Lingering Echoes (18 page)

It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. I stood up, dusting off my pants. “Nick was just showing me how to make a better fire.” I ignored Nick, who whipped his head
around to look up at me. Dad observed me with a doubtful expression, though he remained silent.

Clara’s voice was full of surprise.
“Really? Nick, I had no you idea you knew—”

“Yep,” I continued
, drowning out her comment. “He’s a natural.”

The hardening expression on Nick’s face backed down. He looked at me
curiously, with a hint of appreciation.

I smiled back at him. I wasn’t about to rat him out that he knew nothing about building fires, or worse, that I had discovered a
soft side to him. Those were two very sure ways to destroy any man’s ego.

Dad
’s smile outweighed my own as he watched the two of us standing side by side. “Well, now, it’s certainly nice to see—”

“Nice to see the fire up and ru
nning,” Aaron interrupted, striding over to us with a griddle and a bowl of pancake mix. “Who else wants breakfast?” He placed the cast-iron grill on top of the fire and then laid the griddle on top of it.

I exchanged a grateful smile with him
as the attention diverted to everyone’s empty, growling stomachs. Aaron paused long enough to wink at me, and then he poured four circles of batter onto the griddle. We all watched them bake with hungry anticipation.

Aaron jumped and spiked the ball. It shot down like a bullet, nailing the sand between our front-row opponents.

“Nice, one, Aaron!” Brooke called out, rubbing sunblock on her legs. She was sitting on her towel, fifteen feet outside of our makeshift volleyball court. Having been hit in the head with the ball, she opted to play cheerleader on the sidelines instead.

Nick, Aaron, and I were teamed up against the three guys standing opposite the net.
It was our serve. Randy, the guy in red board shorts, tossed me the ball.

“Fourteen serving twelve.
Game point,” I informed, lobbing the ball in the air. I hit it with my right palm, watching it sail over the net. The two other guys, Ben and Grant, bumped and set the ball, positioning it for a perfect spike. Randy jumped and smacked the ball, sending it hurtling between Aaron and me.

“Got it!”
Nick called as he dove. He fell to his knees and hit the ball high into the air with his outstretched hands.

“Nice!” I set the ball for Aaron. He slammed it down again. The kid named Grant scrambled to get
under it but failed. The ball sunk into the sand. That was game.

“That was a sweet
dive there, Nick,” I complimented, wiping sweaty sand from my forehead.

“Yeah, I know,” Nick agreed
in playful arrogance, making a show of brushing sand off his shoulders. “Nothing a little skill can’t handle.”

“Like it was all you,” Aaron interjected. “Did you even see the spikes I laid out there?”

I pushed past the two of them towards Brooke. “So much for teamwork,” I mumbled.

“How’s the hea
d?” I asked Brooke.

She scoffed at me. “Don’t even start. I don’t know why anyone likes volleyball, anyway.
It’s practically a broken nose waiting to happen.” She tossed her hair. “Besides, it took two showers this morning to get the campfire smell out of my hair and every pore of my body. Why would I want to break a sweat and have to get ready all over again?”

I was pretty certain breaking a sweat would not be the case in any
game she played, but I kept my opinion to myself.

Aaron jogged over to us. “Allie, you ready? They have two more friends that want to play, so we’ll go four on four.”

I noticed the boredom on Brooke’s face. “Why don’t you go ahead without me?”

Aaron appeared bummed and
about to complain.

“Besides,” I continued, “you and Nick both know who the real star of the game is.
So I just thought I’d sit this one out and give the other team a fighting chance.”

He laughed.
“All right, all right. How about you, Brooke? Ready for one more shot?”

She sparkled
at him. “No, I’m good. It’s more fun to watch you play.”

Despite the competitive
game in front of me, my attention drifted along the shore of the lake. I continued skimming beyond my favorite climbing tree, and through the line of trees that hid the river.

“You’re not going to find him,” Brooke’s voice informed.

