How to Meet Boys (22 page)

“Um, your lessons leave a little bit to be desired.” I hadn’t been out on the big lake in a sea kayak. It was a lot different—and a lot more frightening—than kayaking anywhere else. Right now the lake looked calm, but I’d been out on it on a ferry one time when it changed, and suddenly there were big waves that sent the boat up high and then crashing down. How would I handle that in a teeny tiny kayak, on my own?

“Here, read this,” Gus said, handing me a brochure from the kayak and canoe rental company where he was now employed.

Great. Why was I doing this again? Gus had called the store and insisted that we go on “a paddle,” but for me it was more about survival.

“Bears?” I said. “Since when do the islands have bears?”

“They probably always have. Don’t worry, we’re not planning to camp,” Gus said.

“That’s what you say now, but it says here, number two, that conditions can change in an instant.”

“The lake is really calm right now, and I have a backup plan,” Gus said. “Trust me.”

I smiled nervously as I got into the boat, and Gus pulled the spray skirt—the thing that keeps water from getting into the kayak and freezing your legs—over the cockpit. He handed me my paddle and then gave me a gentle push away from dock. I balanced the long paddle, getting used to the feel of it, while he caught up with me. I bobbed on the gentle waves, adjusting to being on the water.

“We’ll go along the shore, check out some of the sea caves,” Gus said. “Then we can head to Latchkey Island, which is just right over there. Not far at all. I brought some food, so we can have a little picnic and head back before sunset.”

“Why am I not surprised? Are you always going to bring food?” I asked.

“Probably.”

I’d said
always
as if we were a couple or something. Which we weren’t. “Not that I’m complaining!” I said. “Because by the time we get there I have a feeling I’m going to be starving.” My arms were in better shape than they had been at the start of the summer, but still, paddling wasn’t something I’d done much of this year. I knew that trying to keep up with Gus would probably mean I’d shred my muscles before long. But I had to keep up. I wasn’t sure exactly why I had to, but I did.

There were so many things to see: rocks, sea caves, birds, lighthouses, sailboats, and other kayakers like us. This was the perfect summer day to be out on the water and I’d probably never have done it without Gus. I’d been staying inside way too much and not doing half the things I meant to do. He was getting me out of a rut.

“What should I do?” I yelled to Gus, who was trying to paddle over to me, but the waves kept pushing him back.

The wind had come up and gotten heavier; darker clouds seemed to be just sitting on the horizon. Actually, more like right above our heads. Threatening to dump rain at any second. We’d been kayaking for a little over an hour, and it had been going so well that we’d gone a little farther than we planned. But just as we’d turned to head back, the weather had turned as well—and so had the lake. It was looking evil and shipwreck-ish.

“We’re too far from shore to get there safely!” Gus yelled back.

Great. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

“I mean, we could make it—but let’s not risk it. Let’s try for Latchkey Island!” Gus shouted.

I didn’t like how he used the word
try
. It implied we might not make it. I wanted to look in the direction Gus was pointing, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the water.

The bow of my kayak seemed to be pointed straight up at the sky. Then the lake heaved with a big wave, and the bow tilted straight down, so that the stern was up. This was like a really bad amusement park ride that I couldn’t wait to get off.

I pushed thoughts of nausea out of my mind and focused, using every last ounce of strength I had. Finally I glimpsed a small, rocky beach. We half surfed and half coasted onto it. Gus jumped out and stubbed his toes; when I tried to get out of my kayak, I lost my balance, slipped, and fell right into the lake.

“You okay?” Gus reached out to help me up, gripping my hand tightly. I slipped and fell against him, teetering to catch my balance. “Whoa. Sea legs can really mess you up.”

“I guess,” I admitted, feeling very unsteady. We stood there, just breathing hard for a second, right next to each other. “Wow. I can’t believe we just went through that.”

“It was intense,” Gus agreed. “But you weren’t worried, were you? I mean, I had everything under control.”

“Maybe you did. But I’m not sure I did.” We both started laughing. “Did you
see
that one giant wave?”

“I thought you were going over. For sure,” Gus said.

We dragged our boats up onto the beach and Gus grabbed a bag out of one of the hatches on his kayak. He pulled out a water bottle and handed it to me.

“I can barely lift my arms to drink this.” I took a few gulps and felt the adrenaline coursing through me start to lessen a bit. I handed the bottle to him and watched as he had some. What was so interesting about watching him do simple stuff? I didn’t get it, but it seemed like he knew how to do everything really, really well. I liked that about him.

Gus wiped the water off his mouth with his arm and caught me staring at him.

“So,” I cleared my throat. “What do we do now?”

“It really depends on a lot of things. Sometimes the waves quiet down in the evening. If they do, we’ll hurry back. But, if that doesn’t happen, or it gets dark before that happens, we might have to wait until morning.”

“Morning? I’m going to miss work.”

“Maybe. Maybe we’ll get back in time, though. I think you should forget about work. Just relax and try to enjoy this.” Gus shrugged.

“But where are we going to—sleep?” I asked.

“I’m prepared,” Gus said. He coughed, like he’d just said the wrong thing. “I mean, uh, I have emergency supplies. I have a plastic tarp we can sleep under, I have a microfleece blanket. We just have to hope it doesn’t get too cold tonight, because it’s not that thick of a blanket.”

“Do you have that terrible freeze-dried camping food?”

“No, just water, grapes, some cheese, and some candy bars.”

