You're Already Mine

Chapter Eight

15 June, 1:36am

Clover Hitchens xx: u awake

Cameron: yeah, watching nimona

Clover Hitchens xx: i've seen that before, it's so good! what part are you at?

Cameron: nimona and ballister are celebrating while the entire kingdom sees the footage of the director online

Clover Hitchens xx: i love that part lmao. Nimona disguised as a shark XD

Cameron: yeahh

2:45am

Cameron: tomorrow should we meet up at the coffee shop and then you could spend the day at the lodge?

Clover Hitchens xx: don't u mean today

Cameron: whatever lol. what do you say

Clover Hitchens xx: ofc!

Cameron: goodnight x

Seen 3h ago

I wake up at nine in the morning to Cocoa doing zoomies on my bed while Spruce lies obediently on the floor next to it. Once Cocoa realizes I'm awake, she speeds up and leaps toward me, and I laugh, scratching her ears.

Everyone else, I assume, is already downstairs, as the room is empty. My phone dings with a message from Clover: good morning <3

Excited, I hurriedly pick up my phone.

15 June, 9:54am

Clover Hitchens xx: good morning <3

Cameron: hello <3 what time should we do coffee

Clover Hitchens xx: anytime is good for me!

Cameron: awesome, be there in 10

Clover Hitchens xx: i'll beat you there lol

I smile, get dressed, and go downstairs. The little kids are in the playroom, the adults are asleep, and the older boys are making breakfast. I put on my new converse from the art boutique store and walk out the door with my wallet and phone. I decide to run there, so I turn on some music through my wireless earbuds, put my phone in the pocket of my hoodie, and start jogging.

After about ten minutes, I've reached the cafe, and exactly as Clover predicted, I find her sitting at a table in the back of the main room. I walk over to her, dodging tables I used to be a waitress for last summer.

"How on earth did you beat me here?" I ask as I disconnect my earbuds.

She shrugs, as if to say, it's a mystery.

I smile, take her hand, and lead her up to the counter. I order a maple bacon sandwich with a frozen hot chocolate, and Clover orders a raspberry scone and cappuccino. After getting our food, we walk back over to the table, sit down, and talk as we eat.

"So are there any things I need to know before moving here?"

Clover thinks as she sips her coffee. Placing it back down again, she says, "Well, it is pretty progressive, open and affirming, like Colorado, but even more so. I believe you know Maine is right by the ocean-"

"Obviously."

She smiles. "Anyway. There are a few national parks, like Acadia, and it is a touristy area so things can get a little expensive. I go to Mt. Desert Island High School, as it's the nearest one anyway, so you might be able to go there, too."

I nod and smile. "This all sounds really cool," I say with a laugh.

"Also, because we're right by the ocean, we don't get very cold winters. Like, the usual temperature range is fifteen to twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit."

My eyes widen. "Try forty-two point six!"

"I'm pretty sure the coldest winter in Colorado, like ever, was in 1985 when the temperature dropped to sixty-one below zero."

"Yeah, you got that right," I reply, taking another bite of my sandwich. After we finish breakfast, I lead Clover to the lodge. When we arrive, she just stares in awe of how big it is.

"Wow," she says.

"Yeah. Should we go inside?"

Clover smiles and follows me into the lodge. I show her around, introduce her to the family, and lead her up to my room at the end of the third-story hall.

"This is really cozy," she says, looking around at the fairy lights and fake vines.

My room is about twenty square feet, the door in the middle of one wall. There's a deep closet in the back right corner, with boxes in the back and a desk next to its entrance. On the left-hand wall, my black bookshelf is half-stuffed full of books and my twin bed is nestled in the corner. Vertical lines of fairy lights and fake vines adorn the open-space walls. There's a cozy alcove on the far wall, with beanbags, fur throws, and a window (with a comfy seat below it), a place where I like to draw and read.

"Please, feel free to sit anywhere."

Clover grins and I follow her to the alcove. We put our backpacks on the ground- mine is black with rose gold adornments, and hers is sky-blue with purple adornments. Clover takes a beanbag and I take the window seat. I can't help but notice how beautiful she looks today. She's wearing a black vintage denim jacket with a hood, gray marble leggings, and a dark gray turtleneck. Her wavy hair is free, cascading down her back.

I hear scratching and whining at the door. "Just a second," I say, getting up. I walk over to the door and let Cocoa in, who walks in slowly and gets on the dog bed in the corner by the door.

"So we're actually moving here next week," I say as I sit back down. I let Cocoa up on the seat and she lays down with her front paws on my lap.

"Really?"

"Yeah. My dad texted me that about an hour ago."

"Cool," she says, scratching Cocoa's ears.

We talk all afternoon, and have a big cookout with everyone in the backyard for dinner. That night, when everyone else is asleep, I lead Clover and Cocoa downstairs and out the back door, into the yard.

On the left side is a cluster of oak trees, with a small white fence behind them. There's a campfire pit with a few wooden chairs under a fly in the middle of the yard and a treehouse off to the right with a circle of blackberry bushes below it. Fireflies flit in and out of the bushes and flash around the yard. The stars and moon are clear because we're in the suburbs, and clouds slowly drift across the sky. The occasional chirp of crickets and frogs from the creek breaks the silence.

"Wow," Clover says, looking around. "This is beautiful."

I smile. "We come here every summer, and we're moving here soon," I remind her. "I love it here."

"Wow," she repeats.

"There's a path through the trees leading down to the beach," I say. "Wanna come?"

"Sure."

I lead her through the open space and show her the small path that goes through the berry bushes at the back of the yard. We follow the path for a few seconds and arrive at my special place.

If you follow the path, you would emerge through the bushes onto a secret beach. Sand stretches for about fifteen feet out to the water and around twenty feet across. It's guarded by berry bushes on either side, like a secret couch of nature, and trees stretch across the cove as though protecting it.

"This is beautiful," she says again.

"Like you," I reply with a grin, and she lets out a shy giggle.

We begin talking. I tell her how my parents are divorced, and I was the one protecting my siblings while my mom and dad fought. She tells me about her dreams, and even flirts with me a little, after comforting me. We look at each other, having the same agenda.

We lean in at the same time, and the second our lips touch, I feel alive, as though fireworks are going off all over my body. Her lips are gentle against mine, and I grasp her long hair, my other hand on the small of her back.

We pull apart, look at each other, and then she awkwardly leaves.