“What are you talking about?”

“Damien. I’m talking about Damien.” Brooke pressed her lips together into thin line of concern. “Loo
k, I’m not trying to be mean, but it’s been three days. Don’t you think if he really cared about you, he would have shown up to talk to you about it?”

I
fumbled with the drawstring of my board shorts. Her words hurt, but I couldn’t be mad at her for voicing my own conclusions. Why hadn’t he come to see me? Was what we had not worth saving?

I recalled last night’s conversation with Aaron up on the hill. My confessed fe
elings about Damien were real—I was connected to him. He did fit differently into my skewed view of relationships. He broke the mold. But perhaps it was one sided. I pinched my eyebrows together, confused all the more.

“Allie, I’m sorry. I hate seeing you miserable. I just worry that maybe you’ve put too much of your heart on the line for this guy.”

My eyes flew to her face, flawlessly made up as usual. “I’m not like you, Brooke. I can’t just fall for any guy that walks across my path.” I winced the instant the words left my mouth, putting my head in my hands and apologizing.

Brooke
shook off my insult. “I’m not trying to squash how you feel about him. But there are so many other guys out there. Why settle for one that already has a huge black mark against him?”

I thought about what she was saying. In a way, perhaps she was right. Damien wouldn’t be the last guy I was going to meet. Anything I developed with him would
be all for naught, right? I was going to college in the fall and could forget all about my summer.

I swallowed a sigh,
reality kicking in once again. Damien didn’t interfere with my theory of ever-failing relationships after all. How could I have made the mistake of believing otherwise? I turned my head when I heard Brooke sigh, noting the closed smile on her face. Her eyes were glued to Aaron.

“Allie, he is so adorable, isn’t he?”

“Um, yeah, I guess. How’s—how’s that going, anyway?”

“Well, he hasn’t kissed me yet, if tha
t’s what you mean. But he’s so sweet and attentive to me. Did you see how he carried me up that awful hill yesterday?” Her thoughts drifted into silence for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m thinking about going for it.” She turned to look at me. Her words caught me by surprise.

“What did you say?”

“Maybe I need to make the first move. Maybe even tonight.” Her mischievous smile twisted.

“Are you s
ure that’s a good idea?” I asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. It’s just more, uh, traditional to let it happen the other way around.” I wrestled with the thoughts flying around in my head. Why did I care if she kissed him?

She crossed
her arms across her chest. “What’s wrong with you? I thought you’d be excited for me.”

“No, I am. Sorry. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

“Well, it feels like you don’t want things to work out just because you and Damien aren’t working out.”

“Brooke, no.
That’s not...What I mean is, I’m sorry. My head is just a little fuzzy right now.” I forced an encouraging smile. “If that’s what you want to do, then yeah, definitely.”

Her
lips still pushed out in a tiny frown, but she said no more.

My attention was drawn to three guys sauntering over to us. Two were Caucasian
, while the shortest of the three stood out with his darker skin—perhaps a mix of ethnicities. They appeared around the same age as Nick and Aaron, and were all wearing board shorts and T-shirts. Looking at us, they whispered and laughed as they approached. Somebody whistled.

The one with the black, backwards hat on his head sidled up next to Brooke. He leaned down on his knees, his face turned towards her.

“Hey, there, gorgeous. You got plans tonight?”

Brooke smiled back at him, not shying away from his approach. “Well, I guess that all depends. What do you have in mind?”

I dug my elbow into her side, scowling at her. She flinched, but otherwise ignored me.

“And what about you?”
A long arm was thrown across my shoulders to accompany the mild whiff of alcohol on his breath. I faced the ethnic culprit, whose buzzed head rested right next to my face. “I must say, you have a fine pair of legs.”

I grimaced
and shrugged him off. Grabbing Brooke’s arm, I stood up. “We were just leaving.”

