Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
NOTHING SHORT OF THE SUN
“ W here are we going?” I asked Oliver as he drove us past the city limits of the small town we lived in. He picked me up first thing this morning with the promise of a surprise. It was officially the first day of summer and he was adamant on getting started on checking off my list.
Oliver glanced at me from the corner of his eye before he looked back to the road. “If I told you, that would only ruin the surprise.”
I shrugged with indifference. “You know it doesn’t have to be. You could just tell me and it wouldn’t ruin a thing.”
“Sorry, tuna.” Oliver smirked at me as he used the nickname I despised. “You’re just going to have to wait until we get there.”
“Did you forget what I said the last time you called me tuna?”
Oliver pulled his car onto the highway and reached for the gear shifter as he increased the speed. “You told me you wouldn’t be friends with me anymore if I did it again.”
“I meant what I said,” I told him as I gave him the most serious look I could muster.
He glanced over at me with an eyebrow arched. A ghost of a smile played on his lips and his expression cracked as he chuckled. “Luna, we were like ten. Plus, I wouldn’t let you get rid of me that easily. I’m like a cockroach, I keep coming back.”
I scrunched my nose up at him. “Please don’t ever refer to yourself as a cockroach.” I laughed softly. “You’re giving cockroaches a bad name by doing that.”
Oliver gasped dramatically as he slapped his hand against his chest, just above his heart. “You wound me, Luna Truly.”
“Maybe,” I responded with a shrug. “But you need someone to keep you humble. You’d be lost without me.”
It was meant to come out as a joke, but the air between us suddenly shifted.
Oliver’s expression transformed and he glanced at me with a look of torment and sadness in his eyes. “I would be.” He fell silent again for a moment as he reached into the back of the car and grabbed a blanket from the back seat. “Why don’t you get comfortable? We still have about half an hour until we’re there.”
“Thanks,” I murmured as I took the blanket from him and laid it across my lap. I wasn’t tired, but I was thankful for Oliver changing the conversation to something different. There was just one last thing I wanted to address with him. “Can I ask something of you?”
“Anything for you, my queen,” he said softly as he flashed me his perfectly straight white teeth. They were the kind only orthodontists could produce. Oliver went through having braces and even headgear at one point. I’d never forget how goofy he looked with that metal contraption on his head.
“I don’t want any heaviness this summer,” I admitted quietly as I tucked my hands underneath the blanket. “Just happiness. Sometimes, I just want to be able to forget it all, you know? The darkness feels like it consumes my life some days, and I want the summer to just be about the two of us.”
“If you want light, then I will bring you nothing short of the sun.”
Ollie’s words reached inside my soul as they entangled themselves in the fibers of my heart. Warmth spread through my body and I was unable to fight the grin that pulled on the corners of my lips.
He said he would be lost without me, but it was the complete opposite.
My life would be nothing without Oliver Hart.
I settled back into my seat, and Oliver turned up the music as he drove us farther away from town. My eyelids fell shut at some point. When I opened them again, we were pulling up a stone driveway. The gravel was loud under the tires as we entered the parking lot and found a spot. Sitting up straighter in my seat, I looked out the window, and saw the glistening water of the lake.
“Stillwater Lake?” I questioned him as I turned back to look at him.
Oliver turned off his car and looked at me. Mischief danced in his eyes and a ghost of a smile played on his perfect lips. “Are you ready to drive a boat?”
I glanced out the window at the boat rental shop before looking back at my best friend. “Hell yes.”
He abandoned me in the car as he hopped out and slammed his door shut. He moved at lightning speed, opening my door before I had the chance to do so myself. I looked up at Ollie as he pulled it open and held out his hand to me. My breath caught in my throat and I had to remind myself to breathe, as I slid my hand into his.
His palm was warm against mine, his fingers fitting perfectly between my own. “We’ll grab your bags after we get the boat.”
“Okay,” I whispered, not fully trusting my voice. My brain was being torn in two different directions. I was hyper aware of how close he was and focused on how our hands felt pressed together. I was also stuck in manual breathing, having to remind myself to take a breath. He seemed to have that effect on me lately and suffocating never felt this good before.
Oliver led me to the small shop and pushed open the door, holding it open for me. The bell that hung from the top of it rang as we stepped inside. “Do you want any snacks to take with us?”
“I’ll be right with you,” a gruff voice called out from somewhere in the back.
I looked up at Oliver, shaking my head. “I’ll be okay. Maybe we can find somewhere to get lunch on our way home?”
“That sounds like a perfect idea,” he said grinning down at me.
We walked past the aisles that had some dry grocery items before we reached the front counter. A guy stepped through the door behind the counter with a grim look on his face. He looked to be in his early twenties—tall and tan with an athletic frame. His dark brown hair was a mess of tousled waves that hung just above his eyebrows, a contrast to his clear blue eyes.
“What can I do for the two of you?”
Oliver shifted his weight on his feet. “I called yesterday evening about renting a boat for a few hours. It should be under Oliver Hart.”
The guy turned his attention to the computer on his right. I watched him as he clicked the mouse a few times and his eyes scrolled the screen. “Yep. It’s right here and I see you already prepaid. I just need your ID to scan it and for you to fill out some paperwork before I can let you take it out.”
