Chapter 24 #3
I forgot he saw us after the last canoe trip we took together, too.
“We took a canoe out,” I answer, heading for the fridge and reaching around Luke to grab the orange juice. “Lennon wanted to go swimming.”
“You went canoeing?” Luke questions.
“Yeah.”
“You should’ve taken the speedboat out instead,” Colt comments. “Way more fun.”
“There’s a speedboat?” Lennon asks.
“Uh-huh. We can go out after breakfast,” Colt tells her.
“There’s a speedboat,” Lennon informs me.
I nod, smirking. “Yeah, I know.”
Lennon huffs out an annoyed sigh. “I’m going to change. Breakfast will be ready when I get back, right?”
I turn back toward the fridge. “Yeah, yeah. I’m working on it.”
“’Kay.” She smiles at me before disappearing down the hall.
“Sweet. You’re making breakfast, Winters?” Jake finally perks up.
“Not for you.”
“You’re cooking for Lennon! Just make extra!”
“I’m making her breakfast because she’s my girlfriend. And because…” If I don’t tell them now, Lennon will probably mention it later. “I lost a bet.”
Colt laughs. “What was it?”
“Swimming,” I grumble.
“Is that code for something else?” Jake asks, wagging his eyebrows.
“No, you idiot. I literally mean swimming. She beat me back to the canoe.”
“Are you sure there’s not a third reason you’re on kitchen duty?”
I pull a carton of eggs out of the fridge and glance at Jake. “What?”
“I got a really good night’s sleep last night. Seems like a sad effort on your part, Winters.”
I shake my head. I’ve never discussed my physical relationship with Lennon before, and I’m not going to start now. That stays between us. “Why the fuck were you listening ?”
“I’ve never vacationed with a couple,” Jake says. “I was expecting some noise, that’s all.”
“We’re crashing at Colt’s for two nights. I wouldn’t call that a vacation,” I respond, cracking and mixing the eggs.
“Whatever. If you need some pointers to spice things up, I got you.”
I pick up a banana from the bowl on the counter and throw it at Jake. “Talk to me when you get a girlfriend. Far as I can tell, no girl wants to fuck you on a regular basis. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement.”
He grins at me. “I don’t have a girlfriend because too many girls want to fuck me on a regular basis.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Barnes.”
“I really should have spent longer changing.” I glance at the doorway, watching Lennon walk across the kitchen to the island and take a seat on the stool next to Jake. “Put a sock on the door next time, you guys.”
It’s almost comical, watching Jake sit up and the tips of his ears turn red. “Sorry, Lennon. I’m just…tired.”
Lennon reaches over, grabbing the banana Jake caught off the counter and peeling it. “Thought we didn’t keep you up?” She pops a piece of fruit into her mouth.
I don’t hide my grin as I pour the eggs in the pan.
“I—that wasn’t…”
“Maybe you should just stop talking, Jake,” Luke suggests.
“Don’t act like you’re not single too,” Jake replies.
I look at Luke. “You and Amanda broke up?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. She got super serious. Wanted to know my plans for next year. Said we should be figuring it out together. I told her I don’t even know what I want myself, never mind factoring in another person. That was pretty much that.”
“I’m sorry, man,” I say. When I look at Lennon, she’s studying the empty banana peel on the counter.
Luke and Amanda were together for a few months.
Lennon and I have been dating for almost three years. We’ve known each other for seven.
The two situations aren’t comparable.
At least, I hope they’re not.
* * *
After breakfast, we all head back to our rooms to change into bathing suits. Lennon remains in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher.
“I’m glad you brought Lennon this weekend,” Colt tells me as we walk down the hallway toward the bedrooms. “It’s nice seeing you so happy, man.”
“Thanks. I am.”
“Luke’s break-up didn’t freak you out?”
“Me and Lennon are nothing like that. I’m serious about her. Always have been.”
Colt laughs. “Yeah, I know. I’m the one who tried to get you to just tell her you were crazy about her and got a lot of shit for it, remember?”
I don’t deny it. “I never saw it going well. And I was right. It didn’t go well when I finally did say something. But I always—I just… I don’t know. I knew, you know?”
“Not really,” he replies, and I chuckle.
I think Colt’s longest relationship has lasted a week.
“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t.”
“I’m glad it worked out for you two. Every other guy in Landry is not.”
I side-eye him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what I mean, Winters. Ryan James looked like he’d sucked on a lemon when you showed up at my place last night. And you know Will Masterson is single again. Plus there are probably lots of guys at RCC who—”
“Are you trying to get punched in the face?”
