Chapter 11
Marco stared at me with wide eyes. "You had to do what?!"
I looked down, embarrassed. We were walking to the lodge to get something to eat. "Yeah. It was totally awkward."
"Oh, wow. That must've been tough. I'm embarrassed for you."
We stopped, and I thumped him on the shoulder. "Thanks." We started walking again.
"So what happened after that?"
"I took a shower and went to bed. Thank God I didn't have any nightmares about it."
"I'll say. I don't think I'd ever be able to look my brother in the eyes ever again if I had to do that to him."
"I know! And it was super weird at breakfast. Neither one of us talked to anybody, and we sure as hell didn't make eye contact with each other."
We got to the steps behind the lodge, and I ran ahead to hold the door open for him. He smiled at me as he walked in. So worth it. We sat at the bar and looked at the menu. It was a giant markerboard that took up the whole wall. Almost everything was ice cream. There was soda, pizza, burgers, burritos, etc. there too, but it was nothing compared to all the options of ice cream.
The lady behind the counter smiled at us from the sink. "I'll be with you in just second."
Marco smiled and nodded at her before he turned to me. "What are you getting?'
I screwed up my face as I checked out my options. Mom had told us kids that we each had five dollars to use each day however we wanted, and even though that didn't sound like a lot, there wasn't anything to spend it on other than in the lodge. I actually planned on cashing out whatever I didn't spend and put it in my wallet.
"I don't know. What about you?"
"Um..." He tilted his head. "I think I might get... a caramel coffee freeze."
"Sounds good." I turned my attention to the milkshakes. One in particular caught my eye. I leaned farther over the counter. "Excuse me, what's the fire and ice milkshake?"
She looked up. "Oh, you choose one flavor from the board and we add a drop of this super hot sauce."
"Just one drop?"
She nodded knowingly. "One drop is enough, trust me."
I looked at Marco. He shrugged.
I turned back to the lady. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'd like a fire and ice shake with marshmallow, please." I looked to Marco.
The tops of his ears turned red. "I'll have a caramel coffee freeze. Please."
I turned to Marco when the girl turned to start making the ice cream. He looked at the counter. "I'm not good with ordering."
Something about the way he said it struck me as cute. I reached forward and lightly grabbed his fingers with my own under the counter. "It's okay," I said quietly.
He looked at me gratefully. Did he think that I was going to get upset at him?
Not long after, Marco got his coffee, and I got my fire and ice. I lifted some of the ice cream on a spoon to my nose and smelled it. It didn't smell out of the ordinary. I shrugged. Maybe it wasn't going to be that bad.
I was sorely mistaken. At first it just tasted like marshmallow, but then after maybe two seconds it hit me right in the throat and spread to my mouth. It was definitely hot. "Wow."
"How is it?" Marco inquired.
I took another bite, and it cooled off for about three more seconds before going back to its hella hot state. "Interesting. You wanna try some?"
He shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm not good with hot foods."
We left the lodge out front and started walking to the closed dock. Kids were already playing in the pool. I was never much of a pool person. I don't know why either. I guess it was just the thought of swimming in concrete hole filled with chemical water. It just wasn't appealing.
"Not good with hot foods, huh?" I asked.
Marco's face was solemn. "No. I'm a baby about that kind of stuff."
I laughed and bumped his shoulder with my own. Either I hit it harder than I thought I did or he was a lot lighter than I thought because he went sideways a good four feet. "Sorry," I said as I grabbed him before he flew off the deck. We kept walking. "Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."
He laughed. "It is! I start crying."
"Shit gets real when you cry," I said, mockingly serious.
He laughed again. "Not really. I'm just a baby."
"Yeah," I told him, laughing too. "A big freckled baby."
We both stared into each others' eyes, held hands, laughed, and skipped off the dock into the sunset to the sound of angels singing.
Just kidding, but that actually didn't sound like such a bad idea. Maybe we could actually do that but without the angels singing. Connie liked to sing. I was sure that I could bribe him to do it.
We sat down on one of the benches on the dock. Our shoulders almost touched. I made sure to sit on the left in case something happened with his eye, so he could still see me. "So what do you wanna do?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Whatever you want to do."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He peered back curiously. "You're very agreeable, aren't you?"
He smiled as an answer.
I sighed. "You don't have any preferences?"
He flashed yet another smile at me. I noticed that when he smiled, he did it with his whole face. It really suited him and his personality. How could one person be this happy? "Not really."
I noticed that he was done with his cone. I set my shake down by my feet. "Are those your swim trunks?" I gestured with my head.
He glanced down. "Yeah."
"Hold your breath." I pulled him up as I stood.
"Wait, what? Jean, what are you--"
I held him against me before I leaned to the other side of the dock. Marco gripped me tighter and started to say something before we both fell into the lake. I let him go, and we both rose to the surface.
