2. Archer
ARCHER
Age Fourteen
“I have a plan,” Allie says matter-of-factly, holding up an empty beer bottle by the neck.
“Hell yeah,” Zander hoots at the same moment Willow mutters, “Absolutely not.”
“Willow.” She deadpans. “Do you want to be kissed or not?”
“Allie,” Willow snaps back in a similar tone, crossing her arms and popping a hip. “There are only going to be like six of us. That’s a roughly thirty-three percent chance that when I spin the bottle, it lands on a cousin!”
“Ew.” My lip curls.
I almost want to advocate for this game, because that means there is a chance—however small—that I could kiss Allie. It also means that there’s a chance I’d have to watch Allie kiss someone else, and I’m not sure that risk is worth the reward.
“Oh my God.” Allie huffs, rolling her eyes. “Obviously if you land on a family member, you spin again. Have you never played this?”
“No, and neither have you,” Willow responds, and the two girls stare each other down like it’s the end of the entire world.
“Exactly!” Allie exclaims. “Life is for having new experiences. You proved my point.”
The party buzzes around us—our parents and their friends celebrating the holiday—but the four of us are in the midst of our own secret operation.
My aunt and uncle host a July Fourth party every year, but it’s always doubled as Allie’s birthday party since she was born on the seventh. This year, Allie, Willow, Zander, and I convinced our parents to let us camp on the beach in Celestia Cove.
We’ve already set our tents up in the sand and will head down there after dark, before the firework show put on by the Pacific Shores Harbor starts. A few boats head out to sea and light fireworks over the water, and the Graham property offers the perfect view.
The secret part of said operation is the infiltration of a few friends from school, since the explicit rule is that only the four of us are permitted to stay overnight in the cove.
Along with that, Allie is now attempting to coordinate a game of spin the bottle—supposedly to orchestrate Willow’s first kiss, whom she wants to have with a teammate of mine, Camden, but is too damn scared to make her own move.
Not that I have any room to talk. I’ve been wanting to kiss Allie for years now.
Luckily for us, my older sister, Lou, is visiting with her girlfriend, Livia, for the first time, and they’ve stolen all the attention from the adults in our family.
Lou is twelve years older than Zander and me and went to college in New York before landing a public relations position at the West Agency in Los Angeles last year.
Livia was a client of hers, but they’re dating now, and it’s her first time meeting our extended family—with the exception of Leo, who Livia trains with as an Olympic surfer.
Allie, Willow, Z, and I stand huddled together behind the garage where the music isn’t as loud.
My brother leans against the wall shoveling what I’m pretty sure is his fourth hot dog into his mouth.
My stomach grumbles at the sight. As a hockey player in the middle of his summer league, he’s no less exhausted and hungry than I am.
Even though I’m just an incoming freshman, my high school football coach has had me practicing with the varsity team every day.
I began working out with them as soon as school ended in June, and this past week I was asked to attend daily-doubles—a morning lifting session followed by afternoon practice.
They’re preparing me to be the backup quarterback for this season.
Today, we didn’t have a late practice, but I’m still sore from the workout this morning.
My body isn’t used to the amount of physical exertion high school football requires yet.
“You told me you want to have your first kiss tonight, and I’m just trying to be a good friend.” Allie pokes at Willow’s shoulder. “Since you don’t have the balls to tell Camden you like him yourself, this is what we have to resort to.”
“Honestly…” Z pushes off the wall, taking a final bite of his hot dog.
“Spin the bottle is a good idea because you think you like Cam now, but what if he’s a shitty kisser?
Better to find that out first, and that way, if it sucks, you don’t even need to let him down easy.
” He shrugs. “You can blame it on the game.”
Willow narrows her blue eyes before tossing her long, blond braid behind her shoulder. “Camden is not a bad kisser. You’re just taking her side so you have an excuse to kiss anyone you want.”
Z laughs. “I invited Sofie Rodriguez tonight, so she’s the only person I have my eye on, and I don’t need to resort to children’s games to get her to kiss me. I’m just tryna help you out, Willis.”
My cousin turns to me. “What about you, Archer?”
My eyes find Allie. She watches me curiously, and I wish so badly I could read the thoughts running through her head.
Is there a reason she’s so adamant about this?
Is she hoping it’s so she can kiss me, or someone else?
Camden and a couple of other guys from school are coming, but Allie doesn’t know any of them. She doesn’t go to school with us.