“There’s no way we can contact anyone. Is there? I didn’t even bring my phone. I didn’t want it to get wet.”

“I have mine. Don’t worry. Who did you want to call?” Gus asked.

“I don’t know. The coast guard?” I joked. Well, sort of half joked. I wouldn’t mind being rescued.

Gus took his phone out and peered at the screen. “Huh. That’s weird. No bars. Okay, so we won’t call anyone. But we’re perfectly fine. Nothing’s going to happen to us. We’ll just wait for calmer waters.”

Two hours later, we were still waiting. The wind had let up a little, but the lake was still choppy—too rough for us to head back, especially because it was starting to get dark. The time had gone quickly because we’d played cards (Mr. Prepared even had those in his emergency kit) and talked about everything under the sun.

We’d eaten all the food, but were saving the water. Thanks to my falling out of the kayak and into the lake, I was shivering. Gus set up the blue tarp so that it arced over two tree branches.

“There’s only one thing left to do,” he said.

“What. Start a fire?” I asked, rubbing my arms.

“No. It’s too windy,” he said. “Get under the blanket.” He sat down under the tarp, put the blanket over his legs and gestured for me to join him.

“Really?” I asked. “But it’s only nine thirty. We just like . . . go to sleep?”

“We’ll get warm, and then if we
can
sleep, yeah,” he said. “Have you really never gone camping?”

“Of course I have,” I said. It’s just that I usually had a real tent and a sleeping bag, and I didn’t usually share it with a boy.

“So come over here. I won’t bite,” Gus said. “Much.”

“Ha ha,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I crouched down and sat beside him. He spread the black fleece blanket over both of us, covering our legs and tucking it around our shoulders so that our hands would be covered. The blanket wasn’t quite big enough for two people. We really had to be right up against each other for it to cover us.

It felt bizarre to be right next to him. His shirt smelled like sunscreen, the kind I usually used. Wait. Maybe it was my sunscreen. We were so close I couldn’t tell.

“You know, maybe if you quit your job, and I quit mine, we could just spend the summer kayaking and camping,” Gus said.

“’Cause this is working out so well for us?” I asked, smiling at him.

“Hey, if we’d planned to camp out, we would have done it totally right. But it’s still working out. I just don’t like the fact that you’re cold.”

“I’m . . . warming up,” I said.
You have no idea how much.
“I still don’t think I’d quit my job. No offense. I need the money.”

“Oh, you’re working in apples for the
money
. I thought you were doing it for the prestige,” he said.

“Shut up.” I elbowed him in the ribs. “And it’s very prestigious. Just try to get a job there. You’ll find out.”

“I did. It was taken already.” He snuggled under the blanket, moving a little closer to me.

“Oh.” Well, that was awkward. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I found out they were hiring from within. Although how does that apply to Jackson?” Gus asked.

“We knew each other when we were kids. We were neighbors. And then, well, actually it was more that my grandparents know his grandparents.” I sipped my water, not sure what to say next. Should I go into the whole history with Jackson? Should I tell him what had happened with Mikayla? I was enjoying being away from all that, and thinking about other things. “So. Are we going to sit up all night, or can we lie down?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I think my face must have turned a hundred shades of pink. That sounded so forward of me! I hoped he didn’t take it the wrong way. Then again, it was Gus. He wasn’t like that.

I stretched out on the ground and pulled the blanket more tightly around my shoulders. He did the same, shifting to get comfortable. We were using our life jackets for pillows. “This is a great hotel,” Gus said. “They left pine needles on my pillow.”

I laughed. “Are there really black bears here?” I asked.

“Nope,” Gus said.

“Phew.”

“But there are brown bears.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m just telling the truth!” Gus shrugged. “If you happen to see one? Just act natural.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, laughing. “Be all casual? ‘Hey, Bear. How’s it going, dude?’”

Gus laughed too. “Since we don’t have any food left, I’m not worried.”

“On the plus side,” I murmured.

“On the plus side,” he agreed.

My body was so exhausted from the long paddle to the island. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point I leaned against Gus and fell asleep. I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night. The first time I woke up, Gus was lying on his back, and my head was resting on his chest. I immediately sat up, looking around, trying to figure out where I was.

“You okay?” Gus asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Lucy?”

I’m here with Gus?
I wasn’t sure if this was real or not. “Yeah. I’m—I’m fine.”

“Warm enough?” he asked, scooting back under the blanket.

I nodded, snuggling back against him. “Perfect.”

The next time I woke up, we were lying beside each other, spooning. I was so excited by what seemed to be happening that I couldn’t fall back asleep for a long time.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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“What are you doing here?” Ava
greeted me when I walked into the Blackbird Café a few hours after my conversation with Jackson Saturday night.

“I tried calling but you never picked up. Then I tried calling the café and that didn’t work very well either. Now I know why.” The restaurant was almost totally full, and a band was performing in the bar area, singing a cover of a song that I thought was by Pearl Jam, one of my parents’ favorite bands.

Ava led me over to a small table just outside the bar area. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“I’m worried about Lucy. I’ve been waiting for her to come back to the house so we can talk, but she hasn’t showed. I tried calling her, and the phone started ringing. In her room. I went in and it was on her dresser, next to her wallet. After I couldn’t reach you, I texted Claire. The last thing she knew, Lucy was headed out kayaking with Gus.”

“So . . . maybe this is a
good
thing she’s not home yet, not a bad thing?” Ava said.