This Summer At The Lake

by Daphne James Huff

  Her heart started to beat faster and her feet picked up the pace as well. She needed to sit down all of a sudden.

  “You want me to take you to an art museum? Do you even like art?”

  “I’d like it with you.”

  Just then, they rounded a corner and a voice called out to Logan, saving her from needing to examine the flood of emotions his response had given her. A big group of people was making their way down to the lake and Logan greeted them all by name while Cassie stood by and waved a silent hello. They were all from the restaurant, she gathered, from the way they were talking.

  Cassie walked along slightly behind Logan, listening to him joke around with the others. They all liked him, she could tell. And why wouldn’t they? He was funny and thoughtful and apparently wanted to go to art museums. With her.

  As a group they made their way into the park. Logan laid out the blankets in a spot a little further back than the others, however. They were right against the trees and could see the expanse of the lake stretching out before them. As the show got started, she saw the edges of the lake dotted with boats lit up in the night sky.

  “So your thing is art?” Logan said, his arms wrapped around his knees, his golden hair tinged green in the light of the fireworks.

  “My thing?”

  “You know, you said everyone has that one thing they like.”

  “Ah yes, Monsieur Cousteau,” she giggled, but nervously, not as cute as she would have liked. Was his heart not racing the way hers was? “Though art is a pretty normal thing to like. I like Claude Cahun. Not everyone does. But I just do.”

  “I haven’t heard of him.”

  “Her.” Logan flushed. “Most people haven’t,” she rushed to explain. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s not like her stuff is taught in schools. She was a little out there.”

  He put his chin on his knees and looked at her, his eyes catching some of the blue from the fireworks.

  “Mine’s hammerheads.”

  “What?” With the booming overhead, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I just…I saw this documentary about hammerheads when I was little. My parents did kind of push the ocean stuff a little, just because of my name. The only thing that ever stuck though was hammerhead sharks.”

  “Why?” It was a little odd, but seemed so very Logan. She thought of his profile picture.

  He shrugged. Another very Logan thing he did. He would purse his lips right before he did it. And a very large percentage of her attention was on his lips right now.

  “They do this mating dance.” He flushed and looked down. “I was little, I didn’t know what that was. I just remember seeing hundreds of them swimming around each other, dancing. I saw these giant powerful things, but also beautiful.”

  “Like you,” Cassie whispered, and she bit her lip. What a ridiculous thing to say.

  Logan looked up at her.

  “No, like you.”

  She could feel her entire body leaning toward him, but he stayed curled up against his knees, until another firework burst in the sky and he jerked up, placing his hands behind him and scooting ever so slowly closer to her.

  With the sound of the fireworks booming overhead, Cassie could only feel the pounding of her heart instead of hear it. She had never felt this kind of giddiness around Spencer, not even in the very first weeks of dating. There were mere inches of space between her and Logan, and every part of her body was electrified by his presence.

  Slowly, softly, his hand slid on top of hers where it rested between them on the blanket. She tucked her head slightly and turned to look at him. He was staring up at the fireworks, his face bathed in blue and red, his eyes wide. He looked half-impressed and half-terrified.

  In that moment, she realized he’d never done this before. Her first instinct was to tease him, as she’d been doing all summer.

  Instead, she leaned her head toward his ear, making sure to keep her hand underneath his.

  “Do you like the show?” she said, a little louder than normal to make sure he could hear her over the noise.

  “It’s great!” he yelled back, then turned his head quickly.

  For a brief second their noses touched, their eyes open and staring. Cassie inhaled sharply at the tenderness and sincerity she saw in his deep brown swirls. This close, she could hear his breath coming in short, ragged bursts. When she couldn’t stand his piercing gaze anymore, she closed her eyes, and leaned in the tiniest bit to let him know this was what she wanted.

  She’d never wanted anything more.

  The softest kiss brushed across her lips, and she sighed. She reached up her hand to curl around his neck, and opened her mouth slightly. He pushed forward eagerly, both hands reaching up to cup her face. He tasted like summer and sweetness and everything good. Fireworks burst inside of her twice as big as anything happening in the sky.

  This wasn’t what she’d expected from this summer at the lake.

  It was so much better.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Should my hands go here?

  Is this okay?

  Should I open my mouth more? Or less?

  Logan was so nervous he couldn't get his mind to shut off.

  Then suddenly Cassie sighed into him and he let himself go.

  Everything in his life had been hard up until now, but this was easy. And fun. And freaking amazing.

  He was vaguely aware of the fireworks ending when everyone stood up to leave. Cassie pulled away and looked around, her face flushed even in the moonlight.

  "Should we head back?" she asked, looking around at the trickle of people walking past.

  Was she so eager to get away? His stomach lurched.

  "Let's wait for all the cars to clear out." He didn't want to leave. Not yet.

  She nodded and settled on her back.

  "You can't even see the stars anymore through the smoke.” Her voice was soft and low, and something inside him rumbled in response.

  He leaned back, slowly, his arm just inches from hers. As soon as he was settled she slipped her hand into his. A warm wave of relief washed over him.

