Ella's POV
“But honey, I think this will be an amazing opportunity for you. I’d hate to think that you’d miss out on spending the entire summer with your track team.” My mother had been constantly badgering me about going to the lake this summer from the second she’d learned I wasn’t all too interested in going.
Okay, so maybe all too interested was an understatement.
I’ve ALWAYS hated the lake and everything pertaining to it, like spiders, snakes, and the outdoorsiness of it in general. Let’s just say I've had a number of bad experiences there.
So, taking all of this into account, my summer looked like it would be complete hell on earth.
I sighed inwardly. “Mom, you know I hate the-“
The sharp ringing of our phone interrupted my complaint. I grudgingly got up and checked the caller ID. Keira.
My mother gave me her trademark we’ll discuss this later look and walked off, grabbing her second trademark cup of chamomile tea.
I picked up the phone and was greeted with a chorus of, “Oh em gee! Oh em gee!” I distanced the phone away from my ear for a moment to ascertain whether or not I would have to go to the hospital for eardrum damage. I gingerly placed the phone back up to my ear and whispered tentatively, “Keira?”
Keira’s shrieks could be heard all the way in Texas. “Guess what? You’ll never guess what I just learned! But guess anyway!”
Before I could reply, Keira started back in with a, “Holy…! He responded to me! I can’t believe he actually responded!”
“Keira!” I said, exasperated. “Can you please tell me what in the world you are freaking out about?”
I could almost see the smile erupting on Keira’s pretty face. “Lane Carter. That is what I’m freaking out about. Lane freakin’ Carter!”
I lay down on my bed, flexing my freshly painted toenails. I liked the blood red nail polish, but I thought the violet looked better; it did wonders for my complexion.
“ELLA! What are you doing? Respond!”
I laughed out loud and said, “Who’s Lane Carter?”
For a second, I thought she had hung up on me. Then I realized Keira was stunned into silence. “You don’t know who Lane Carter is?” I
thought about it; the name sounded vaguely familiar, but I still wasn’t sure. “…Is he a singer?”
I could literally here Keira’s forehead slap. “No, he’s this really hot and funny guy who does vids and stuff with his hot best friend Ryder.” She said it like, duh. “AND he responded to my comment! I can’t believe it!”
“Oh, excuse me for not knowing who this amazing guy is,” I rolled my eyes, letting the sarcasm flow thick in my voice. “And who cares if a semi-famous internet guy responds to your comment? Anybody can get famous on the fickle internet.” I rolled my eyes.
“Wow, Elle, if I wasn’t so elated right now, I would be chewing you out.” I sputtered, wondering if she was serious. Keira could hardly beat up her brother. And he was five, whereas she was seventeen.
I decided to appease her though and attempted to sound mildly interested when I asked, “Is he on Tumblr or something?”
“YES! That’s how I found out about him, you loser! Go! Go look him up!”
“So, let me get this straight: you call me at 9:30 PM just to tell me about some hot dude and his friend who make videos and responded to your comment.”
“No! Well, yes but not really!” “Dude, get to the point, okay? I gotta get off in like five.” “Lane and Ryder live at a lake.”
“So?”
“The lake.Lake Wabunsee.Thelakethattheentiretrackteamisstayingthissummer!” Keira had gotten so excited that her words started to get jumbled together.
“Whoa, whoa. Serious?”
“Dead, man. Dead.”
I mulled this information over, wondering if maybe this summer wouldn’t be as hell-ish as I’d once thought. “Thanks for the info, Keira. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Make sure and look him up, okay?”
I laughed and reluctantly agreed. After I hung up, I immediately got on my blue and green laptop. I’d gotten my laptop as a gift last Christmas and had since then fallen in love with it. That is, until I’d spilled juice on it and had to have it fixed. Don’t get me wrong, it was still nice, but whenever I opened it I caught a faint whiff of apple juice.
I logged into Tumblr, smiling at my username, movealongreject, and went looking for this so-called internet hottie, Lane Carter.
All in all it took me about two minutes to find him, and I had to admit he was good-looking. But something about him just automatically repelled me. I watched a few of his and Ryder’s videos, also realizing that his friend was smokin’ as well. But I couldn’t bring myself to like these guys. They were obviously cute and generally witty, even if it was dumb boy humor, but they were overly confident. They were too cocky. Way too cocky.
After about five videos I couldn’t stand it anymore. They made me physically ill. I knew I wasn’t being entirely fair and they were probably really nice guys, but I had to stop.
I shut my laptop down and flung myself back onto my amazing waterbed, feeling a new sense of dread. Not only did I have to deal with the outdoors, but two potentially obnoxious teenage boys.
I buried my face in the pillows and screamed.
