Summer Heat

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Jackson’s smile didn’t fall. Instead, he just nodded as if he was accepting some invisible challenge and winked.

  While I dumped my trash and walked on wobbly legs out of the mess hall and stared out at the lake.

  Dirty Dancing.

  I’d seen the movie.

  I’d been in the musical once.

  I hadn’t played the role of Baby.

  I’d been cast as her sister.

  Didn’t matter though, I knew the choreography, and from what I didn’t know, I could learn every night before I taught the sessions to the campers. It wouldn’t be too bad.

  As long as I could reserve one of the studios.

  “What do you think?” Marlo’s deep voice washed over me.

  I didn’t turn around, just stared straight ahead. “I have a lot of work to do, that’s what I think.”

  “You’ll be fine.” He said it so casually I turned and looked at him with disbelief. “What?”

  “Was that a semi-compliment?”

  He pulled the rim down on his hat and smirked. “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “How very non-committal of you,” I mused.

  “That’s me, the very face of vague conversation.” He shrugged. “Let me know if you need any extra help.” He turned and walked off.

  I narrowed my eyes after his disappearing body. “Wait, why would I come to you in the first place?”

  “Because,” he called over his shoulder. “Senior year of college I was the lead…” He turned and started walking backward. I prayed for a root to jump to attention so I’d have a reason to focus on the nerd I used to know not the sexy man smirking back at me. “Off Broadway.”

  Son of a…

  “Great.” It was a faint great. An oh shit great. An I’m totally going to mess this up great.

  He had more experience than me.

  He’d been the darling of the theatre.

  And now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.

  In what world would I ever be better than him?

  In what world did I even stand the chance of getting an agent with someone like that standing in my way?

  One thing was certain. I should have never danced with him in the first place, because now it felt personal.

  Now it felt like a story of us.

  When it was just him yet again trying to prove me wrong, like I wasn’t good enough, like I didn’t belong.

  “We’ll see, Marlo,” I said to myself. “Watch me.”

  IT WASN’T A proud moment.

  Standing by the window, watching her excitement, feeling it wash over me while it washed over all the campers in that room. Had she always been so animated? I turned away. It wasn’t my place to keep checking up on her. Plus, I had another class I needed to teach.

  I was just walking away as class was ending.

  Campers shuffled out in fits of laughter.

  I waited and listened in.

  “This is gonna be interesting. Our choreographer isn’t even familiar with the lead roles, except for Baby crawling on the damn floor.”

  “Classic,” another camper said. “And our chances at Hollywood go up in flames!”

  “Hey guys, she said to trust her. She’s our choreographer for this, we trust her,” a nice girl added to the noise.

  They all passed me by wide-eyed, like they’d just noticed I was standing there. One of them stopped and crossed his arms. “Sorry, but it’s all true.” It was a tall lean guy who looked like he needed multiple cookies and maybe an orgasm for good measure. “She’s not the most experienced teacher here. You are.”

  Shit.

  It had never been my intention.

  Yes, I typically taught this class, but since she had some experience it freed me up to do other things that, being Director for the first time, weighed on me. Like making sure nobody got drunk or drowned in the lake, that sort of thing.

  “Guys, trust the process, all right?” I shrugged. “We have the best staff in the world, that’s why you’re here, right?”

  Nobody said anything.

  Finally, tall guy sighed. “I still wish you were choreographing.”

  Such shitty timing that she would round the corner and hear our conversation. Her face paled as she forced a smile at me and then walked off.

  Fuck my life.

  Two steps forward, one step back.

  Then again, the steps forward, were they even genuine? Or based on this insane need to fuck her and make her feel like shit? I wasn’t even sure anymore.

  All I knew was that her birthday had given me a different view.

  A different perspective

  Like maybe the monster in the tower was a princess all along.

  “SP,” I yelled. “Hold up.”

  I jogged past the campers and stood in front of her. “They’re just kids, they whine, it’s what they do.”