Colt laughs. “She’s crazy about you. I almost want to consider a serious relationship, after seeing you guys together. And I knew why you were in such a foul mood, the last time we were here. Even if you wouldn’t talk about it.”
I don’t deny it. The summer after junior year was when I really started to give up hope of anything changing between me and Lennon.
“I’ll meet you down at the dock.” Colt punches my shoulder, then heads into his room.
By the time I head outside, all traces of the early morning chill Lennon and I were met with at dawn have disappeared, replaced by a heavy blanket of heat.
The shiny motorboat Colt talked about for most of the drive here last night is tethered about thirty feet offshore, the white paint blinding in the sunshine. I wish my parents had bought a place here instead of the ski chalet in Aspen I’ve only been to once.
I made no secret of my distaste for Landry when I was a kid. Or how much I hated the idea of moving there for high school. I’m positive my parents assumed graduation was the last time I would spend any time in the small town.
Instead, I’ve spent every possible second there I could.
Neither my mom nor my dad were supportive of my relationship with Lennon when we first started dating. And they both assumed it would be a brief fling.
Two and a half years later, the comments about spending time at one of the other properties they own besides the Kentucky farm have increased in number significantly.
If my parents thought I wasn’t serious about Lennon Matthews before, they most certainly know I am now.
“Swim or row?” Colt asks, nodding to a rowboat lying next to the canoe Lennon and I took out earlier.
“Swim,” Lennon answers, pulling her shirt over her head and revealing a dark green bikini underneath.
I’m not the only one looking. I glare at Luke when I catch him glancing at Lennon as well. I know none of my friends would make a move on her, but the direction of his gaze makes me question the wisdom of bringing my girlfriend on a trip with three single guys.
Jake and Luke shuck their shirts as I wade into the water. I didn’t bother with one. Lennon’s already halfway to the boat, and Colt’s rearranging stuff on shore.
Lennon’s climbed aboard the speedboat by the time I reach it. She’s studying the array of dials and gauges behind the wheel when I climb the ladder, lake water pouring off my body and dripping from my swim trunks. The bright sun immediately starts to dry me.
“Do you think Colt knows how to drive this thing?” she asks.
“No idea. I don’t think boats are all that complicated, though. You just turn it on and go, right?”
Lennon rolls her eyes. “Yeah. Sure.”
A quick glance behind reveals Colt is still on shore, and Luke and Jake are just entering the lake. I stalk forward, caging her against the side of the railing.
“Jake was just talking shit earlier. I didn’t say anything.”
“I know.”
“I don’t talk about that stuff, Len. Not with anyone. It’s just between us.”
“I know,” she repeats, then rises up on her tiptoes to kiss me.
I move closer to her; tightly enough, the water coating both our bodies doesn’t have a prayer of sliding downward.
It’s been a long time—years—since we first kissed at the baseball field I spent high school playing on. Up until that moment, I wasn’t sure if she had the slightest attraction toward me.
I thought that was why kissing Lennon Matthews felt different than kissing any other girl.
But it’s been three and a half years since Lennon Matthews first kissed me.
And the feel of her lips against mine is still a sensation I know I could never replicate with anyone else.
There wouldn’t be this rush of love, along with lust.
“Get a room, you guys.” Jake’s on board, Luke right behind him.
“The room next to yours, you mean?”
My cheeks stretch with a grin in response to Lennon’s comment as she slips out of my arms, leaving me leaning against the side of the boat to watch Colt swim toward us.
* * *
We spend the day driving around, disturbing the pristine surface of the lake: swimming, tubing, and water-skiing. Drinking and joking. By the time we return to the dock, we’re all sun-kissed and exhausted.
Jake and Luke collect sticks for a fire in the stone pit set up in the yard, while Colt and Lennon head inside to grab hot dogs to roast for dinner. I contribute nothing, stretching out on one of the benches that surrounds the fire pit and staring up at the rapidly darkening sky.
I know my future holds a lot of options and question marks. I also know I’m fortunate to have the choices I do. But this is one of those meaningful moments in time not resulting from any accomplishment or dedication on my part
I’m at his family’s lake house right now simply because I wasn’t a dick when Colt asked me if I wanted to sit with him at lunch on the first day of high school.
There’s been no investments of blood or sweat to get to this peaceful spot in the woods.
But I feel the same sense of accomplishment and contentedness I do when I throw a perfect strike anyway.