Without Paige

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Katy and I stood on the cabin's deck and watched as Trevor and Liam each set up five cups at the edge of the picnic table, cracking open can after can to fill them. Beyond them, just short of where the water of the lake touched the shore, Keith stood with two more cans in his hands, ready to throw them at the floating dock whenever the two of them made it that far.

It wasn't quite dark yet, but the sun had started to go down, and the sky was lit with orange and pink colours instead of the usual blue. I was looking up at the tree tops, where the sunlight was brightest, when Trevor yelled at Liam.

"I'm taking you down," Trevor said, nodding his head. "That ticket is mine."

"Please," Liam laughed, taking off his glasses and handing them to Keith. "The last time you tried this, you fell off the dock."

"Good thing I learn from my mistakes," Trevor grinned, cracking his neck. He stood so he was bent over the first cup, ready to grab it the moment Naomi told them to start.

Just a few paces away from them, Naomi was smiling, obviously finding it funny. She let the two of them stand waiting for a minute longer, and then she called out "Go!", and they leaped into action.

I watched as each of them chugged back cup after cup, trying their best to flip each one over when they were done. Liam was unnaturally good at it, getting most of them on the first try despite the fact he wasn't wearing his glasses. He was off towards the dock long before Trevor. As soon as he ran off, Trevor groaned, moving a little faster.

Liam jumped into the water and Trevor took off after him. When Liam reached the floating dock and began to climb, Trevor was still a ways back.

I leaned into Katy, "Only a guy would come up with something like this to settle an argument."

She laughed, "I bet you won't be surprised when I tell you it was all Trevor's idea. Which is funny, because he sucks at it."

I smiled, turning back to the dock. Trevor had pulled himself up the ladder, but Liam was already drinking the can that Keith had thrown at him, holding his head back to chug it. Just as Trevor caught the other, nearly dropping it when it hit his palm, Liam finished it, and then Trevor pushed him right off the back of the dock and cracked open his own.

Liam's limbs flailed, followed by the splash of his body hitting the water. I snorted, and just beside me Katy barked out a laugh. Miles came up on the other side of her and shook his head, taking a sip from the water bottle he'd been holding. Way out on the dock, Liam had recovered from being pushed and was on his way back to shoreㅡjust as Trevor finished the can and leaped into the water after him, nearly landing right on top of him.

Liam yelled out as Trevor yanked on his ankles, pulling him backward. I blinked, turning to Miles and Katy with a frown, "Are they... okay?"

"They're fine," Katy said, just as her brother said, "Probably not."

Trevor and Liam were both just a few steps away from the shore now, but they were in a full out brawl. One after the other, they pulled each other back and into the water. Finally, Trevor yanked hard enough on Liam's shoulders that he tumbled back, and he made a break for the shore. He fell onto the mud and grinned, despite the wetness of his clothes and the dirt that now covered his knees, he grinned, hands in the air.

"Ha!" He said, making his way up to the picnic table, where Rikki and Naomi had moved to sit. A trail of water followed him the whole way. "I win. That ticket is mine."

Liam came up after him, less happy but still smiling. He looked at Naomi and shrugged, "He beat me."

"You let him win," she accused, but relented. She sighed and turned to Trevor. "Shows on Saturday, but if you're even a minute late I'm going in without you."

"Please," he scoffed, ruffling his too-blonde hair with both his hands. Water shot off of the strands like bullets. "When am I ever late?"

A chorus of "all the time" came from nearly everyone around me, except for Keith, who seemed to almost always be quiet. When I looked back at him, though, he was smiling.

Katy turned away from the picnic table, leaning against the railing that lined the deck. She took a drink from the can in her hand and shook her head, "Liam let him win."

"How do you know?" I asked.

Miles was still looking over at them as he spoke, "He's been doing karate since he could crawl. If he'd really tried, Trevor wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Ah," I nodded, understanding.

"I'll be right back," Katy said, throwing the can she'd been holding into the plastic bag that Naomi had tied to the deck. It clanged against the others in it, loud enough that I winced at the sound. She disappeared inside, the screen door hitting the doorframe behind her.

Miles sighed, "I'm surprised your car made it up here."

"Honestly," I started, laughing, "me, too."

Down by the picnic table, Trevor and Liam were wringing out their clothes, as if it would make them any dryer. The two of them were soaked to the bone, and now that the sun had gone down and there was nothing to keep them warm, I doubted it'd be very long before they were shivering.

Beside me, Miles shifted, downing the rest of the plastic water bottle he'd been holding. I heard him crunch it up a beat later, moving to throw it into the plastic bag that hung from the railing with the rest of the empties. "So, how do you know my sister?"

I shrugged, "I... met her in the store."

"Ah," he nodded. "You hang out in Southport a lot, then? What's wrong with the beaches in the North?"

"There's nothing wrong with them," I said, and then swallowed. "I guess I just like Southport more."

He grinned, "I used to go to piano lessons up there, at a house up on the hill. Seemed like it was a lot of rich people and not a lot of anything else."

I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes, "A house up on the hill? You... It wasn't Mrs. Maron, was it?"

He turned to me and nodded slowly, "Yeah, it was. How'd you guess?"

"She lives four doors down from me." I said, shaking my head. "She tried to convince me and―" I paused, swallowing. "She tried to convince me to take lessons with her when I was a kid."

"No way," he laughed. "Small world."

"Very." I agreed, just as the screen banged behind us again and Katy emerged, holding another can in her hand. This time, beer.

She walked over to us and frowned, jumping up to sit on the railing. She looked at her brother and scowled, dangling the drink in his face, "We're out of palm bay. You didn't get enough."

He snorted, "That's what's left of what you got mom to give you last time we came out. I didn't bring any."

"Why not?" She frowned.

His eyebrows rose, "Because only one of us drinks them, and as far as she knows, you're not here right now."

Katy said nothing more, and she sipped at the drink in her hand and winced at the taste. I laughed, looking back out at the lake. With the sun gone and the moon still hidden behind the treetops, it looked more like a void then water. A pit with a floating dock in the middle of it.

I followed Katy and Miles back into the cabin, the rest of the group not far behind us.