  “Right.” She sneered.

  “What the hell is your problem?” I threw my hands in the air and then grabbed her elbow and pulled her behind the nearest cabin so we had some privacy. Her chest rose and fell while her beanie did a good job of covering part of her face and forcing her pretty hair to drape by her pink cheeks and full lips, damn it those lips.

  “My problem?”

  What was I saying about those lips again? Those violent tumultuous lips with promises of pain and pleasure all in one? Perfect. That’s what I was saying. What I was thinking.

  “My problem, Marlo, is that you’re undermining me at every freaking step! You put me in this position to fail, admit it!”

  I shook my head. “Believe what you want.”

  “Why can’t you just say it out loud? Ray I screwed you so I could prove a point. I’m better. I’ll always be better!”

  I took a step, plastering her body against the wood of the cabin. “Oh if I screwed you, you’d know, Ray. Then again… you always were good at denying the truth, right?”

  She shoved at my chest. “How dare you!”

  “How dare I?” I laughed. “Really? How dare I? Tell the truth?”

  “You wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped you in the ass.”

  It was one of my pressure points, the places a person could press that would cause me to snap. I hated liars. I’d grown up watching all the pretty people around me lie, believe in the lie. I was insulted to my core and hurt. Part of me was hurt that she would believe the worst in someone like me — a guy who, when he was at his most vulnerable and naked moment, had told her how he hated liars.

  “Says the sad drunk girl who sleeps with guys and forgets about them the next day,” I spat.

  Tears filled her eyes. “Take it back.”

  “You first.” I gritted my teeth.

  “Unbelievable. You’re even a bigger dick than before, and that’s saying something… and here I thought…” She shook her head. “I’m not quitting.”

  “Then don’t fail,” I said to her back as she stomped off.

  And part of me, the part that loved her fire, smiled and craved the challenge that she would bring.

  The fire that she hid beneath that pretty exterior.

  The fire just begging to be freed from its pretty prison.

  And maybe, that was the problem.

  She’d lived her life in a prison of her parents’ making.

  And only knew how to survive — by taking that prison with her.

  I WENT TO the stupid campfire that night because I knew if I didn’t go, Marlo would start a witch hunt, and I could kiss my chances goodbye. It’s like the guy knew every hot button I had and vice versa. I clenched my fists and made my way to an empty log to pout and was intercepted, of course, by Jackson, who had two drinks in hand.

  “What?” I said in a bored voice.

  “Word on the street is that you need this… maybe more than one cup, but we’ll start you off slow because I’m such a gentleman.” He grinned.

  I took the cup and shook my head slowly. “It’s weird that you actually believe the crap that comes from your mout
h.”

  “Speak it so you believe it, sweetheart.”

  I made a face.

  “What? Am I not boring enough for you like our friend Marlo?” He nodded his head to Marlo, who was sitting on a log talking to Jen and helping her roast a marshmallow. She was all smiles, and he seemed the most relaxed I’d seen him… ever.

  Probably because he knew I would be gone soon and all his childhood rage wouldn’t be for naught.

  I grabbed a nearby stick, shoved a marshmallow on and put it directly in the fire and sat.

  “You look like you wished the marshmallow was Marlo’s head.” Jackson chuckled, grabbing one of the nearby sticks and doing the same thing. “Can’t say I blame you.”

  “He’s setting me up,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “Hmm…” Jackson rolled his stick near the bottom of the fire, not in the flames where mine was currently burning hotter and hotter. “What makes you think that? Is it the sexual tension? The hate? Are you confused on why they feel the same? Or is it the fact that he keeps staring at you?”

  “What?” I pulled my stick out of the fire and blew on the marshmallow. “He put me in choreography. I got a C in choreography.”

