looks, all of it, and Molly didn’t even care. She had to have every guy. She walked around the pool a couple more times, trying to get as much air time with her new bikini, and later I’m positive I saw the lifeguard get her number.

  I felt so bad for Matt. Good thing he didn’t notice—at least I didn’t think so.

  ***

  When we got back from swimming, I escaped to the peace of my room to practice my guitar. It was really hard work not to think about what Molly was most likely going to do to Matt. I wanted to help him see what she really was like—so he wouldn’t be hurt when he found out for himself. But how? “So, uh, my sister, Molly—you know, the one you’re dating—she’s probably going to end up cheating on you. Just so you know. She does it all the time.”

  I pushed those thoughts away. It wasn’t any of my business, was it? My emotions were too jumbled for me to sense my real intentions. And telling him most certainly would make home life incredibly difficult when she found out.

  After only twenty minutes of strumming, though, my thoughts wouldn’t leave me alone. I had to do something. I put the guitar away and went to find Matt.

  The kitchen was crowded—Mom had a contingent of people helping her prepare dinner—and I nearly left when I didn’t see them at first. But then, there they were, sitting on the window seat in the corner of the breakfast nook.

  I froze when I saw them, my mouth popped open. Molly was helping Matt learn to fold origami. A look of utter and complete love and adoration was on his face, and what surprised me more—it was on hers as well. He folded something wrong, and she giggled, then took it from him and showed him how to do it right. He put his hand over hers, staring deeply into her eyes, and she blushed slightly, looking down at the paper, then up at him again.

  He said something, a twinkle appeared in her eye, and she pulled out another sheet of paper, then planted a kiss on his lips. He laughed, putting his arms around her and holding her tightly.

  I backed up, feeling like I was stealing in on a moment of privacy—I shouldn’t have been there. I couldn’t believe it! Did my sister really love him? Was this relationship going to be the turning point for her?

  I fled to my room, trying to calm myself down. Man, I must’ve really liked him if seeing something like that really, truly bothered me. I still wasn’t over him.

  ***

  “Can he see us?” Molly asked. “It looks like he can.”

  I waved at her to be quiet, unwilling to lose yet again.

  We’d been playing night games in the trees around the cabin for the past hour. Hide and seek was the current game, and Matt had won the last three rounds.

  We froze as he took a silent step closer, peering through the underbrush, spots of moonlight flickering across him. He was so close I could almost reach out and touch him. Suddenly he jumped to the side and there was brief scuffling, then Grayden called out in disappointment.

  Molly and I looked at each other, surprised. I hadn’t even known Grayden was there, he’d been so quiet.

  Matt shushed him. “Help me find your sisters,” he whispered. “They’ve got to be close.”

  Molly squeaked, and I glared at her. Why had we chosen to hide together? I should’ve known it wouldn’t work out. Molly wanted Matt to find her.

  But either Matt was pretending he couldn’t hear us, or he really hadn’t. I seriously doubted his hearing was that bad.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Matt whispered to Grayden. “You go that way,” he pointed, “and I’ll go this way. If you see them, or even think you’ve seen them, motion to me by whistling.”

  I smiled at how Matt was going out of his way to make Grayden feel important.

  “I can’t whistle,” Grayden said.

  “No? Okay, let me think of something else, then.” Matt stood silent for a moment. My legs were complaining to me. I hadn’t moved them in five minutes. “How about you call to me like a pigeon?”

  “How do I do that?

  “Like this. Coo, coo.”

  Grayden laughed. “You sound like an owl.”

  “No way! Do I? I’ve always wanted to sound like one.”

  Grayden laughed again.

  “Okay. Can you do that?”

  Grayden nodded emphatically.

  “Great! And I’ll teach you to whistle when we’re done.”

  “Yay!”

  Matt put his finger to his lips and motioned for Grayden to start searching in his assigned area.

  Grayden went to the left of us—the side I was on—and Matt to the right.

  Molly looked at me, an evil glint in her eyes. “Let’s jump up and scare them,” she mouthed.

  I nodded—that would be fun. We readied ourselves, waiting as the boys got closer. Then, when they were only a couple feet away, we sprung out of the bushes, screaming at them.

  Matt lunged for Molly, grabbed her, and flung her over his shoulder, yelling and laughing.

  Grayden tried to do the same, but as he jumped for me, his foot landed wrong, and he fell backward, using his arm to stop himself. He cried out in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” Matt called, putting M
olly down.

  “He fell,” I said, pushing myself through the bushes to get to my brother.

  Grayden was inspecting his arm when I reached his side. “My arm is bleeding!”

  “Not good,” Matt said. “I’m coming.”

  He thundered through the bushes as if they were no problem, then fell to his knees near us.

  “Is he okay?” Molly said from where Matt had left her.

  Matt peered at Grayden’s arm. “It’s bleeding a lot.”

  “Let’s take him inside where we can see better,” I said.

  Matt nodded, picked Grayden up, then started running toward the cabin with Molly and me trailing.

  “Game’s over,” I yelled to the cousins still hiding. “Grayden got hurt.”

  We surprised my mom and aunt by bursting into the kitchen. Matt laid Grayden on the counter, and Mom jumped up to see what was going on.

  “Grayden! What happened!”

  “I’m fine, Mom. I fell.”

  I smiled at my brother’s attempt at bravery. Mom shrieked when she saw her son’s arm.

  Matt turned to her. “I’m going to need some things to clean him up.”

  She nodded, and ran around, getting the stuff as Matt listed them.

  “Hydrogen peroxide, lots of clean towels, hot water, soap, butterfly bandages, and super glue.”

  Mom produced the hot water and towels. Everything else was in a first aid kit kept near the kitchen door.

  Molly and I looked at each other, worried.

  “How bad is it?” I asked.

  Matt shook his head. He’d started cleaning Grayden’s arm and was concentrating. Blood was pooling on the counter under my brother, and his arm looked like a mess of nature and torn skin. Mom was crying on the phone to Dad, asking him to hurry home, and Molly made a sound like she was going to throw up. She fled the room.

  “I’ll help,” I said. “I’m first aid certified.” Matt would need assistance. Assuming he knew what he was doing, anyway, and he’d better—the nearest hospital was an hour and a half away, at least. Grayden was bleeding too bad to wait that long.