  "More like the sky in New York?" he asked, trying to get his heart rate to slow down. It had been on overdrive since the second their lips had touched.

  "Hmm," was all she said and turned on her side to face him.

  He twisted to look at her but the twinge in his shoulder stopped him. He grimaced and her forehead crinkled.

  “Does it still hurt a lot?”

  He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that night right now, other than as the night they met. He could never have imagined his life could change so much in such a short amount of time.

  When she leaned over to place her hands on either side of his head and landed a gentle kiss on his lips, he reached up to tangle his hands in her hair. Their kisses deepened and the rumble inside of him turned into a roar. He wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the twinge in his shoulder to hold her tightly as their lips crashed into each other again and again.

  A lot was hard in his life. He didn't have money, or a car, and had been working two jobs every summer just to be able to save enough to afford the necessities. He didn’t know if he’d be able to make it in New York at school, on his own. From everything Cassie had told him, it would be ten times harder to find and keep a job on top of all the schoolwork. Life was always going to be hard for him.

  But this…this was easy.

  He could have stayed there all night, but a buzz from her bag drew her out of the kiss. He let out a small groan and she gave him that heart-melting half-smile.

  Her smile faded the instant she looked at her phone, however.

  “I need to get back,” she said, standing up. She held out a hand to help him up, but he ignored it, pushing off with his good arm to stand beside her.

  He pulled out his phone to call his uncle as she bent to gather the blankets. His uncle was almost home and said he�
�d come back with the car to pick them up. Logan took Cassie’s hand as they walked to the main entrance to the park and joined the long line of people waiting for rides in the parking lot. They stood as close to each other as possible, nose to nose, ignoring the others around them. When she shivered under his jacket, he rubbed her arms.

  “I like the way you look in that jacket,” he whispered. It was one of his favorite green hoodies, and was three sizes too big for her. She’d rolled up the sleeves to be able to take his hand. She actually looked a little silly. But it was so different than the polished perfection she usually was. And the green made her eyes, already sparkling in the starlight, even more intense.

  She flushed, and looked down.

  How could anything he say make that impression on her? Had Spencer never complimented her? Didn’t she know how incredible she was?

  Rather than say everything that was swirling around in his mind, he rested his forehead against hers. He breathed her in, a little thrill running through him when he heard her heart beating just as fast as his.

  A honk pulled them out of their embrace. His uncle waved from his truck as is pulled up in front of them.

  “I should…ride back alone.” Cassie bit her lip.

  Logan felt a sharp stab in his heart, before practicality took over. The awkwardness of riding with his uncle was probably a little too much for her—and Logan if he was being honest with himself. He nodded.

  When she went to take off the jacket, however, he shook his head.

  “Keep it.”

  She placed the briefest of pecks on his cheek that guaranteed to warm him throughout the entire walk home.

  Of all the ways Logan had pictured spending the Fourth of July, making out with Cassie Hart had not been one of them. Not even in the ballpark. Not even in the parking lot of the stadium.

  Not that it hadn’t been pretty awesome. She was pretty awesome, actually. The rich-girl-cheerleader facade had faded away over the past few weeks and he’d been able to see her as just Cassie. She was funny, and smart, and so different from what he’d pictured. That first night they’d met on the side of the road, she’d been the embodiment of everything he hated. Then it turned out she was bossy, and opinionated, and more worried about appearances than he’d ever been or would be.

  But despite everything, he was falling pretty hard, and didn’t know how to stop himself.

  He wasn’t sure he wanted to stop.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dropping Logan’s jacket in her car as she passed it, Cassie managed to sneak back into the party at her house right as everyone was leaving. Her sister’s message had been insistent—get home NOW, Mom and Dad know you’re gone—but she hadn’t expected it to be so hard to leave Logan. Still, she couldn’t risk anyone seeing him in the car with her.

  She wasn’t embarrassed. Far from it. Logan was the sweetest, funniest, most caring guy she’d ever known. And then there was the way he looked at her. No one had ever looked at her like that—like they really saw her for who she was.

  No, she wasn’t embarrassed. But her family knowing about him could cause both of them so much trouble, and she’d already messed up his life enough.

  Once all the adrenaline from what had probably been the world’s most perfect first kiss (well, kisses) had left her system, she realized what a mess she was in. She was falling hard for a guy her parents would never approve of. While standing up to them about her college major seemed manageable, them finding out about Logan the same night they’d seen Spencer with his new girlfriend would be much harder to handle. It was not the right time to flaunt a new, much less socially acceptable (to them) guy in front of all of their friends.

  As Cassie mingled with the remaining guests, her mother and Di both gave her lingering glances, her sister looking relieved and her mother pissed off. Cassie wanted to avoid any questions for as long as possible so she made her way over to the guest house at the back of the property calling, “I’ll make sure it’s empty!” to anyone who would listen.

