Alex and Matt waited for me.
The party, which started in the kitchen and family room, where Kristy’s parents were, spread to a wide double-level deck, then spilled out on the lawn below, ending at the dock on the creek. Music blasted from the deck and groups of kids sat on blankets in the grass. It was all pretty laid back.
When Alex and I stopped to talk to some kids on the deck steps, Matt moved on with Sophie and Kristy. Alex introduced me to a guy and girl who had camped in Colorado and loved white-water rafting as much as I did, and after that, a girl who worked for a vet and wanted to be one. It would have been a great party if I hadn’t had so many strange ideas and questions running through my mind — and if it hadn’t been Kristy’s.
“You’re frowning,” Alex observed, his eyes following mine.
I was watching Kristy. “You’d think she was Sophie’s best friend,” I said indignantly. “But I know what she’s doing.
She’s using Sophie, and then she’s going to ditch her. All Kristy wants to do is flirt with Matt.”
“That’s all a lot of girls want to do,” Alex replied with a smile. We walked down the hill toward the creek. “How about you?”
“How about me what?”
“Are you interested in Matt?” he asked.
“He’s my cousin.”
“Sort of,” Alex reminded me.
My laugh sounded fake. I quickly changed the subject.
“Want to go out on the dock?”
“You’re asking me? The closer to the water, the better,” he said.
We walked to the end, about thirty feet offshore. The dock’s pilings were lit with small lights that drew lavender circles on the dark water.
I asked Alex about catching crabs, about how you chicken neck and set a trot line, the things that Sophie had mentioned.
“You and Sophie really hit it off,” he observed, sounding happy about it.
I nodded. “I’ve known her only a couple days, but it seems like we’ve always been friends.”
I couldn’t believe that had popped out of my mouth.
Coincidence, I told myself; you’re reading into things.
“She can be the best friend in the world,” Alex replied fervently, then gazed in her direction.
She and Matt were standing by a table beneath a string of colored lanterns. Sophie talked and Matt bent his head, smiling, listening intently to her. For a moment I wondered what it would be like to have Matt smiling at me, as entranced as he seemed right then. I snuffed out that thought. Sophie was interested in Matt, and if the two of them got together, it would be the best thing that could happen.
At that moment Kristy moved in. Talk about rude! There were three guys standing close by, waiting to help her set up food, but apparently it was Matt’s help that she wantedMatt’s attention.
Alex threw his head back and laughed. “Megan, if you were a cat, your back would be arched and your fur standing on end.”
I grimaced. “My father says I wear my heart on my sleeve.”
“No, just your thoughts,” Alex replied softly. “It’s pretty easy to guess what you’re thinking. But your heart, you keep that hidden.”
“Sometimes even I’m not sure what’s there,” I admitted.
He smiled and gave me a friendly hug. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s okay.”
When Alex let go, I saw that Matt was staring at us.
“Hey, they’re putting out food,” Alex said. “Stay where you are. I’ll get some and we’ll have a picnic out here.”
“Great!”
He started off and I turned away from the party to gaze out at the creek. With a late-rising moon and no street lamps nearby, the stars were brilliant. Close to the dock the water rippled, then lay quiet again, hiding the creatures that moved beneath its surface. The darkness was beautiful; the secrets it held, enticing.
A few minutes later I heard Alex coming back.
“I wish I could visit here in the summer,” I said, “and swim in the creek at night.”
“Do you?”
I turned around quickly when I heard his voice. “I thought you were Alex!”
Matt gazed long and hard at me. “He’ll be back. I came out to let you know that Sophie is having a good time, so you can stop worrying. You can stop watching her.”
“I guess I’m being obvious.”
“I told you I’d look out for her,” he said.
“I’m glad she’s having fun. She’s really nice and really pretty and, uh, Matt, mind if I give you some advice?”
“You’re going to anyway.”
“I know you’re like-well-the main heartthrob of your school.”
His expression changed. He seemed surprised, then amused. “Really,” he said.
“I know you can have any girl you want.”
“I can? I wish someone had told me that before. Any girl?”
He took a step toward me. We were standing close, too close, but I couldn’t step back-there was no dock left behind me. “Anyone at this party?”
“Well, just about,” I told him.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “A moment ago there weren’t limits.”
“Don’t be greedy. My point is, there’s Sophie.” I gestured toward the shore, but he kept his eyes on me. “She likes you. She’s gorgeous-1 mean you must have noticed yesterday at the shop.”
“I can see.”
“Obviously, Kristy is, too. Gorgeous, I mean.”
He tilted his head to one side, frowning.
“The point is Sophie is not only pretty, like some girls, she is also nice, friendly, sweet, and-”
“Not my type,” he said.
“And,” I continued, undeterred, “she doesn’t have a mouth.”
His gaze dropped down to my mouth. I glanced to the side. When I looked back, he was still gazing at me, his eyes dark and mysterious as the creek. His lips parted slightly. He looked so long and so steadily at my mouth, my cheeks burned and heart pounded. I felt his eyes making my lips soft. I felt as if his eyes were kissing me.
“Not like yours,” he agreed, then turned and walked back to shore.
For the rest of the party I was careful not to look at Matt and Sophie, but Alex picked up where I had left off. I wondered if he was becoming interested in his best old friend. The ride home was awkward, our conversation mostly dumb cracks about Kristy’s house. After dropping off Alex and Sophie, Matt and I rode in silence.
I was aware of his every movement, the way he shifted in his seat, how his hand rested on the steering wheel. Why did I respond to him so strongly? Even when Matt was his most obnoxious, the day I met him, his eyes had cast a spell on me. Had we once been in love? Was I falling for him a second time?
At home I thanked him for the ride and headed for the refuge of my room.
Having slept little the night before, I drifted off as soon as I lay down. When my eyes opened again, the sky was beginning to lighten. I heard the chime of the clock on the stairway landing and counted the hours-five, six, seven-l turned over-eight, nine, ten-couldn’t be-eleven, twelve, thirteen. Silence.
My digital alarm read 5:00 A.M. I listened for a moment, then climbed out of bed and tiptoed to the door of my room.
Opening it, I saw the stairwell was lit from below. I crept down the steps to the landing and gazed at the clock’s pale face. Its hands pointed to a few minutes after midnight. In the window above the numbers, the picture of the moon was halfway up.
Using the key, I opened the glass door that protected its face. Though I could hear the clock ticking, its hands