“Perfect,” Oliver responded to him as he reached into his back pocket with his free hand. He let go of mine momentarily as he pulled out his ID and handed it to the guy. I stood there silently as he filled out the paperwork while his ID was being scanned. I didn’t want to make it known I was going to be the one driving the boat since I still hadn’t even gotten my driver’s license. There’s no way they would legally let me drive a boat with only a learner’s permit.
“All right,” the guy said as he tossed the paperwork onto the other side of the counter. “I’ll take you out to the boat and get you set up.”
Oliver and I followed him out the back door. Realization dawned on me and I halted as soon as my sneakers hit the gravel. Oliver stopped beside me and gave me a questioning look. “What’s wrong?”
“My bags,” I murmured softly, not wanting to draw too much attention to us since the guy didn’t even notice we stopped.
“Shit,” Oliver muttered. “I’ll go get them and meet you down by the boat if you wanna follow him down to it.”
I nodded, and Ollie quickly broke out into a jog, heading back to the car. My eyes traveled over to where the guy was and I began to walk after him. He wasn’t walking very fast and there was a slight limp in his left knee with every step he took. It piqued my interest. Given that he was relatively young, it took me off guard.
It didn’t take me long to catch up to him. As I fell into step beside him, he looked down at me before looking behind me. “Where’d your friend go?”
“He went to get our things from the car,” I told him, and he nodded. Curiosity had its claws in me and I was suddenly intrigued by this guy. Given my own disabilities, whenever I met someone else who fell under the same umbrella, I was always curious. “What’s your name?”
He turned his gaze back in front of him as we continued to walk toward the docks. “Vaughn,” he replied gruffly.
“Are you from here, Vaughn?” I asked, attempting to make small talk. I didn’t know what was taking Ollie so long, but I wasn’t going to stand here in silence with this stranger. The least I could do was get to know him.
“Yes and no.” He shrugged. “My hometown is a few hours away, but my parents have a house here on the lake and own the shop.”
“That’s pretty cool,” I told him, smiling as we stepped onto the dock and walked over to one of the boats. “Oliver and I live about forty-five minutes away, although I’ve never actually been here before.”
Vaughn stared at me for a moment, as if he was studying me. I expected some sort of judgment from him, but there wasn’t a single drop that lingered in his eyes. Just a simple look of curiosity. “It’s like a slice of heaven here. I hope you enjoy your time out on the boat.”
“I hate to ask this…” My voice trailed off as I paused for a moment, shifting my weight nervously on my feet. I lived a life of having to take every precaution possible and the thought of being out on the open water had me a little nervous at the moment. “If there happened to be an emergency, how long does it usually take for responders to get here?”
I heard Ollie’s footsteps as he caught up to us. Vaughn already had the boat pulled out with the engine running while we were waiting for Oliver to return. I glanced over my shoulder, flashing him a small smile. He was quick on his feet, with all of my bags in tow.
“Are the two of you planning on moving onto the boat?” Vaughn asked, but there wasn’t any humor in his voice. He was definitely different from most people I had met in my life. Usually, I received sympathetic stares or people simply would avoid looking at me. Vaughn was the opposite. He seemed to lack a filter and wasn’t afraid to look.
“These are all of her medical supplies,” Ollie offered, his voice quiet as his gaze flashed to mine. He took the liberty of speaking for me, but I couldn’t be mad. It could potentially be a liability if something happened and the owner of the boat wasn’t aware. “It wouldn’t be smart of us to not bring them.”
“Of course.” Vaughn nodded, his lips terse. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me.” He stopped for a moment, his crystal blue eyes flashing to mine. He inched closer as Oliver was loading my bags onto the boat. “Usually takes EMS about five to ten minutes to get here.”
I stared at him, silent for a second. Emergency medical services would be helpful, but they wouldn’t be who we really needed in the event of an emergency. “What about ALS?” I questioned him. Advanced life support.
Vaughn’s jaw clenched and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “About the same amount of time.”
“Thanks.” I nodded, offering him a small smile. “Can’t be too prepared, right?”
A harsh laugh slipped from him. “I wish I would have been more prepared. Wouldn’t have had a knee injury that ruined my entire hockey career.”
I wanted to ask him more about what happened to him, but that would have been rude. My mother had taught me better than that, and after all the weird looks I had gotten in public, I knew better. It wasn’t my business, and Vaughn was merely a passing character in the story of my life.
“You ready, Luna?” Oliver questioned me from where I was standing on the dock. I turned around to face him, a smile on my lips. Vaughn’s footsteps grew quieter as he left the two of us to our little adventure.
I climbed onto the boat and headed over to my best friend. “I was born ready.”
“Yeah, I doubt that.” Oliver laughed, as he innocently pulled me onto his lap. “I’ll drive the boat out to the center of the lake and then you can take over.”
I could feel his warmth beneath my legs and it was seeping into my soul, mixing with the marrow in my bones. Oliver was everywhere and I was consumed by him. His scent invaded my senses and I closed my eyes, feeling his arms around me as he grabbed the steering wheel to the boat. It just felt right—like this was exactly where I belonged.
We were best friends, but he was more than that to me.
He would always be more to me…