Via.
At the sight of him, she lifted an arm and waved.
The tightness in his chest eased. Maybe he should have gone to see her first. Would have saved a hell of a lot of exercise.
He held the paddle up in the air to return the gesture, and then thrust it back into the water and rowed to the shore.
“Don’t let Zac see you like this, he might convince you to join the school rowing team,” Via said as she held up his crutches, which had been lying on the shore, and walked toward him. Her hair was catching in the wind, sending long strands softly dancing around her face. Her gray eyes were bright and happy. He hauled himself out of the boat as she stopped inches from him.
“This was a one-off occurrence.” He tried not to fixate on the way her lips curved into a smile.
“Pity.” She handed him the crutches. All he wanted to do was drag her into his arms and kiss her. Forget about everything. But it was daylight. He resisted and took the crutches from her, his fingers grazing hers. A slam of heat shot up his arm, but Via’s face tightened. Like she’d been hit.
He kicked himself and quickly pulled his hand away, trying to ignore the twin balls of color on her cheeks.
“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay.” She shook her arms as if she was trying to rid herself of unwanted energy, and her breathing was shallow. Hell. Had he given her a panic attack?
“It’s not,” he said, feeling like the biggest idiot alive. “I didn’t mean to freak you out. I really am sorry.”
She took another shuddering breath and caught his gaze. “Hudson, I’m fine. I just need some time to get used to it, that’s all.”
“If you’re sure,” he said as the rise and fall of her chest had returned to normal. He leaned forward on the crutches. “I promise it won’t happen again.”
“I know.”
“Anything happen in Camp Doom while I was out on the lake being manly?” he said, hoping to change the topic. It worked, and she gave him a wry smile.
“Oh yeah. My idiot brother hitchhiked into town. My folks are furious. For once, I’m not the odd one out in the family. Even better, I’m officially off the hook for playing hide-and-seek, which means we can meet up tonight. On our own.” She paused, worry lines appearing on her brow. “Unless you don’t want to.”
Was she kidding?
It was the only thing he wanted. Wanted it more than anything.
“Try and keep me away,” he said as they walked away from the lake. He toyed with telling her about his dad but squashed it. He was sick of feeling crap because of his parents.
The afternoon sun was sinking in the sky, and people were trailing their way back to the cabins to start cooking.
He smiled as she continued to talk. Everything else in his life was a disaster area, but at least he had this, and there was no way he was going to mess it up. However she wanted to do things was fine by him.
9
“Did I hear you tell your best friend you still hated Hudson Trent?” Zac said in a lazy drawl from the other side of the cabin. Then he grinned and held up the jack of his earbuds to show they hadn’t been plugged into his phone. “Because I’m sure I saw you talking to him at the lake this afternoon. You didn’t look very hateful.”
“Interesting, since you’re grounded and you can’t actually see the lake from the cabin window,” she said in a cool voice. As to why she hadn’t told Frankie what was going on, it was simple.
If she said it out loud, something would get messed up.
It was just science.
Okay, it was nothing like science. But everything was perfect right now. Her first kiss had been better than she ever could have dreamed. And…soon she would be with him again. Kiss him again. Unless he thought she was too weird. That he didn’t want someone who flinched when he tried to touch their hand in public.
He’d almost looked angry?
Was it because she wanted to keep it hidden? He had agreed to meet her tonight while everyone was off playing their game, but what if he’d changed his mind?
“So, there’s nothing you want to tell me?” Zac persisted like a mosquito.
“Definitely not.”
“Pity,” he said.
“Why?” She narrowed her eyes, recognizing the half smile on his mouth. He was up to something.
“No reason.” He shrugged. “It’s just if you were friends with Hudson, I’d feel less bad about kicking you out of the cabin while Mom and Dad are away. Still, I guess you could always go and read your book somewhere.”
“Kick me out?” She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. She hadn’t quite come up with a reason why she had to go out, but judging by Zac’s tone, she might not need to. “What’s going on?”
He held out his phone and grinned. “Ally’s coming around.”
“Seriously?” She groaned. “Do you even like her? I mean really like her?”
“Sure. She’s cute. What’s not to like?” he said as another text came in. He read it and chuckled to himself. Via rolled her eyes and stood up. Her brother was useless. But then again, at least he wasn’t sticking his nose into her business.
“Fine. But you owe me,” she said, more because that’s how they always operated.
“Deal.” He winked and returned to his screen. She finished getting ready and left Zac still replying to messages as she walked out of the cabin door.
The sky was an explosion of stars, accompanied by the excited murmur of people as they hurried past, their flashlights sending orange shafts of light out in all directions. She was pretty sure she
