“What was that about?” I asked.
“Give it a few minutes.”
We sat and waited. At first, nothing. People were milling around, minding their business. Then there was a shift. People were whispering, leaning in closer. It was kind of amazing. And slowly, I started to realize exactly what Brett had done. A guy walked up to us, shaved head, white T-shirt, and bumped his fist against Brett’s shoulder. “Did you hear about Tallani and Ryan?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. “Explains why he’s been missing so much practice.”
I was dumbfounded.
Jeff actually could not be trusted.
Brett turned to me and brushed his shoulder in that stupid, prideful way. “See why I didn’t tell Jeff?”
I mean, it was a good display. But there was one flaw. “You realize you just started a rumor about two people that’s a complete lie, right?”
Brett began to say something. Shut his mouth. “Well—” Shut it again. Drew his eyebrows together. Then bit down on his lips, nodding. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
“Bingo.”
“I was trying to make this a little more interesting. You don’t seem too impressed by Lovers’ Lake.”
“Not at all.”
“What does it take to impress you, Becca? A library? Maybe a bookstore?”
I bumped my knee against his. “I’ll have you know I’m a multidimensional person, Brett. I do more than just read and study for calc.”
“Yeah?” he asked, grin stretching impossibly wider.
The way he was looking at me made me nervous.
“Yeah.” My voice was shaking. Stop shaking!
“Then why don’t you show me one of those dimensions of yours,” he said.
I wanted to catch him off guard, show Brett that there was more to me than the girl who kept her nose in a book. So, without thinking about it too much—and definitely without making a pro-con list—I leaned in and kissed him. It was quick. Maybe a second or two. Our lips barely touched. But it was nothing like that kiss in the hallway when we were strangers. Now my heart started to race and my fingers had a life of their own, wanting to latch onto his face and tug him closer. But I didn’t do any of that.
I reminded myself this was fake and I pulled away.
I reminded myself that feelings, especially the weird ones stirring inside me right now, were dangerous. So I pushed them down, closed all the windows, and shut them out. I twisted the key to the lock on my heart and swallowed it whole. No one was getting in. Nothing was getting out.
I opened my eyes. His face was so close. I could see the exact spot where the blue of his eyes was swallowed by his pupil. And he looked kind of stunned. Also a little impressed. I noticed how his navy long-sleeve shirt made his eyes look more blue. Even in the moonlight, they were so damn blue. And oh my god, what was happening to me tonight? Something was in the air at Lovers’ Lake, because my heart had taken control of my brain.
This is fake, I reminded myself. And it was safer like that.
“What was that for?” Brett asked.
“For show,” I said, all cool and casual.
Then he was smiling again. We were back on track.
The couple sitting in front of us stood up and disappeared into the trees. Brett nudged me, wiggled his eyebrows, and made these very weird noises. It was dumb. I laughed anyway. Then I realized that, aside from his football games, this was kind of my first time doing something normal. Like, high school normal. I hadn’t gone to a party before. And it was all because of Brett. It was like he was slowly showing me that there was actually more to school than sitting in a class and taking notes. Which used to be all I wanted. But now, I was kind of wondering, had I been missing out all these years?
Brett stood up suddenly, said, “C’mon. We should get out before the rumor reaches Tallani or Ryan,” and bent over again. I jumped onto his back and we were off, moving through the sloshy grass. People were watching us tonight, and it was the first time I really felt like we were a couple. I mean, holding hands in the hall was one thing. But tonight it actually felt like we were dating. And even if it was fake, it was still fun.
I was thinking that Brett must have been here before because his feet knew exactly where to go when he stopped in front of the lake. I sucked in a breath. Wow. It was beautiful. It almost made up for the gross walk over. From here, you could see where the two lakes met in the middle. There was still a sliver of land between them, like two halves of a heart that couldn’t meet quite yet. And the moon was directly over the lake, making a small patch of water turn silver.
I went to jump off Brett’s back, but his grip on my legs tightened.
“Brett?” I was whispering, like if I spoke too loud then it would ruin the peacefulness.
“Yeah?”
“What are you thinking about?”
“Jelly bells,” he said.
I smacked my foot against his thigh. “Be serious.”
“I am. Doesn’t the moon kind of look like one?”
Then I was laughing really hard because he was right, it totally did.
Brett’s hands loosened around my knees, and I hopped off his back. The ground was solid around this side of the lake. You could barely hear the people back at the party. Their voices were just a slight murmur.
“I get the appeal now,” I said. “This is so pretty.”
“Makes you want to sneak off into the trees, huh?”
I snorted. “Not that pretty.”
Brett bumped his shoulder against mine.
I bumped his back.
“Sometimes,” he said, “I forget places like this exist in Crestmont. Like I’m so focused on wanting to leave after high school that I forget there are reasons to stay.”
“What do you want to do after we graduate?” I asked, realizing I didn’t know.
Brett was staring intently at the water. “I don’t know. Play football? I’m waiting to see what colleges are interested. I’m hoping to move somewhere big, like Atlanta. I want to be in a town that has more than a few thousand people.”
“What about your family?”
“I think my parents want that future for me more than I do.” Right. His dad’s football dream. “What do you want to do?” He turned away from the lake now, watching me instead. I shifted from foot to foot, not knowing what to say.
“College is hard. I don’t think my mom has the money to pay for it.”
“You’re smart,” Brett said, “you can get a good scholarship.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I might have to stay here, help out at the bakery for a while and save up some money. College can wait.”
“Yeah. Sometimes I wish the future could too.”
We were quiet then. There were crickets chirping and the sound of water lapping against the shore. It was so much better here than back in the clearing. Then a weird noise came from the trees, a rustle, and I latched onto Brett’s arm. “Did you hear that?” I whispered.
Brett took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and pointed it in the direction the sound came from. “Hello?” he called.
The noise came again. This time it wasn’t a rustle. It was more of a—
Moan.
The light exposed a couple hiding in the trees. The girl yelled, reaching up to cover her chest. I looked away, feeling the secondhand embarrassment. Brett fumbled with the flashlight, pointing it in my face while trying to shut it off. “Sorry!” he called out, walking backward. “We’ll leave now. Uh, carry on.”