Crushing Summer

by C. M. Stunich

  “God, I have this thing with my Dad today, some father and son bonding bull, but if you're free, do you want to get together and do something this evening?” I smiled. Cage asked before I could. Assertive much? I wasn't sure what to think about that.

  “I'd love to,” I said, trying to think. If I was with Cage, I could pretty much go anywhere. Nobody would hit on me when I was hanging out with the King. It was kind of a rule. And then it clicked. “Doesn't the boardwalk open for the season tonight?” I asked. If I didn't go with Cage, I may as well not go at all because I'd get swarmed with stuffed animals and blue cotton candy.

  “Yeah, they do,” he said with a laugh. “My brother's working the goldfish game. You know, where you toss the little plastic balls and try to get them in the bowls? He was complaining about it this morning.” I sat down in front of my vanity and wished I had an old fashioned phone, so I could twirl the cord around my finger. It just seemed kind of appropriate.

  “I thought your brother worked with your parents in their store?” I asked, thinking of the two-story boutique downtown that Cage's family owned. It wasn't just a clothing store. It was the clothing store for our little town, and it had made the Lawrence family very, very rich. There was some shuffling on Cage's end of the phone followed by a husky laugh that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Cage … I would not have been surprised if he turned out to be some supernatural hottie like a vampire or a werewolf or something. Oh, maybe a fae! A hot faery boy, wouldn't that be nice?

  “My brother is an absolute moron. He got a DUI last week, so he's been banished from the store until it's off his record, however long that takes.” I imagined Cage smiling at me and shivered a bit. “And I just realized I never answered your question. I'd be honored to escort you to the boardwalk. Pick you up at eight?”

  “Sounds great,” I said and then started to give him my address.

  “Oh, no worries,” he told me, voice smooth as silk. For an eighteen year old, he had a very deep voice, very masculine sounding. When I closed my eyes and pushed past my knowledge of what Cage actually looked like, deep into my imagination, I could imagine an older man, not old just older, in a suit. In my mind's eye, he was sitting in a library with dark wood paneling and hunter green walls, cigar in one hand, glass of cognac in the other. Yep. That was my mental image of Cage Lawrence. “I know where you live.”

  “That could be construed as creepy,” I told him honestly. The whole stalker thing was a little out of my comfort zone. He laughed and the sound matched my cigar smoking ladies' man perfectly.

  “San Aplastar isn't a very large town, Chloe. I've seen your car outside.” The BMW was my mother's car, but I didn't correct him. I just smiled. “Besides, even if I hadn't, I would've known. All the guys know where the prettiest girl in town lives.”

  “Ah,” I said with a laugh. “And that's not creepy at all.” His turn to laugh.

  “Yeah, maybe I should stay away from the one-liners. I suppose if I'm coming across as a crazy stalker, it's time to rethink my game plan. We're still on for tonight, right?”

  “Most definitely,” I replied. “See you later, Cage.”

  “See you, Chloe.”

  I hung up feeling good about the evening. Now, the day … the day was a different matter altogether.

  “Did you do it?” I asked Heidi as I ducked behind a rack of clothes and tried to avoid a group of guys that were walking past the front window of the store we were browsing. Heidi wrinkled her nose and looked over her shoulder at me. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail and she was wearing bright, pink lipstick. To me, she looked a little like a Barbie doll, but in a good way.

  “Do what?” she asked, flicking aside a blue blouse with her long nails. She hadn't even glanced at it, but I knew Heidi hated blue. She could practically smell it.

  “Sign the roster,” I said, running through a list of names in my head, trying to figure out who knew I signed my name with a heart. The list was admittedly pretty short, and all of the people that were on it were close to me, people I trusted with all of my heart. But I had to ask. Asking never hurt.

  “Oh, God no,” she said with a shrug and then a smile. “But you should send a thank you card to whoever did. The Crush? I mean, come on, Chloe. You are the most wanted girl in town right now. You could have any guy you wanted.” I sighed and stood up, glad that we were in a clothing store that catered primarily to women. There was a much smaller chance of running into somebody who would try to hit on me. I mean, not that there weren't girls who might try, but the people that came in here were usually over the age of thirty and primarily straight. “All these clothes remind me of my mumsy. I don't like any of them. Can we go somewhere else?”