I can’t imagine she wants to kiss me though.
She could kiss me any time she wants, and she’s never tried. Allie isn’t shy like I am. If she wants something, she voices it. I’ve had a crush on her longer than I was capable of understanding what a crush is, but she’s never had one on me—I’m sure of that. She would’ve told me if she had.
She looks prettier than ever today—in a blue sundress with little bows on the shoulders, white flowers dotted across the fabric, and a pair of red sneakers.
Her thick curls are pulled half up into a bun behind her head, but a couple of ringlets frame her face, brushing her bronzed cheeks when the breeze picks up.
I can tell her eyes are pleading with me—I just wish I knew why.
“I don’t really want to kiss anyone,” I murmur. Anyone but Allie. “But I’ll play, I guess.”
Allie claps her hands together before throwing one arm around Willow and the other around me, huddling us in close.
Zander steps between Willow and me. “Okay…so here is the plan. We’ll wait until just before the firework show—start acting tired.
Yawn. Complain about how sore you are.” Allie eyes my brother and me.
“We’ll convince the adults that we’re just so tired we won’t have the energy to climb back up the steps after the show to say goodnight, and we’ll tell them that Camden and the rest of the kids are going home before the fireworks.
We’ll sneak them down to the cove during the show when our parents aren’t paying attention.
They’re all either drunk or high anyway, so they won’t want to come check on us. We’ll be golden.”
“You know they’re not just going to trust our judgment,” Willow says. “Someone is going to come check on us.”
“It’s too risky for me,” Zander agrees. “I cannot get grounded again this summer.”
Allie frowns.
“Wait…” Willow perks up, darting to the garage door and throwing it open.
She rummages around inside for a moment before returning with a small lantern in her hand.
“This is a motion-sensor light. What if we put it on the steps? That way, if someone is coming down, it’ll turn on when they pass.
That’ll give us time to hide everyone who isn’t supposed to be down there. ”
Allie lunges forward, taking Willow’s face between her hands and planting a kiss on her forehead. “My beautiful little mastermind.”
“Okay…but what if we spin the bottle and it lands on someone we don’t want to kiss? What if Camden spins it and it lands on another girl? What if it lands on you!” Willow gasps in Allie’s direction.
“It’s spin the bottle with a twist—What Are the Odds?” Zander says.
“What’s that?” Allie asks.
My brother smiles. “Let me demonstrate.” He turns to me. “Arch, what’re the odds you go up to Leo right now, put a hot dog in his mouth, then pat him on the top of the head and call him good boy?”
I snort. “One in six.”
Without taking his eyes off me, he snaps at Willow. “Count us down, Willis.”
“Three…” Willow begins. “Two… One…”
At the last second, my brother and I blurt out the exact same moment, “Four!”
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“See?” Zander turns back to Allie. “With each spin, the person the bottle lands on gets to set the odds for the spinner. If it’s someone you want to kiss, you can lower the odds, you can even say one in one.
If it’s someone you don’t want to kiss, say one in a million or something.
That way we can all focus on the people we actually want to make out with. ”
“What if I spin and it lands on one of your grubby-ass friends, and he wants to kiss me, but I don’t want to kiss him?” Allie frowns.
“Say zero.” Zander shrugs. “It’s like a loophole. Nobody ever says zero.”
She humphs.
My brother turns to me, shit-eating grin on his face. “Get doggin’, Archie.”
With a resigned sigh at the mess of my own making, I jog around the side of the garage and across the lawn, quickly finding my uncle rocking on the porch swing. Subtly, I grab a hot dog from the grill and a bun from the table beside it before making my way toward him.
Stopping directly in front of his knees, Leo slowly raises his head, taking on a perplexed expression. “Can I help you—”
I shove the hot dog past his open lips, and he immediately spits it out, gasping as I pat the top of his head. “That’s a good boy.”
“What in the fuck?” He coughs, watching the beef frank roll between our feet.
“Get out of here, you freak!” my mother snaps, swatting me off the porch and following me until I’m completely down the steps.
My brother is literally rolling around in the grass with laughter as Allie and Willow fall into each other, tears streaming down their cheeks.
“Weirdos! The lot of you!” Mom calls over the porch railing.
Thankfully, the prank disturbed them all so thoroughly that when we mention we’re heading down to the beach, they’re all too happy to be rid of us.