The third guy stepped in my way. He was the thickest of the thre
e, his black, sleeveless top showing off his bulk. “Going so soon?”

“Come on, now,” the guy with the hat said. “You at least got to come with us to the party tonight.”

“Yeah,” ethnic guy said. “Big gathering downtown. We’re hanging around here and driving down this evening if you want to come with us.” He shoved a small, yellow flier in our hands.

“No thanks.” I let the flier fall to the ground.

“Hey!” Aaron called from the volleyball pit. “Is there a problem?” He turned so he was facing us, his arms crossed along his chest.

The guys beside us looked him up and down with taunting smiles.

“If there was, what you gonna do about it, huh?” the one in the black shirt asked, puffing out his chest. Hat guy put his arm around his friend’s shoulders with a casual smile.

“No, no. T
here’s no problem. Isn’t that right, Rob?” He exchanged a meaningful look with him as he started to guide his friend away. “Don’t waste our time,” he said quietly to his friend. Then louder, he called out, “We’ll see you ladies tonight, yeah?” He smirked at us.

Brooke gave a small wave of her fingers and a teasing smile.

“Brooke, what are you doing?” I chastised, yanking her arm down. Aaron was oblivious to her behavior, still guardedly watching the guys walk away.

Broo
ke hushed her voice. “Relax, Allie. I was just having some fun. I had no intention whatsoever of going with them. It’s just fun to be in control and let them
think
I’m interested.”

“Yeah
, until you’re not in control,” I said. “Besides, what was all that talk about Aaron?”

“Oh, please!” she whispered back
, her eyes returning to Aaron. “I was just playing around. My interests and plans for Aaron still stand.”

Trying to
ignore the grating feeling inside my chest, I returned my attention to the volleyball game, watching the ball rally back and forth.

***

I lay on the couch, propped up with pillows behind my back. My eyes wandered outside the window, observing the post-dinner crowds still hanging around outside. The day had not been that eventful for me, other than playing a little volleyball. Now the evening was dragging on, feeling too quiet and empty in the cabin since Dad and Clara left that morning for a two-day excursion to Palm Springs. I yawned, feeling the effects of their early morning departure.

One of
Dad’s best friends owned a private plane and agreed to fly them from Columbia to the resort, as long as they could leave first thing in the morning. Dad and Clara were thrilled at the chance to get away on their own to celebrate their first anniversary. I was less than eager, seeing as how I was elected to drive the forty-minute stretch to the airport at five AM.

But then again, I was the one that encouraged them to leave in the first place.
Dad, in particular, was hesitant to leave Nick, Aaron, and me alone for two days, but after pointing out that I was about to be in college and didn’t need to be babysat anymore, they both agreed to go off and enjoy themselves. Besides, I, for one, didn’t like the idea of being in the same cabin during their first anniversary.

“You must have picked a real winner.
” Aaron’s voice disrupted my thoughts. He was coming from his room, where I assumed he and Nick had been shooting aliens and other villains of war. He pointed at my lap. “The book, I mean. You don’t seem too interested in it.”

I pushed myself up to a better sitting posi
tion,
Jane Eyre
lying closed on my lap. Remembering the last time someone had doubted the intrigue of Charlotte Bronte’s writing, I could almost feel the sunburn from that day when I fell asleep on the sand.

“What are you thinking about?” Aaron sat down
on the couch next to mine, facing my direction.

Damien. I’m always thinking about Damien.

“Nothing,” I murmured. “I’m just feeling a little out of it today.”

“Well, you know what always helps make my day?”
Aaron leaned behind the couch and picked up a hidden basketball. He grinned. “What do you say to a little game of one-on-one?” He palmed the orange ball with one hand, holding it in the air.

“Is basketball the solution to everything for you?” I asked, taking the ball from his hands.

He put a hand to his chin, mockingly pausing in thought. “Mmm, let me think. It’s fun, great for your health, develops friendships, and makes great analogies...Yep, just about everything.”