  She was actually hoping to hide out there for a while, send a message to Logan to let him know she got back, and relive a few of the sweeter moments of the evening. But she stopped in her tracks as a faint giggling floated out from the guest house. She’d seen her sister so she knew it wasn’t her. Mr. and Mrs. Huntington were still at the party, but Spencer was nowhere to be seen amongst the heat lamps and food tables. And no Marissa in the yard, either.

  Cassie’s blood started to boil as annoyance seeped through her. It was one thing for Marissa to ditch her for a guy she’d just dumped. It was what Cassie had kind of wanted, after all. But to make out with him in Cassie’s guest house was a little much. She’d been patient with Marissa, not wanting any friendship drama to stand in the way of her best friend’s dream guy, but this was just rude. All the lingering happy feelings from kissing Logan were now totally squashed by the thought of Spencer and Marissa getting busy on her property.

  “Party’s over, kids!” she called as she pushed open the door to the guest house, irritation coursing through her veins.

  She heard a shriek from the loft and caught the flash of a red dress above—the same color Marissa had been wearing. Cassie waited but no one emerged down the steps.

  “Spencer, seriously, your parents are leaving. Get dressed and get out of my house.”

  There was still no answer. If it wasn’t Spencer, she was sure the guy would have said something. So it had to be them.

  Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn’t want to hash it out here. She wanted to remember this night as her first kiss with Logan, not as the night she definitively lost her best friend. The giant fight she knew was coming could wait a little longer.

  With an annoyed sigh loud enough for them to hear, she slammed the door and stalked back through the yard to the main house. Her mom stopped her with a hand on her arm, gentle but firm.

  “When everyone is gone, you better be ready to tell me where you were,” her mom said with a little smile and nod at a few people who were waving goodbye to her. “This was your chance to get Spencer back and you missed it. Now look what he’s gotten up to.”

  Cassie couldn’t help herself and looked back to see Spencer and Marissa holding hands as they left the guest house. The few appetizers she’d had hours ago churned in her stomach. Why was it so hard to see them together? They’d arrived at the party together, but she could still tell herself nothing had really happened and maybe they were just there as friends. This was proof that it was something serious.

  And something that made her parents extremely unhappy.

  Cassie put on her best smile and slid her arm out of her mom’s hand. There were still a dozen or so people in the yard, and she could feel every single one of their eyes on her.

  “Everything is under control, Mom,” she said, keeping her back straight the way she’d been taught. “I’m tired though. Can we talk in the morning?”

  Her mom narrowed her eyes but nodded, her cold smile never wavering.

  Cassie waited until she was in the house to let out a tiny grunt of frustration. Di couldn’t have covered her for another hour? Then no one would have even known about Spencer and Marissa. Cassie could have lived another few days without picturing the two of them together.

  As Cassie walked up to her room, she tried desperately to think of an excuse to tell her mom about why she’d left. Maybe an emergency with a friend? No, everyone they knew was at this party. She felt sick and had walked herself to the hospital? That sounded even less believable…

  Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her troubled thoughts. A message from Logan flashed across the screen.

  Thanks for watching the fireworks with me.

  A smile rose to her lips, the first since she’d gotten home. Suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so bad.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As Logan walked in the door to his aunt’s house, he was expecting to deal with Hideki’s thousand questions about the evening.
>
  He was not expecting to see his mom sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

  “Mom! You made it up!” He was so happy to avoid Hideki’s curiosity, he didn’t stop to think about how odd it was that she was here. Just two days ago she’d told him she’d have to work and couldn’t come. “Were you able to see any of the fireworks?”

  His mom shook her head.

  “Come sit, Logan.”

  “It’s kind of late,” he said, yawning and stretching. His shoulder was a little stiff from lying on the ground, but he didn’t mind. “You must be wiped out from the drive. Can we talk tomorrow?”

  His mom shifted in her seat.

  “No, I drove all night because I need you to hear this now. Before anything else happens.”

  “What happened?”

  “You were out with Cassie Hart, weren’t you?”

  Logan stopped in the middle of another yawn.

  “How do you know that?” He dropped his arms and furrowed his brow.

  “I called your phone a few times and when I couldn’t reach you, I called Caroline. She said you were probably too busy with Cassie to hear your phone.”

  It’s true he’d seen a few missed calls when he’d called his uncle to pick up Cassie. He told himself he’d look at them on the walk home, but his mind had been stuck on Cassie and everything they’d done.

  His mom’s arched eyebrow told him she knew exactly what they’d been doing. Logan flushed. At least she hadn’t gone down to the park to find him. Being caught in the middle of making out with someone by his mom was definitely not on the BSE list.

  “You drove all the way out here because I was finally on a date with a girl?” He held back a groan. “Weird time to get overprotective when I’m about to move across the country to school.”

  “Logan, this is serious!” The look she shot him finally made him sit down. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap.

  “Sorry, Mom,” he said automatically, as he settled into a seat across from her. She was at her most serious. All he wanted to do was sleep and relive every detail of his night with Cassie, so the sooner he heard whatever his mom wanted to say, the sooner it was over. “What’s up?”