Chapter 21
Two drinks and a shared beer cheese pretzel later, Lucy and I finally make our getaway from the group.
“What’s with the towers?” I ask, squinting into the setting sun behind one of the wooden structures. “Do people really get lost in this thing that they need lookout posts?”
“It’s a fifteen-acre field and they say it takes about an hour to complete. So… yes.”
We pass through the pennant flag lined queue—the little orange and gold and brown triangles bouncing lightly in the breeze—and approach the first cornstalks. Just steps inside the entrance, the path splits in two directions.
“What do you think?” I turn to Lucy.
She tips her head, considering. Then crosses in front of me, shooting a sly smile over her shoulder, and moves towards the left. “I think we go this way.”
I think I’d follow her even if I knew each choice resulted in a dead-end.
The maze curves as we make our way deeper into the field, stretching onward. It seems she’s chosen correctly to start, which only spurs her on. I have to make a point to quicken my steps to keep up, trailing one or two behind as she moves with determination and focus. I don’t want to disturb that.
When she realizes it, she stops walking and turns to face me.
Her fingers find the cable knit pattern of her sweater, fidgeting with the hem that hangs so low that it’s nearly as long as her short, pleated skirt beneath. She looks adorable.
“Sorry.” She’s blushing. “I got a little excited.”
“Here I was worried that you just wanted to keep some distance between us.” I smirk.
“I don’t need distance.” Her voice is small, as if she’s testing the words. As if she can’t quite believe they’re true.
Taking a step closer, I reach out and brush her bangs from her eyes, making that slight part in the middle like she does, and letting my finger trail over her temple before slowly pulling away once more. Her long lashes flutter as she blinks up at me, her eyes shining beneath them.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard in some time,” I assure her. “I want to know you, Lucy. More than I want to see this town.”
“Oh.”
“Is that okay?”
Her mouth curves into a delicate smile. “Yes, it’s okay.”
This feels like a huge victory. Something earned.
But it’s hopefully just the beginning.
I look at her and try desperately to think of something, anything, witty or suave to say. But nothing comes to mind at all as she bites her lip—other than the distinct urge to know how she tastes.
“Maybe we should keep going, we’ve got quite a few acres left to cover,” Lucy suggests, her attention flitting down the dirt path before us.
“Together this time?” I hold out my arm to her.
Dainty fingers curl around my bicep. “Together.”
“Another dead-end?” Lucy sighs with her whole body as we turn the corner and run into a wall of corn. “I thought we’d be better at this.”
A laugh tumbles from me. “Do you think we’re past an hour? Are they going to go up in the watchtower for us?”
She turns to face me, her expression grave. “It is getting pretty dark. Soon we really might be lost.”
The sun is low in the sky, streaks of gold cutting through the tops of the stalks. In this light, I can appreciate the complexities of Lucy’s eye color. There’s a rich, walnut hue to them, with flecks of amber. They’re absolutely mesmerizing.
“Jake? How close do you think we are to the end?”
This time, I notice that her voice waivers.
“It’s okay,” I assure her quickly, reaching out and rubbing my hands up and down her arms. “We’ll get out before dark.”
“What if we’re only like… halfway? All horror movies have cornfield scenes at night.”
“So does Field of Dreams,” I point out, hoping to get a little smile from her.
Not only do I get a smile, I get a laugh too.
“I’m not sure I would feel better if a bunch of dead baseball players started coming through the corn at us.”
She leans into my touch, so I wrap an arm around her and fold her into my embrace. Her temple settles against my collarbone, fitting against me like she belongs there.
“Do you really want me to get you out of here right now?” I ask softly. “I can.”
“How?” Her question is muffled by my sweater.
I jab my thumb back at the watchtower over my shoulder. “See how close that thing is?”
She looks up. “Yeah?”
“We make our own path to it.”
Lucy gasps. “We can’t do that.”
“Are you the kind of girl that follows every possible rule?” I grin down at her, fiddling with the knit of her sweater.
“Without rules, life would be chaos.”
“Haven’t you ever broken one that didn’t quite make sense?”
She gives me a look that says I should know better than to ask such an outlandish question.
“Luce,” I drawl. “Will you do me the honor of breaking this rule together?”
The wind rustles through the field around us while she thinks about my proposal. Still tucked against me, I can feel her body shiver in response.
“Yeah, get me out of here,” she mutters.
I don’t hesitate, turning to face the wooden structure acting as our guide, and tucking her in behind me. “Stay close.”
Her palms press against my back. “Okay, let’s go.”
Trying to move with minimal disruption of the stalks, I head in a straight line towards a guaranteed end to this field. If I don’t send them bending in the opposite way, they don’t fling back at Lucy.
But she doesn’t seem to mind my careful pace, staying so near, her hands remaining firmly set just beneath my shoulder blades.
“What if someone is up in the lookout post and catches us?” she whispers.
“No one is up there, I promise.” My eyes are set on the tower, guiding our path.
“If we get kicked out of Pumpkinville—” she cuts off her own thought with a snort. “How silly does that sound? I finally break a rule and become the person that got kicked out of Pumpkinville. That’s something that would happen to a teenager.”
I stop just steps from the edge of the field and turn to face her. “Every hardened criminal has to start somewhere.”
A light laugh escapes her, and I feel a smile pull across my face in response.
“No one can know about this,” she tells me, leaning forward and poking me square in the chest.
“It’s our little secret.” I feel a thrill that we have a secret. Something that’s just mine and Lucy’s.
She nods. Her hand slowly drifts back down to her side, and I want to reach for it, to keep this closeness going.
“Ready to get out of here?” I ask instead, noticing the fading light around us.
“Yeah, but you go first, just in case.”
I take her hand and step backwards out of the cornfield. After looking either way and noticing no one around, I pull my arm, and Lucy, in towards myself.
She stumbles over a low husk and lands in my arms. Holding my breath, I wait for her to pull away without the privacy of the maze around us. But she doesn’t.
Instead, her hands settle on my abdomen, and she looks up at me with relief in her eyes. “Thanks for getting me out of there, I was starting to worry.”
“I’ve got you, always. We’re partners in crime now,” I assure her, wrapping my arms securely around her waist.
And this time when her mouth quirks into that secretive smile, I’m in on it.