I was peeling my shirt off when Marco said, "What was that for?" He sounded more shocked and freaked out than upset.
I threw my shirt onto the dock and looked him in the eyes innocently. "You said you didn't care what we did."
"Yeah, but-- I didn't mean-- You could've just asked if you wanted to swim!"
I shrugged. "That was much more exciting, don't you think?"
He sighed. "You aren't wrong..."
"'Course not!" I said, slapping him in the shoulder. I noticed his shirt was sticking to his torso. "Do you need help getting that off?" After I said it, I realized that it sounded better in my head.
His face turned red. "N-no."
"Wait, I didn't mean-- Nevermind. Forget I said anything." I turned around in embarrassment. Way to fuck things up, Jean. That definitely did not go well. It totally made me sound like I wanted to undress him, and that wasn't what I wanted. At least, I didn't think so. Okay, maybe a little, but only to... Ugh!
"Uh, Jean?"
I turned around again, hoping that my face didn't portray exactly what I'd been thinking.
Marco had the shirt around him in an awkward way. One of his arms was pinned to his side, the other was weirdly crunched up, and part of his face was covered up. "Help."
I laughed and moved to help him. "How did this even happen?" He opened his mouth to answer, but I cut him off. "I don't even want to know. You are just like a baby.
"I tried to tell you!"
I worked on fixing the shirt. It took a long time for one damn shirt, but we got it off eventually. He looked sheepish.
I felt that it was my obligation to rile him up even more. "That was a chore," I commented.
He laughed, still giving me that look that made me want to kiss all of his freckles. Was that weird? "But you helped me 'cause you're a nice person."
I tilted my head. That was new. "Nice person? Um, no. I think you have it wrong."
He smiled kindly. "I may be partially blind half the time, but even I can see that you're just a really nice person that cares a lot but pretends otherwise." He snagged my fingertips with his own. "That's okay though."
I laughed nervously, but gripped his hand anyway. He had actually hit the nail on the proverbial head. "What makes you say that?"
"Intuition."
His look was way too kind. I can't take this anymore. "Close your eyes."
He did.
I bit my lip, debating whether or not I should do what I really wanted to. I glanced around. Nobody seemed to be looking at us, but I was still a bit paranoid. I wasn't embarrassed to be wanting to kiss a guy, especially in this day and age. But it was still totally new to me.
"Um, Jean? Why are my eyes closed? Again? You aren't gonna throw my on the dock this time, are you?"
"No, but... Do you... Would you mind if I kissed you?"
One of his eyes opened slightly. A corner of his mouth tipped up. Was he getting amusement out of seeing me all hot and bothered? I thought he was supposed to be the nice one. He closed his eye again. "That'd be totally fine with me."
I let out a shaky breath. Just do it. "Hold your breath."
When I was sure that he was, I pulled him close to me and under the surface of the water at the same time so nobody could see any of the action if they were watching.
My eyes were already squeezed shut tightly--I didn't feel like having my eyes hurt from lakewater--but if they weren't then I would've closed them out of instinct. I found his face with my fingers and kissed him. It was only a peck, but the lake didn't seem quite so cold anymore.
We weren't kissing anymore, but he ran his hands up one of my arms to my shoulder then back down to my elbow slowly. It was driving me nuts. I used the hand that found his lips for me and ran the backs of my fingers across his cheeks.
He was still holding my hand when we surfaced. I didn't bother pulling away.
I looked at him and saw that he was blushing. I realized that I was too. He opened one eye and looked at me before closing it and covering his face with both hands. I felt like doing the same thing but opted for dunking under the water for a moment instead.
Get. A. Grip!
I surfaced and tried to say something, but a voice yelled out, "Marco!" The voice was coming from the shore, and it was Armin. God dammit, Armin. Not now!
"Yeah?" Marco yelled back.
"Mom wants us back at the cabin."
"Okay. I'm coming." He turned to me. "Sorry, I have to go."
"That's fine." That wasn't fine.
He turned to leave, and I grabbed his arm. "Wait."
He looked at me. "What is it?"
"Can you sneak out?"
He looked mildly panicked. "I guess, but what for?"
I gestured to the rowboats connected to the docks with ropes. "I wanna take one out tonight to see the stars since there won't be much light pollution. Will you come?"
He debated for a second before answering, "Yes. What time?"
"Midnight."
He smiled. "See you then, Cinderella."
For some reason, watching him walk away, my heart fluttered.
* * *
I wrote most of this on my phone, so I don't know how long it is. Hopefully long enough. =-) I had way more on this chapter when I had the laptop, but I figured that it was about time I posted something, and I remembered my short chapters idea. So here it is! I hope you enjoy!
--Shelby