  “No, I'm in hiding, remember?” Heidi turned around and slumped, folding her six foot plus frame over with a sigh.

  “You know what I think you should be doing?” I raised a brow. I could already tell you what her advice was going to be about. She was going to suggest I go chasing after boys. Even with Justin on her arm half the time, that was still Heidi's second favorite pastime. Her first? Skinny dipping, but don't tell anybody.

  “No,” I said anyway, playing along. “What?”

  “Going after Patrick Carrob.” Heidi stood up tall and flicked her hand over her shoulder like she was trying to push back invisible strands of hair. “You know that everybody secretly wishes for the Crush and the Heartthrob to get together, right?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Oh! Or Nick Bishop. He is bloody beautiful.” I sighed and paused with my hand on a black and white striped shirt. I thought of Casper as I fingered the soft fabric. I didn't know the guy, but I wanted to, even now, even after the biggest screw up ever. I leaned my head against the rack with a small sigh.

  “I have a date with Cage Lawrence tonight,” I told her randomly, hoping to stop her before she got to her Most Beautiful Boys in San Aplastar list. It went on for quite some time. Justin, of course, was at the top for her.

  “What?” she said, turning to face me with a pair of white jean shorts in hand. Her ass would hang right out the bottom of those, and she'd love every minute of it. “Since when? Please tell me he just texted you and that you weren't keeping this from me.”

  “I wasn't keeping it from you. I just hadn't found the right place to insert it into the conversation.” Heidi moved past me, towards the fitting rooms in the back.

  “Any time is a good time to mention Cage Lawrence, Chloe. How did you snag that one?” I followed after her, taking the striped tank with me. It was cute, light and breezy and like nothing I already had in my closet.

  “I don't know,” I said as I flicked back the curtain and hung my shirt on the hook. “He called me.” I paused suddenly, frozen in place as Julie Alice walked in the front door, chin held high, a pale blonde wig on her head. Her eyes were ringed with liner and she was dressed in a dress that I was pretty sure I'd seen Wednesday wearing in The Addams Family.

  She spotted me right away.

  “Chloe!” she gushed like she was relieved, stumbling across the store with bunches of skirt clutched in her pale fingers. “Oh. My. God. Is this the only place in town where I'm not going to get pegged with freaking tomatoes?” I paused, unsure what to say. I felt like everything was my fault, so naturally I expected her to be angry with me. It didn't seem that way at all. In fact, she looked happy to have found me. I tried to smile.

  “How has it been?” I asked, noticing that Heidi was peeking out the curtain at us. We were both obliged by the rules of The Assignment to ignore Julie at the very least, if not be downright hostile. But I wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it, not in good conscious. I'd never been rude to the Outcast before, and I wasn't about to start now. If Heidi started anything, I'd boot her butt to the curb, and she knew it. She stayed hidden in the dressing room.

  Julie shrugged and sighed, dropping her skirts to the floor where they brushed against the toes of her combat boots.

  “Last night was pretty rough.
We got our house TPed and egged. My mom's car was covered in profanity, and somebody hung a bunch of dolls and action figures from the trees. It was a little weird, but … nothing dangerous. People keep shouting at me though.” She glanced over her shoulder just in time to catch Casper slipping in the door with a swollen lower lip and two black eyes. When he saw me, he froze near the front door.

  I refused to meet his eyes and kept my gaze on Julie.

  “My mom won't let me out of the house without Casper now. I mean, not that she ever did before, but she's even worse about it now.” Julie started to cough, and I reached out a hand, letting it hover in the air around her shoulder before she waved me away. When she pulled her hand away from her mouth, her pale skin was flecked with blood. Instead of alerting her brother, Julie wiped it on the dark fabric of her dress, effectively disguising it. And then she looked up at me, eyes cutting deep. Don't you dare tell him, her gaze warned me. “She made us write up an itinerary before leaving the house and even installed that weird tracking app on my phone.”