  “I know.” Jackson grinned. “I helped Jen build the classes, and that was the one that he normally teaches, since they kept getting fired, but since he’s Director this year.” Jackson shrugged. “You were the next logical choice, plus your professors all said what you didn’t know, you’d bust ass learning, though they left out the word ass. Added that in because I can’t find it in myself to use the word ‘rear’ that dear old Professor Locke used.”

  I stared at him slack jawed. “You did this to me?”

  “Hey!” He grabbed my stick. “Let’s remove all weapons first,” With a flick of his fingers the marshmallow was off and on the graham cracker with chocolate and pressed together in a sandwich. “Here, this will make it better.”

  I took the gooey sandwich and glared. “Speak.”

  “I wouldn’t be all commanding and shit, just gets me hard.” He ran a hand over his buzzed head.

  “Gross!” I almost threw my s’more at his face and kicked some dirt for good measure.

  “What?” He fell over laughing his green eyes sparkling with mischief. “I’m all about the honesty. I like a bossy woman, so just be polite and we can still be friends with benefits.”

  “We aren’t—”

  “Just making sure you’re paying attention. Yes, I put you in that class, and yes, it was the only option. And you’re going to be fine.” He sighed and glanced over at Marlo. “You’re a lot like him, you know.”

  “Do you want me to hit you?” I took a bite and moaned a bit then wiped the stickiness from my lips.

  “Are you trying to continuously turn me on? I love a good hit, and no.” Jackson’s easy smile was making me at least feel better. He was nice to talk to, as long as he kept his hands to himself and his penis inside his pants with the zipper shut up nice and tight. “I’m just saying Marlo’s fucking focused… and you’re the same way. You both would have been generals in another life, and that’s probably why you fight all the time.”

  “Well…” I took another bite and looked down at the dirt. “We don’t fight all the time… he’s just easily provoked.”

  “And you’re what? A tame little de-clawed kitten?” Jackson wrapped an arm around me and squeezed, I could feel the warm tight muscles beneath his shirt. “Marlo doesn’t set people up to fail… he sets them up to succeed.”

  Defeated, I hung my head in shame. “He’s still an asshole.”

  “And you’re… perfect?” Jackson whispered so only I could hear. I looked up into his bright green eyes. “Mmm, thought so.”

  He pulled his arm back and grabbed his drink from the ground then took a nice long sip.

  The fire felt good, soothing in a way.

  We both drank and ate in silence.

  I could feel Marlo’s stare.

  I shivered.

  And then someone sat down next to me.

  “Hi!” Jen held out her hand. “I mean we met earlier, but I wanted to formally introduce myself to the woman who makes Marlo growl in his sleep.”

  “Most animals do.” I laughed taking her hand in mine. She was cute, like the girl next door who makes homemade cookies for her crush and falls in love with the first boy to give her a Band-Aid for her scraped-up knee at the age of six.

  “So.” Her freckles were cute, her strawberry blonde hair had the perfect bounce. A sliver of jealousy stabbed me in the chest. She was with Marlo a lot.

  I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. The marshmallows were clearly too rich.

  “A bunch of us are headed to the lake to skinny-dip since it’s such a nice night, wanna come?”

  “Skinny-dip!” Jackson jumped to his feet and peeled off his shirt. A glaring six-pack met me at eye level, and then he touched the top button of his jeans.

  “The only way you’re going to keep your dick safe is to keep it tucked away, Jackson,” I said in a warning voice.

  He just laughed and started sprinting toward the water, followed by another ten or so people, Marlo included.

  My heart caught in my throat as he threw the shirt over his head and disappeared into darkness.

  “Come on! Only a few girls are going, the others are too nervous.” She winked. “I’ll be with you, we’ll change on the other side of the dock and get in that way so Jackson can’t see any nakedness for his nighttime daily recap.”

  I burst out laughing. “Yeah, you won me over with that one.”

  “He’s just…” We both stood, she looped her arm in mine like we were best friends. “Complicated. Jackson’s…” Her face fell a bit.

