Chapter 23 #2
Thane wandered up and sat near the fire with his guitar, singing some Ed Sheeran song while all the girls swooned around him.
I watched him in his element, so relaxed and natural, his mouth curving happily around the lyrics.
He was beautiful—and not just because of his face.
It was the most authentic version of him that the public got to see, and it took my breath away.
Watching him from afar was the perfect viewpoint for me, until a girl named Isabel slithered up beside him and put her hand on his knee.
She smiled and harmonized along with him.
The ugly, green, envy-monster inside me wanted to launch itself over the fire and knock her off her stump into the dirt.
The rest of my vivid imagination played out a WWE-style smackdown, complete with a chair breaking over her back.
Not my proudest moment, for sure, so I decided to take my exit before I made good on my daydream.
I stood from my log, tossed my empty cup into the fire, and stepped away from the firelight.
But not before Thane’s eyes captured mine: dark, dilated—reflecting the fire between us.
The party sounds faded and my pounding heart beat at full volume in my ears.
Every synapse in my brain fired off simultaneously, making me want nothing more than to touch his skin and breathe his air.
The control I usually had over my emotions burned to ash like the logs in the fire.
So I forced a smile to hide how I ached and turned to leave.
He stopped mid-song. Then the all-too-familiar chords from “The Way You Look Tonight” vibrated under his fingertips, and I froze.
“Thane! Play a different song so I can sing along with you,” Isabel whined. “I don’t know this one.”
He sang the first few lines, drowning out the complaints of my new nemesis, and started walking toward me. “I’m gonna call it a night, guys,” he hollered over his shoulder between verses, and raced to catch up to me.
“What are you doing?” I asked when he reached me.
He slung his guitar over his back and put his arm around me. “Ruining Isabel’s evening because I’d rather hang out with you,” he said with a smile.
I looked back over my shoulder at her, standing with both hands on her hips and a very displeased look on her face. I wanted so badly to snap her photo and turn it into a jilted-admirer meme, but a mental picture would have to do.
“I don’t want to make you leave if you’re enjoying yourself,” I protested. “My social battery is just a bit drained and I need some quiet.”
He stopped on the trail. “Is that your way of telling me you want to be alone?”
“Definitely not. I’m just very particular about the company I want to keep tonight. But you, Thane Donnelly, are always on the VIP list.”
He pumped a fist in celebration. “So what’ll it be, then? Stargazing at the beach, or a movie night?”
I looked up. “I gotta go with the stars. Look at that sky—not a cloud in it. It’s begging to be admired.”
We found a few towels from our dock and smoothed them out on the sand. We lay shoulder to shoulder in the darkness, the waves and the crickets serenading us.
“T,” I whispered after a few minutes of silence between us, “why do you call me ‘Fina’ when everyone else in my life calls me ‘Sera’?”
“Because, Fina, I never wanted to be just like everyone else to you—especially not just Sebastian’s best friend. Eventually, I wanted to be your everything. At least, that was the plan.”
His voice trailed off and the stars blurred behind tears forming in my eyes.
I was rendered speechless and choking on the lump in my throat, so I responded the only way I could.
My hand dropped from my stomach, landing between us, and I reached for him with just my pinky finger.
His warm hand reacted to my touch, and his pinky rubbed against mine, sending a kaleidoscope of butterflies coursing through me.
Then, one by one, our fingers laced together, and his thumb caressed my knuckles.
I held my breath—waiting for the moment where the lights flickered on and the spell was broken.
But that moment never came. Instead, we kissed under the stars like we had all the time in the world.
When the crickets quieted down, we wandered back to the house.
All the lights were off, and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing no one waited up for us.
Thane carefully slid the door open, and we giggled under our breath when it squeaked and scared us both.
We headed toward the stairs, taking each one with ninja-like silence.
I let my confidence get the best of me when I made it to the top without one creak in the floorboards.
I cracked open the bunk room door and peeked inside.
Darkness enveloped the beds lining the walls and I motioned for Thane to follow.
“Where have you guys been?” Bash’s voice broke through the darkness from behind us on the loft couch.
He startled me so bad my soul nearly left my body, though I managed to mute my scream with my hands.
Thane and I whipped around.
“Hey, man! We were just out skipping rocks,” Thane said as nonchalantly as possible.
“In the dark?” Bash replied dryly.
“Well, no. It was still light outside when we started, but then we got to talking and lost track of time,” I add to the lie.
Bash’s eyes moved from me to Thane and back again. I faked a smile, and stepped toward the bathroom door. “I’m just gonna… go get ready for bed,” I said, and turned away.
Thane yawned. “Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.”
“Whatever,” Bash mumbled. “Just make sure you turn the bathroom light off when you’re done. I’m sleeping out here tonight because Jacob won’t stop snoring.” He threw the blanket back over himself and rolled to face away from us.
Thane and I threw a glance at each other and I tightened my lips to hold in a laugh. He gave me a knowing nod and smiled before disappearing into the darkness.
Reckless abandon. That’s what ignited within me that week.
I never realized that happiness grew wild between the big events in life.
Running hand in hand from prying eyes was far more memorable than the fireworks over the lake that year.
Sitting across from each other at the table and brushing bare toes, or “accidentally” touching as we passed, gave me more of a thrill than skiing behind the boat ever could.
We stole lingering glances from across the room, played cards on rainy days, and added “skipping rocks” to our long list of inside jokes.
Thane even picked the perfect skipping stone and gave it to me as a souvenir from the summer we fell in love. I carried it around in my pocket.
Until he left.
I knew I’d never be the same after I gave my heart to Thane Donnelly, but I had no idea how much things would change.