  “Mom's just worried, Jules,” Casper said, popping up at her side and locking his gaze on mine. Today, his fingernails weren't just black, they had little white skulls on them to match the long sleeved shirt he was wearing. It seemed a little much for the summer weather, but hey, to each their own. He'd paired this with black jeans and black sneakers. “I mean, she has a right to be. Last year a girl died from this.” He was staring straight at and through me when he said this. I cringed.

  “Tatiana,” I whispered. “Her name was Tatiana.”

  “Yeah, and we don't talk about her if you haven't noticed,” Heidi said, popping out of the curtain with the white shorts hanging loosely around her hips. “So why don't you take your little funeral parade somewhere else?”

  “You mean procession?” Julie asked. “Or cortege. There aren't many people who would be daring enough to call it a parade.” Casper and I smiled, but Heidi just looked pissed.

  “Tatiana was the Crush, right? So why the hell would you take that spot? Especially after you told me you didn't want to participate? Seems a little weird to me. It's like the girl I spoke with at the beach and the cemetery never really existed.”

  “No, I … ” So he was mad. He was hiding it well, but there it was in the tightness of his lips and the flicker of anger in his green eyes. “I never intended to participate. Somebody signed me up by forging my signature.”

  “So why didn't you tell everybody that?” I sighed. That part was complicated. Since Julie and Casper were from out of town, the chance that they'd understand the frenzy that was The Assignment was pretty much nil.

  “Once Cage called out my name, it was too late.”

  “Cage? That tool in the sweater?” I snorted with laughter, but managed to clamp a hand over my mouth.

  “Tool?” Heidi asked, checking her ass out in the mirror. “I'd hardly call him a tool. Don't think Chloe would either. She's got a date with him tonight, don't you, Chloe?” I wished I could explain the way Casper's face fell at that news, but there were no words for it. Disappointed was way too light of a descriptor to encompass the feelings that passed through his eyes.

  “Cool. Have fun with that. We better go, Jules.” Already, his little sister was shaking her head.

  “I don't think we're going to have much fun out there by ourselves.” She paused and tilted her head to the side, smiling at me with red rouged lips. In her current outfit, she looked a whole lot older than fifteen. Or maybe that was just the deep look in her eyes, the one that said she understood her mortality and she wasn't afraid of it. “We're new in town, and we're pretty much banned from all the typical public places. I bet these ladies know where to find a good time?” I spoke up before Heidi could interject.

  “Actually, I'm trying to avoid the masses today, too. I know a few sea caves that are fun to splash around in if you're interested?” Julie grinned from ear to ear, like the Cheshire cat.

  “Oh, I'm more than interested. Casper and I accept your invitation with much grace and humility.” And then she took a curtsy, a proper one. Oh yeah. Julie and I were going to get along great. Casper … well, the jury was still out on that one.

  It didn't take long for Casper to get tired of his heavy clothes, and I watched arm in arm with Heidi as he stripped off his shirt and shoes and tossed them into the sand.

  “Try not to drool,” Heidi said, reaching over and wiping off a pretend bit of saliva from my jaw. I slapped her hand away and pretended I didn't notice Julie grinning at me.

  “He really likes you, you know?” she said, tucking her skirts up and revealing pale, skinny legs. Her combat boots had been left in the back of Casper's car where we'd all piled in and drove with The Script playing on repeat the whole way out. The music wasn't exactly what I'd have pegged him as listening to, but I was pleasantly surprised. Casper wasn't just a one-dimensional Goth boy. He had layers that I was curious enough about to peel apart.

  “Does he?” I asked, turning to look over at her. Julie was gazing out at the sea with half-lidded eyes and a sad smile, taking in the smooth surface of the water and the gentle break of waves against the shore. “I thought he'd be livid after last night.”

  “Wasn't your fault,” Julie told me, blinking away some heavy thoughts and turning to me with a light face and a silly grin. “I was the idiot who signed up, and he was the idiot that punched the guy that grabbed my wig. No big deal.”