  “No way!” I gasped. “You and Jackson?”

  “Once.” Her blush was pretty; it transformed her face into something from girl next door to underground sexpot within seconds. Interesting. “It was… amazing, but he’s just…”

  “A player?” I finished for her.

  “Yeah,” she admitted, tucking her cropped hair behind her ears. “And I’m such a tomboy, I have more guy friends than girls because A, girls are mean, and B, girls are mean.”

  I laughed at that. “They’re the worst. I would know. I used to be one of the mean ones.”

  “I figured.”

  Her honesty surprised me. I wasn’t really sure what to say.

  “Don’t take that the wrong way, it’s just… you’re too pretty, too confident not to be, plus that and I kind of heard a few things from Marlo that made me wonder if you were one of the girls he pined after during high school.”

  “I want you,” he whispered against my neck. “Please…”

  “Marlo…” My shirt was off. His was on the floor somewhere. We locked eyes. “This is a bad idea.”

  “I’m sure of it,” he agreed.

  I ran my hands through my hair.

  And he just let me touch him.

  Explore him.

  I tugged his lower lip with my teeth, measured his kiss against my tongue, and then I lost myself in the feel of his warmth. In the tender way he kissed me. In the way he treasured me, while the party was going on downstairs. For minutes, we were locked in my tower.

  For minutes, I felt like a princess.

  And my knight in shining armor had ridden in to rescue me from the demons that haunted me.

  “Yes.” I said between kisses. “Yes.”

  “All I’ve ever wanted from you…” He stole kiss after kiss, and then he was pulling my jeans down my legs slowly. “Was a yes.”

  “Hellloooo?” Jen waved in front of my face.

  “Sorry!” I covered my face with my hands. “Sorry, I totally spaced out.”

  “Visions of Marlo naked do that to a girl.”

  “I wasn’t!” I was ready to defend myself when I noticed what she was staring at. Brax, Marlo, and Jackson’s bare asses as they jumped off the dock. Damn, what did they feed those boys? Marlo stood out amongst the
m the most, but it was an impressive view.

  “Wow,” was all I had.

  “Trust me, with Jackson it only gets better the longer you stare, honestly all those guys are nice to look at, I just wish they thought with more of their brain cells than their D’s.” She winked, “Come on, this way.”

  We walked around the dock. There was a few trees and a nice bush that gave us enough cover, and the one tree went all the way up to the shoreline. It was perfect.

  “Nice!” I laughed then pulled off my shirt and sports bra.

  We both stumbled a bit in the sand to get our clothes off, and then naked, crashed into the water and swam toward the dock.

  Male laughter filled the night sky.

  I looked up, breathed in the fresh air. It was the perfect night. So many stars I couldn’t count, and the perfect warm breeze that made me want to swim all night until I was exhausted.

  “The fun has arrived!” Jen announced from next to me as we joined the rest of the group.

  You’d think she’d just yelled shark.

  Jackson did a double take and then glared at her like she had no right to be naked in front of others, while Brax’s wide eyes looked like he wasn’t sure if he should hold Marlo back from charging toward me and demanding I put my clothes back on, or toward Jackson.

  Interesting.

  I gulped while Jen just rolled her eyes. “Feminism. It’s a thing. Equal rights. Voting.” She said voting super slow, eliciting a glare from Jackson. “So that means we’re allowed to skinny-dip too.”

  That’s when I noticed.

  We were the only girls.

  Literally.

  I splashed her with water. “You said there were more girls!”

  She burst out laughing. “You wouldn’t have come! I refuse to apologize for the amazing water and night.”

  I grinned as warmth spread across my chest. It had been a while since I’d met another girl who seemed genuinely nice. “That’s fair, I guess.”

  The closer we got to the guys, the more everyone relaxed. Even Jackson finally relented, but Marlo? Marlo had his eyes locked on me with such intensity I almost felt like I needed to dive under the water to cool down.