  “Am I his type?” I asked and Julie laughed, voice echoing joyfully out into the open air, pinging off the rocky cliffs like pealing bells.

  “Oh God no. And thank the heavens for that. His last girlfriend was this horrible narky bitch.” She shrugged and started to push up her long sleeves. “She broke up with him when he refused to steal a car and run away to New York with her. She ended up getting arrested and thrown in juvie.” Julie shrugged. “He's attracted to you, and it has nothing to do with tiny skull earrings or black and purple hair. He's looking beyond your preppy exterior.”

  “I'm not preppy,” I said, feeling offended. “I don't wear pastel colored sweaters over my shoulders.”

  “And you're one to talk,” Heidi said, giving Julie a once over. “Never been to the beach before? People don't often wear Halloween costumes.”

  “Heidi … ” I warned as Casper jogged over to us, dark hair gleaming under the smiling sun, pale body toned and perfect. I wanted to reach out and touch it, run my fingers over his skin. I resisted the urge to touch my lips again. Doing that in front of everybody would be downright weird.

  “Where are these caves?” Casper asked as Heidi stripped her shirt off and tucked it into the waistband of her shorts. I followed suit, letting the hot sun kiss my skin with warm lips. It beckoned me into summer with a wave and a grin, and it was comforting enough that I almost forgot about being the Crush.

  “Just over these rocks,” I said, pointing at the crest of gray behind us. I didn't miss the fact that Casper's gaze trailed over my body, drank me in like a cool glass of lemonade. Oh yeah, he liked me. I smiled. “It's not too difficult to get there,” I added in case he was worried about Julie. “You have to wade through the water, but this is a fairly safe area. Just don't turn your back on the ocean. Ever,” I emphasized because I had no idea where Casper and Julie were from. Growing up around the beach, you always had to remember two things: it was beautiful, and it was deadly. Taking either of these things for granted could affect your life in ways unimaginable.

  He smiled at me, but the expression only lasted for a split second before his lips turned back to neutral and his eyes caught on the sea. I could only imagine what he was thinking about. I mean, if our positions had been switched and Kaitlyn had been the one looking back at me, eyes misty and far too old for her young face, I know I wouldn't have been in a good place. Losing your sister is hard enough, but knowing ahead of time, waiting for it? I shivered, and it certainly wasn't because of the weather. Overhead, the sun grinned down at us, bathing our bare skin with warm heat, p
romising that things would be okay, no matter how grim they seemed. For me, at least, it was damn near impossible to be upset with the glitter of yellow light winking off the cool blue of the ocean.

  “Come on, Casper,” Julie said, snapping her brother's attention back to her face. “Stop being so morbid, and let's go. I'd hate to drop dead before I ever got the chance to touch a starfish.”

  “Julie,” Casper groaned as she moved away, dancing through the sand in circles, skirt spinning out around her. The black folds caught in the wind and twisted around her calves, turning her into a dark rose with a pale stem. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I reached down and tangled my fingers in Casper's. With a start, he glanced up at me, mouth agape, eyes flashing as heat spiked through his pale fingertips and into my bronzed ones, lighting me up from the inside out. To say I'd never felt this way with a boy before was a gross understatement. This was … this was magic.

  “Come on,” I said, not missing the way Heidi's eyes rolled up to the sky like she thought I was nuts. And maybe I was. I didn't know Casper, and I didn't know Julie, and I sure as heck didn't know what would happen to us if they found us all hanging out here. The rest of the Students, the Assigned, they would barbeque us for breaking the rules. “If you spend all day thinking of the worst case scenario, you'll daydream your way right past the good ones.” I pulled Casper along, ignoring the slight sheen of sweat on his chest and the flutter of his breath as he glanced down at our fingers and back up at me.

  “You're an interesting person,” he said as we trailed Julie and Heidi. “I'll give you that.” He tried to smile, but it didn't last long this time either. “So you have a date tonight?” he asked, voice carefully neutral. Too neutral. It was bothering him. I bit my lip and tasted cherry gloss. Tucking a strand of stray brunette behind my ear, I tried to come up with an explanation that would make sense.